Atari8bitCarts Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 I would definitely argue against ECPC titles being unique releases, given the nature of their creation, reuseability and all. It doesn't really matter. It's the same argument NES collectors might have against Sachen releases. Or any collector might have against prototypes being releases. Or hacks, or Taiwan copies. It's a slippery slope, and for me, ECPC carts, however collectible, are not the same as a released game. They are the subset of the world I would call ECPC carts. I heard Synassembler came as a board only. If someone can provide a picture of a cased cart, I'll believe otherwise. I should take it off my list mostly because I don't list utility stuff, even though I collect it. That makes no sense. ECPC titles were titles by Romox. They were available and had a price. You could choose not to erase the cart and keep the title forever. Some titles were licensed and distributed by Romox only on the ECPC. There is no slippery slope, we're not talking titles that were already released by other mfg's. Prototype have an entirely different definition, pre-production, not final, sometimes never released, etc. Hacks aren't even close to this discussion. Just because they are on EPROMS doesn't make proto's the same as ECPC. You had to pay for a ECPC titles. ROMOX wrote titles only distributed on the charging station. The ROMOX developer wasn't passing out review copies, or had proto's. If you wanted Porky's, you had to buy a blank cart, then pay for the cart to be "charged" with the title. ROMOX had sell sheets with pricing. Instruction booklets. advertising. (sorry, didn't mean sound so harsh, late night of St. Patrick'ing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 How rare is Bristles ? I never see the cartridge of it ... only disc . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter83 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 I think I have a manual for that. Unsure if it's a cart or disk manual.or I'd it was used for both at home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 How rare is Bristles ? I never see the cartridge of it ... only disc . Atarimania lists the cart as a Rarity 8, I have one of those and Flip-n-flop too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Atarimania lists the cart as a Rarity 8, I have one of those and Flip-n-flop too... Bristles is the rarest of the three; Bristles, Flip Flop, then Boulder Dash of the First Star Line-up. I believe it's the same instructions for all three; disk, cassette, and cartridge forms. There is Astro Chase (A Parker Bros. title) released under First Star, but that is insanely rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 There is Astro Chase (A Parker Bros. title) released under First Star, but that is insanely rare. That's because it was only produced for the Max-a-Flex cab... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 How rare is ACE80? I don't see it on Atarimania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 ACE80 is very rare ! It is 80 columns within BASIC mode. I has 1. Very lovely color I don't know what is rarity rate ? 8 ? 9 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 That makes no sense. ECPC titles were titles by Romox. They were available and had a price. You could choose not to erase the cart and keep the title forever. Some titles were licensed and distributed by Romox only on the ECPC. There is no slippery slope, we're not talking titles that were already released by other mfg's. Prototype have an entirely different definition, pre-production, not final, sometimes never released, etc. Hacks aren't even close to this discussion. Just because they are on EPROMS doesn't make proto's the same as ECPC. You had to pay for a ECPC titles. ROMOX wrote titles only distributed on the charging station. The ROMOX developer wasn't passing out review copies, or had proto's. If you wanted Porky's, you had to buy a blank cart, then pay for the cart to be "charged" with the title. ROMOX had sell sheets with pricing. Instruction booklets. advertising. (sorry, didn't mean sound so harsh, late night of St. Patrick'ing). I have to agree here. I worked one of those kiosks. It was inside of a K-Mart and people would come up, buy the blank cartridge, which I would then open and stick in the machine. They got charged for TWO things: the blank and then the fee for the game Sometimes, people would come in and get a different game on the same cartridge. I HATED that. You had to stick it in a little drawer in the machine to basically bake the chip. I almost always managed to burn my fingers. If I did not burn my fingers, then the other result was that the chip was not completely erased and I had to try to wipe it again and THEN I burned my fingers. So, it's not like a prototype or something like that. For awhile there, that was the ONLY way people could buy games from us. Later, much later, I think, you could buy them pre-programmed, but when I was working there we only sold the blanks and they had to be programmed on the machine. (This was in 1983?ish? I was still in high school, so thereabouts. OH YEAH, the TI 99/4a was discontinued while I was working there, so that dates it pretty hard). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I have to agree here. I worked one of those kiosks. It was inside of a K-Mart and people would come up, buy the blank cartridge, which I would then open and stick in the machine. They got charged for TWO things: the blank and then the fee for the game Sometimes, people would come in and get a different game on the same cartridge. I HATED that. You had to stick it in a little drawer in the machine to basically bake the chip. I almost always managed to burn my fingers. If I did not burn my fingers, then the other result was that the chip was not completely erased and I had to try to wipe it again and THEN I burned my fingers. So, it's not like a prototype or something like that. For awhile there, that was the ONLY way people could buy games from us. Later, much later, I think, you could buy them pre-programmed, but when I was working there we only sold the blanks and they had to be programmed on the machine. (This was in 1983?ish? I was still in high school, so thereabouts. OH YEAH, the TI 99/4a was discontinued while I was working there, so that dates it pretty hard). So they used heat to erase the blank cartridges to put another title on it, or a new one. Can you explain what that device looked like, did the cartridge get inserted into something to erase? Or just lay there? If just in a drawer how was the UV strong enough to get through the cartridge housing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R4ngerM4n Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Please check this out: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4597058.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter83 Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 I have the books for letter perfect and data perfect but need the carts. The binder books are fake leather and look to have disks. But would love to see the carts for em Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I have the books for letter perfect and data perfect but need the carts. The binder books are fake leather and look to have disks. But would love to see the carts for em Here's Bob1200xl's pic of his: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/146744-ljk-letter-perfect-80-column-version-cartridge/?do=findComment&comment=3018888 I posted a pic of my tan one here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/98341-whats-the-latest-atari-related-things-youve-bought-on-ebay/page-154?do=findComment&comment=3025725 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I have the books for letter perfect and data perfect but need the carts. The binder books are fake leather and look to have disks. But would love to see the carts for em Data perfect does not exist in production cart form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 So they used heat to erase the blank cartridges to put another title on it, or a new one. Can you explain what that device looked like, did the cartridge get inserted into something to erase? Or just lay there? If just in a drawer how was the UV strong enough to get through the cartridge housing... No, not heat. Light. VERY bright incandescent light onto the EEPROM window. The heat was just a very unfortunate byproduct. It got placed in a little drawer. You had to take the board out of the housing IIRC. That part is vague in my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 No, not heat. Light. VERY bright incandescent light onto the EEPROM window. The heat was just a very unfortunate byproduct. It got placed in a little drawer. You had to take the board out of the housing IIRC. That part is vague in my head. That's what I thought (light and EPROM) EEPROM would be electric and doesn't use light. but didn't you destroy the label on it to open it up? That would be the only way to get to the EPROM's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybuck Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 SynAssembler someday in PD would be great! :-)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Since this is a cart thread. I will ask this question here. I have about 20 or so carts for my systems. I have 2 systems a 400 and a 800xl. The 400 has a 48kb upgrade - but I have a number of either silver sticker (newer atari) or non atari cartridges that dont work in it. Is there a technical reason these might not? I have floppies that have lasted 35 years, but maybe the eprom carts have gone bad? Thanks James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 biker bob the cart port needs the phi mod.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) Deleted, wrong topic Edited March 30, 2016 by AtariGeezer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter83 Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Maybe the upgraded memory chip went bad. Possible. But replacing that or modify the ram chip above 48k might done cheaply also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CannibalCat Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 No, not heat. Light. VERY bright incandescent light onto the EEPROM window. The heat was just a very unfortunate byproduct. It got placed in a little drawer. You had to take the board out of the housing IIRC. That part is vague in my head. That would be UV light then... but why was it "hot"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 That would be UV light then... but why was it "hot"? Couldn't tell you. I was 17 and EPROMS were a *very* new thing to me. I distinctly remember, putting it in a little drawer, pushing a button, bright light glowing out of the drawer and a VERY hot chip/board having to be taken out of the drawer. You can guess as to why/why not. Not going to gainsay you, but there was light and it was hot. We had to take them out of the case and put them in the drawer to erase them. We may have plugged them in to a cart port to program them as I recall having to put them in different slots depending on what system the cart was for. End of story. Found $5 on the way home from work, too. It's all true. Except maybe the $5 part. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 The Ravensburger carts have to be up there. -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Couldn't tell you. I was 17 and EPROMS were a *very* new thing to me. I distinctly remember, putting it in a little drawer, pushing a button, bright light glowing out of the drawer and a VERY hot chip/board having to be taken out of the drawer. You can guess as to why/why not. Not going to gainsay you, but there was light and it was hot. We had to take them out of the case and put them in the drawer to erase them. We may have plugged them in to a cart port to program them as I recall having to put them in different slots depending on what system the cart was for. End of story. Found $5 on the way home from work, too. It's all true. Except maybe the $5 part. EEPROM's were out at that time, I assumed that's what they used. Electronic Erasable chips... I guess not... It would have made more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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