Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ll-xn!husc6!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!weaver From: weaver@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Weaver) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: 2600 games on the 8bit? Message-ID: <13574@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Date: 18 May 88 01:04:59 GMT References: <330@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU> <3466@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> Organization: OSU College of Business...where the fun starts Lines: 55 In article <3466@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> c60b-at@buddy.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (john->kawakami) writes: >In article <330@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU> rzimbins@ub.UUCP (robert zimbinski) writes: >> Is it possible to convert an Atari 2600 game cartidge to work on an 8bit >> machine (specifically an 800)? I've tried taking apart the 2600 cartridge, >> The game unit and the 8bit computers are the same internally, aren't they? No. They are two very different machines. >> If I'm way off base, please tell me why. If I'm just a little off base, >> tell me about that too. Heck, just tell me what you know. >> >> -Bob Zimbinski > >If I recall correctly, the 2600 uses a 6507 mpu and the 800 and co. use a 6502 >mpu. So it shouldn't work. There are also differences in the sprite (player/ >missile) mechanisms. I suspect that there are certain similarities in both >machines -- that they are close enough that a hardware device could be made >to run both machines using common graphics chips. But They are different enough >so the carts are not interchangable now and will not be in the forseeable >future. This is correct. These two machines are VERY, VERY different machines. The games are quite totally non-portable (I am not sure why one would want to port a 2600 game to a 400/800 anyhow, but that is one's own perogative :-) >The _5200_ is the machine that is a 800 in disguise. 5200 games are portable to >the 800 if some mods are made to the cart; of course, some code changes will >have to be made to compensate for the joysticks. There was a cart mod article >in an old ANALOG. This is partially true. I guess that although the 5200 used the 6502 and the Antic/PIA/Pokey chip set, Atari, Inc., in its infinite wisdom, brain- damaged the 5200 enough to make it non-compatible with the home computers. It is possible to transfer the 5200 games to the 400/800, but you have to make software mods once you get the object file to the 400/800 since the 5200 uses those evil-joysticks-from-hell (that are two potentiometers.) All of which seems much more trouble than it is worth, since there aren't any 5200 games I can think of that didn't come from the 400/800 in the first place. One bit of trivia: the 6507, the CPU in the 2600, is also used in the wonderful Atari disk drives! Yes, you too can build the 2600 emulator for your Atari 1050... As long as we are discussing game machines, does anyone know the technical poop about the 7800, the evil-black-sheep of the Atari Game machine line? Now some of the games I saw for this little gem were kinda nice. Also, does anyone know what kind of CPU that Sega or Nintendo use in their game machines (I assume proprietary...) -- //\ Andrew Weaver | weaver@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu ///\\ OSU College of Business | ...ihnp4!cbosgd!osu-cis!tut!weaver /// \\ ///\\\\\\ "Which key is the any key?"