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Ultimate Atari Cart (Electrotrains) Pre-Order by 18 APR 17


MacRorie

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I *think* that all of the XEX files on the the Homesoft site have been converted for XL/XE use.

 

That said, I really much prefer using CAR format files on my Ultimate Cart for those games that were originally cartridge based releases.

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Just received Electrotrains' Ultimate Atari Cart last night!

Amazingly easy to setup and use. Very happy with making this purchase.

Only a few xex files (out of over 150+) haven't worked.

By example xex files for Hard Hat Mack and Zaxxon both fail to load; they're are a couple of others but most work and the Ultimate Atari Cart is really cool technology: loading xex, rom and car files quickly and easily from the menu via keyboard or joystick.

 

Thank you very much MacRorie for a) excellent technology that is a snap to setup and use and b) for getting it shipped out so quickly (i.e. ordered on Tuesday night, arrived Friday!)!!

 

 

 

Thanks for the kudos, but remember, I am just the producer! All of this would not be possible without @electrotrains' awesome work!

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I received my cart last week. It's great!

 

Just a quick question for the masses... Should it be expected that my stock 600XL is unable to launch many titles? Most commercially released, common titles (that I know for certain were released in the earliest 8-bit days...think Space Invaders, etc.) run fine, whether in .car or .rom file formats. It seems like most that I try that are post-1982, however, are a no-go. I've chalked this up to the machine only having 16K of RAM, but I thought I'd check in to see if I should dig further. This is my first experience with an Atari 8-bit, so, please excuse my ignorance.

 

Is the 16k of ram going to be an issue for cartridge-based games? When I get home from work, I'll try some of the titles that weren't working while holding the 'Option' key at launch.

Edited by tisaperfectdayelise
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I received my cart last week. It's great!

 

Just a quick question for the masses... Should it be expected that my stock 600XL is unable to launch many titles? Most commercially released, common titles (that I know for certain were released in the earliest 8-bit days...think Space Invaders, etc.) run fine, whether in .car or .rom file formats. It seems like most that I try that are post-1982, however, are a no-go. I've chalked this up to the machine only having 16K of RAM, but I thought I'd check in to see if I should dig further. This is my first experience with an Atari 8-bit, so, please excuse my ignorance.

 

Is the 16k of ram going to be an issue for cartridge-based games? When I get home from work, I'll try some of the titles that weren't working while holding the 'Option' key at launch.

16k is not enough to play most of the newer games. as you have experienced, the early games work because they have far fewer memory requirements (mainly because Atari was working with a user base where 16k in a machine was a likely configuration). However, as the XL and, later, the XE came out, developers were guaranteed of a minimum RAM of 64k for the most part. So, if the 600XL is your only machine, you might want to look out for a 1064 or some other memory upgrade and it will open up a whole new world in terms of games and other programs.

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Should it be expected that my stock 600XL is unable to launch many titles? Most commercially released, common titles (that I know for certain were released in the earliest 8-bit days...think Space Invaders, etc.) run fine, whether in .car or .rom file formats. It seems like most that I try that are post-1982, however, are a no-go. I've chalked this up to the machine only having 16K of RAM, but I thought I'd check in to see if I should dig further. This is my first experience with an Atari 8-bit, so, please excuse my ignorance.

 

Is the 16k of ram going to be an issue for cartridge-based games? When I get home from work, I'll try some of the titles that weren't working while holding the 'Option' key at launch.

 

Some of the larger files in ROM or CAR format will run OK depending on their bankswitching method. Most will not. You will have more issues with XEX format files because they are dependent on system memory.

 

Try the file that I have attached. There are 200ish 8K and 16K ROM/CAR format games that should run fine on a 16K machine. Be aware, though, that there may be the random OS-B only title mixed in that could give you issue on your XL.

ROM and CAR files.zip

Edited by SS
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Thank you for all of the feedback. SS, thank you for the files. Just as you suggested, most of the files I tried worked without a hitch. I will need to open this thing up at some point, get the keyboard functioning (one section doesn't register), and figure out this RAM situation. It seems like a waste to keep the machine at 16k, when the Ultimate cart opens the door to so many titles. Let's hope the chips are socketed :-p

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Thank you for all of the feedback. SS, thank you for the files. Just as you suggested, most of the files I tried worked without a hitch. I will need to open this thing up at some point, get the keyboard functioning (one section doesn't register), and figure out this RAM situation. It seems like a waste to keep the machine at 16k, when the Ultimate cart opens the door to so many titles. Let's hope the chips are socketed :-p

I have never heard of an NTSC 600XL that wasn’t fully-socketed. A 64K upgrade should be just the matter of a couple of chips and a couple jumper wires, if you’re handy with a soldering iron.

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I have never heard of an NTSC 600XL that wasn’t fully-socketed. A 64K upgrade should be just the matter of a couple of chips and a couple jumper wires, if you’re handy with a soldering iron.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I'm not shy with a soldering iron.

 

Anyhow, thank you for all of the insights! The upgrade looks fairly simple. I'm ordering the chips today.

 

I hope this didn't derail the original post. That was never my intention.

 

Thanks again, everybody!

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Hello Ultimate Atari Cart fans!

 

Am wondering how to get a .xex file that requires Atari OSB to load and run on a 130XE using the Ultimate Atari Cart?

Have tried in emulation and it works fine, but I believe that's because Atari800MacX loads OSB.

 

Tried googling .xex and loading OSB on 130XE but couldn't find much (besides information on emulation settings/setups).

 

Found a .xex of Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves but can't get it to load on my 130XE using the .xex from the Ultimate Atari Cart.

 

Hope that makes sense!

 

Thank you very much for your time and any help!

Edited by Fingolfin
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Well, you need some way to load OSB onto your XE. The way I do it is with my Ultimate 1MB board - I use one of the OS slots for a copy of OSB padded out to 16K. There are several other hardware OS switch solutions that can do the same. But without one of those I think you may be out of luck. But chances are someone has a fixed/patched version of whatever game you’re trying to run that will work with an XL or XE.

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Welllll, you could put a multi OS board of some kind in your 130. Either a 32-in-1 (https://www.atarimax.com/warpos/documentation/) or an Ultimate 1MB upgrade. I would recommend the Ultimate over anything else. That opens up SO much more.

 

Realize, however, that both will require you to install some things in your machine.

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Thank you for the quick replies!

 

And thank you CharlieChaplin!

Thought I'd checked Homesoft's site before for this title and only found .atr(s). Obviously wrong/faulty memory!

Homesoft's .xex works perfectly.

 

I had considered a 32-in-1 before possibly for an 800XL I have in storage that needs some fixing (very poor video signal output).

Seems like in order to really take advantage of APE+ you need a PC and I've been pretty much a lifelong Mac user.

 

Do you guys know of any Ultimate 1MB upgrades still available anywhere (i.e. besides ebay)?

Does the Ultimate 1MB upgrade require a Windows machine to make it work?

I googled the Ultimate 1MB upgrade but couldn't find too much current other than a link/site about updating firmware for the Ultimate 1MB upgrade.

 

Thank you again very much for your time and help!

 

Best Regards

Edited by Fingolfin
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Thank you for the quick replies!

 

And thank you CharlieChaplin!

Thought I'd checked Homesoft's site before for this title and only found .atr(s). Obviously wrong/faulty memory!

Homesoft's .xex works perfectly.

 

I had considered a 32-in-1 before possibly for an 800XL I have in storage that needs some fixing (very poor video signal output).

Seems like in order to really take advantage of APE+ you need a PC and I've been pretty much a lifelong Mac user.

Actually, I am also a die hard Mac user and I use Parallels to run APE. You could also use RespeQt in its native MacOS build.

Do you guys know of any Ultimate 1MB upgrades still available anywhere (i.e. besides ebay)?

 

 

You can buy them direct from Lotharek's site. Or, I will be glad to sell you one of the batch I have for the 1088XELs. Up to you.

Thank you again very much for your time and help!

 

Best Regards

Anytime.

 

-M

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Am wondering how to get a .xex file that requires Atari OSB to load and run on a 130XE using the Ultimate Atari Cart?

 

 

It's a bit of a round-about way to get there but you can use the AtariMax "MazFlash Cartridge Studio" with an OS-B ONLY XEX file to create a MaxFlash CAR image that will install a software copy of OS-B before loading your game.

 

It would be much simpler, though, just to get a XL/XE compatable XEX file from the Homesoft site.

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Electrotrains and MacRorie rock!!! :cool:

Well at least their Ultimate Atari Cart sure does! :grin:
Thanks for that last post and suggestions SS, as well; I've been poking around the atarimax site a little bit lately...some great stuff for Ultimate Atari Cart users!
With the help of the kind and generous people of this thread I have been slowly building up a decent collection of .car files as well as accumulating and refining the .xex files I have.
Although there'll be some overlap with what SS has already posted regarding 8k-16k .rom/.bin/.car files, I'd like to share my .car (105) and .xex (a gross) files and perhaps help out those just getting started with the Ultimate Atari Cart!
All of these files have been tested thoroughly on my stock NTSC 130XE and work great.
Please note that I might have a PAL game or five :-o among the .xex files (and I need to mention there are at least two Mastertronic titles, Colony and Storm, and I've got some English Software titles too) but all work with no glitches graphic or gameplay-wise (at least in the hours put in testing so far).
Personally some of the .car highlights included would be Blaster (still don't know where SS found that one! also a prototype though it plays like a complete/revised/polished game), Missle Command+, and prototypes of Bruce Lee, Stargate, Mean 18 and Commando; however much fun they are all to play none of those four prototypes is particularly polished except for Bruce Lee (which of course was a finished game/released on floppy disk).
8 bit Atari Commando is good, seems fairly complete (?) has the secret areas (though barely any effort is needed to set the POWs free?) and is a good challenge and I like Mean 18 8 bit too but it is so slow (however I really enjoy Commando on the 7800 and hope to play the completed Mean 18 on the 7800 too someday!).
Lots of cool .xex files too, like Adventure (2600), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and several Synapse games not available as .rom/.bin/.car.
And some games whose .xex files came labeled 130XE, like Bosconian for 8 bit Atari, as well as 130XE versions including Choplifter!, Koronis Rift and The Eidolon.
There are a few 5200 conversions for Atari 8 bit as well among the .xex files.
My gameplay/genre interests are all over the place: I like games that are over and done in 5 minutes and I like some that take for hours, I enjoy some sports games, some strategy/war/simulations, some adventure/rpg type games and lots of shooters! :jango:
Check 'em out. You might like some of 'em!
Hope this helps an Atari freak and/or geek or two!
As well it'd be great if others wanted to share their collections or parts of collections of their .bin/.rom/.car files too!
Best Regards
Fingolfin

Atari car files.zip

Atari xex files.zip

Edited by Fingolfin
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Hello again!

Here are some additional Atarimax 1MB .car files for you to try with your Ultimate Atari Cart!

 

6 different 1MB Atarimax .car files:

1) 39+disks on 1 (PAL); good stuff and all but the last work great in NTSC; also this has an incredible Atarimax menu :-o
Thank you very much cartridge_fan for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!
2) AtariBLAST (single game)
Thank you very much kiwilove for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!
3) Pacman games
Thank you very much jonpertwee for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!
4) shooter mix (PAL); good stuff here too, a few don't work via NTSC but most do
Thank you very much Yellow_Man for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!
5) Space Harrier (single game)
Thank you very much Sheddy for making and sharing this here at the AtariAge forum!
6) super atari arcade; I really like this mix of Atari games and a few non Atari as well
Thank you very much WizWor for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!
I have changed/shortened the original names for a few of these 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images originally posted at the Atarimax forum.
I was trying to a) identify PAL titles as appropriate and b) reduce/simplify title lengths. Not wishing to take well deserved credit from the authors (listed, acknowledged and thanked above)!
Hope you enjoy these!
Best Regards
Fingolfin

Atarimax 1mb.zip

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Time for an update and to laud the virtues of and excellent technology that is the Ultimate Atari Cart!

 

A couple of corrections /amendments to titles and 2 more Atarimax 1MB .car files.

 

As the titles are embedded I'd like to amend and correct the titles to some of the Atarimax .car posted above:

 

PAC-GAMES

Thank you very much jonpertwee for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!

 

Super Atari Arcade

Thank you very much WizWor for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!

 

Yellow Man's Shooter Cart (PAL)

Thank you very much Yellow_Man for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!

 

The two new Atarimax 1MB .car files here are

 

Koma Megamodul 63+1 in 1 (PAL); great selection and although some titles don't work or work well/properly on NTSC machines, most do

Thank you very much cartridge_fan for making and sharing this at the 8Mbit Flash Cartridge Images Atarimax forum!

 

Action, Strategy & Fantasy

 

The latter is my first attempt at a working Atarimax 1MB .car and it has

1 Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

2 Broadsides (SSI)

3 Dragon's Eye

4 Jet Set Willy 2007

5 Jumpman

6 Juno First

7 Sirius Multiboot Games with

A. Snake Byte

B. Final Orbit

C. Fantastic Voyage

D. Flash Gordon

E. Wavy Navy

F. Repton

8 Spare Change

9 Telengard

10 Temple of Apshai Trilogy

 

Everything works, plays well and has been tested thoroughly on my stock US 130XE.

I really enjoy Jet Set Willy and I don't really go for most platform games: the music, animation, puzzles and control in this one are all excellent.

A really great game and a wonderful port of a classic ZX Spectrum game to Atari 8 bit computers.

Others here are great too but Jet Set Willy is new to me. :grin:

 

Thank you very much Electrotrains for designing and making and MacRorie for selling and delivering the Ultimate Atari Cart! :jango:

 

Enjoy

 

Best Regards

Fingolfin

Atarimax#2 1mb.zip

Edited by Fingolfin
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Thank you for sharing tjlazer! :cool:

 

In spite of searching several Atari game archives online I had not been able to locate an NTSC version of Rampage!

Thanks also for a .xex file of Synapse Software's Slime that'll work on an XE; had been looking for this as well.

Thanks again. Great collection of .xex files. Very cool! :thumbsup:

 

I would like to thank Electrotrains and MacRorie again for their amazing Ultimate Atari Cart! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

With the help of folks here at AtariAge and the Atarimax website, each week I am learning something new to try with the Ultimate Atari Cart! :grin:

I've been tinkering some more with using MaxFlash Studio for making my own Atarimax 1MB .car files and have two new .car files to share here.

 

Action & Adventure

1 Adventure (2600)

2 Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

3 Casten Game Disk

4 Centipede Special (not sure what this one's called/how it's referred to by others in the Atari fan community)

5 Jet Set Willy 2007

6 Jumpman

7 Juno First

8 Rampage (NTSC thanks again for this one tjlazer!)

9 Scrolls of Abadon

10 Shamus+

11 Sinistar

12 Sirius Multiboot Games with

A. Snake Byte

B. Final Orbit
C. Fantastic Voyage
D. Flash Gordon
E. Wavy Navy
F. Repton

13 Slime (and thanks for this one as well tjlazer!)

14 Spare Change

15 Tutankham

16 Xari Arena (5200)

17 Zaxxon

 

Fantasy & Strategy

1 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

2 Atari Rogue

3 Broadsides

4 Dragon's Eye

5 NATO Commander

6 Telengard

7 Temple of Apshai Trilogy

8 Theatre Europe

9 Tigers in the Snow

10 War in Russia v1.1

 

There's some obvious overlap between these two file sets and the one I made and posted previously: Action, Strategy & Fantasy (please see above if interested).

 

Still it seemed to make sense to share these two as they're different enough and have some new game offerings (vs. my first attempt).

 

These atarimax 1MB .car files and all of the titles included have been thoroughly tested and played using my US/NTSC 130XE.

I don't believe I've used any PAL versions or exclusively PAL versions of any game so far in making my own atarimax 1MB .car files.

All the versions found here work and play great on NTSC gear!

 

Although it is weird to see Tigers in the Snow in red/burgundy on my (now) older plasma HDTV instead of the purple when played through emulation and through older CRT sets/monitors.

 

Please note that I did have to make adjustments in MaxFlash studio for Rampage and Xari Arena (5200); both required changing starting memory addresses in order to work properly in emulation (I always test stuff using Atari800MacX first using stock 130XE settings) and to run properly on my 130XE.

 

Please be aware of the fact that these 2 .xex files loading attributes needed to be changed in order to work; I'm new at this and might have been a little heavy handed with the settings. Nothing's going to break your machine but if you're not using a 130XE then there could be some issues with Rampage and Xari Arena (5200) in the Action & Adventure .car.

 

Please let me know what you think: there is a bit of graphic weirdness (very precise and technical term being used here ;) ) prior to Rampage loading.

Thank you very much in advance for your feedback, thoughts, suggestions or recommendations!

 

If anyone wants to know the exact settings used in MaxFlash Studio I can look them up and post that info; believe I started with the first alpha-based Hex location (first memory location starting/loading setting in customizing options in MaxFlash Studio for .xex files that includes letters (and not just numbers)).

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Warning! Digression ahead!...

 

When I was 11 and 12 I tried to learn some 6502 assembly on my old Atari 400 but quickly got to a point where my math background and knowledge were not up to the task of really working with assembly and achieving much with it. This was also true for more sophisticated subroutines in Basic: got to a point where my sense of logic, knowledge of Basic, etc was ahead of my math skills (needed to get the math skills and background provided by Algebra II and Geometry a couple of years later). So in other words I know enough to be dangerous :-o and to confuse myself (not that I need any help with that) and others.

 

Please correct me for any incorrect use of Atari 8 bit computer hardware or software terminology. Please forgive my ignorance. ;)

 

I've also been playing around some with trying to make atarimax 1MB .car files using multi-disk games but it seems like most multi-disk games really need save functionality. The only multi disk game that I've been able to get to work that also seems useful/appropriate for single session play (and not requiring a save due to the length of time needed to complete a game) is Rails West! I have gotten several SSI games to work this way but again most of those are not necessarily best suited for single session play (unless you have 5 or 6 hours straight to play through a war-game simulation).

 

Any suggestions about other multi-disk games that would be good for using with MaxFlash Studio software for making .car files for the Ultimate Atari Cart? Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you very much in advance!

 

Best Regards and Happy Atari 8 bit computer gaming! :thumbsup:

Fingolfin

Action & Adventure.car.zip

Fantasy & Strategy.car.zip

Edited by Fingolfin
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Folks,

If you are still looking for an Ultimate Cart and/or an UNO cart, eBay is doing a 20% off coupon! PSPRING20 It is valid until 8 pm 09 March Friday-Today. Save up to $19 on the Ultimate and $11.20 on the UNO

 

Here is a link to all of my auctions

https://preview.tinyurl.com/yctetvoc

 

 

-M

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