Anything like a Harmony cart for Atari 8-bit computers

[toymailman]

Just wondering if there is anything like the Atari 2600 Harmony cart for the Atari 8-bit line of computers. Thanks!

[MrFish]

The current similar solutions are the SIDE II cartridge and the MyIDE II cartridge, which utilize CF and, from what I understand, a limited number of CF to SD adapters.

[+wood_jl]

I think if someone simply wants to PLAY GAMES like a console, either an Atarimax Flash Cartridge or SIO2SD or Sdrive (these last 2 are disk drive emulators running off SD cards) would be much easier to figure out than SIDE or MyIDE to someone new to the system. Judging by the software and configuration discussed in the respective threads for SIDE and MyIDE, these are probably beyond the interest of the **CASUAL*** gamer. I could be wrong, of course.

[MrFish]

I think if someone simply wants to PLAY GAMES like a console, either an Atarimax Flash Cartridge or SIO2SD or Sdrive (these last 2 are disk drive emulators running off SD cards) would be much easier to figure out than SIDE or MyIDE to someone new to the system. Judging by the software and configuration discussed in the respective threads for SIDE and MyIDE, these are probably beyond the interest of the **CASUAL*** gamer. I could be wrong, of course.

 

Yea, you're right. Those devices are more plug and play than either the SIDE II or MyIDE II. I was just matching what he asked for in terms of physical specs (cart + mem card = ~harmony). I make no assumptions about anybody's technical abilities here though. There are always plenty of people here willing to walk you through the steps to get set up. It's hardly rocket science if you're just looking to set up a simple Fat32 partition on a SIDE to dump executables onto...

Edited January 5, 2013 by MrFish

[+Stephen]

Don't forget - the Harmony can use its ARM processor to do computations and stuff the 2600's registers. There is no cart like this for the Atari 8-bit yet. In one sense the VBXE could be like this, but it's far from as easy as plugging in a cart.

[MrFish]

Don't forget - the Harmony can use its ARM processor to do computations and stuff the 2600's registers. There is no cart like this for the Atari 8-bit yet. In one sense the VBXE could be like this, but it's far from as easy as plugging in a cart.

 

The Atari 8-Bits don't need any extra computational power.

[adam242]

Don't forget - the Harmony can use its ARM processor to do computations and stuff the 2600's registers. There is no cart like this for the Atari 8-bit yet. In one sense the VBXE could be like this, but it's far from as easy as plugging in a cart.

 

The Tomek-8 cartridge will be something like that, from what I understand? I mean the additional computational power, it has no CF or SD storage capability...

[mimo]

Side II does not need to be complicated, just format a cf card in fat32 format. Drop a load of xex files onto the cart. Point and shoot.

Really no need to use the sdx functions at all, but used as a program loader in side loader mode it is fast and simple to use.

[+Philsan]

Topic for newbies

[toymailman]

Thanks for all the input guys. I did not realize there are so many options with vary degrees of difficulty. I guess to be clearer with my question what is the best option to copy game ROMs onto some device (SD card, CF card, etc.), select them via some menu, then play?

 

Also, for Atari 8-bit ROMs these are found in either .xex, .exe, or .atr formats?

[+Roydea6]

ROM or BIN is usually a cartridge image copied from the cart.

xex are usually a rom or bin converted to disk loading same for com, exe, any other name you want to put on as extender as XXXXXXXX.OBJ. or and assembled binary program.

ATR format is just a disk image with files in it... usually with Disk operation System or DOS.. 2.0, 2.5 MyDOS, SpartaDos...etc..

 

I like to think of an ATR as a zip file that just has those file in it I want in it..