Hive multi-cart - It's alive!

[Gaztee]

 

A box was mentioned in the first post in this thread:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213241-bacon-power/

But that's a different thread

[Janzl]

D2K works, but has speed issues.

 

- J

 

I didn't notice any. Can you tell were these issues are? I will check if it happens on my console too.

[HunterZero]

The main difference is the music and game run slower. The music is very noticeable. This is down to the 50Hz speed of the PAL inty vs 60Hz for the NTSC.

 

- J

Edited July 15, 2013 by HunterZero

[mdoerty]

Can't wait to hear more details on this project!

It looks exciting.

Luckily, I still have my IC and CC3.

[grIMP]

OMG , WHEN is this gonna be done? I will throw money at your face , thank you so much for taking the reigns and making a new multicart. any idea when we can expect a release?

[ZarK]

I'm with grIMP, where do I throw my Money! my hard earn money, which I should be using to buy food'n'rent...

 

Edited July 20, 2013 by ZarK

[+GroovyBee]

Latest update. Please note that the video does not have sound because its pretty dull listening to a load of controller clicks (in my opinion) :-

 

 

Thanks to sh3-rg and Reboot for hosting the video on their YouTube channel.

 

In the video you can see :-

• The multi-cart going straight to the file/folder explorer view on boot-up.
  
• How games with long file names are viewed by scrolling them left/right on the disc.
  
• The "clear" button being used to get to the top of the file/folder list immediately.
  
• The multi-cart remembering the location of the last game played.
  
• The largest homebrew game ROM (available to date) being played (which is DZ-Jay's Christmas Carol).
  
• All games starting as soon as they have been loaded in.
  
• Better mapping of ASCII to Inty characters.
  
• Legacy games in (*.bin/*.int format) being CRC matched against a comprehensive database to determine their memory layout.
  

Still to do (in no particular order) :-

• Make it behave like a USB removable drive when connected to a PC.
  
• Improve compatibility with CC3 (support bank switching and top/tail chunks of memory "missing").
  
• Parse *.cfg files.
  
• Add "favourite games" started on controller "hot keys" and add an editor to manage them.
  
• Add a colour change editor.
  
• Add credits screen.
  
• Add the ability to reset the contents of the E2PROM back to "factory defaults".
  
• Auto detect the ECS.
  
• Make it user upgradeable.
  
• Add support for text manuals. Are these available already formatted for CC3 use anywhere?
  
• Create more multi-cart test ROMs to aid development and regression testing.
  
• Perform a whole bunch of legacy game/proto testing (this is much easier with the current file/folder explorer).
  
• Replace place holder graphics.
  
• Anything else I've forgotten .
  

There have been quite a few hardware performance tweaks and some frequently used routines have been machine coded too. The file loading speed you see in the video is pretty much how it will be in the final version.

 

Looking at the "TODO" list there is still quite a bit of work.

[Oscar G.]

Wow! Thanks for the update Groovy Bee. This project seems to be the best multi-cart ever. Cheers and good luck!

Edited July 23, 2013 by Oscar G.

[Janzl]

Awesome! Magnifique! Respect!

[+cmart604]

To do: bug Nonner to get box art completed.

 

Seriously though, this looks like its going to be fantastic.

[bikeguychicago]

I will definitely be looking to purchase one of these once available. I do hope that the Rocketeer cart is available before this, however, since I've already paid for that one.

 

While I appreciate Groovy's prolific enthusiasm, it would be nice if he could stay focused enough to finish one project before becoming entrenched in another.

[JasonlikesINTV]

Thanks for the update, GB! Looks like this will be a winner!

[+grips03]

Looks awesome!

 

If you make user upgradable then some features can be added later.

[+grips03]

I will definitely be looking to purchase one of these once available. I do hope that the Rocketeer cart is available before this, however, since I've already paid for that one.

 

While I appreciate Groovy's prolific enthusiasm, it would be nice if he could stay focused enough to finish one project before becoming entrenched in another.

 

but going from this to that is how the mind works

[CrazyChris]

From the youtube video, I like how the file name scrolls, if it is too long to fit on the

screen. I don't think I have seen that on any multicarts?

Edited July 23, 2013 by CrazyChris

[+GroovyBee]

To do: bug Nonner to get box art completed.

 

All in good time. There has to be something to put in the box first .

 

Seriously though, this looks like its going to be fantastic.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

[+GroovyBee]

Looks awesome!

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

If you make user upgradable then some features can be added later.

 

True! Anything on the todo list that pokes the hardware has to be signed off first. When its time to beta test I can see its user upgradeable BIOS facility being a huge time saver. For final production carts I'm not expecting people to upgrade the BIOS much at all. But...... I'll leave the functionality in there "just in case".

[+GroovyBee]

From the youtube video, I like how the file name scrolls, if it is too long to fit on the

screen. I don't think I have seen that on any multicarts?

 

The scrolling is controlled by the user. If the multi-cart finds a long file name on the highlighted line it puts an arrow head on the right side of the screen (after about a half second of inactivity on the controller). As you scroll left/right it puts an arrow on screen to indicate that there is more of the long file name in that direction. If you don't want to wait until the arrow head appears to scroll left/right then you just hit left/right on the disc and the arrows will start appearing if the file name is longer than 20 characters.

[+GroovyBee]

Thanks for the compliments and interest in the project. I've definitely played far more legacy Inty games since I started the project. As a matter of fact, Worm Whomper was the first game I played on this multi-cart. I'd never even played the game up to that point . The only reason that I chose WW to start with is because its an 8K ROM and I wanted to start with something small.

[JasonlikesINTV]

Worm Whomper is a great game

[+BBWW]

Where is the BUY IT NOW button?

[+GroovyBee]

Where is the BUY IT NOW button?

 

It will appear shortly after the "Project is done" button .

[Ignorama]

Is there a price estimation yet? I wont ask this a thousand times, so if there is a price, do you add it to post # 1?

Edited July 25, 2013 by Ignorama

[+GroovyBee]

Is there a price estimation yet?

 

Not yet. I need to lay out the final PCB to get manufacturing quotes against and I can't do that until I've completely signed off the hardware.

[+BBWW]

Proof of Life!

 

Is it still breathing!