treep78 Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 So I'm working on a 2600 game and when it's done I'd like to put it on a cartridge, but I want to build it myself and I've run into a few questions. 1. I've been looking around at EPROM, EEPROM, and flash EEPROM and have found that flash looks like the best option, but can I even put a 2600 game on flash EEPROM? 2. The flash module I've found is a 32 pin PDIP package and is 256kB ( http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/SST39SF020A-70-4C-PHE/SST39SF020A-70-4C-PHE-ND/2297831 ), my target size is 64kB, will it be a problem if I use a chip that size? 3. I've seen a lot online about programming flash EEPROM, but most of the ones I've seen have been for a different style chip with what looks like a single I/O 8 pin chips as a posed to the multiple I/O many pin arraignment you find on atari games, what is the best way to program the chip I want to use? 4. How do you program the 22v10 chip and is this one a good choice? http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ATF22V10C-15PU/ATF22V10C-15PU-ND/1008580 5. What would be required to build a cart which is compatible with DPC+, right now I'm developing the game without it as I fear it might be too complicated, but I though I'd ask anyway. 6. Is there an actual step by step on building an atari cartridge? I'm no stranger to electronics, but I've dealt mostly with micro controllers and simple circuits and this is a bit out of my experience. I would really appreciate an answer to any or all of these questions. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 batari BASIC programmers are probably going to be less technically inclined. Most of us order our carts directly from AtariAge. The quality of both the carts and labels is something hard to produce do-it-yourself. http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=949 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 5. What would be required to build a cart which is compatible with DPC+, right now I'm developing the game without it as I fear it might be too complicated, but I though I'd ask anyway. A stand alone DPC+ game would require the use of a Melody board, which is basically a Harmony cart without the daughterboard that holds the SD slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treep78 Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Thought it was worth asking. I'm not worried about quality of production though, I work at a maker lab and we have some good fabrication tools. Thanks for the quick responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 If you find a good way of making Superchip RAM compatible carts please do tell. It seems a waste to use AtariAge Harmony boards just for the extra RAM and it's even more inconvenient to continually scavenge for donor carts. UPDATE: Fugged up on the first link. Don't use that one. Here's a better one: http://old.wave39.com/videogames/makingcarts.php also http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2012/05/18/if-you-had-a-makerbot-you-could-print-your-own-atari-2600-cartridges/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 If you find a good way of making Superchip RAM compatible carts please do tell. It seems a waste to use AtariAge Harmony boards just for the extra RAM and it's even more inconvenient to continually scavenge for donor carts. We have a new board that is in final testing stages that supports Superchip RAM games without the use of a Melody board. I will be using it to produce several upcoming Superchip games, such as The Byte Before Christmas. Star Castle Arcade will also be using this board, and it even has onboard Flash RAM that can be used to save high scores and other data (which Star Castle Arcade is taking advantage of). ..Al 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 We have a new board that is in final testing stages that supports Superchip RAM games without the use of a Melody board. I will be using it to produce several upcoming Superchip games, such as The Byte Before Christmas. Star Castle Arcade will also be using this board, and it even has onboard Flash RAM that can be used to save high scores and other data (which Star Castle Arcade is taking advantage of)...Al How much extra ram? I mean will it support the other bank switching methods with ram? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogax Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) So I'm working on a 2600 game and when it's done I'd like to put it on a cartridge, but I want to build it myself and I've run into a few questions. 1. I've been looking around at EPROM, EEPROM, and flash EEPROM and have found that flash looks like the best option, but can I even put a 2600 game on flash EEPROM? 2. The flash module I've found is a 32 pin PDIP package and is 256kB ( http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/SST39SF020A-70-4C-PHE/SST39SF020A-70-4C-PHE-ND/2297831 ), my target size is 64kB, will it be a problem if I use a chip that size? 3. I've seen a lot online about programming flash EEPROM, but most of the ones I've seen have been for a different style chip with what looks like a single I/O 8 pin chips as a posed to the multiple I/O many pin arraignment you find on atari games, what is the best way to program the chip I want to use? 4. How do you program the 22v10 chip and is this one a good choice? http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ATF22V10C-15PU/ATF22V10C-15PU-ND/1008580 5. What would be required to build a cart which is compatible with DPC+, right now I'm developing the game without it as I fear it might be too complicated, but I though I'd ask anyway. 6. Is there an actual step by step on building an atari cartridge? I'm no stranger to electronics, but I've dealt mostly with micro controllers and simple circuits and this is a bit out of my experience. I would really appreciate an answer to any or all of these questions. Thanks in advance! I'm not intimately familiar with all EEPROMs but basically modern EEPROMs are self programming. You write a block and then wait for it to program it's self. You could probably get the 2600 to program it if you could figure out how to get the data to the 2600 in the first place. It's possible that there'd be something funny about how you address things but probably you just tie a couple of address lines and use ony 64k of your 256k chip. T'were me, I think I'd tie them to switches so you could use the entire 256k even if you had to switch manually. The problem might be finding a 5V chip. edit incidently this question comes up fairly often, if not in these forums then in similar forums. A little Googling will probably find you at least part of the answer. You might start with http://www.6502.org/ For programming a 22v10 you probably need to find a programmer. You might be able to do it yourself if you can find an equivalent GAL (Google GALblaster) Modern CPLDs are much easier to deal with. (and more available)(and have more to them) you might want to try to adapt. Whatever happened to [i think it was] Supercat's idea of making every access to the cartridge a read-then-write and letting the cartridge and the CPU fight it out (if it's supposed to be a write cycle the CPU wins otherwise you write back what you just read)? Edited September 9, 2014 by bogax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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