Albert Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 /store/product_info.php?products_id=128Mark DiLuciano has completed work on his latest Atari 8-bit project, the Hollex Cartridge. This cartridge contains 16K of SRAM, powered by a lithium battery, that once loaded with software can be used as any normal cartridge. It will also expand the memory capacity of a 32K machine to 48K. Combined with an SIO2PC cable, this is a great way to play games on an 8-bit system. Additional information, including software to use with the Hollex Cart as well as instructions on how to use it, is located here. The Hollex Cart can be purchased immediately from the AtariAge Store as well as directly from Sunmark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 WOO HOO!!! Now all I need to do is get some money for it and I'm all set! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisjohn Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 That price is a little on the steep side. I'll wait 'til my CatWeasel arrives to see if I still feel the need for a Hollex. Is this a limited run (a la CuttleCart) or will these just be made so long as there's a demand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Is this just a copy of 'The Pill'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 I also understand that the hollex cart makes a wonderful gift.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Genius! Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 It does make a great gift!! To help build up our "collection" of Hollex images, here is what I will do. There are hundreds of cartridges I don't have to make images with. So, take a look at the images that are available, and if you have something that is not there, make an image, send it to me and you will get a $2.00 credit for anything you buy from Sunmark!! So, if you send me 25 Hollex images, you get a $50.00 credit!! But first email me and let me know what cartridge images you are going to send me so I don't have six people working on the same files!! Please wait for me to respond to you before you make any files! You DO NOT need the Hollex cartridge to make an image. Just read the instructions on the main page and it will take you through each step! Thanks!! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 NOw this is only for cart images, but I was wondering if other images could be modded to work with it (floppy or tape) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Genius! Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Now this is only for cart images, but I was wondering if other images could be modded to work with it (floppy or tape) Any image is fine, but you REALLY have to know what you are doing if you want to make an image from disk or tape. You have to disassemble it and reassemble it in the cartridge area ($8000 to $BFFF) in order for it to work properly! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggystar Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Is 16k The limit? Can the/you make a 32k or bigger one? I dont need the ram. My 800 has 48k already. What about if you have a 48k ram, does it add more or does it not offer that feature? Since its Sram, could you go to say 128k or so so that disk images could be put on it? That way you wouldnt have to have a way to write atari formated disks if you only have a PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 Hi Mark Why don't you build a similar device for being used with our 2600s? I'd gladly buy one of those carts... Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heniek Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 My friend Zenon makes something better than Hollex Cartridege, Ram-Cart! This is a special cartridge (from 64kb to 1mb!), you can write on it every binaries files that you want! The cost of 256kb cart is $50! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Heniek, Tell us more, Hollex looks too limited to be of any use (after all the images it can handle are already on the web, free and with can be run from floppy or SIO2PC), so more info on Ram-Cart please!!! sTeVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heniek Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 That is Ram-Cart! To the ram-cart is a special patched dos that allows you to copy the .exe / .com file from your disk drive driectly to the cartrdige. so the cartridge can contain more then just one game!!!. you can even load DOS to the cartrdige.. there is also a utility to emulate a standard 8k/16k cart.. you just simply load a .bin file into the cart. It is the great thing! (photo and the part of this text, nir dary) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Genius! Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Hollex looks too limited to be of any use (after all the images it can handle are already on the web, free and with can be run from floppy or SIO2PC) That is an asinine statement if I ever heard one! First, all the images are NOT available on the web! Based on my research six out of every ten games came both in a cartridge version and disk version. Of those, I would say 70% of the time, these versions played and looked DIFFERENT. Second, you have the cartridge "hack" files of which I have not seem one done properly. Most cartridge makers protected against this type of activity by storing numbers into memory locations where the program resides. As you know, you can't store numbers into a EPROM or ROM. But, with a disk based cartridge program you can. And thus, the program would bomb half way through the game, or whenever they decided! If the hacker did not get all the protection out, the file is USELESS!! Third, I have counted 32 games out of about 800 that would not be able to be loaded to the Hollex Cart. That is only about 4%! The Hollex Cart can be used by a developer. He can load his code to the Hollex Cart to test a game. That is sure better than burning EPROM's each time if you ask me. You can make an adapter for the Hollex Cart and load both 2600 and 5200 binary files and play them on their respective systems. That would sure be handy! Maybe there are people out there that do not want to get involved with sio2pc but want to backup some rare carts that they enjoy playing but don't want to take the risk of damaging their rare cartridge. They can do that with just their 810 or 1050 Disk Drive. Some people may just want to use it as memory, write data to it and save it by flipping the switch and it is an instant EPROM. Some people may just want to add memory. I made the CPS Supersalt Diagnostic Cartridge and the 810 Diagnostic images available. Those would NEVER run file based. If you have a problem with your hardware, pop the Hollex Cart in with one of those images and you can find the problem in a snap. Shall I continue??? Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted January 12, 2003 Share Posted January 12, 2003 Oh good grief stop with the sales pitch already! Sell a Super cart emulator for goodness sake, that would be useful tool fopr everyone, a 16K cart one is a bit behind the curve! I have lots and lots of wonderful quality cart dumps, almost every 8bit cart (inc super carts) in fact. They do not BOMB OUT half way through as you put it, they are not bad hacks either thank you. Of those 800 images you've found how many are bad, if you found them or made them as good dumps don't you think others have too (like myself)????? Back in the day (when 16K carts were it) I used the Super Pill to back 'em up, and any that were protected were usually circumvented with a simple bit of code - http://nleaudio.com/css/products/pilldocs.htm I doubt any 8bit developer would even think of using Hollex for dev work, its too small, the 8bit community is used to SUper Cart sized games, not 16K ones... Lets face it if your vaulable 8bit cart is about to wear out the you've REALLY been abusing it, I have all my original games from 1980 onwards, they all still work, their connectors are in GREAT shape, they will outlast the machines I play them on in fact! sTeVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krawhitham Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 It does make a great gift!! To help build up our "collection" of Hollex images, here is what I will do. There are hundreds of cartridges I don't have to make images with. So, take a look at the images that are available, and if you have something that is not there, make an image, send it to me and you will get a $2.00 credit for anything you buy from Sunmark!! So, if you send me 25 Hollex images, you get a $50.00 credit!! But first email me and let me know what cartridge images you are going to send me so I don't have six people working on the same files!! Please wait for me to respond to you before you make any files! You DO NOT need the Hollex cartridge to make an image. Just read the instructions on the main page and it will take you through each step! Thanks!! Mark Do they have to be in "Hollex" format I noticed "Hollex" adds 1701 bytes to the start and 6 bytes to the end of the Cartridge dump. Will a normal 8192 byte & 16384 byte dump work for the store credit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 Just for the record, all the images of carts that I've made are exact dumps of the cartridges...and all the pre-1982 cartridges that I've run across don't use any sort of copy-protection on them. The later ones that do bomb out, but I used to use a dummy cart called Impersonator to get around that (it works 100% of the time...through resets and attempted rewrites). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Genius! Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 Do they have to be in "Hollex" format I noticed "Hollex" adds 1701 bytes to the start and 6 bytes to the end of the Cartridge dump. Will a normal 8192 byte & 16384 byte dump work for the store credit? When you make a Hollex file it adds a boot loader which starts the download process when the file is executed. You can send me the binary dumps if you like, I can convert them to a Hollex file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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