Cupcakus

Can someone email me the file? Or post it here, so we don't all have to sign up for Game Spy to download it... I will put it up on my site, game spy free.

I interviewed with him too... a great deal on homebrewing and on the Flash Cart... (Thus why he quoted me in that article) Here is what he said to me yesterday in response to me asking him if that article was "it": "Geez, I forgot you guys would be watching. No, there’s a second article coming, specifically devoted to you 2600 programmers. Hopefully, the edit staff will turn it into a package with both articles."

I keep mine in 8-track carrying cases... as I travel with them quite a bit.

Dude! I was an hour and a half ahead of you on that... You're too slow. Don't steal my thunder! http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20155 I posted first!

Just realised I was quoted in the article too :-) Yaa hoo!

Yep... wireless gaming was almost 20 years ahead of it's time!!!! Stolen from the ExtremeTech artcle here: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973...3,854699,00.asp

That's why I use PocketVCS... I never leave home without Atari. :-)

Well I am not entirely certain on the specifics for the other computers, but I know the 7800 for instance supports a clock line on the cartridge, allowing easily for extra RAM support. For these reasons I don't think a "super" cart would work.

Yeah, I am uncertain as to the legal issues with Starpath too... however I think the data scheme can be encorporated into the CPLD with very little space requirements... I bet you could do it with a simple CPLD update like you are planning to add support for. It'll work with PAL roms, however if you do create a multi cart menu driven binary, you will need a PAL and NTSC version of them.

and also don't they realize that this 'extended mix' anthology is FOR the xbox/gamecube/pc, not another ps2 version? YEAH!!!!!!

Wow! Well you've removed any doubt I had :-) For supporting Starpath, you mean you want to support the audio format? Or just the 6k data scheme it uses... And I think the chip that enables Pitfall II to have special Audio, is proprietary and patented to Activision... You may not be able to add that legally... As far as I know. Thanks for explaining how it works too! :-) It makes lots of sense now.

Figured as much :-) This is exactly what I was thinking! Capabilities like this would make it certainly worth the price tag! A true multicart. OK but you do realise that the Da Vinci has to be plugged in to external power AND on Atari 2600 power at the same time for this to work? That seems very complicated, if not impossible. Again... I don't see how this is possible.. You really can program the entire SRAM chip before the 2600 even asks for the first instruction? Doesnt seem possible... Even DMA wouldn't be that fast... or I am just not getting it? Which is probably the problem Or is bootup handled differently, like when you plug the Da Vinci into external power? Yes, I wanted to power off of the Parallel port too... but 5 mA is not nearly enough :-) Again... I don't see how it can be loaded fast enough... Do you have an answer? If it's loaded when the external power is applied? How long do we have to wait before we can put it into the Atari and play?

Blood Omen 2 is great fun.. or at least on the XBox it is... I'm sure it's the same on GC.

Actually... in defense to this... The 2600 In A Flash is vastly superior to the Cuttle. It's Non-volatile, programs faster, supports multi-cart play, and so on. While it was designed because of a lack of cuttle availability, it is a more elegant solution. IMHO, but of course I am biased :-) This device sounds very promising... but functionally I don't see how it is more functional then the 2600 IAF. The flash card is a great idea... but you still need an ANSI terminal to program the SRAM, so if you need a computer to program the device anyway? Why do you need to store the ROM's in the device? Also... have you considered the time it takes to transfer 2MB of data at 19200 baud? :-) I think Da-Vinci is an awesome device concept, and definetly the next step up in the programmable cartridge world, but I think the flash card would be much better it it were more integrated... so you might even select a ROM from the flash card with an on screen Atari menu... making it a true programmable multi-cart, that would be worth the price big time, and definetly set it apart from the 2600 IAF. At $150, almost twice the projected cost of the 2600 IAF, I don't see how it excells past my design? In functionality that is... aside from possible Mac support (Very nice) and a cartridge dumper (Why do we need this? Dumps exist for nearly every game already). I don't mean to sound hostile or threatened :-) I am in no way... I welcome competition... however my design will be completed very soon, while this one is still a ways off. And for twice the price, and a longer wait time, it might be better for you, to tweak the features to far outperform my device, as mine outperforms the Cuttle.

Major Bug: There is still no XBox version!

Oh how quickly I have been abandoned

Oh for crying out loud :-) I think price is a doozy on this one... You mentioned all bankswitch methods are supported... but you didn't mention if the extra RAM was too. I'm sure it is... but you should clarify. Also, as Al mentioned, the flash card is an interesting idea... But I'm confused how it works. You can store up to 2MB of 2600 bins on it correct? But you still need an ANSI enabled terminal, with 9 pin serial adapter to transfer a selected bin from the flash card into SRAM. If that is the case... it seems easier to just leave the flash card out, to save money, because if we have to hook it to a computer anyway, we might as well just keep the ROMs on the computer. I like it's dump features... very cool. SRAM by itself is volatile, do you have a battery backup circuit in place? Also what powers the unit? It can't run off of serial cable power can it? The way it reads, it programs like a cuttle, you have to put it in the 2600, power it on, and then program the game. After you kill the power you lose the game in SRAM.. correct?

Thanks for the plug :-) The requirements for each computer are drastically different... However I may create a new cartridge, for each computer down the line... only time will tell :-)

Yep that should work...

Thrust is a flight sim for the most part.. It requires patience, and lots of it. Qb is a fast paced puzzle game, and is really really fun... but it gets really tough later on. Both are excellent... :-) I would get them both.

Yes... I have tried endlessly to get PCAE to work via the internet... it just doesn't work. Which is very unfortunete that would be cool!

Or get a flash cart and don't even worry about stuff like that anymore :-) This is something I have been up in the air about. The supercharger device and it's games are still under copyright, however I am pretty sure it's data bankswitching methods are not. In an effort to support the homebrew community, I would love to add supercharger support to the Flash Cartridge, for those homebrewers that would like to make a SC game. However I have no decision as of yet...

No Cyberstella is the better emulator for playing games, then Z26 in XP... Make sure the stella.pro file is in the same directory as the exe is... make sure you download your ROM's from a reputable source like AA, because if you do not, the Checksum's may not match the .PRO file. You also have to find the directory your roms are stored in inside the cyberstella window. Double click the folder with the two periods (..) you may have to do this twice... then navigate to the folder the ROM's are stored in you should see them listed then.

Yes and devrs.com as well has great resourses now... When I started the official docs was the only way to go... but that may be different now.

But you can put multiple copies of the same game into the card. Then, when hitting such an address, the cart would just switch to another bank containing the same code. I thought of this Thomas... but I thought it was determined that the data read from the 1ff7 & 1ff8 area's of ROM would not be reliable because of the switch...