mistrtonee

I see many of you are interested in wireless connectivity. Unfortunately that is something I am unable to offer right now given my resources. What I would be most likely to develop is: - Ethernet enabled atari cartridge with RJ-45 connector - Simple interface for assigning IP address (worst case is a bunch of dip switches. I'm thinking more along the lines of a simple atari app on the cart that runs at startup and serves as a config utility) - Powered by: - self powered by Atari OR - worst case: powered by extra plug-in transformer - 128 or 256K of ram on board for storing downloaded programs while running - simple mapper hardware support of some sort.. at least for the basic mapping schemes used in the majority of carts The cost for parts is something like this: $50 - ethernet functionality (including ethernet chip and microcontroller) $10 - SRAM for storing downloaded ROM $30 - hardware for mapper support $10 - Old cart, etc.. to be cannibalized to make device The mapper support hardware might be a little cheaper, but everything else is my cost up above. It will probably cost around $100 to produce in small quantities and once perfected, it will take me a few hours to make each one. I think $120 could be reasonable if I can figure out ways to keep the costs down. There is no forseeable way I could get 802.11b to work practically and inexpensively right now. However, given what I am prepared to design and build, you'd have to admit it could be very cool. If you're interested let me know if it's worth $120 - $150 (max) to you.. I need to see that people will actually use this thing if I make it. Otherwise I'll just hack one together for myself rather than mass produce it. I would really like to provide these to people who would be interested if I get it to work. Tony Y. - Computer Engineer and Atari Fan :-)

I can definitely see the merits of PCMCIA, especially in terms of cost. I think that a PCMCIA interface would provide a separate, equally functional, but very different product from what I intend to produce. The ethernet functionality will be an integrated part of the cartridge. Part of the point is to allow the Atari to directly talk to a network without any intervention on the part of a laptop. Believe it or not, I can add ethernet functionality for less than you'd pay for an old clunker of a 486 laptop. I'm looking at $50 for all the ethernet stuff.. and just some misc. simple circuits to tie everything together. I may release an 802.11b cart later should one of my key suppliers for the project develop new hardware to easily allow me to support that. I have emailed back and forth with these particular suppliers and 802.11b is something in their product pipeline.. it's just a matter of time. I figure I should develop this version now and maybe the 802.11b is something that could be done later. Until then, I think the prospect of some elite h4x0r out there creating an Atari web server is pretty cool :-) Granted of course, the supported functionality of the device will be to download code to the atari via ethernet. Keep sending ideas if you have any.. part of my hope is to get some brainstorming going as well so this project can be as useful as possible to everyone. If enough people like the PCMCIA idea, maybe it's something I can look into and work on in parallel or later on. Tony Y. - Computer Engineer and Atari Fan :-)

I could handle the bankswitching for most of the carts if I place a PLD or FPGA chip on the cartridge. Depending on the complexity, this can easily increase my cost by $30, plus it may make it difficult to fit everything in a nice small package. I definitely see your point.. supporting only smaller non mapped carts presents a problem for gameplay despite making a nice developer tool. I was thinking of providing a massive amount of SRAM.. maybe 128KB or so, and placing a small amount of hardware at the upper address lines to allow customizable bankswitching schemes. There will be a microprocessor on board the cart, so if I'm lucky it will be fast enough to do everything in software. Basically I could provide bankswitching support for everything, but it's a matter of cost. Ultimately, the best compromise may be to support the common mappers and let the hackers out there support the less common ones. The cart may be able to power itself off of the Atari 2600.. That is something I will have to determine. If not, it will need to have a separate plug-in and will maintain its program. It will definitely use RAM. The coolest possibility is that these carts could be designed to switch between download mode and ethernet interface mode. Basically they could act like a NIC for the Atari.. you could develop new software for it that can talk to the internet. I'm not sure if I will design it to do that yet.. Unless it is something people would really want to use. It could open up a new era of multiplayer 2600 games of course :-) I think $120 could be a reasonable price depending on the features. I won't be gouging anyone.. just trying to recover the cost of the materials and time I spend prototyping and hand soldering each device. I will probably set up a group specifically relating to this project somewhere on the web if enough interest is shown. Stay tuned to this forum for now for updates. Tony Y. - Computer Engineer and Atari Fan :-)

Hello All, I'm considering a hefty undertaking as an electronics project to do on the side as I am an electronics geek. I'm very familiar with the Atari 2600 and its inner workings and think I could pull this off. A blank cartridge, which plugs into the Atari 2600 and has ethernet on the other side. This could be used to play ROMS from a server, either those downloaded, or for developers testing newly written code. The cool thing is that it's done via ethernet. It would be possible that I could allow the cartridge to operate in two modes.. download mode, and server mode, so that the Atari 2600 could actually act as a server. I am not sure if I would really want to deal with mapper support, but it could be done also. Depending on the features, this device would cost about $100 - $200 in materials to produce, but would be very cool. My question to you all is, how many of you would buy one for, say $100 - $200, depending on the features. I may mass produce these if I get the initial prototype all ironed out. Please reply and let me know. With enough interest I may mass produce the final device. At some point I will create a mailing list with all the replies to this post if you are interested. Please indicate if you are interested in the mailing list on this reply also. Thank you, Tony Y. - Computer Engineer and Atari fan