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Dear All, After building a homebrew SIO2SD, I decided it would also be nice to have a multi-cartridge. I was also quite keen to see what SDX was all about, since its mentioned so much on the forum - so I wanted to build a cartridge that would support that. I looked at the Atarimax cartridges, but the price seemed a little bit steep and I really wanted another DIY project anyway. The SIC!Cart looked promising, since the design and PCB layout are freely available, but the use of a GAL put me off, since it meant I would need to also buy a GAL programmer and I really wanted to use current rather than obsolete parts. In the end I decided to have a go at making something myself, largely with the aim of learning a bit more electronics. I'm posting the design here, in case anybody fancies making one themselves - or if you are looking for a cheap way to make big cartridges for a new game. You can consider the design open source - feel free to improve. Introduction This is a design for a low-cost 128k or 512k cartridge, and it is designed to fit in a grey XL/XE style cartridge case. It uses standard 5v 32 pin flash EEPROMs. The cartridge is read-only - you need some way of programming the EEPROM (see below). Bank switching is carried out by a Xilinx CPLD. I've posted the files to support either the Atarimax 1mbit or 8mbit banking schemes. You'll also need a way to program the CPLD (see below). This isn't a project for everyone - you'll need to be happy soldering and have a bit of electronics knowledge. You'll probably also need at least an arduino. Parts list - 1mbit (128k) or 4mbit (512k) 32 pin Flash EEPROM e.g. SST39SF010, SST39SF040 (£1.50) - 32 pin DIP socket for the above (£0.25) - Xilinx XC9536XL (PLCC44) (£1.50) - PLCC44 socket for above (£0.70) - LP2950-33 LPE (or other 5v->3.3v regulator in TO-92 package) (£0.15) - 2 x 10uF electrolytic capacitor (£0.20) - 0.1uF ceramic capacitor (£0.10) - PCB (approx £20 for 10). Eagle files attached. I've used dirtypcbs (and oshpark for a earler revision). Total cost roughly £7 Programming the EEPROM I've tested both 128k and 512k flash EEPROMs. I don't have an EEPROM programmer, but I do have an arduino, and there's some code on the arduino forum for programming SST39SF010/040 chips, so I went with these. If you use a 128k chip then you can program it with a 1mbit atarimax image (use the 1mbit banking scheme on the CPLD). If you use a 512k chip then you can program it with half of a 8mbit atarimax image (use the 8mbit banking scheme on the CPLD). Programming the CPLD The design uses an XC9536XL PLCC44 CPLD. You'll need some way of programming this with the desired banking scheme. I use a bus-pirate to download the xsvf file to the device, using a homemade programming adapter. http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate_JTAG_XSVF_player https://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/bus-pirate-v3-6-universal-serial-interface.html The programming adapter is nothing more than a PLCC44 socket on some protoboard, with +3.3V, GND, TDI, TDO, TMS and TCK from the bus pirate wired to the appropriate pins of the socket. I found I didn't need any capacitors. I believe its also possible to program these CPLDs with xsvf files using an arduino or raspberry pi - but I haven't tried. You'll still need to build some kind of adaptor using a PLCC44 socket. You don't need to use the atarimax banking scheme - I used it since it was easy to make images for testing, and SDX was available as a 1mbit atarimax image. Attached Files I've attached the eagle project (board and schematic). Also attached are the xsvf files for 1mbit and 8mbit banking schemes, and the corresponding VHDL+pin allocation files. Spares & Kits This is just a hobby project, but I've got 8 PCBs left-over if anybody is interested... PCB only - £4 (+postage) Note that the PCB does not have "hard gold" fingers on the edge connector - so it won't last forever. Having said that, I've tested with 30+ inserts and removals and no serious signs of wear. But if anybody knows a PCB manufacturer that can do proper gold fingers cheaply I would be very interested for future projects... I realise that programming the CPLD is the main hurdle to making one of these, so I can maybe offer those, or complete assembled boards if a few people are interested - since I'll have to order more CPLDs... PCB + Programmed CPLD - £8 (+postage) Assembled without case (with 128k eeprom, programmed CPLD) - £14 (+postage) Assembled without case (with 512k eeprom, programmed CPLD) - £15 (+postage) PM if interested. Atari 4mbit Cart Eagle.zip schematic.pdf xsvf files.zip

I have searched and have not found a complete list of incompatible carts, I just assume Virtua Racing & maybe early titles like Star Control won't work... Does anyone have a full list? I know there is some variance with each of the Atgames sega releases, this is the 81 built in games 2017 model. I just picked this up last night cheap with my GF because we just moved and wanted some quick 2 player Mortal Kombat lolz... anyhow, ANY help would be most appreciated!

It seems like kind of a dumb question, but I'm looking for a good way to store and display my atari games. I'd probably play them more if I didn't have to dig through boxes to find them. Plus my kids are starting to play atari with me, which is great, and I think they'd be more apt to putting stuff away and taking care of the games better if I weren't just throwing them in a box. I'd love something older, like a case for atari games or something but everything I've seen only holds around ten. Do you guys have any good suggestions? Thanks!

After about eighteen months of development, I am pleased to announce the availability of the Aquaricart, the first and only multi-cart for the Aquarius Home Computer System! NOTE: The original Aquaricart shown above—which was built using repurposed Night Stalker cartridges—has been unavailable for some time. I have since switched to a new form factor based on the Intellivision cartridge design; see here for pictures. In addition to making the cartridges smaller, and easier to ship and store, this new design allowed me to reduce the price to $60 per cartridge (postage extra). Send me a PM, or e-mail me at aquariusproject@jaysnellen.com, if you're interested! For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Aquaricart is a collection of ALL of the original cartridge software ever released for the Aquarius, along with several unreleased, prototype, and enhanced titles. It also includes the original instruction manuals and overlays, exclusive historical information and trivia, and Quick Reference guides ... all in electronic format, so they can be printed with the Aquarius Thermal Printer or viewed on-screen! Here is a complete list of the cartridge titles in the Aquaricart collection: AD&D Treasure of Tarmin Astrosmash Biorhythms BurgerTime Chess Demonstration Cartridge Extended BASIC FileForm FinForm Logo Melody Chase Mini Expander Diagnostic (an unreleased Radofin diagnostic tool) Night Stalker Shark! (an incomplete prototype of Intellivision Shark! Shark!) Snafu Space Speller TRON Deadly Discs Utopia X10 Command Console (the software for the unreleased Aquarius X10 home automation system) Zero In Plus, as a bonus: The 1541 OS ROM (an enhanced version of Extended BASIC) The Demonstration Cassette (the six mini-games originally included with the Aquarius on cassette tape—Stalactites, Macho-Man, Torment, Cute Cubes, Alien Quest, and Mad Mould—converted to cartridge format for instantaneous loading) "BurgerTime Plus" (an slightly enhanced BurgerTime which fixes two issues with the original that have always annoyed me: it increases the maximum number of peppers and lives from 9 to 99, and it removes the extra "junk" characters from the screen border) Each of these cartridges, along with the instruction manual text and other extra content, can be accessed through an easy-to-use menu interface that you can control from the keyboard or the hand controllers. Or, if you prefer to skip the menu, you can use the "Quick Boot" feature to jump immediately to the cartridge of your choice on startup. The Aquaricart is fully compatible with a stock Aquarius computer console, so no Mini Expander or extra RAM are required (although some of the cartridges in the collection recommend or require extra RAM). Here is a video by The Immortal John Hancock which demonstrates the Aquarius and the Aquaricart in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HbjOnC-JSE I'm offering fully assembled Aquaricart cartridges for $60 each. They include a color cartridge label and a printed manual. Here is the current design: If you're interested in adding the Aquaricart to your collection, contact me via PM—or, if you're not an AtariAge member, click on my profile and use the e-mail link. Be sure to include your shipping address so I can calculate the postage and give you a final total. If I have an Aquaricart cartridge ready to send, we will exchange information and complete the transaction; otherwise, I will provide an estimate of when it will be available (usually within one week). I won't accept payment unless I have a tested product that is ready for shipment, so you won't be kept waiting for your order any longer than necessary. I'm in the process of putting together a web site for the Aquaricart, which will offer complete scans of the original instruction manuals and other useful Aquarius resources. In the meantime, if you're interested, you can follow the eighteen-month development history of the Aquaricart in the original project thread, which includes testimonials from fellow Aquarius owners. Thanks for your interest and support!

minec.bin minesweeper.instructions.onepage.pdf - - - - - I got sidetracked (again) and spent a few hours on making perhaps yet another version of Minesweeper for the TI. The link above tells you a little something about the game, rules etc. As of now you can't play it, but please do test and report. Version 0.1 is attached here: You can move the cursor around. And you can press 1, 2 or 3 to start / generate a new game. So obviously there's a few things to add. What I like is how relatively fast a new game is generated. The premise is, and pretty much has been with many of my efforts, stock TI, no memory expansion, and game on cartridge in a Atarisoft style of 8K or 16K ROM only. We're at 35% of 8K capacity, and plenty of room for saving bytes later if necessary.

I have a cartridge of Space War that has a different pin cover from all the other games I have. It has just one long slot instead of three smaller ones, and you can push it in just by pressing it down, which you can't do with the normal covers. I thought it might be one of the 7800-era rereleases by Atari Corp, but it says 1978 Atari Inc, not 1986 Atari Corp, so it seems to not be. I put some pictures of the game, and a picture of what the normal pin cover looks like for reference. Does anyone know anything about this?

This cartridge for the TI99/4A contains 120k of Grom and 512k of Rom memory. It’s a combination cartridge with utilities, games, and of course Extended Basic v2.7 most functionality requires 32k memory expansion and a disk controller and drives (or nano/cf7) is recommended. Press spacebar at title screen for the games menu. To learn more: https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/?page_id=11#!/Extended-Basic-2-7-Suite/p/44354005/category=15846004. Had this cartridge a few months, like new. $40 plus $7.20 priority flat rate shipping to anywhere in US only. PM me if interested. Accept PayPal

So, I’m having a possible issue with getting 7800 cartridges *out* of my console. I’m aware of some 2600 carts not easily fitting at all, but this isn’t that. Is it normal to have to really work at a 7800 cart to get it out? For me Karateka seems to be the worst offender. Karateka also makes a bit of a “crunching” sound when the circuit board makes its connection. Pretty sure that can’t be good. If this is all par for the course, I can certainly live with it, but I’d definitely like to speak to the manager at some point! While we’re on the topic, can anyone share details on work being done to solve these issues?

I love vectrex homebrews and all new games for our retro consoles..... Anyway what's your favorite homebrew for the vectrex. By the way later this year is the vectrex's anniversary!! My favorite homebrew is from http://www.classicgamecreations.com/ , Vecmania!

Hi All, As some of you may have noticed, I've been writing a series of DIY Atari 8-bit hardware articles for Excel magazine. For Issue #4 (due soon) I've contributed articles on both the Pixels Past 8k and 16k EPROM based cartridges, and also building instructions for my own latest design, the UnoCart. Building your own UnoCart is not massively difficult and involves just a small amount of easy (thru-hole) soldering. The key item is a STM32F407 Discovery board, which is readily available from most electronics suppliers for <£20. Using an off the shelf arduino-like board avoids almost all of the difficult soldering. The only hard to get item is a Atari cartridge breakout board (pictured). The article describes how you can get these made from the provided files yourself from a PCB manufacturer (a batch of 10 can be obtained for not much more than £10 from the cheap chinese suppliers), but I thought it would be easier if I offered some spare ones here. These are suitable for XL/XE machines. So, if anybody is planning to work through the project in Excel magazine (and wants to get ready in advance), then I've got about 8 cartridge breakout boards spare and available for £3 + P&P. Please reply here if you want one. Can I ask that anybody asking for a board confirms they have already reserved their copy of issue #4 of Excel magazine, since I'd prefer these boards to go to readers of the magazine. Robin

Hi, I have a VecFlash cartridge in a White 3D printed shell with a blue LED. Comes Complete with software and extras on SD card, Includes USB transfer cable. Free shipping to US. Will hold up to 31 32KB games. $65.00

Hi, I’m new here. Trying to get back into the Atari 2600 scene. Does anyone know a good source to buy cartridge shells (cases) so I can fix a few of my broken games? thanks!

Only on some of my carts I see a small series of stamped codes. What are these? Date codes? Examples on Star Raiders carts pictured: R 34 2 R 39 2 R 45 2

I bought the cartridge mentioned above, but no information about it. I am looking for A) a BOX scan and B) the manual. Can somebody help me with it?

Hi everyone! I got a TRS-80 Color Computer 2 about a month ago, and I need software for it. It came with nothing other than the unit, so I ordered a tape interface cable and a floppy controller kit. I couldn't find any cheap software for tape/disk, and so I'm asking here to see if I can get a deal. If you have any cartridges, tapes or disks for the CoCo 1 or 2 (64k), contact me and we can negotiate a price. My email: lucasgreer2@gmail.com

Hi Everyone, I've owned a good dozen or more Solaris carts, and have run into difficulties with at least half of them. The most common difficulty is that the cart only displays in Black and White. Another difficulty is it just flat-out does not load, usually with some kind of squiggle screen or blank, depending on how many times I reseat it. I'm beginning to wonder if many of the Solaris carts in the US are actually PAL. Has anyone else had this much trouble with Solaris carts? Is there any way to tell if it is a PAL formatted cart or not? Thanks everyone! Evan

Hello Everyone! For Sale: One Activision RiverRaid II loose cart for the Atari 2600 VCS. The pictures show the cart in pretty good condition. The two streaks on the front label are not raised and I cannot seem to remove them with wiping. I have not tried any other method. The cartridge has been wiped clean, contacts cleaned thoroughly, and tested! The price is $25, shipping included for the continental United States. I don't ship internationally but will ship to Alaska, Hawaii, US territories, and Canada (yes I know Canada is not the US but hey, I LOVE CANADA!) As a rule I warrantee all sales for 30 days after purchase. I've sold a bit on ebay (NitroRetro) so you can check my ratings there, since I have no reputation here as a relatively new AtariAge paying member. PM me if you are interested! Best, Evan PS: This is my first "for sale" post so apologies if I'm doing something wrong. Suggestions for improvement of what I'm doing are welcome!

I just added AUDIn bank switching to my slideshow creator and all utilites. To test it, I used a patched version of mednafen. Thus I can claim it works nicely on soft and hardware. But now the questions: handy (and all other emulators) use the lnx file format which has support for two "banks". But this switching is done by "cart strobes". Now, if you look at the PIN layout, ther is only one read and one write strobe. So... Is there any usage of this feature in the emulators? Is there any ROM (I am not aware of) which is using this feature? If not, its only a two line modification of the emulators to use audin for switching the banks. If not, what would a be a good way to save the AUDIN switch in the lnx header? There are still few bytes free. adding two more banks? not really. adding a flag?

Take a cartridge like the 2600 Adventure, and there’s numerous “hacks” (someone changed the original binary). Some of which have just changed graphics, but some may have changed sounds, maps, number of lives, and beyond changing data, some may even have changed code. I thought about speeding up Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man, or changing graphics, colors and more with TI Invaders. Also I thought about a utility to have maybe a definition file for each cartridge locating “objects” like graphics, sprites, colors, sounds, text, invulnerability etc., and then the ability to easily “inject” changed objects. Anyway, I ripped TI Invaders graphically. I start out with an 8K ROM and one 8K GROM. Now it looks like the ROM is only 4K (same chunk repeated). I expected the GROM to be 6K, but then almost 1K looks rather empty. The last 2K obviously being “leftovers” and looks like intertwined repeats. Well, just thought I’d tell you. I’m having a few ideas about a hacked TI Invaders. Should have a twist, be slick and fun too.

Hi, I am currently with Ciro in his place, we did dump his original cartridge TI Logo II - Deutsch. We did use the GramKracker device and also verified our finding by reading the grom memory when the module was in and all GramKracker functionality was off. The cartridge uses - 8K Rom - Grom 6000 (bank 3) - Grom 8000 (bank 4) - Grom A000 (bank 5) - Grom E000 (bank 7) The oddity is the Bank 6 is unused but nevertheless its memory space is reserved, as we see the last grom starts at E000 It is matching the "information" from the PC99 dump from Mike Wright, but it appears the rpk dump on whtech is using the content of bank 7 at bank6 if you examine the .bin file. Both dumps allow you to start the cartridge, but I can imagine that once the content of the last grom is required only one will work. So the question is, can the Grom Bank be modified without breaking functionality? Br Klaus

I'm looking for reproduction cartridges of certain exclusive NES games. RetroUSB previously had everything I'm looking for up for sale on their website but they are now all discontinued. I'd appreciate it if anyone who knows could point me in the right direction on where to purchase these carts. I really haven't heard of any good repro websites aside from RetroUSB. Edit: To clarify, I'm looking for repros of games not available on NES, such as exclusive Famicom games, or the Vs. arcade games. I'm not interested in repros of existing NES games, otherwise known as a fake.

Persistent RAM Intra-Tech Computer Products Before I try this in my 800... Any idea what I have here? What the two switches do? Is it rare/valuable? Edit: Wait... I found this. I should have searched first :-)

PLATOTERM Lite Version 1.3 About this test release The Entire code-base has been brought up by starting from a skeleton implementation of PLATOTERM, and folding in precisely only the required functionality, testing each touch driver to make sure that it fits correctly within the 16K ROM address space. The Serial driver has also had its input buffer drastically increased (to 2048 bytes), which should allow testing of higher speeds. There still is much work to be done, hopefully Mr. Atari's SIO changes can be folded in. Baud rate selection is now possible by pressing SELECT-1, 2, 4, or 9 for 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 baud respectively. Also to be done, are various initialization tasks (such as ensuring that page 6 isn't blown away, at Mr. Atari's request.) About The Atari Lite Release This is a special version of PLATOTERM, that has been re-organized to fit the code within approximately 16K of space, so that it can be fit onto a cartridge, In order to do this, preferences was eliminated completely, and 1200 baud is initially selected. But the upside is, you can flash this onto a cartridge. Like the larger version, PLATOTERM requires a loaded R: handler. The cartridges are configured to load the DOS first, before jumping into the main program, so any handlers you wish to run, you should be sure they are loaded first (e.g with AUTORUN.SYS). Since devices like the Atari 850 can autoboot their handler if no disk drive is present, they will also work with the cartridge version. Just be sure that the 850 interface is switched on, before poweron. R-Verter users must ensure their handler is loaded, before starting PLATOTERM. The only available hotkeys are: SELECT-T to switch to TTY mode. SELECT-P to switch to PLATO mode. SELECT-X will exit the cartridge to DOS. SELECT-RETURN to send a carriage return and a line feed. SELECT-1 to switch to 1200 baud. SELECT-2 to switch to 2400 baud. SELECT-4 to switch to 4800 baud. SELECT-9 to switch to 9600 baud. Versions available: There are file and cartridge versions available for the following touch devices: Atari Joystick Atari CX77 Touch Tablet Atari CX80 Trak-Ball Atari ST Mouse Amiga Mouse in addition, a ROM without any pointer device driver is also available. What is PLATOTERM? PLATOTERM is a terminal emulator to access CYBIS services now available on the Internet utilizing a WIFI Modem. For the purposes of this documentation. PLATO and CYBIS are interchangeable names for the same platform. What services are currently available to access via PLATOTERM? As of writing this preliminary documentation (September 2019), there are two major CYBIS systems running. CYBER1.ORG and IRATA.ONLINE. WHAT IS PLATO? (aka CYBIS?) (from the PLATO wikipedia page:) PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), was the first generalized computer-asisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the University of Illinois ILLIAC I computer. By the late 1970s, it supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were originally developed on PLATO, including forums, message boards, online testing, e-mail, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multi-player games. What is CYBER1.ORG? CYBER1.ORG is a CYBIS system initially set up in 2004, as a haven for ex-PLATO users to experience a classic PLATO author experience. CYBER1.ORG is home to many thousands of classic PLATO lessons and notesfiles which have been restored from various sources, and have been made available in the interests of preserving PLATO. What is IRATA.ONLINE? IRATA.ONLINE is a CYBIS system that has been set up for the benefit of the greater vintage computing community, in the interest to provide a unique experience that can be accessed on a wide variety of vintage computers with a bitmapped graphics display. To this end, IRATA.ONLINE develops PLATOTERM for dozens of platforms, so that they can access CYBIS systems, as well as provide a community and learning infrastructure for vintage computing users of all types, in the hopes that as a cohesive community, something unique can hopefully emerge. What is the connection between IRATA.ONLINE and CYBER1.ORG? CYBER1.ORG and IRATA.ONLINE are independent of one another. With that said, the reason IRATA.ONLINE and PLATOTERM exist, are because of the efforts of CYBER1.ORG to not only preserve a running PLATO system, and provide the necessary information for interested parties to write terminal software to access CYBIS systems, but also in their effort to produce a publically available distribution of CYBIS that others who are interested may also run their own CYBIS installation. IRATA.ONLINE is a direct result of the public release of this distribution. Connecting to IRATA.ONLINE Once PLATOTERM is started, you can connect to CYBER1.ORG using your WIFI modem, using a command such as: ATDTIRATA.ONLINE:8005 Connecting to CYBER1.ORG Once PLATOTERM is started, you can connect to CYBER1.ORG using your WIFI modem, using a command such as: ATDTCYBERSERV.ORG:8005 PLATO Keyboard The PLATO keyboard is mapped to the Atari keys, like so: PLATO KEY Atari Key ANS CTRL-A BACK CTRL-B SHIFT-BACK CTRL- + (left arrow) COPY CTRL-C SHIFT-COPY CTRL- - (up arrow) DATA CTRL-D SHIFT-DATA SHIFT-CTRL-D EDIT CTRL-E SHIFT-EDIT SHIFT-CTRL-E FONT CTRL-F ÷ CTRL-G HELP CTRL-I SHIFT-HELP SHIFT CTRL-H LAB CTRL-L SHIFT-LAB CTRL-= (down arrow) SUPER CTRL-P SHIFT-SUPER SHIFT CTRL-P SQUARE CTRL-Q ACCESS SHIFT CTRL-Q STOP CTRL-S SHIFT-STOP SHIFT CTRL-S TERM CTRL-T × CTRL-X SUB CTRL-Y SHIFT-SUB SHIFT CTRL-Y ⇐ ESC CR and LF Select RETURN MICRO Symbols PLATO KEY MICRO Key α A β B ¸ C δ D æ G ø H å J ä K λ L μ M &126; N ° O π P ` Q ρ R σ S Θ T ¨ U ˇ V ω W ‸ X ö Y l-embed 0 r-embed 1 ˷ : ↕ , ≠ = ← SHIFT A ↓ SHIFT X → SHIFT D ↑ SHIFT W © SHIFT C ⬩ SHIFT F &Aelig; SHIFT G Ø SHIFT H Å SHIFT J Ä SHIFT K □ SHIFT O Ö SHIFT Y ≤ SHIFT < ≥ SHIFT > { SHIFT [ } SHIFT ] ⨉ CTRL X ≡ SHIFT ) Arrow 6 Credits '''Thomas Cherryhomes''' - Terminal coding, sleepless nights. '''Steve Peltz''' - original PAD protocol decoder from MacPAD. '''Christian Groessler''' - multiply funcs for Atari, lots of testing '''Jon Halliday''' - Fast text output routines for Atari '''Ron Klein''' - Testing, testing, and more testing ' '''Sijmen Schouten''' - FAST I/O and R-Verter support! Testing, testing, and more testing. '''Michael Sternberg''' - Apple2 testing, showing off at Kansasfest 2018 '''The.Doctor''' - Help tuning XON/XOFF parameters. '''John Buell''' - Testing '''John Manterola''' - Testing '''Jasmaz''' - Commodore 64 testing '''Paul Rickards''' - Commodore 64 testing '''Glenn Wiorek''' - Commodore 64 testing. '''Rory McMahon''' - Testing PLATOTERM-LITE-ATARI-1.3-ALL.zip

Hi everyone! I have trouble programming a gal yo make a custom d flop with reset un a gal22v10. Currently, I can program the reset and obtain all 0s or 1s. But i need to implement different values on reset, for example: 10101010 Is there any way to program something like they on Wincupl? Does anyone know how? Thanks in advance!