Kroko

Unfortunately I have no idea how to support USB. If you really need USB, there are a few serial to USB converters out there .... And please don't compare it to the CC its simply very different from both CC1 and CC2. Its more or less a development cart for the programmers. Of course you can also use it just for fun

This is the first version of my flash-cartridge prototype: Is supports 1K,2K and 4K, F8, F8SC,F6, F6SC, F4, F4SC, FA, E0 and finally 3F up to 512K The rom images are downloaded from the PC with a serial cable. Before I can realease this device, I would like to get a bit of feedback on a few subjects: I need a name for this device :-) Any suggestions are welcome .... I don't have a cheap source for empty atari cartridge cases. Is anybody able to help me with getting cheap empty cases ? I thought about one million copies of ET... or so I am a terrible artist (most engineers are ...hehe). Would you like to help me to design a nice label ? What is the label material and who can print them ? There is a bit of empty space on the CPLD. I have also working VHDL Code for CV,FE,F0 and E7 (Rom only) bankswitching. But I don't want to actually program it into the CPLD. I would like to use the empty space a bit differently: We have a 128K SRAM chip. I would like this RAM to be available for programming. In theory I could enhance the 3F bankswitching to support RAM. We could call it 3F+. 128K/256 that would be 256 blocks of RAM each with a size of 512Bytes which would be mapped into the first 1K of the cartridges address space. (512 bytes write port and 512 bytes read port). A write to 3F selects a 2K Rom slice into the first 2K of the cartridge. A write to 3E could select a 512Byte RAM slice into the first 1K of the cartridge. So the first 1K could be either ROM or RAM, dependent on what address you were last writing to (3E or 3F). What do you programmers think about this. Would this RAM-Slice size be good, or should I make it smaller, lets say 256 slices of 256Byte ..... And finally, how much money would you be willing to pay for this ? I have to compare this number with the material price and decide if it make sense to continue. At the moment I am not sure what to do. Either build a few units myself or releasing the whole thing open source and somebody else can build a larger number of them. Kroko

Sure it does Thanks a lot Kroko

Thanks for your answers. I think he has licensed it. But what I actually try to find out is, if I would need to buy a license if I wanted to support the AR bankswitching in my flashcart. I would not want to use any existing code or design, just the specs. I guess not, but i want to make sure before I start looking at AR bankswitching because it seems to be very complex and i don't want to spend too much time if i am not allowed to use it for free.

I remember that there was some kind of licence problem with the cuttle cart. Was this licence only necessary for the data transmission part, or is it also necessary to get a licence, if just the AR bankswitching scheme is used, but not the data transmission.

Do you know if dennis is still working on this ?

Thanks ! Is there any special reason why it was never ported to the VCS 2600 ?

Was "Jumpman Jr." or "Jumpman" ever made for the VCS 2600 ? Kroko.

I just tested the duel on my PAL TV. It is not rolling :-) So my 50 Hz Pal TV can sync but some of the NTSC TVs can not ?! ... isn't that strange ?

>Try www.digikey.com, part# S1126-ND. Thanks ! Great link :-) >If you had to though, you could buy a little bit larger one and stick one >or two polarity spacers in the extra rows. If your product was enclosed, >no one would know and the cartridge would fit nice. I did it with IDC >edge connectors that connect to ribbon cable, I couldnt find a 24 pin >version. Well, I didnt find a bigger one that was still small enough to be able to plug in the small cartridge. The side of the connector was in the way... >By the way, congrates on your flash cart proto. Where can we go to get >more info on it and see pics and stuff? Thanks, unfortunately I did not put it online yet. I wanted to wait until it has a minimum amount of functionality. Its a pity that you are not going to sell Da Vinci, because you already finished your work. Kroko. Ah ... I would still be very interested in your e-mail adress, so I could ask some questions to the expert from time to time. This could probably speed up my project siginificantly ...

Hi retrocon I had a look at those Spartan 3 FPGAs. Well, I must admit this could actually be a low cost solution. The smallest package available is VQ100. How are you going to make the prototyping. PLCC is the smallest package i have handled up to now and i permanently ask myself how prototyping is done with such a hell of a lot of pins. And how are you going to assemble this. I guess it will be difficult for somebody who makes this as a hobby. Are there companies who do it for you ? How much does that cost ? And do they buy the parts and assemble them for you or how is this done ? I am not sure if i can be of great help. But you can PM me and we can talk about what kind of support you are thinking of. At least I am very interested to watch your progress and learn how to handle FPGAs. Kroko.

Hi retrocon ! First of all: This is a cool idea :-) But I have a few questions: Did you try to find a 24 pin female cart connector at the supplier of your choice. I have searched for such a thing for quite a long time, but I have not been able to find one. You could of course use a bigger one, but this would mean that the connector has to be modified (100 times ?!) And if you want to unsolder one from old consoles, then you will need a lot of time and you need consoles for that. There has to be built a pcb. I guess you won't be able to make it single layer. So you need a two layer PCB. Have you checked the FPGA prices ? Parts of a size which could fit are quite expensive. What about the mechanics ? Are you planning to build a custom tool for the housing or what kind of housing should be used ? Custom built housings are VERY expensive. Support of VGA ?? At what refresh rate. Shoud the VGA controller (= Video Card) also be included in your 50$ device. To make it short: I would love to see such a console for < 50$ but I simply think it is not realistic. You are pulling my leg, aren't you ? Kroko.

Hi Vern ! Schematics would be great, because I have never figured out how the exact timing of FE bankswitching works. In general I think I got the idea behind this bs scheme, but i never got it to run on my cpld. I guess it was the timing problem. I didn't really understand when exactly is the jump adress on the bus and when do i have to monitor which lines both on JSR and RTS. The theory is quite clear now, but I obviously missed one important detail to really make it run. If I see the schematic of a working FE-Bank-Switching I would probably understand what I have done wrong. I also had a look at this FT245BM USB chip. I think it will be a question of space. Maybe I will use it if it needs less space than my sub-d connector together with max232+capacitors :-) But i won't go on with this until I either have access to an multy channel digital scope to monitor the bus or I can get some other hope to get FE switching to run some happy day ... Kroko.

Hi Vern ! Open Source ? This is good news ! I would love to take a look at your VHDL code :-) Kroko

Hi Chris ! One vote for the Flash Cart :-) Kroko

I think Chris is just busy with his new job ... I guess there are more important thnings in life than a flash cart, though I think not many :-)