May 2020
SECRETARY’S REPORT
•May 2020 Edition•
By Steven Peck HELLO WORLD! Here we are with another Secretary’s Report, and although there is little to report due to the pandemic, I will still write something. I know that we are still cooped up in our homes, but I hope that you find solace with your Atari machines. They are great things to have and can do so much to entertain us. So, I hope that you are havuing fun with your collections. Also, I hope that everyone is happy and healthy. I have been myself, and I wish that we get through this safely, which we should. With that, I close. I hope that you are all OK and well. In the words of the late, great Stan Lee… EXCELSIOR!
TECH TALK
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Last month, I announced that I would report about the FireBee Atari clone. The FireBee is a modernTOS-compatible computer that was created in Europe through Medusa Computer Systems in Switzerland.
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The FireBee is powered by a 264 MHz Motorola Coldfire CPU. It has 512 MB of DDR SDRAM with 8 MB of FLASH ROM for the operating system. It has a Altera Cyclone III FPGA to reproduce all Atari custom chips. The FPGA also reproduces the Yamaha YM2149 and the WD1772 chips as well. The FPGA has 128 MB of DDR RAM with 512 KB of static RAM. It uses DVI-I for the monitor, but you can get an adapter for VGA as well. The FireBee also have five USB 2.0 ports and has 10/100 Ethernet and a high-speed serial port. for data storage, it uses SD card and CompactFlash up to 16 GB of storage capacity. If you are looking for a modern Atari computer that can run your Atari software, then this is a great buy. However, you might have to wait. They are sold out and you need to go on a waiting list to get your FireBee. Be prepared to spend at least $600.00 for a barebones FireBe computer, and that is without the case for it. You would get the motherboard solely. However, if you want everything, it is close to $800.00 for everything included.
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So, that concludes this Tech Talk. I will be back with other tibits of technical information. In fact, I will report on other computer systems as well. Until then, thanks for reading.
“Just play an Atari game. It won’t ‘kill’ you!“
ATARI HOME PLATFORM GAMES REVIEW
HOO-RAH!
I was playing the A7800 version of Rampage recently. It is a fun translation of the classic arcade game. You can play George the giant gorilla, Lizzie the giant lizard, and Ralph the giant wolf.
TRIVIA TIME! The Atari 2600 lasted over fourteen years on the retail market worldwide, longer than any other game system in history, from 1977 to 1992.
The rules are simple. Destroy everything in sight in every major US city. Eat humans, fruit, and toast, but do not eat anything else, like poison, cactuses, TVs, and bathtubs. Watch out, though. The military is ready to shoot on sight! They have soldiers, helicopters, tanks, poilce cars, all ready to shoot first and ask questions later! If you lose all of your energy, you will revert to your human self. But, continue fast, or you can be lunch as a human by your friends! If you can destroy as many buildings in cities as much as possible. Score points by destroying tanks, helicopters, cars, and trains. Eat humans for energy, and stay alive. For an A7800 game, it reproduces the arcade version quite accurately. It looks cuter than the arcade, but it is 8-bit, so it is OK. The graphics look really good and I like the game play. A destined classic, play this game and you will not go wrong! So, with that, I will score this game. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation:
7 10 8
9 34/40
Well, that is that. Another game, another review. I will leave you with that. Hopefully, we will see each othr soon. I will close now and will present more next month. Until then, carpe diem, folks!
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