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I have 25 Vectrex32s in stock. You can buy one here.

There's a new version of the Vectrex32 firmware available: version 1.17. (Version 1.16 was never released.) Version 1.17 includes new features, optimizations, and bug fixes. If you already own Vectrex 1.10 or newer, you can download the firmware here. If you still have version 1.00, please read this.

My guess is that the Vectrex32 does not have enough power to run MAME.

I designed a extender card for the Vectrex cartridge slot with pins to break out the signals. I have attached two files. The first, Extender.zip, is the schematic and board layout created in DipTrace, a free (as in beer) PCB CAD program. The second, ExtenderGerbers.zip, is the Gerber files generated by DipTrace that you can send to a PCB manufacturer to have the boards made.

- Bob

The Vectrex BIOS routine I'm using is called DotList. It takes an array of points, but uses the same intensity for all of them. There are no BIOS routines that will do what we want.

- Bob

I've looked at this and concluded there's no real fix. Inserting lines into the Vectrex's Line List structure works to make long lines out of short lines, but inserting dots into the Dot List structure creates the extra dots you're seeing.

I'm just going to have to document this.

- Bob

You're right. I've always heard those sounds at the end of Yankee Doodle and assumed they were fireworks sound effects that had been intentionally programmed into the tune. But they're playing at the end of your music too.

I'd call this a high-priority bug.

- Bob

Having an interpreter alter your array or your drawing list, in an attempt to do what it thinks you meant to do, doesn't feel right to me. And what if the user didn't want the sprite to begin with a MoveTo? Offhand, I can't think of a situation where a user wouldn't want that, but it might happen.

I realize that this is something that people will accidentally run into, and it may cause some head-scratching. But I'm probably going to leave it as-is.

- Bob

Two things:
In the Vectrex32 manual on page 63, the code example for "spriteTranslate" uses the call "spriteTranslation"

Thanks for catching that.

Code Select Expand

a = linesSprite({{DrawTo,50,0}})
call spriteTranslate(a,{10,10})
Since there is no initial moveTo, spriteTranslate only moves the end point of the linesSprite and not the beginning point of it, distorting the vector rather than translating it.

OK, I can see that. What do you think the correct behavior should be? Inserting a MoveTo into the sprite would be really complicated, and I'd be worried about undesirable side effects.

- Bob

I've added this to my bug list.

- Bob

I actually described this wrong.

Coordinate rotation is done with floating point numbers, and while there's always some error in the calculation, it's very small and that's not what's causing the "janky" rotation. After the coordinate is rotated, it has to be rounded to an integer to send to the Vectrex. That's where the jankiness comes in.

When the coordinates are larger, the inaccuracy introduced by rounding is a smaller percentage of the total value.

- Bob

The rotation is done in floating point, but there are always small errors. Then, since you've set the scale to 255, those errors get magnified.

Try making the coordinates larger and the scale smaller.

- Bob

Hi Astro,

Take a look at the included game, lunar.bas. At line 60, terrainTemplate is initialized as a very large array. Does this do what you want?

Sadly, there is no built-in way to reference the row of an array. This is BASIC, not C. :-( It's not as elegant or efficient, but you could write a function that returns a copy of a row of an array. Use the UBound function to find the width of the input array and pass it as the dimension of the output array in the DIM statement.

As for cake: it has no purpose other than to be eaten, so why would you want to have it?

- Bob

Vectrex32s are back in stock, and I'm putting them on sale from now through Cyber Monday. Instead of their normal price of $150, they're just $125 until November 27, 2017, while supplies last.

It's in the mail. Let me know if you would like the tracking number.

Sure, it couldn't hurt to have it.

BTW, you can e-mail me directly from the Contact page.

- Bob