Warum coding on this old machine...
Well, it`s a difficult question and can hardly be described...
Everybody is coding nowadays on pentium-wintel-PCs. But I like coding
on old machines because for me it`s fun to make effects possible on this
machine based on a 1,79 mhz 8-bit cpu with only 3 registers instead of
coding in c or pascal and then compile it on a 133mhz Pentium-PC. Another
reason could be that I have no PC... ;)
I am coding on this machine since 1983/84 (I think so...) and I know
my XL very well...but I still don`t know everything and there are just
new stuff discovered everyday (see esp. HIP).
Atari has built some very nice custom-chips into the XL which are very
usefull for coding.
Here are the advantages of the XL-Sytsem:
15 graphic-modes build in including hires and text-modes
these are full mixable by building own display-list for the grahpic-chip
ANTIC
you can design own graphic-modes like APAC, HIP, ...
256 colors max. 16 on screen without custom-modes...
easy coding by TURBO-BASIC XL...
relative fast 1,79 mhz 65c02-CPU
player/missle-grafic (8x256 resolution) also called "sprites"
horizontal/vertical softscrolling-feature
full usage of PAL-Resolution possible (240 lines)
4 sound-channels
all in the XL is well designed and you don`t have to know "hard" hacks
like esp. on C64...
Last changes: 20 Jun 1997
Feel free to contact me for any legal reason!
HeAvEn, Member of TaquarT