The Gamer's Quarter

dessgeega · Last edited by dessgeega on Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:28 pm; edited 1 time in total

my mother bought a new computer while i was in california, complete with a new widescreen, flatscreen monitor. i asked her for the old one.

(yes, those stickers were there when i got it.)

so what do i do with it? obviously i would like to play games in tate mode - layer section! gun frontier! - but how do i actually accomplish this? i need some sort of cable maybe? i don't really have much knowledge of technical stuff.

(i also have an atari st from apm that badly needs a monitor. it also badly needs some room for me to put it. as this photo probably makes evident, i do not exactly have a premium!)
_________________

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

What sort of inputs does it have around the back? Just VGA or other stuff as well?

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:21 pm Post subject:

um, i guess not?
_________________

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Dreamcast VGA time?

I'm sure there are other adapters to be had though.

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 12:23 am Post subject:

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Supposedly there was a PS2 VGA Out converter on Lik-Sang back in the day, so you might be able to hunt one of those down.

A quick google search suggests that a universal NTSC-VGA converter or running the signal through a TV card on your computer would also work (although it probably wouldn't look very nice or at least as nice as it could look with a "true" VGA conversion).

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Yes you can get a box that converts any RCA/Composite video signal into VGA, but you don't get any benefits like using the Dreamcast VGA adapter. The PS2 is capable of doing VGA output as well, but you need the right adapter and they are very hard to find.

In conclusion: you can basically turn it another TV with a VGA converter (usually run for $50 or less), unless you're doing MAME (on a PC) or Dreamcast stuff using a VGA box.

Edit: Or a 360! There's a VGA cable for that available and you might be able to read the fonts in Dead Rising.
_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

Mister Toups · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:09 am Post subject:

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

um... they make things for that sort of thing
_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

Mister Toups · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:24 am Post subject:

B coma · . Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 279

engage Dead Rising TATE

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Yeah, it seems like you would best benefit from having that for your 360 which you'll be getting soon.

Also, to run things in tate, I recommend just connecting it to your PC when you do it outside of the DC. You can get DC VGA boxes fairly cheap at ebay. Anyways...

What you should also do is get mame and create a separate/new version of it. Set it all up so to that orientation of mame is to vertical then tell it to go to all your other roms. Then when you get the urge to play any of those non-DC shooter that are vertical you just disconnect one monitor from the back of your PC and reconnect the other. It's a little bit of a hassle (this can be alleviated with a cheap VGA switcher box though) but you'll enjoy it a lot. This is what I did with my arcade cabinets and was totally worth it.

If you get a DC VGA cable and a VGA switcher box it should run you less than $30 total if you use ebay or other cheap options.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Well, I mean, I wouldn't get a VGA converter or a lot of things are going to look really horrible. Seriously.

Also, I don't know why you say that about the 360 considering you knew it was $400 the other week. I heard you say it.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Rumors are abounding of a price change in May.

The scuttlebutt is that they'll drop the Core system, move the Premium system to the Core price, then release their new 360 hardware with the larger hard drive and the HDMI port (plus it's black) at the old Premium price.

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:16 pm Post subject:

so i might just get a vga switcher box and use the monitor exclusively for mame (as advised by shaper). it would mean moving the monitor near the computer, though, and i have no idea where i'd put it. maybe i can make some room on my desk.
_________________

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject:

st update!

i was able to liberate my mother's old computer desk from the snow next to the garbage! the atari st finally has a home.

i know about as little about the atari st as i do about computer monitors, though. important questions: will my new monitor work with the st? how do i connect the joystick and mouse? is there stuff in the box i missed?
_________________

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

By the look of the wastebasket, you must have had to build up some courage before you went out in the snow. What kind of beer is that?
_________________
Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:21 pm Post subject:

root.
_________________

squidlarkin · . Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Posts: 100

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:03 am Post subject:

sudo interactive?
_________________

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

This comic seems as relevant as it ever is.

_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

ApM · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:01 pm Post subject:

There are ports underneath the unit for the joystick and mouse to plug in.

I'm pretty sure there is a composite video port at the back, meaning any old TV with RCA inputs will work just fine. You'll need some composite video cables to make this work, but they are very easily attainable (there are probably perfectly functional cheap ones at your local dollar store). This is what you're looking for; much more expensive ones for crazy videophiles exist. Looking at the first photo, you probably have some kicking around; I'm just making sure you know what I'm talking about since I've mentioned this before.

I know it has a special Atari monitor port, but it'll basically only work with an ST monitor which you neither have nor want.

I think it also has RGB out, but I don't have any idea how that works or if it's compatible with anything. You may be able to get an RGB to VGA converter?

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject:

okay, joystick and mouse hooked up! later i will lug my television over and try to produce video and sound.
_________________

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:42 pm Post subject:

there are three jacks in the back of the st, one for "television" and two for audio L and R. what color goes where? right now i can get some annoying beeping noises but nothing else, and no video.
_________________

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Yellow is television
White is left channel audio
Red is right channel audio

The audio channels may be backwards, but that's not really important. Yellow is video is important.
_________________
resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

ApM · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:07 am Post subject:

Hmmmm...
If you can't get that to work, you may need to hook the yellow cable up to an RF switch instead? Wikipedia is kind of leading me to believe that to get proper composite video out, you need the insanely non-standard 13-pin monitor cable. Your PC Engine probably has an RF switch; try using it?

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:47 pm Post subject:

what, something that looks like this? i guess i'll look around and see if i have anything like that.
_________________

ApM · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:13 pm Post subject:

No, something more like this (right at the bottom).

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:22 am Post subject:

i have located an rf adaptor! specifically, that very same nes rf switch.

what exactly am i supposed to be doing with it?
_________________

ApM · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject:

You plug one end into your ST in the "Television" port, and the other end into the back of your television. If your television already has something plugged into it (antenna, cable, other RF adapters), you can unplug it from the television and plug it into the other end of the RF adapter, chaining them up.

Then you tell me if it worked!

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:16 pm Post subject:

nope!

i could be hooking it up wrong but i connected it to the only part of my television it seemed to hook up to, and got nothing.
_________________

ApM · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject: