Ultimate Cart, Uno cart, SIO2PC.......

[spinnaker15136]

Ultimate Cart, UNo cart, SIO2PC.......I have been away from Atari for way too long. I am even surprised at the number of products I never heard of way back in the day even though I was a loyal subscriber of Compute and Antic. Still have many of the old magazines stored away.

 

Is there one list somewhere that lists all of these ingenious products, gives a brief description and maybe the pros and cons of the product?

 

I little pet peeve on product websites (not necessarily the ones listed) but some sites go on and on on how the product was developed but they don't tell you what the product does!

 

It would be nice to have a list of products and what they do, all in one place that you could refer to.

 

[Guest]

sent you some info

[ricortes]

Good luck! I've never left and i still can't keep up. There's nothing quite like the Atari community. World wide and incredibly innovative. You follow some of the threads on hacks and they are hundreds of message long filled with info and enthusiasm. It isn't just a single solution to address a problem either. It is multiple solutions to the same problems that address everything from mass storage to memory expansion ad infinitum.

[dimfil]

There is a table with all available A8 loading devices in this thread. For sure it can help to have the big idea...

[chad5200]

I am in the exact same boat. Just getting back into this after years of absence and I am overwhelmed with all these cool products. Hard to figure out what is what... and if some of these products supersede older products... what products work together... etc.

 

Like, if I have a 1200XL, what is the current list of products available that I can purchase for it? Which ones are the newest or the best?

[spinnaker15136]

Perhaps it should be a topic for another thread but what the heck happened to Atari? I mean it was way ahead of its time. Reading though the Operating System user manual, I am awe struck by the thought that went into the design of this product. It is amazing the Atari was not selling for a thousand dollars more than it was.

 

While it probably can't compete with the gaming consoles of today, the 400 and 800 platforms are perfectly fine for the hobbyist that wants to develop some simple games and more than adequate for kids to learn the basics of interfacing to systems.

[spinnaker15136]

There is a table with all available A8 loading devices in this thread. For sure it can help to have the big idea...

 

 

Well it lists them but does not really say what they do.

 

And here is an example of my peeve with some of these sites. This is what the SIO2PC site says.

 

The Atarimax Universal SIO2PC/ProSystem interface is a redesign of the classic Atari SIO2PC/APE and ProSystem interfaces, combining them into a single multi-function product.

 

OK fine. Well what if I don't know what the SIO2PC/APE is?? The very first one or two lines should tell me exactly what the product does and how it will benefit me. If you want to go on and explain it is a redesign them fantastic. But tell me what it does right up front.

[bfollowell]

Well, there are different categories; four main ones as I see it. As I see it, they are:

 

A. SD Multi Carts

B. Floppy Emulators

C. Memory/OS Upgrades

D. Video Upgrades

 

A. SD Multi Carts

For SD Multi Carts, there's The Ultimate Cart, The AVG Cart, The!Cart and The Uno Cart. For me, it was the Ultimate Cart, hands down, but The AVG Cart was a close second. Any of these four would likely do what you need/want it to do. It's just that The Ultimate Cart and The AVG Cart seemed to be compatible with many more cartridge types, at least at the moment.

 

B. Floppy Emulators

Here, I see three main contenders. The SIO2PC devices, SIO2SD and S-Drive Max. The SIO2PC, whether from Lotharek, AtariMax, or a home-built cable, basically turn your PC into a floppy emulator connected to the Atari through the SIO port. SIO2SD and S-Drive Max basically do the same thing, but they're stand alone devices, where the SIO2PC requires a PC. The SIO2SD and S-Drive Max are fairly similar and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. You'd need to read up on them to see which you feel would work best for you.

 

C. Memory/OS Upgrades

Here there probably numerous upgrades I'm not familiar with, but the main one, and probably the only one you really need to consider, is Lotharek's Ultimate 1MB Upgrade. It gives you up to 1 MB of memory and four OS slots that you can changes around quickly and easily.

 

D. Video Upgrades

Here, I see two main upgrades, though they're each available in various flavors. The UAV or Ultimate Atari Video Upgrade improves upon the existing video but is best if you plan to still use your Atari with older style monitors or TVs. The Sophia Upgrade; helps bring your Atari into the modern age with a DVI option for using with newer monitors and TVs. It isn't compatible with all monitors and TVs though, and it can be finicky to get it working correctly.

 

For myself, I currently have an AtariMax SIO2PC-USB device and the registered APE/ProSystem software that works with it. I also have an Ultimate Cart multi-cart and a Sophia DVI upgrade that I am still trying to get working properly at the moment. I plan to order an Ultimate 1MB Upgrade and an SIO2SD from Lotharek soon.

 

Good luck and have fun learning!

 

 

[SS]

Good luck! I've never left and i still can't keep up.

I love this. It is so fantastic that 35 years after I first got my XL that there are still so many new and innovative products being produced for it.

[Stormtrooper of Death]

And there is also the SIDE2 cart (sold by Lotharek Poland). It uses Compactflash memorycards and can be used as a harddrive with Spartados X, or it can be used as a XEX file loader (many games to play....)

[Roydea6]

The Side2 cart is not only for SpartaDos X but can also have MyDos partitions and MyDos ATRs placed into the Fat32 area of the CF card.

 

But for this function of MyDos needs the Ultimate 1 Mb upgrade and Bios also.

[TheMontezuma]

B. Floppy Emulators

Here, I see three main contenders. The SIO2PC devices, SIO2SD and S-Drive Max. The SIO2PC, whether from Lotharek, AtariMax, or a home-built cable, basically turn your PC into a floppy emulator connected to the Atari through the SIO port. SIO2SD and S-Drive Max basically do the same thing, but they're stand alone devices, where the SIO2PC requires a PC. The SIO2SD and S-Drive Max are fairly similar and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. You'd need to read up on them to see which you feel would work best for you.

 

 

There are a few more floppy emulation solutions, for example:

 

SIO2USB http://www.abbuc.de/news-feeds-component/1144-1144(USB stick as media storage)

SIO2BT http://abbuc.de/~montezuma/index.html#SIO2BT(Android smartphone or a PC with Bluetooth as media storage)

[+Philsan]

As written, there's a loading devices comparison table in Topic for newbies first post (scroll the page).

[bfollowell]

Yes, and don't feel offended by being referred to the newbies thread. I've been referred there a couple of times as well. Think of it as more of a Topics for 21st Century Atari Newbies thread. There's a ton of good, useful information in there that, no matter how experienced and knowledgeable you were with Ataris 30 years ago, you will find useful today in catching back up. I read through some of it every week or two, and regardless of how many times I've been through it, I never fail to learn something new or see something I missed.