Level42

Excellent explanation thanks, and I totally understand and agree with the list of reasons you summed up to get one Don't get me wrong, I'm very exited about this cartridge and I just wanted to play "devil's advocate" partly Reason is I have some friends who still have their A8 on their attic and a "ready to play" cart like this with the excellent search function (this may be the best feature of the product) could respark their interest in the machine, in fact I've talked about it with them and they are interested in a Harmony kind of solution. I understand (and explained them) that the situation is different with the A8 as there were not just cartridge games and programs. I took another look at your video and it seems simple enough for sure, maybe I can prepare the cartridges for those friends and they just play....it is at least better than their machines gathering dust. Now my question is...is it now ready and available for sale ?

Wait a minute, does that mean that The!cart comes without a case now if you order one ?

That is exactly what I was looking for, thanks !!! although I didn't look closely at the board yet, but I did see there are four more positions next to the existing socket. I really want to go this way, already have the correct EPROM.

Can I still find this somewhere (link above to 1.00 is dead) and how does it work ? Does it (only) use the POKEY to create the sounds ?

Never heared about those EPROMS types. I got quite a few "regular" EPROM types here so I am tempted at extending the socket on the 600 XL. I can also confirm the high speed SIO routines work like a charm with my Happy 1050......should have done this OS mod a lot earlier, love it !

I am really very interested in getting this cartridge but, like many other products like this, the whole system appears to be very technical for the "casual" user. I mean, there are lots of people who understand how to load floppies copy them etc. on the A8 platform but this is just a few steps further. Let me try to say how I think this system works, please indicate where I might go wrong, 1) start the studio program and add files. ATR's, CAR's etc. I believe this is relatively easy and most is handled by the program. 2) the program creates some sort of huge file. 3) this file has to be flashed into the cartridge using the Atari. I asume for step 3) you need something like SIO2PC or a SIO2SD device. This seriously limits the usefulness of this cartridge, because if you already have SIO2SD device, why bother with an extra device like this cartridge ? Also, the bulk of A8 machines still don't have a SIO2PC connection.for this reason I really believe there should be a seperate cable that can be connected between a PC or Mac and program the cartridge directly and from the studio software. With all respect, the manual for the Studio software goes into lots of technical details very quickly and I loose track because of it. I actually think it's easier than what the manual describes so maybe there should be a simpler version of the manual for the beginner. Next....when it comes to the step of actually flashing the file into the cartridge, the manual refers to the manual of the cartridge. I found a video from Hias who is doing a flashing I believe but it doesn't show where the data is coming from and how he prepared it. I don't want to just criticize the product but I am trying if it would be possible to bridge the gap between the developpers,who are very technical of course, and the "average user" who wants to dust off his A8 machine and just play all the great games he knows from BITD.

Hah OK....probably because of the joystick in hand is a lot different than having to push two keys on a keyboard Will fire up the original again soon, great game

Woohoo, I just burned a 27c512 with Diskwiz's OS, XL-Fix OS, the original Rev.2 OS which was in 800XL's and a fourth OS I found somewhere. I didn't have time to make the switches and wiring for it so I simply bent up pins 1 and 27 and swapped the ROM for the EPROM and fired it up, Got test screen right away. ReBooted with the option key down -> BASIC. Hit shift-RESET and cold boot ! Love it, thanks !! Next is replacing the Basic REv.B ROM with an EPROM. The 600XL has the extra solderings eyelets for an EPROM but gotta figure out if some jumpers have to be made/broken. Won't be running much Basic and if so it will be mostly Turbo Basic of course but .....it's just so much fun to hack this baby :) I'm surprised that all the XL's I've aquired recently still have Rev.B basic. I vividly remember that my 600 XL often crashed for no reason during typing in BASIC listings and I didn't know about the BASIC bug then. So I retuned the machine and it was gone for about three damn weeks !!! Worst weeks of my youth ;) it came back with a nice explanation though and of course Rev, C installed.

Loves Russ's games ! Very nicely done, works fine on OS X Yosemite and Safari. One thing: I don't remember that you had to aim _and_ push fire to jump on the boats....can be my memory missing though

Sorry to be off topic a bit...but I was amazed to find this in my mail this afternoon: Feels awesome to be member now, and receiving floppies with brand new A8 stuff is simply an awesome feeling......I assume the payment details will follow later ?

Not from Ebay but the Dutch equivalent of Craig's list, my second 600XL in short time. Bought this since it was in near mint condition, all the keys working (my H is failing on the other) and the price was right (€20). I swapped the top on the botttom and PCB of the old one. PSU with it and Star Raiders and Space Invaders cartridges came with it. Actually didn't have SI yet. Gave it a try again.......YAWNNNNNN.....why did they remove the bunkers ?? What is that weird large thing on the left ?

Any chance on a Mac version of Altirra ?

I filled out this form, it is clearly about membership, not just registering for the forums: http://www.abbuc.de/abbuc/77-abbuc-der-club/113-mitgliedschaft-beantragen

Yeah thought about rotary too. Maybe I'll just go for 2 OSes....for me the standard one with the indicated patches and an XL-Fix OS would be enough.

Uh....I registered and......now what ? How do I pay ? do I get any info ?

Seem to have already found it.... http://www.realdos.net/HardwareOS.html Not too keen on two switches on the case though...

GREAT ! now need to get out my EPROM burner. A 27128 is a drop in replacement right ? I think I only have 27512s at hand though....guess I can use those too....maybe nice for switchable OS. Any guide available how to hook that up on the board ?

This is exactly what I am looking for but want to run it on a 600 XL (modded to 64k). Would this version work or is the XE OS different from the XL ?

Here ya go 99.9%, same cable: http://www.ebay.com/itm/151329556996?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Dunno guys....please tell me where to get cables like these that were manufactured in the US or a Western European country........ It's just a simple cable...what can go wrong ? Well I'll know as soon as mine arrives since I ordered one. P.S. I would worry more about the post in Italy "loosing" the package....

The one from France has high shipping costs within Europe (11 Euro). Here's one from Hong Kong with free shipping and it costs only $12,50, so less than 10 Euro: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SNK-Neo-Geo-MVS-AES-Famicom-Controller-Joystick-Joypad-Extension-Cable-6-Feet-/231232599933?pt=US_Video_Game_Cables_Adapters&hash=item35d689777d You don't need to be in a hurry though....

Just registered for Abbuc membership. Hope I can still get the floppy etc. with the 2014 contest games ? It's about time I did this, I've known about Abbuc since......ages

Would be great if it could be added I meant

Wow looks very very nice ! I'd love to see stereo music and sounds....

Awesome thanks !

Great video, it makes it more clear for "newbies" what it does and how to do it although it's still fairly technical. Are there any "pre-created" collections for this cartridge to download ? Does it only run original cartridge games or also disc/tape based games ? I really like the search option, that is great to quickly find the game you want to play. I just installed the .jar version on my Mac, seems to run OK but I have only just started the program. The .app doesn't work. Running the very new Yosemite OSX. You do have to open the .jar file by looking it up in the finder and than click on the .jar file with the CTRL key held down else (in default settings) the mac refuses to open the program. This depends on your Security and privacy settings though but by default this is set to trust only programs from the App store and "known trusted software developers".