+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Has anyone seen one of these before, or know what it's supposed to do? The shell is the same kind used on the Bounty Bob carts. When I insert the cart and turn the machine on, it shows a rainbow type Atari screen, but the screen is rolling. So it makes me think it's not functioning how it's intended, whatever the function's supposed to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Got a dump? Maybe they had some sort of DRM idea where future software needed routines on the cart to be able to work, then thought better of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 No dump, I'd have to get the hardware to do that. I'll get a Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer if it can dump it. Didn't BB use an odd ROM configuration? @ DRM Yea, I thought the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 No need to go that far - dumps can be done by hotswapping the cart. filecopy.zip This is my old Basic + asm file/cart copy program. It can dump normal 8/16K carts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 I never liked the idea of hotswapping carts. I know it works most times, I'm just concerned about the occasions when it doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Got a screenshot then? This thing sounds kinda interesting. Does it allow disk boot to take place, or respond to key inputs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 It doesn't do anything with a DOS disk inserted. I couldn't get it to respond to any keyboard/console key input either. I'll take a screenshot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 What if you hold Start when powering on? Long-shot theory - maybe they sent it to early reviewers with BBSB and made a special version of the game on disk/tape which needed the cartridge present. Easy way to stop the software leaking into the pirate channels before releae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Yea, I tried holding down each console key during startup. @ Theory That possibly could be a reason. I don't see any disk access happening during startup though. The screen is constantly rolling north -- not color cycling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Weird. What happens when you press Reset, I suppose same thing? Maybe it needs a dongle. Not really much way of telling what the thing's supposed to do without being able to look at the code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Yea, it just resets as expected. I have no problem ordering a cartridge programmer from Atarimax to dump it. It's a nice device to have around anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 That would be great if you don't mind doing it MrFish, very interesting cart you have there, how did you come about having it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I have got Bill Houges email if you would like me to ask if he has any recollections about the cart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Go for it Mimo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 BBSB is a bank switching cartridge using a custom masked ROM. Maybe this is some kind of development cartridge to emulate the banking functions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) It's probably something devious... BBSB is about the only game ever to use region lockout, plus it used "mirrored" references to some hardware registers to try and throw the crackers off track. Edited May 21, 2012 by Rybags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 That would be great if you don't mind doing it MrFish, very interesting cart you have there, how did you come about having it? I got it locally with some other carts yesterday. There was a Bounty Bob in the lot too. The seller was the grandson of the deceased owner, but the grandson didn't know anything about Atari computers. I have got Bill Houges email if you would like me to ask if he has any recollections about the cart Yes, if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it. He could be a big help here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I'll let you know if anything comes of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Alright, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Long-shot theory - maybe they sent it to early reviewers with BBSB and made a special version of the game on disk/tape which needed the cartridge present. Easy way to stop the software leaking into the pirate channels before releae. Sounds very plausible. A second unknown cart in 24hrs. Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 well, Bill got back to me, Mike, Hmmm. Wow. Looks old-ish. I wonder if that's something I made when we were coming out with the game. Possible. But I really don't remember. But that typewriter output does look familiarŠ Bill so good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 well, Bill got back to me, Mike, Hmmm. Wow. Looks old-ish. I wonder if that's something I made when we were coming out with the game. Possible. But I really don't remember. But that typewriter output does look familiarŠ Bill so good luck! Given it was 28 years ago, I guess I can understand his recollection of it. At least he responded. Thanks anyway Bill and Mimo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Shame, with Bill's word it could have been either ultra collectable or worth a pretty penny. Still a nice bit of history and I'd imagine pretty / very rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 Shame, with Bill's word it could have been either ultra collectable or worth a pretty penny. Still a nice bit of history and I'd imagine pretty / very rare. Well, at least he didn't say "that's nothing of ours". Hopefully the code itself will reveal something. I'll be focused on getting a dump soon. I'm really just interested in finding out what it is more than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 I ordered a MaxFlash cartridge programmer today, so I should be able to get a dump of this soon. Steve recently updated the MaxFlash software (Version 1.2) to include dumping BBSB carts, which is a plus too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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