alex_79 Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 (edited) The reason I bring it up is that your dumper could be modified in a simmular way were the software automaticly flip flops between its ROM and the cartrage. That would be possible, although designing such a circuit it's beyond my basic skills. It would be a bankswitching logic just like those used in games, switching between the software eprom and the cart instead of two different banks of the same rom. To work with the dumper it would need a couple of features: 1 - The "hotspot" address must not be in cart space, because the dumper needs to read the entire cart address range 2 - The hotspot must not interfere with those used by other bankswitch methods that use TIA or RIOT addresses (such as "3F" used in Tigervision carts). 3 - The dumper rom must always be selected when powering the console. A less elegant but simplier way would be to use a pin of a controller port as a select line and connect it to the dumper through a cable. Once connected to a controller port, you can have also the rs232 adapter and connector built into the dumper itself. The software already implemets a select line on an unused pin of the RIOT chip, to be used in case someone want to install the dumper inside a console (see the first post). Using a controller port would allow the auto-switching even with an external device. I haven't checked yet, but I think that it would be quite easy to modify the software to support this feature. This is the simple circuit I intended to use when I added the auto-select function in the software. It uses a 74HCT00 (quad NAND gates). I haven't tested it. Note that it only uses 3 of the NAND gates. There's another one on a 74HCT00 and it can be used to invert the /CE signal in case you use a second cart programmed with the dumper software instead of an eprom built into the device itself. Edited September 19, 2011 by alex_79 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
player 0ne Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 is there any info in the compumate that this cool device can get? can a compumate be "dumped"? if i get you a cart port can you make another one? i think people would pay for this just cause its pretty cool and yet just beyond some people's skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 is there any info in the compumate that this cool device can get? can a compumate be "dumped"? The compumate can be dumped (the PAL version actually has already been dumped and can be emulated in z26). Since it uses the joystick ports for its bankswitching, extra hardware/software is required to dump it. (check this post). if i get you a cart port can you make another one? i think people would pay for this just cause its pretty cool and yet just beyond some people's skills. This was just intended as a DIY project. I posted the software rom and some examples of circuits for the switches. One can build it using inexpensive parts, but quite some work is required to do all the connections. Anyway, it's not required to build the dumper and switch circuit like I did; a programmable cart (Harmony, Supercharger, etc) and an external switch (either custom built or one of the various 2600 cart selectors) can be used instead. As a last resort, you can just swap the carts during the ready screen, before the data transfer starts and without needing any extra hardware (It works for me, but you do that at your own risk!). I have not the experience, tools and time to offer this (or any other) product for sale. My soldering skills are not all that good and I used a cheap eprom programmer which is probably unreliable. It's fine as long as I build one for me (I can fix it if a wire gets disconnected because of a bad solder joint or I can re-burn the eprom if it fails after a few months), but I'd want it to have at least a minimum quality standard if I had to build this for someone else. The software isn't even properly tested and could very well be buggy. You could ask in the hardware forum if someone with the right tools and experience can build one for you. If someone really wants to produce and sell more than a couple of units, he should design and make some boards because it's just impractical and time consuming having to cut traces and solder jumpers on a recycled cart board and wiring all the cart slot pins and switches. Honestly, I don't think there would be enough interest in a cart dumper to justify the money and efforts. Even in that case, there are better options available as I mentioned in previous posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
player 0ne Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 sorry if im thinking outloud in the forum. im just intriqued by your project. I hope to gather the parts and skills to build it myself. thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
player 0ne Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I think it would be helpful if you had a good collection of games and a friend who also had an atari. share games with them one at a time. Also i want to make one to copy a teleterm2600 cart and play around with communicating with 2 2600s. I know its dumb. jeez, its 30yo hardware. It is still fun to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 is there any info in the compumate that this cool device can get? can a compumate be "dumped"? The compumate can be dumped (the PAL version actually has already been dumped and can be emulated in z26). Since it uses the joystick ports for its bankswitching, extra hardware/software is required to dump it. (check this post). The NTSC version has been dumped already as well. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 (edited) I think it would be helpful if you had a good collection of games and a friend who also had an atari. share games with them one at a time. Also i want to make one to copy a teleterm2600 cart and play around with communicating with 2 2600s. I know its dumb. jeez, its 30yo hardware. It is still fun to think about. The dumper cannot be used to play a rom. It can just send the binary data to a PC. It's only useful if you have a cart that has not yet been dumped, like a prototype. Almost all known games have already been dumped and the roms can be found online, and that's why most people don't care about a 2600 cart dumper. To play the rom on real hardware you must use a programmable cart (Harmony, Cuttle Cart, Kroko Cart, Supercharger, etc) or an eprom cart. The NTSC version has been dumped already as well. Didn't know about that. Thanks! Edited September 20, 2011 by alex_79 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
player 0ne Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 thanks alex. its good to have somewhere like this to learn this stuff. couldnt find well organized information of this kind. ive read about people modifying old carts to play other games. havent been able to find decisive info on that yet. seems like everything i would want to know if buried in this forum somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madhatter Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Hi Alex_79, I re- draw your Dumper circuit, please let me know if this correct: I'm going to build it soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esplonky Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 these devices should be sole on the AAstore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hi Alex_79, I re- draw your Dumper circuit, please let me know if this correct: That's correct. If you don't need to dump built-in games, you can omit the DPDT switch 1 and leave pin 24 disconnected (or grounded). P.S. There's some really great stuff in your website! Someday I will try to build that NES pad adapter. That Atari Video Cartridge that loads games from VHS and DVD is amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 The cartridge I designed for Star Castle can handle up to 64K ROMS in 16 banks of 4k. Since Star Castle is only an 8K game in keeping with the technology on the market in 1981 I had two extra address output lines free. In the Star Castle cartridge I use a PLD (GAL22V10) to watch the cartridge ROM address lines and when certain addresses come up, internal operations are triggered just like other bank switching themes. If you can latch extra address lines for larger EPROMS, you can drive LEDs... and pretty much anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 The cartridge I designed for Star Castle can handle up to 64K ROMS in 16 banks of 4k. Since Star Castle is only an 8K game in keeping with the technology on the market in 1981 I had two extra address output lines free. In the Star Castle cartridge I use a PLD (GAL22V10) to watch the cartridge ROM address lines and when certain addresses come up, internal operations are triggered just like other bank switching themes. If you can latch extra address lines for larger EPROMS, you can drive LEDs... and pretty much anything else. Given you stay within the limits of your available current, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidcorp Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 User Madhatter built the dumper and added an article on his website (It's well worth visiting it. Some great Atari-related projects in there!). The page also contains a revised version of the schematics shown in post #34: there was an error due to a different pin numbering of the cart connector. The page is in spanish, so use google translator or similar if you don't know the language. Thanks for the improved switch circuit! I added it to the first post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecordManiac12 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 I have a rare cart. I need an easy way to share it with the atari 2600 community. Can anybody help me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 3 hours ago, RecordManiac12 said: I have a rare cart. I need an easy way to share it with the atari 2600 community. Can anybody help me? Do you have a picture of your cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted May 17, 2021 Author Share Posted May 17, 2021 (edited) The dumper described in this thread isn't exactly user friendly but might be of use for people who like to tinker a bit with hardware and software In its basic configuration, that involves hot-swapping cartridges and using the audio transfer method, it doesn't require custom hardware. You might need to play with the recording volume and sometimes to fine tune TV channel to get the best audio (which often doesn't correspond to the best video!) before it works reliably. If you want to try it out you need: - a working Atari 2600 - a TV with an audio output (e.g. a headphone jack) so that you can pick the audio signal from the console. An old VCR might be used too to convert rf into separate audio and video or, better yet, an A/V modded console which bypasses rf completely. - a suitable cable to connect between the audio output of your console/TV and your PC soundcard input. - an audio recording software on the PC - a programmable cartridge to run the dumper rom (e.g. Supercharger, Harmony cart, Unocart, etc.) Before attempting to dump the actual cart, you can test the software by making it dump itself. This doesn't involves swapping cartridges so it's perfectly safe. Other solutions: @SvOlli's ROM dumper https://atariage.com/forums/topic/305662-little-home-project-rom-dumper/ Retron 77 with latest community build installed (allows to save the dump on the SD cart, but compatibility of the r77 built-in dumper is low) https://github.com/DirtyHairy/r77-firmware-ng/releases/tag/stella-6.5.3 @Thomas Jentzsch's savekey dumper (it still requires to hot-swap cartridges, but saves the rom on a savekey) see here: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/297125-pursuit-of-the-pink-panther-rom-released/?do=findComment&comment=4368885 Atarimax cartridge + adapter https://atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/chapter9.html Harmony cart + custom firmware and diy cable https://atariage.com/forums/topic/164988-harmony-as-a-copycart/ Edited May 17, 2021 by alex_79 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickeycolumbus Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Interested to see what game you're talking about. Another option, not exactly user friendly either (but designed to be cheap enough to send to people with rare carts): https://atariage.com/forums/topic/298018-atari-2600-arduino-cartridge-dumper/?tab=comments#comment-4384075 On 5/16/2021 at 11:50 PM, RecordManiac12 said: I have a rare cart. I need an easy way to share it with the atari 2600 community. Can anybody help me? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecordManiac12 Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 It is the playoff version of the SwordQuest Fireworld Game for the Atari 2600. It is an EProm that we 50 finalists used in San Francisco to determine which of us would win the Chalice. The rooms and the challenges are the same as the consumer version, but the combination of objects that must be left in each room, and the onscreen clue solutions differ. I would be interested in purchasing a fully assembled ready to go cart dumper that would work with windows 10. Let me know if you or somebody that you know, can fix me up with one, and I'll make sure you are first to get a copy. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 1 hour ago, RecordManiac12 said: It is the playoff version of the SwordQuest Fireworld Game for the Atari 2600. It is an EProm that we 50 finalists used in San Francisco to determine which of us would win the Chalice. The rooms and the challenges are the same as the consumer version, but the combination of objects that must be left in each room, and the onscreen clue solutions differ. I would be interested in purchasing a fully assembled ready to go cart dumper that would work with windows 10. Let me know if you or somebody that you know, can fix me up with one, and I'll make sure you are first to get a copy. This is great news, Rick. And it's a very important cart to be dumped: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-swordquest-fireworld_25680.html I'm sure Alex_79 can help you out: Cheers, Rom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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