Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 So I decided I'm going to sacrifice a cartridge for my fr99.Extended Basic and Parsec are safe.Who dies? (Or in this case who gets gutted?) Car Wars Carl, Tombstone City Rick, TI invaders Glen, Blasto Daryl or MunchMan Michonne? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrospect Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Out of all those, I'd have picked Car Wars. Because the rest are actually good games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) Out of all those, I'd have picked Car Wars. Because the rest are actually good games. That was my initial thought as well. I hate that game. But someone on my FB page noted that TI Invaders might be the most common of the bunch. Mark 1 TI Invaders. Mark 1 Car Wars (plus a half point of bias) Edited August 21, 2016 by Sinphaltimus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeBo Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 That's a tough one, because they're all mighty common. While TI-invaders may be way up on the list in that regard, it's also considered one of the best original-era Space Invaders clone on any system, so it's a cartridge that holds a wee bit more significance. (plus chicks dig Space Invaders - or am I dating myself?) They're all playable (w/32k) on a FlashRom99, they all appear in multiple disc compilations, and once you make one of em nekkid, you can still use the cartridge, so you're not losing anything (heck, you don't even lose the label if ya put it on something plastic after you remove it). If I had to pick just one though, I say maybe your choices answers your question...Tombstone City is the only one that is not a clone of an arcade original, so maybe it's the one jumping up and down shouting "Pick Me, Pick Me". To be honest though Sinphaltimus, I say strip em all, and gain yourself a bunch of shells. There's not a single cartridge there that you couldn't find again in 15 minutes (probably for under $6 with manual) if you eventually regret the decision from a collectors standpoint. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 Are any of the board good for modding? Like the e/a board (that I don't have) for one of its chips or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeBo Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 I just read your original post more carefully, and thought I should add this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 I just read your original post more carefully, and thought I should add this... Got it. Blasto is off the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Are any of the board good for modding? Like the e/a board (that I don't have) for one of its chips or something? The only chips on most/all of these boards are GROMs. They don't even have PC traces on one side (ROM side?). ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) The only chips on most/all of these boards are GROMs. They don't even have PC traces on one side (ROM side?). ...lee So no projects out there for these? I am bothered by the want for an eprom burner. Can these groms be rewritten with any of the available carts? Like if I wanted a physical e/a cart, with an eprom burner could I download the cart, burn, and have it working like an original? Over simplified I know. Just curious if anyone does things like this since all the custom boards (ubergroms) and such are all but gone forever unless you snag an e/a grom from a cart. Edited August 21, 2016 by Sinphaltimus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) UberGROM boards are very easy to acquire--I still build them to need. You can get them through me or through ArcadeShopper (and the same goes for the 128K Black boards (Inverted Images), the 512K Red boards (Non-inverted images), and the 2048K Yellow boards (Non-inverted images)). You can't reprogram TI GROM chips, unfortunately--they are single-use mask ROMs. TI never made a reprogrammable variant--they just emulated the chips in their EGROM modules, EGROM boxes, or GSIM devices to test the code before they built the mask for that final chip. Sometimes, you can take the GROM chips from various cartridges and combine them into larger cartridges (the original Milton Bradley series lends itself to this style of consolidation), so long as none of the GROMs you are trying to combine is at the same GROM address. Edited August 21, 2016 by Ksarul 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 UberGROM boards are very easy to acquire--I still build them to need. You can get them through me or through ArcadeShopper (and the same goes for the 128K Black boards (Inverted Images), the 512K Red boards (Non-inverted images), and the 2048K Yellow boards (Non-inverted images)). I was under the impression these boards sold without the grom chips (or egrom). A board with an empty socket waiting for the right chip. And the right chip was the rare item. So for me, rare all around. Is that incorrect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 I was under the impression these boards sold without the grom chips (or egrom). A board with an empty socket waiting for the right chip. And the right chip was the rare item. So for me, rare all around. Is that incorrect? As far as I am aware, the only current board that requires a TI GROM is the SuperCart, which has battery-backed RAM and a pad/socket requiring an E/A GROM. The UberGROM uses a second, programmable chip that simulates a GROM. ...lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 The UberGROM board comes in the basic configuration without the ATMEL 1284 chip that performs the GROM simulation--but Arcadeshopper and I both have 1284 chips on hand and the capability to program them using one of the available UberGROM images (there are seven or eight possibilities here, most of which include the Editor Assembler). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 Looks like I'm going to be selling off some old pc gear soon. I've got a shopping list! Thanks all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Geeze, the amount of innards you gotta clean out to get a FR99 in to a standard cart. Holy cow.I think I have the ugliest fr99 cart ever. I'm not even going to post a pic unless I see one close or worse first because I don't wanna be THAT guy.Suffice to say electrical tape holds the two halves togeher for now. I need to find a safe way to secure the fr99 inside the cart so insertion and removal doesn't cause slippage.Car wars it was.And wow, it's only one small chip and 3 resistors on the board? So much room for more too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 The UberGROM board comes in the basic configuration without the ATMEL 1284 chip that performs the GROM simulation--but Arcadeshopper and I both have 1284 chips on hand and the capability to program them using one of the available UberGROM images (there are seven or eight possibilities here, most of which include the Editor Assembler). I don't see the ubergrom listed. I was just curios as to the price. I'm guessing I need an eeprom burner too and some study material. I'm in no rush at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeBo Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Geeze, the amount of innards you gotta clean out to get a FR99 in to a standard cart. Holy cow. I think I have the ugliest fr99 cart ever... I didn't bother with both halves, I just carved a space for the SD on the bottom half of the shell, cut the nipple of plastic that fits into a standard cart board (the screw hole) at the point where it become wide, and shaved a bit off each side (I thank the Gods every morning for air, water, food and Dremel accessories). This gave the FR99 board a 'snug' fit (not really the right word....lets just say it stays in position when inserting or removing it from the cartridge port, and gives it a firm base when hitting the reset button.) The top I just left exposed (I kinda like that anyway). I will admit though that I have been eyeing one of my Navarone carts that comes in a Romox shell, since that looks like it might just fit it with very little cutting. Just hate to destroy the Navarone cart to get the shell, so I think I'll just stick with it being half-nekkid or break down and buy one of the 3D printed shells. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Here's a link to the UberGROM boards. If you look in his utilities section, you will find a lot of pre-made cartridges based on the UberGROM (RXB 2015, XB 2.7 Suite, Extended BASIC 3-in-1, Extended BASIC Fun). There are others too. . .though he doesn't usually list them. Both of us can provide them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) Here's a link to the UberGROM boards. If you look in his utilities section, you will find a lot of pre-made cartridges based on the UberGROM (RXB 2015, XB 2.7 Suite, Extended BASIC 3-in-1, Extended BASIC Fun). There are others too. . .though he doesn't usually list them. Both of us can provide them.At that price I'm looking at about 2 weeks (next pay). I saw the price, skimmed some of the reading, realized I'll need more to be able to program but I could certainly use one before that. Thanks Ksarul. Perhaps I should order one direct from you. Link saved, I'll go back and look at the config options when I get closer. Edited August 23, 2016 by Sinphaltimus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 Oh, and fine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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