jaybird3rd Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Getting jealous and antsy with anticipation! I guess I will clean my Aquarius again and play a little Utopia to tide me over......... The first batch is coming along, slowly but surely. The last of my parts have finally arrived, thank goodness, but things have been so busy for me this semester that I haven't had much time to work on them. I'll let everyone know as soon as I have the cartridges and the first skeleton of a website finished. Thanks for waiting, and thanks again to everyone who's already received the Aquaricart for sharing your first impressions. I've said this before, but after working on it for such a long time, it's so great to see it finally getting out into the world and to see other hobbyists using and enjoying it. I'll try not to keep the rest of you waiting much longer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psquare75 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 almost 24K views.. Wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 almost 24K views.. Wow. I've noticed that, too. Interesting. I haven't been looking at this thread very much recently except to post updates, so I know I'm not generating all those views. Speaking of updates, here are the first ten "production" cartridges, which I just finished building (apologies for the crummy cellphone picture): I'll have another ten built up, and probably a few extra loose boards as well, before the end of this week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Usually these things work out to be horrible timing for me, at the beginning of spring when I'm outside, but with summer winding down and winter coming fast, this is looking to work out great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyo5050 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 So I kind of feel like an arse since I got my multi-cart awhile go with the first group of people and only today have finally had a chance to play with it. Real life gets in the way sometimes and I wanted to actually sit down with some real time and play with it not just a boot up it works kind of thing. First off... AWESOME job and well worth the wait to see the huge improvements that the additional time allowed you to do. Even helped me discover one of my controllers had an issue (plastic circle from flex circuit slid down and was blocking the 1 and 2 keys, easy fix). Having fun playing with the different games and no issues found. Thanks again Jay! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Thanks very much. I certainly understand that people are busy, and that the Aquarius isn't a system that too many people keep hooked up all the time anyway. I believe yours was one of the earlier preorders, so I'm especially glad that you found the extra features to have been worth the wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcfrick2112 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I agree, there's a LOT of valuable material on the Aquaricart.. Mine is still goin' strong.. (Have had at least one Aquarius system hooked up at all times since 1983! LOL!) The info and graphics for AD+D are simply a work of art! All I can say beyond another 'Good Job' to Jay , is I can't wait till Jay's next Aquarius project!!! Ugh... I did manage to lose my Aquaricart stickers tho... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvdsteenoven Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Yet another success-story: The Aquaricart also works with my Aquarius II system (with 32K) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Excellent! You're one of the few people in the world who could have tested it with an Aquarius II, so thanks for the first-hand confirmation, Martin! Marc: I'll get in touch with you shortly about a set of replacement labels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Thanks very much. I certainly understand that people are busy, and that the Aquarius isn't a system that too many people keep hooked up all the time anyway. I believe yours was one of the earlier preorders, so I'm especially glad that you found the extra features to have been worth the wait. Early pre-orders? Did I miss the ordering phase of this awesomeness? Also, an idea for a side project is an editor to make additional/replacement fonts. I've dabbled in DOS fonts before but needed a tool to do it. The peeps Jaybird3d referenced never got back to me on rights issues regarding the original Aquarius font. Would be nice to have a public domain set of replacement fonts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Early pre-orders? Did I miss the ordering phase of this awesomeness? Don't worry, you didn't miss out on anything. I did limited preorders last year to help fund the project, but those orders have all been shipped and I'm gearing up for a general release right now. Also, an idea for a side project is an editor to make additional/replacement fonts. I've dabbled in DOS fonts before but needed a tool to do it. The peeps Jaybird3d referenced never got back to me on rights issues regarding the original Aquarius font. Would be nice to have a public domain set of replacement fonts. Already done! See the first post in my "SuperFont" thread, in which I posted a preliminary tool for creating custom Aquarius character ROM images. The next version will be integrated into a screen editor I'm working on (you can see a screenshot earlier in this thread), but the basic functionality will be similar. I really wouldn't be too concerned about rights issues with the Aquarius character set. If you write Aquarius software at all, you can't help but use the built-in character set, and there's no need to create more copies of it because all Aquarius computers already have it. I'm no lawyer, but I don't see where any rights issues would ever surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Thanks for the reply (and patience) Jaybird3d! I'm sure I've brought the topic of fonts up but forgot while posting Just fired up your font tool and.. well, those characters are inspiring for some reason. They're just begging to be pieced together. I'm sure Aquarius programmers were annoyed at the time but they really do work well. The white background with black foreground gave me another idea on how to simulate Aquarius graphics on the Sega Genesis.. hmmn! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 So I kind of feel like an arse since I got my multi-cart awhile go with the first group of people and only today have finally had a chance to play with it. Real life gets in the way sometimes and I wanted to actually sit down with some real time and play with it not just a boot up it works kind of thing. First off... AWESOME job and well worth the wait to see the huge improvements that the additional time allowed you to do. Even helped me discover one of my controllers had an issue (plastic circle from flex circuit slid down and was blocking the 1 and 2 keys, easy fix). Having fun playing with the different games and no issues found. Thanks again Jay! Ditto for me. With PRGE completely WIPING me out, I have to say that your work totally rocks! I love your work and will definitely have some time to sit down and enjoy your hard work this winter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heimi Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Hi Jay, thanks a lot for the beautiful work of the Multi Cart. All the Games works perfectly on the PAL System of the Aquarius and the Aquarius II System, perfect layout and awsome Artwork . First the Intellivision/Atari Cuttle Cart, then the fantastic Multicart plus for the Virtual Boy, but your work is the best,because to build a Multicart for this underrated Aquarius System is a difficult job. Wait for your next great Aquarius Project !! Thanks from the only Aquarius Fan in Germany ????? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellicat Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 The Aquaricart is great. It really adds a lot of value to an Aquarius collection. The custom manual adds an over-the-top cool factor on an already great product. If you have an Aquarius then you need to pick up this multicart. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Thank you all very much! Again, it's both humbling and gratifying to know that you're all enjoying the Aquaricart. I've got a decent stack of cartridges ready, and for most of the last week, I've been working on cleaning up my scans of the original Aquarius manuals for the Aquaricart website (I've put up a placeholder in the meantime). I wanted to have the website ready before I began taking orders, but the cleanup is such a meticulous and time-consuming process that I'm now tempted to just open it up for orders and finish the website later. The website will be a continuous "work in progress" anyway, since I (eventually) intend to offer many more Aquarius resources than those pertaining directly to the Aquaricart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Should people be on the lookout for loose carts to donate? I haven't seen any but I do fequent flea markets in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Should people be on the lookout for loose carts to donate? I haven't seen any but I do fequent flea markets in the area. I don't want to discourage anyone from looking, but given the rarity of the Aquarius, I think it's highly unlikely that you'll find any donor cartridges in the wild. That said, if anyone has any extra Aquarius cartridges that they wouldn't mind sending in for use as Aquaricart donors, certainly let me know and I'll offer a reasonable price for them. But again, given the rarity of Aquarius items in general, I doubt I'll get many takers. I do have a limited supply of cartridges that I've been using as donors, but once those are gone, the only alternative will be to ship the loose boards as "upgrade kits" which people can use to convert one of their own cartridges, or even use as-is until they come across an extra cartridge shell. The real solution, of course, will be to have new shells made, both for the Aquaricart and for the other Aquarius releases I have in mind. That will be very expensive, given the tooling costs involved, and it's a questionable proposition because I still don't have a surefire way of knowing how much demand there really is for new Aquarius stuff. There is at least one toolmaker in my area who could probably help me with the molds, and even a facility to do the injection molding, so it's certainly within the realm of possibility; I just need to find out how much money I'll need to make it happen and to come up with some fundraising ideas. In the meantime, it looks like we'll all be scraping and scrounging from the very limited supply of existing Aquarius cartridges. Unfortunately, that's to be expected when you're working with a platform as unusual and as obscure as the Aquarius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Any chance a service like this would help? http://www.ponoko.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Well, the day has finally come ... I've just opened the Aquaricart to general orders! I've started a new thread, which I'd like to use for discussion of the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.