Re: XY Monitors ?

On Thu, 4 Dec 1997 21:56:05 -0600, Benny Parker <Benny.Parker@dalsemi.com> wrote:

>I have a working Tempest UR. The monitor has a broken neck.
>We are all convinced there are more XY games than XY monitors
> RGVAC is loaded with people needing a way to run XY games.
>People constantly ask how to run XY games on RGB, or TV.
>
> (ASBESTOS ON)
>How about this for a solution.
>1. MAME emulates the avgdvg section of the Tempest board.
>2. Passively get opcodes/data lines from the appropriate places.
>3. Read them into the PC thru a serial port or EPP.
>4. Asynchronously have the PC execute the opcodes.
>
>I realize there are some technological hurdles, and have thought this
>out quite a bit.
>Since this group is the premier vector group anywhere, I value your
>opinions.
>If this draws a LOT of heat, you may email me direct and we can discuss
>my thoughts off-line.
>It does involve the avg code in MAME and a PC. I don't think any extra
>circuitry need be
>placed in the PC. Thanks Benny Parker

What's the point in running the Tempest board, just run the emulator. You'd be better off wiring up
the spin knob to the mouse port and running the whole game off the PC.

It will never look "just like a Tempest" because of the aliasing between the absolute refresh rate
of a raster monitor (60 to 90hz - or so) and the refresh of a vector monitor (draw a line whenever
you want, just do it fast enough to reduce flicker). You end up with double, or skipped images on
the raster monitor.

Also, the vectors on a vector monitor can be up to a hundred times brighter than a raster screen
(according to Atari, or was that a Sega manual?), a smoked glass over a raster monitor will never
looks as nice and will probably be unreadable during the day.

-Zonn
Received on Thu Dec 4 23:09:52 1997