CPUWIZ Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Those are just my boards, which is why Al needs donor carts, so he can extract the SuperChip (SARA) from them and use them on these boards. Here is a comparison shot between Atari's board and mine: Okay, daft question time here perhaps, but why not just remove the game chip from the old boards and solder the newly burnt homebrew to them instead? Rather than extract the SARA, solder it to the new board AND then solder the homebrew chip to the new board. Because of the bankswitching logic PLD, the original ROM's had the logic in the chip, EPROM's do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Ah... well fair enough there then heh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) I'd buy it sans the SuperChip. SuperChip carts are hard to come by in numbers around here, but I could locate a single donor and install it myself as long as the main label hadn't been glued on to the Cave In cart just yet. Edited January 27, 2009 by shadow460 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Beard Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I've only got a measly three carts from your list (2 Jr. Pac-Man's and a Crystal Castle) but they're yours if you want'em, my gift to you. PM me your address if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 I've only got a measly three carts from your list (2 Jr. Pac-Man's and a Crystal Castle) but they're yours if you want'em, my gift to you.PM me your address if you're interested. PM sent, thanks! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricDeLee Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Well... I was looking through a few lots that I have (a 160 cart lot and an 80 cart lot). Looks like I have 8 games from your list: Dig Dug Crystal Castles Crystal Castles (Atari Corp) Defender II JR. Pac-man (2) Millipede (2) I need to look around tomorrow after work. I may have a few more for you as well Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Because of the bankswitching logic PLD, the original ROM's had the logic in the chip, EPROM's do not. BTW, it's probably too late for this idea to be useful, and it's probably not practical anyway, but I may as well suggest... would it be practical to make a daughterboard that would plug into the space occupied by the ROM on an Atari cart? I would guess it would be necessary to use surface-mount, but such a thing would have two advantages over using a new PCB: -1- It would be a smaller PCB, and wouldn't need gold fingers. -2- Though it would require more labor to assemble than a normal PCB, the labor required to destructively remove a ROM and solder a header to two boards might be less than the labor required to non-destructively remove a RAM and solder it into another board. The approach might have been fairly nice (albeit pointless) for some older cart PCBs that had two rows of holes with all the cartridge signals; one could destructively remove the old ROM without unsoldering it and connect the new board to the other holes. It doesn't look like Atari's SARA boards have the extra holes, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Because of the bankswitching logic PLD, the original ROM's had the logic in the chip, EPROM's do not. BTW, it's probably too late for this idea to be useful, and it's probably not practical anyway, but I may as well suggest... would it be practical to make a daughterboard that would plug into the space occupied by the ROM on an Atari cart? I would guess it would be necessary to use surface-mount, but such a thing would have two advantages over using a new PCB: -1- It would be a smaller PCB, and wouldn't need gold fingers. -2- Though it would require more labor to assemble than a normal PCB, the labor required to destructively remove a ROM and solder a header to two boards might be less than the labor required to non-destructively remove a RAM and solder it into another board. The approach might have been fairly nice (albeit pointless) for some older cart PCBs that had two rows of holes with all the cartridge signals; one could destructively remove the old ROM without unsoldering it and connect the new board to the other holes. It doesn't look like Atari's SARA boards have the extra holes, though. I've actually thought about exactly that, but Al is allergic to surface mount parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 I've actually thought about exactly that, but Al is allergic to surface mount parts. I'm allergic to soldering them myself, but happy to let other people do so. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I've actually thought about exactly that, but Al is allergic to surface mount parts. I'm allergic to soldering them myself, but happy to let other people do so. ..Al Aw come on. The last time I had to fix a RAM chip in a cart, the chip was surface mount. I've been known to install 20 pin surface mount ICs with a pencil iron and a roll of solder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornpipe2 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Because of the bankswitching logic PLD, the original ROM's had the logic in the chip, EPROM's do not. BTW, it's probably too late for this idea to be useful, and it's probably not practical anyway, but I may as well suggest... would it be practical to make a daughterboard that would plug into the space occupied by the ROM on an Atari cart? I wonder also: could one of those homebrew bankswitch PLDs be modified to include the 128 bytes of Superchip RAM? That way you would take a new EEPROM and a new PLD and solder them both to a new board - no need for donor chips? I am not certain of the cost to source old Superchip games but I imagine at some point they will be converted to new uses and it would be more cost-effective to design a chip like that : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricDeLee Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Well... I was looking through a few lots that I have (a 160 cart lot and an 80 cart lot).Looks like I have 8 games from your list: Dig Dug Crystal Castles Crystal Castles (Atari Corp) Defender II JR. Pac-man (2) Millipede (2) I need to look around tomorrow after work. I may have a few more for you as well Al. I found another one. add yet another Crystal Castle. I have 9 games for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I wonder also: could one of those homebrew bankswitch PLDs be modified to include the 128 bytes of Superchip RAM? That way you would take a new EEPROM and a new PLD and solder them both to a new board - no need for donor chips? There are no inexpensive DIP-based PLD's that include 128-bytes of RAM (indeed, I don't know if any such PLDs exist, period). Using a PLD plus an external RAM and ROM would be possible, but I know of no inexpensive PLD which would be suitable for that task and is available in DIP form. There is a chip that could be used which would include bank-switching, RAM, and ROM all within a single inexpensive chip, but it's only available in surface-mount. The latter chip will probably be used for 2600 carts in the future, but that design isn't finalized yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 I found another one. add yet another Crystal Castle. I have 9 games for you. Thanks! I'll send you a PM. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carey85 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I should be able to come up with a decent quantity of above titles tomorrow after work after making a couple stops. Should be able to get them for reasonable prices as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carey85 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Well, I went to 2 thrifts and 2 indie game stores that generally have good selections of common-ish 2600 games and I completely struck out today. I guess that's what I get for bringing it up in the first place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 I'm up to 38 SuperChip carts so far! Need another 62 to reach my goal of 100!! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapetino Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I'm up to 38 SuperChip carts so far! Need another 62 to reach my goal of 100!! ..Al Al, I have a Crystal Castles that I can send, along with 5 carts I wanted to send for recycling (all 5 are non-functioning chips). If that's cool, let me know and I'll send them all along to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFK Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 If I can be placed on the list of buyers for the new cart I'll send you at least two of these games for sure (got to check my storage for more) and I'll pay shipping to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Atarius Maximus Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I just noticed this thread. I'll look through my boxes of carts and see if I can contribute. I do have a vested interest in this project. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggger2 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Can the carts be PAL or must they be NTSC? Does it matter if the carts are the variety that have rectangular holes in the upper corners of the front of the cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchysuperman Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 ^ One of the ones I sent in was a PAL cart - Al said it should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariRx Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 PM sent. Have eight from the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Can the carts be PAL or must they be NTSC? Does it matter if the carts are the variety that have rectangular holes in the upper corners of the front of the cart? RAM doesn't care what country it operates in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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