Flashback Hack

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 4:12 pm

There are many commercially viable options other than a fully custom chip or a NOAC to serve as the core of this device. Nice, cheap, programmable processors are croping up in everything nowadays. Take the Mattle JuiceBox (a video player for kids) for example, it uses an ARM7 processor running an embedded version of Linux and cost about the same as the Flashback when released.

Hmm... Now there's an Idea. I could turn a JuiceBox into a portable Atari. (using emulation, of course)

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 6:19 pm

It is incredibly likely that they ported the games to the NES. Firstly, the 6507 in the Atari is a subset of the 6502 core in the NES. So you don't even NEED to port Atari CPU code to the NES, because it works natively. All that needs to be ported is controller and video routines, which are pretty trivial compared to the main logic code. Especially because if you read a lot of NOAC docs, they often add new features as well for projects such as this (a 256-color mode that the NES never had, etc.) Most NOACs were made to be generic computers for the Asian market.
So it is quite likely that it IS an NOAC, but it might not be currently used quite as one. In which case, the only carts it would run would, in fact, be NES carts as everyone has been saying.
AtariAge claims somewhere that they have stopped production of the Atari Flashback though, and it's being replaced with a new model that is indeed a fully Atari-compatible system (with no cart slot but solder points for one a-la the C-64 DTV). I've got hopes for that

The thing is, oh nerd of nerds, how can you say at one point that the games are emulated somehow but that it's possible that the cart slot can be attached? That'd imply that it can emulate on the fly, which is a far more ridiculous task to expect of the hardware. Besides, it wouldn't account for changes in the games that people have noticed. They are, quite obviously, ports. Sorry to burst your bubble.

tom61: Or you could use a GBA, which is probably about the same price, and has GBA games, and also uses ARM7. And I hear the screen is better.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 1:30 pm

tom61: Or you could use a GBA, which is probably about the same price, and has GBA games, and also uses ARM7. And I hear the screen is better.

The JuiceBoxes are being clearanced at Wal-Mart for $13, and I've already picked a few up for hacking potential. The GBA SP's screen is a fair bit better (hard to compare the regular GBA, as the JuiceBox is backlit).

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 2:56 pm

Woah, why so little?

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 4:47 pm

vb_master wrote:Woah, why so little?

Quick one time Christmas season item, according to people at Wal-Mart. Keep an eye out for the MP3 kit for $9 that lets you use SD cards with it, to play MP3s off of it, and view photos. MP3 kit itself is a killer deal, you get the adapter to use SD cards with the JuiceBox, a 32MB SD card, a USB SD card reader, a USB extension cable, and the software to put stuff in the format the JuiceBox wants.

definitely check out the Linux Hacker forum category about them if you're considering picking one up to hack.

An 32MB upgradable mp3 player with a color backlit LCD for $22 isn't that bad, particularly if you get one that can play >128Kbit MP3s.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:24 pm

that does sound cool and all, but I already have my GP32. There's no way I'd be able to get one