Does the Atari jaguar have a expansion port?

[BubsyFan101]

I wonder, does it.

[+Stephen Moss]

That depends on you point of view and what you consider to be an expansion port.

Although generally used for cartridges and referred to as the "Cartridge port" that is an expansion port in that you can connect other hardware to it (i.e. CD Unit, CO-Jag hardware) and on the Jaguar Schematic the connector for the cartridge port is actually labelled "Expansion connector".

Then there are the Team Taps which expand the controller ports from 1 controller to 4.

[jaybird3rd]

Besides the cartridge slot and controller ports, the Jaguar also has an A/V port (for the audio/video signals), and a DSP port which was used for the JagLink networking adapter.

[BubsyFan101]

Can you use any of these ports to add extra memory (RAM) to the jaguar?

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Can you use any of these ports to add extra memory (RAM) to the jaguar?

 

Even if you could it would be pointless as nothing available would make use of it.

[ACrystal2011]

The jag has all the powa it needs

[+Stephen Moss]

Can you use any of these ports to add extra memory (RAM) to the jaguar?

If I had a copy of the service manual could probably tell you for certain but it is I doubt it.

 

For a start you are restriced by the number of Data and Address lines available and the Controller, Video and DSP ports are not suitable for that useage. As it is possible to have both the CD unit and a cart inserted at the same time I can only sumise that the address space availabe in the "expansion port" is split beteween the Cartridge and and the CD unit (or other peripheral). If that is the case I don't know what (if any) capacity would be left to use for memory but theoretically it would be possible to use the Address locations of either the the CD unit or Cart for additional RAM however that would...

 

a) preclude the use of the extra RAM with both the CD unit and a cartridge sinultaneouly requiring a lot of tedious swapping of the various combinations thus increasing the wear on the connectors. I for one would prefer not to have to remove my CD unit now it is attached.

b) require some way to switch it between using cart Addresses and CD Addresses depending on which you want to use it with

c) may require some adustment to the Jaguar BIOS which although possible may (depending on the changes required) mean having to decide between RAM or CD connectivity.

[BladeJunker]

If I had a copy of the service manual could probably tell you for certain but it is I doubt it.

 

For a start you are restriced by the number of Data and Address lines available and the Controller, Video and DSP ports are not suitable for that useage. As it is possible to have both the CD unit and a cart inserted at the same time I can only sumise that the address space availabe in the "expansion port" is split beteween the Cartridge and and the CD unit (or other peripheral). If that is the case I don't know what (if any) capacity would be left to use for memory but theoretically it would be possible to use the Address locations of either the the CD unit or Cart for additional RAM however that would...

 

a) preclude the use of the extra RAM with both the CD unit and a cartridge sinultaneouly requiring a lot of tedious swapping of the various combinations thus increasing the wear on the connectors. I for one would prefer not to have to remove my CD unit now it is attached.

b) require some way to switch it between using cart Addresses and CD Addresses depending on which you want to use it with

c) may require some adustment to the Jaguar BIOS which although possible may (depending on the changes required) mean having to decide between RAM or CD connectivity.

Dayum, you rarely see an architecture so resistant to expanding memory. I mean I know a console is kind of like an appliance but RAM expansion is pretty basic needs for a computer.

 

So the DSP is the best bet but only if you could figure out how not to mess with the CD unit too much? BIOS changes are a bitch though, I'm guessing it doesn't flash?

[SwampFox56]

Dayum, you rarely see an architecture so resistant to expanding memory. I mean I know a console is kind of like an appliance but RAM expansion is pretty basic needs for a computer.

 

So the DSP is the best bet but only if you could figure out how not to mess with the CD unit too much? BIOS changes are a bitch though, I'm guessing it doesn't flash?

 

Not really. The games programmed for the Jaguar are all designed to use memory addresses within the range that the jaugar was built to have. The only way to take advantage of more memory, would be to physically rewrite the code of a game to use said memory. This is true for all computers, game systems, etc. Not just the Jaguar.

[BladeJunker]

 

Not really. The games programmed for the Jaguar are all designed to use memory addresses within the range that the jaugar was built to have. The only way to take advantage of more memory, would be to physically rewrite the code of a game to use said memory. This is true for all computers, game systems, etc. Not just the Jaguar.

Right the old "this won't help old games so don't do it" thing. I really wasn't thinking about the existing games but rather future ones written to use more memory. I could list the platforms over the years that did this but you probably know them all.