Re: [Atari800-users] Atari800-users Digest, Vol 139, Issue 6

[Chris C. <chr...@gm...>]

Interesting period just the other night across my complaints from fifteen
years ago that colleen on android could not be used for activities that
required using the keyboard and seeing the screen at the same time, for
more than a few moments at a time: programming, of course, and games like
Typo Attack.  ( Games that use the keyboard only briefly, like Star
Raiders, were not too badly affected because you could pop up the keyboard,
press a key,  and pop it back away again.)  If Bill has been programming on
Colleen-on-Android, though, I presume that means that this problem was
fixed at some point!   That's great news!  (Gee, I just realized --
hopefully, it doesn't simply mean that he is using some sort of external
keyboard to get AROUND the problem!)

On Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 8:59 AM <ata...@li...>
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Re: Colleen 4.3.1 released (Bill Kendrick)
>    2. Re: Colleen 4.3.1 released (Petr Stehl?k)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2026 22:57:32 +0100
> From: Bill Kendrick <nb...@so...>
> To: ata...@li...
> Subject: Re: [Atari800-users] Colleen 4.3.1 released
> Message-ID: <amp3TJk9WQG-lmnv@bill-t480s>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2026 at 10:29:40PM +0200, Petr Stehl?k wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have just released Colleen 4.3.1 with a few small but hopefully
> > useful fixes: the android navigation buttons are hidden, the new disk
> > drive icons should not overlap the emulated screen and the console keys
> > are brighter a bit.
>
> I noticed I could not type the number 2 (was writing a simple
> "10 PRINT PADDLE(0);",";PADDLE(1)", "20 GOTO 10", but had to
> resort to "30 GOTO 10").  Google Pixel 7, Android 17, updated
> earlier this month.
>
> I noticed that if I tapped "RESET", the button in the UI lit up,
> but nothing happened.  I had to tap and hold for a moment for
> it to regsiter (warm start).
>
> But then I noticed if I held it too _long_, it would fully
> reboot the Atari (cold start).
>
> I'd also still love to see "BREAK" and "INVERSE VIDEO" (Fuji)
> keys among the console keys.  (I had to resort to "RESET" to stop
> my program, but then totally _lost_ my program after accidentally
> holding it down too long.)
>
>
> Unfortunately, I don't have much time (or inclination) to play
> with it much more at the moment.  That's my feedback so far,
> though!
>
> -bill!
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 01:55:06 +0200
> From: Petr Stehl?k <pst...@so...>
> To: ata...@li...
> Subject: Re: [Atari800-users] Colleen 4.3.1 released
> Message-ID:
>         <cae...@so...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> On St, 2026-07-29 at 22:57 +0100, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> > I noticed I could not type the number 2
>
> if you were on a desktop PC I'd suggest you to check your keyboard
> joystick mapping (as that one can "eat" key presses) but on Android I
> have no idea why this happened to you. Can you try pressing all other
> keys eventually? The Atari OS's internal SELF TEST is ideal for that.
>
> > Google Pixel 7, Android 17
>
> Google Pixel 6 and the same OS here, "2" works OK.
>
> > I noticed that if I tapped "RESET", the button in the UI lit up,
> > but nothing happened.? I had to tap and hold for a moment for
> > it to regsiter (warm start).
> >
> > But then I noticed if I held it too _long_, it would fully
> > reboot the Atari (cold start).
>
> Yeah, this is a feature from the original Colleen. It's quite cool but
> probably not well documented. I also figured it out by trial-and-error.
>
> > I'd also still love to see "BREAK" and "INVERSE VIDEO" (Fuji)
> > keys among the console keys.? (I had to resort to "RESET" to stop
> > my program, but then totally _lost_ my program after accidentally
> > holding it down too long.)
>
> I get it but these keys are clearly not console keys. The BREAK and
> INVERSE are just regular keys that are missing from the Android
> keyboard. Maybe we could use some special keys from the Android
> keyboard (like the "pi" or "square root" sign) and map them as the
> BREAK and INVERSE keys?
>
> > Unfortunately, I don't have much time (or inclination) to play
> > with it much more at the moment.? That's my feedback so far,
> > though!
>
> Thanks! I was most curious about users' experience after hiding of the
> Android navigation keys that are the most (in)visible change of 4.3.1
> (compared to 4.3.0). I suppose full screen games hide those buttons too
> and people are OK with it so they should be OK with Colleen hiding them
> as well but I just wanted to be (more) sure.
>
> Petr
>
>
>
>
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> End of Atari800-users Digest, Vol 139, Issue 6
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