BadCoder Consolation

Atari Jaguar Video-Games Programming and Development

There are 4 ways to run Underground programs today.

Beyond Jaggy Lines (BJL Kit)

The BJL kit requires a change to the ROM of your Jaguar, but is completely free and open, and the uploader is available in versions which work with the PC and ST, under DOS, Windows and Linux.

If you have the most recent version of the BJL ROM fitted to your modified Jaguar then you will have a number of built-in games. The screen which appears offers download options, but you do not need to do anything from here as the uploader program will send the transfer type details.

Click HERE to find out how to use it.

Jaguar Unmodified Game Server (JUGS)

BattleSphere is an integrated, but hidden or secret feature of BattleSphere. The advantage is that you do not need to modify your Jaguar in any way, just plug in the BattleSphere cartridge (you have one, yes?) and the Jag-Link to RS-232 adapter, and activate JUGS.

The problem with JUGS are mainly to do with availability, here as getting a copy of BattleSphere has been very difficult up to now. The other problem is the choice of a Jag-Link connection to the serial port of a PC. It is more reliable than hacking joypad ports but much slower. The kit is not public, and available for PCs with DOS.

Click HERE to find out how to use it.

Atari StubROM Jaguar and Alpine II.

If you are lucky enough (read rich enough, the equipment still sells for around $500 at best, but often more like $700. If you have an Atari Alpine with STUB ROM Jaguar then you should also have the official Atari or Cross Products development kit software. The STUBulated Jaguar ROM loads programs into an Alpine 2 quickly but not as fast as BJL! It is really only for developers.

Click HERE to find out how to use it.

Favard Jaguar Operating System (JagOS)

The Favard kit requires a change to the ROM of your Jaguar, but is completely free, and requires the same hardware modification as the BJL kit, the fitting of a replacement Jaguar boot ROM. Looks good...

The Favard kit apparently loads .JAG files just as BJL does but at present the software to upload code to it only runs on the Atari ST, although the developers are working on a PC version. The ROM provides an Atari TOS style desktop and supports some Atari TOS operating system calls to help developers.

BadCoder hopes to try this kit in the near future too.

Click HERE to find out how to use it.