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Jedd
1980 Pong World Champion
Elite
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 823
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 Posted: 26 Apr 2004 09:18:37 pm Post subject: |
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I've been learning Atari 2600 Assembly for the past few weeks-ish. It's challenging, but pretty fun. I was just wondering if anyone else here has either attempted to learn it or currently knows and programs Atari Assembly.
And if anyone is interested in learning, I can post some links to get you started. :D
-J |
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EEDOK
Member
Joined: 06 Mar 2004
Posts: 117
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| Posted: 27 Apr 2004 12:09:45 am Post subject: |
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| building an emulator? |
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Keith Pierce
Advanced Member
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
Posts: 411
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| Posted: 27 Apr 2004 12:54:27 pm Post subject: |
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I would like to learn it. Sounds interesting.
Email me at jackson14715@xiondigital.net or just pm me here. Thanks |
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Jedd
1980 Pong World Champion
Elite
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 823
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| Posted: 27 Apr 2004 05:39:42 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: building an emulator?
Wha?
Quote: I would like to learn it. Sounds interesting.
I'll just post the info here.
Here's the tutorial I'm using, there are 1 or 2 others, but this one is the easiest.
Here's the emulator so you can "test" games, or if you prefer, play some Roms from games which you, of course, already own.
The Bible of Atari 2600 programming A bit confusing, but it's helped me out a few times.
The Assembler (DASM) This is required so you can assemble your games. Just use a text editor to make your games, and use the extension .asm. Dasm takes a bit of trickery to get it up and running, contact me if you have any problems.
The Disassembler (optional) This allows you to disassemble code, which is fun if you want to do a hack of some sort. I managed to change a lot of the sprites in Pitfall. ;)
The best Atari site in the world The definative source for all your Atari needs. Includes history, game info, programming info, anything you want to know. The forum is extremely helpful, too.
That should get you started. 2600 programming is pretty tough to understand at first, but you'll get the hang of it.
-J |
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sgm
Calc Guru
Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Posts: 1265
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| Posted: 27 Apr 2004 06:36:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Does DASM tweak the binary or anything, or does it just spit out a binary/Intel Hex/etc.? Because I mean, I'm not going to go download it if I can just use TASM. |
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Jedd
1980 Pong World Champion
Elite
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 823
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| Posted: 27 Apr 2004 08:49:27 pm Post subject: |
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I have no clue. All I know is that Dasm works really well. Also, I forgot to link some header files you might need. Macro.h and Vcs.h are the two used commonly for Atari programming. They are necessary to compile just about any program you'll ever make. I forget the link, though. Check on AtariAge.
-J |
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Awesome1
Advanced Member
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 269
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| Posted: 30 Apr 2004 08:50:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Arn't there Atari emulators out there already? I think i've seen a few. I have SNES, NES, and genesis emulator plus 6 cds of roms.... mostly NES, over 10,000... I know there are more then one copy of the programs...but thats still a lot of roms... |
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tr1p1ea
Elite
Joined: 03 Aug 2003
Posts: 870
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| Posted: 03 May 2004 12:47:06 pm Post subject: |
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WOW i used to have like 3 2600 consoles and hundreds of games but i have no idea what happened to them all ...
a that thing is limited ... 128 BYTES of RAM!!! |
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sgm
Calc Guru
Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Posts: 1265
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| Posted: 03 May 2004 03:13:49 pm Post subject: |
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tr1p1ea wrote: WOW i used to have like 3 2600 consoles and hundreds of games but i have no idea what happened to them all ...
Damn that thing is limited ... 128 BYTES of RAM!!!
Yeah, and you have to share that space with the stack  .
And don't forget, you have to manually sequence the thing with the TV, and can only have five sprites (so much for Phoenix 2600...  ) |
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DarkerLine
ceci n'est pas une |
Super Elite (Last Title)
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 8328
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| Posted: 03 May 2004 03:51:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, you probably don't have to keep your program code in those 128 bytes... |
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Jedd
1980 Pong World Champion
Elite
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 823
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| Posted: 03 May 2004 07:21:34 pm Post subject: |
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Of course, there are ways of getting around these things. And although you do have to be perfectly in time with the TV at all times, it's something you get used to after a little while.
-J |
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tr1p1ea
Elite
Joined: 03 Aug 2003
Posts: 870
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| Posted: 04 May 2004 09:11:36 pm Post subject: |
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| I dont quite understand why there is a 5 sprite limit? That doesnt make sense ... i dont see how that would be possible? |
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Jedd
1980 Pong World Champion
Elite
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 823
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| Posted: 05 May 2004 07:10:56 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, there is a 5-sprite limit. Basically they took the processor out of an old Pong system and made it able to play cartridges. Since Pong is just 2 players and a ball, only 3 were needed, and the other 2 were extras. The reason it seems impossible with all of the games that have come out is because you can draw a sprite at one place on the screen, then change the color, shape, and position and output the sprite elsewhere on the screen. This makes them look like 2 different sprites. Doing so, however, takes a great deal of planning to get the timing right. Having more than 5 sprites is kinda like "tricking" the processor.
-J |
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Awesome1
Advanced Member
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 269
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| Posted: 16 May 2004 06:29:20 pm Post subject: |
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| What is the clocked speed of the atari? |
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sgm
Calc Guru
Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Posts: 1265
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| Posted: 17 May 2004 11:58:18 am Post subject: |
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| 1.5MHz give or take a few KHz, but it varies slightly depending on where you buy your machine. |
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General Coding and Design => Calculator Programming
