437 replies to this topic

[Mark Wolfe]

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:26 PM, said:

matashen, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:22 PM, said:

matashen, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:09 PM, said:

with b you set to binary, you also have to be shure you have the right filesize and type
press anykey to see your settings and options, and check what type of file you have

if its a homebrew its 256k/bll
by all other files look at the filesize

The file size on battlewheels is 132kb  there is no 132k setting...

also, you did not answer the question about what you meant by typing 'b' for binary? were you referring to a command in coolterm?

btw: the homebrews I have, like t-tris, are all very small, some are 60k, some are a little bigger or a little smaller, how the heck do you know it is 256k setting for all homebrew? and how do you determine what setting to use for regular games?

[Mark Wolfe]

matashen, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:29 PM, said:

MODE
[l] lnx [b] bin/lyx
you already set it to binary,

well i think its 128K or 256K
try it out

ahh, I see, but my roms are all .lyx so I use that setting.

I tried battlewheels in both mode settings, 128 and 256 and no go on either. the rom works under handy.

whoever said this was easy is sorely mistaken  

[remowilliams]

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:26 PM, said:

The file size on battlewheels is 132kb  there is no 132k setting...

The Battle Wheels .lnx file should be 256K in size...

[matashen]

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:30 PM, said:

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:26 PM, said:

matashen, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:22 PM, said:

matashen, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:09 PM, said:

with b you set to binary, you also have to be shure you have the right filesize and type
press anykey to see your settings and options, and check what type of file you have

if its a homebrew its 256k/bll
by all other files look at the filesize

The file size on battlewheels is 132kb  there is no 132k setting...

also, you did not answer the question about what you meant by typing 'b' for binary? were you referring to a command in coolterm?

btw: the homebrews I have, like t-tris, are all very small, some are 60k, some are a little bigger or a little smaller, how the heck do you know it is 256k setting for all homebrew? and how do you determine what setting to use for regular games?

the homebrews are mostly created with the lynxer, it makes a blockformat that it can create lynx-files up to 256K. if its smaller, it doesnt matter, its only important about the format the datas are written in the flash. if the false format is written, the game dont start and you see "insert game".
Original created games are optimized for the blockformat, the used prom has.
sage build a new lyx creator, but i dont know anyone who uses it.

[matashen]

if it works under handy, its a lnx file, and not a binary, handy kann not handle lyx-files, or iam wrong?

[Mark Wolfe]

remowilliams, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:36 PM, said:

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:26 PM, said:

The file size on battlewheels is 132kb  there is no 132k setting...

The Battle Wheels .lnx file should be 256K in size...

are you saying the file I have is wrong or the setting needs to be 256k?  it plays in handy no problem. I have tried both settings, 128 and 256 and no go.

will try a different game, home brew this time.

[Mark Wolfe]

set it to 256k/BLL mode and uploaded T-Tris, which is a tiny game, file size is 16k


no good. says INSERT GAME when I turn on Lynx

jeez

[remowilliams]

Try this one, set the flash cart to 256K / lnx

 Battle Wheels (1993)(Beyond Games).zip   91.09K   88 downloads

[matashen]

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:45 PM, said:

set it to 256k/BLL mode and uploaded T-Tris, which is a tiny game, file size is 16k


no good. says INSERT GAME when I turn on Lynx

jeez

download yastuna, iam sure its 256K/BLL and you can get it as lnx and lyx files

you can download it here
http://fadest.free.f...tuna2/#Download

[Mark Wolfe]

for what it is worth, when I chose "send binary file" in ZOC and pick battlewheels, the popup says it is 128.1k


I feel like I am chasing my tail with this thing. is there any way to verify that my cart is working correctly? I mean it seems to be but is it possible it is screwed up somehow?

[Mark Wolfe]

trying both your downloads now... hang on...

[Mark Wolfe]

matashen, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:49 PM, said:

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:45 PM, said:

set it to 256k/BLL mode and uploaded T-Tris, which is a tiny game, file size is 16k


no good. says INSERT GAME when I turn on Lynx

jeez

download yastuna, iam sure its 256K/BLL and you can get it as lnx and lyx files

you can download it here
http://fadest.free.f...tuna2/#Download

just so we're clear, here is the readout from the flash before and after the flashing of this homebrew game:


BAUDRATE
[X] 9600        [2] 19200       [3] 38400       [5] 57600       [1] 115200
MODE
[g] 128k        [X] 256k/BLL    [i] 512K        [k] 512K-BLL
[X] lnx         [b] bin/lyx

put it in lynx and at first it was black screen and then it came up working


trying remo's rom.  btw I got battlewheels from atariage... it is the rom download hosted here... where did you get yours? the file sizes are clearly different

[Mark Wolfe]

waiting for battlewheels to upload, this rom is very different in size and the popup says 256.1k where the other ones I had and the one downloaded from atariage, were 128.1k.  why is this and how do we know we have the right rom when BOTH work in handy?

can I change the baud rate to a higher number, will it still work, this is pretty slow

[Mark Wolfe]

remo's battlewheels works!  that's two out of two. ok so where do  get a romset that works with this flash cart? the instructions say if it works in handy it will work in the cart, clearly this is false and also that means atariage is hosting roms that do not work in the cart which seems counter productive to me

advise please...


and thanks you guys for holding my hand. I realy need to put this all in a concise faq for mac users when I get the chance but need to figure this rom situation out first

[Mark Wolfe]

ok, now this is odd. I just re-tried the atariage battlewheels rom after I increased the baud rate to the max and set it to 128k which is the file size it says it is when the send file dialog opens, and it works!


so has every rom I threw at it so far


wacky. it is like it went from nothing working to everything working. I DO realize why I had no success initially because it was set t the bin/lyx  setting, when al my roms were lnx. but even after I got that setting right I still had tons of problems and now they have just disappeared.

everything works as it should, as described in the manual.  I do think there needs to be a re-write and have some terms and descriptions changed up a bit but I will try to write a mac user guide when I have time, but in the meantime, if any future mac users have trouble let me know and thanks to those who helped.  very much appreciated.

[Fadest]

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 3:06 PM, said:

waiting for battlewheels to upload, this rom is very different in size and the popup says 256.1k where the other ones I had and the one downloaded from atariage, were 128.1k.  why is this and how do we know we have the right rom when BOTH work in handy?

.lnx files are for Handy, they allways are have a multiple of 128k as size (there is an header for Handy, and eventually, it is filled with dummy characters), so, a 176k lyx ROM for instance will be converted into a 256k .lnx file.
You can have a look into the yastuna 2 archive you downloaded, there are .lyx and .lnx files. Both are the same but sizes are differents.

[Lynxman]

The memory mode setting is needed because the Lynx have different methodes to access the ROMs.

All you need to know is:

For Atari-Released games:
128K -> 128K
256K -> 256K/BLL
512K -> 512K

For all releases with use the BLL-Loader (most homebrew) -> 256K/BLL even if the file is much smaller!
If a Homebrew needs more memory than 256k, it is possible to use the 512k-BLL mode. (simple Bankswitching)

The difference between the setting "lnx" and "bin/lyx" is that the "lnx" files have 64Bytes more at the beginning. This 64Bytes are not part of the game. The FlashCard cut this 64Bytes.

In most of the case the 115200 Baud should work. 1 user report me that he could use max 57600, but he used a demo version of Win 7.

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:59 PM, said:

mine says V270011

I think it is V1270011?

It is the serial number of your FlashCard. V127 indicates the Hardware version, the 0011 is the serial number. I ignore the Hardware version an count up with no break for it.

Mark Wolfe, on Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:26 PM, said:

The file size on battlewheels is 132kb there is no 132k setting...

Maybe 132k packed size? You need to unzip it, because the FlashCard do not unpack the data.

-----------------

I am sorry, i was some days on a business trip.
Thank you to all who helped to get the FlashCard running at Marks Mac.

[Mark Wolfe]

I get the whole files size thing now one thing that I did not see anyone point out for a novice user was that when you go to "upload binary" the dialog box will tell you what setting you need, it will say 128.1k or 256.1k or whatever and then you can set it to the right size, the actual file size of the game often tells you what to set it to but not always.

I found there to be far fewer problems when I set the baud rate to the highest setting, I am curious as to why this is not suggested in the manual, if it is I missed it. the other thing I want to point out from my novice standpoint is that when I first started playing with this, I did not notice there was a spelling difference between lnx and lyx.... it was sort of a dyslexic thing when I looked at it, my brain just saw them both as the same thing and so I had the cart set to bin/lyx when all the roms I have are lnx and that led to a lot of my initial problems. but even after I fixed that I had numerous issues and all those disappeared when I set the baud rate to the highest setting. maybe this is just a mac thing, I don't know but that was my experience.

anyone on a mac also should read the previous posts, especially this one:

Post #380


it shows the proper configuration for Zoc, which is indeed the program to use if you're on a mac, you need to make sure you configure it like you see in the post AFTER you install the driver, because if you use the default setup it will not allow you to type in any commands and you'll be stuck. novice users should also take note NOT to use the button that says "send file" but use the command "upload binary" when asked to upload a file after you type the "w". that command can be found in the menu under TRANSFER at the top menu bar when Zoc is running.

thanks again to everyone who held my hand. it was embarrassing for me to ask for help because I was so out of my element with this. it really is quite easy but there are some confusing things that I think the advanced users of this and the coders and technical people out there who take it for granted that people who are new to it won't notice. there are very small issues you need to take note of when you are firing this all up and I hope my experience helps others in the future who may come here looking for similar answers.

-mw

[compmike19]

Just wanting to say I received this flash cart yesterday and it looks fantastic, came in it's own custom cartridge box. Great piece of work, can't wait to get it loaded up and try some homebrews on my Lynx. Thanks!

[zoltan]

Mark Wolfe, on Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:20 PM, said:

I get the whole files size thing now one thing that I did not see anyone point out for a novice user was that when you go to "upload binary" the dialog box will tell you what setting you need, it will say 128.1k or 256.1k or whatever and then you can set it to the right size, the actual file size of the game often tells you what to set it to but not always.

I found there to be far fewer problems when I set the baud rate to the highest setting, I am curious as to why this is not suggested in the manual, if it is I missed it. the other thing I want to point out from my novice standpoint is that when I first started playing with this, I did not notice there was a spelling difference between lnx and lyx.... it was sort of a dyslexic thing when I looked at it, my brain just saw them both as the same thing and so I had the cart set to bin/lyx when all the roms I have are lnx and that led to a lot of my initial problems. but even after I fixed that I had numerous issues and all those disappeared when I set the baud rate to the highest setting. maybe this is just a mac thing, I don't know but that was my experience.

anyone on a mac also should read the previous posts, especially this one:

Post #380


it shows the proper configuration for Zoc, which is indeed the program to use if you're on a mac, you need to make sure you configure it like you see in the post AFTER you install the driver, because if you use the default setup it will not allow you to type in any commands and you'll be stuck. novice users should also take note NOT to use the button that says "send file" but use the command "upload binary" when asked to upload a file after you type the "w". that command can be found in the menu under TRANSFER at the top menu bar when Zoc is running.

thanks again to everyone who held my hand. it was embarrassing for me to ask for help because I was so out of my element with this. it really is quite easy but there are some confusing things that I think the advanced users of this and the coders and technical people out there who take it for granted that people who are new to it won't notice. there are very small issues you need to take note of when you are firing this all up and I hope my experience helps others in the future who may come here looking for similar answers.

-mw

Hi Mark Wolfe, I am happy that finally you can use your flash card. I use Mac OS X as well and I am thinking about to getting one of these flash cards in the near future. If I will do so and I will have difficulties ( and I am sure I will have... ) I hope you won't mind to asking from you a few question.

[frap]

I just got my flashcard and tried out the Lynxopoly demo, so everything appears to be working. I look forward to playing with this card over the weekend. Thanks, Lynxman!

I used the minicom program on a Fedora GNU/Linux distribution and I figured I'd put some notes here in case anyone else planned to use their flash card with a Unix-based OS. You should be able to install minicom using your distribution's automated install commands like yum or apt-get.

I will assume you have root (administrator) access on your machine in order to simplify the instructions. Once you get everything working as root you can adjust the permissions accordingly for normal users.

Instructions:

Spoiler

Plug in your flash card, wait a second or so and then run:

# dmesg | grep FTDI
usb 3-1: Manufacturer: FTDI
ftdi_sio 3-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
usb 3-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB1
#

Note the last line that mentions 'ttyUSB1.' Yours may say 'ttyUSB0' or something else. Remember this value. When I use ttyUSB1, replace it with the value from your dmesg output.

Now, start

# minicom -s

to setup the default configuration. Select Serial Port Setup and then press 'A' to set the serial device. This probably says '/dev/modem.' Change 'modem' to your dmesg value, e.g. /dev/ttyUSB1.

Then, press 'E' to change the Bps/Par/Bits. You want it to read 9600 8N1. The Flash card ships with the 9600 8N1 setting.

Next, review the 'F' and 'G' options (Hardware and Software Flow Control) and make sure they are set to No. Hardware Flow Control defaults to Yes and if you don't change it you won't be able to send commands to the card.

Finally, press enter to return to the main menu, and select 'Save setup as dfl.' Then select exit.

Now you can start minicom:

# minicom

and once it is up, press the 'Anykey' on your flash card and you should see the menu as described in the documentation. Try pressing 's' and then enter to see the Firmware version. If this works, you are all set.

I wasn't able to figure out how to get minicom to send a binary file. So, in order to upload a file, select the 'w' option and wait for the upload prompt. Then, in another shell terminal (leaving the one with minicom still open) execute this command:

# cat /path/to/image.lnx > /dev/ttyUSB1

The red lights on the flash card should turn on during the write operation. Once it's done, you can verify the file using the same process.

If the verify succeeds, disconnect the usb cable from the flash card and you're ready to play.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and I'll update this post accordingly.

-frap

[Lynxman]

Hi frap,

thank you for this instructions.

KR

Lynxman

[zoltan]

Hi everybody, I just tried out my Flash Card, everything works fine. I use Mac OS X, so if any Mac user will need help fell free to ask me. Mark Wolfe's problems were very instructive, I figured out many things from there. And thanks for the Lynxman for his amazing job.

[Dwo Shwoom]

Hello, sorry to bring this back from the dead, but is there any possibility of getting ahold of another one of these custom flashcarts. Also, are the schematics proprietary, or was the creator (Lynxman) planning on releasing the schematics of the pcb? I brought this topic out of the grave, as I recently uncovered a slightly damaged (But fully working) Lynx model 1 I got at Goodwill for 4-5 dollars (A bargain, as I've seen from the sales on eBay), and I've been a bit tight on cash to be able to afford any games beyond one every few paychecks. As a longtime Atari fan, I would just like to be able to put this great system to use.

[Ninjabba]

Dwo Shwoom, on Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:17 AM, said:

Hello, sorry to bring this back from the dead, but is there any possibility of getting ahold of another one of these custom flashcarts. Also, are the schematics proprietary, or was the creator (Lynxman) planning on releasing the schematics of the pcb? I brought this topic out of the grave, as I recently uncovered a slightly damaged (But fully working) Lynx model 1 I got at Goodwill for 4-5 dollars (A bargain, as I've seen from the sales on eBay), and I've been a bit tight on cash to be able to afford any games beyond one every few paychecks. As a longtime Atari fan, I would just like to be able to put this great system to use.

I guess the best course is to contact Lynxman to see if he has any left in stock. Be warned though, the flashcard isn't made for usage with the Lynx 1. I don't own the Lynx 1 but its nearly impossible to put it in and remove the cart without touching the sensitive chips on the pcb.