Ultimate Cart, First Use, Impressions.

[madhatter667]

Ok, so I got the cart the other day, Looks pretty darned good. Dumped some of the games converted by a member here to SD card, dropped the board in the cart slot, and up pops the menu. Runs ROMs just fine, CAR, and XEX. I haven't gotten it to work with the Atarimax EXE files I have, and none of the .ATRs I have function (SIO2SD in the future perhaps).

 

All being done on my practically new XEGS. The RF looks a little meh. Lots of interference. Ought to move the power brick, or maybe try one of my other RF lines. But the cart does what it is supposed to do, and therefore, I am happy about it. Good stuff! Gotta work on casing it.

[madhatter667]

Pics because it happened. Lol. Also, using RCAs from the Monitor and Audio jacks in the back greatly improved the picture quality, so I'm just not gonna mess with the RF, which I am sure most would recommend anyway.

Edited April 18, 2016 by madhatter667

[Keatah]

Fun stuff ain't it?

 

Don't bother forcing the video to get any better than what you have going now. The next worthwhile step up would be emulation or some sort of internal vid mod, working entirely in the digital domain essentially.

[madhatter667]

Oh no. I'm fine with the audio/video outs on the back... it looks alright hooked up. The RF looked crappy though. I'm happy with the results from using the other ports. I've never taken screen shots on a CRT before, the camera catches the refresh roll/flicker. My eyes don't. Lol. Good to know if hunting options for period monitors.

While I do some emulation of A8s, I have the hardware, so meh? It's fun for a quick fix when I don't want to leave my PC desk.

 

Also, tried my Sega Fightmaster stick on the XEGS. It works, B is default action button, and it is pretty responsive. Halfway want to paint it to match the system. Lol. Though I DO have a Wico BOSS joystick in one of my boxes, and that is grey, black, and white. Lol.

[electrotrains]

Ok, so I got the cart the other day, Looks pretty darned good. Dumped some of the games converted by a member here to SD card, dropped the board in the cart slot, and up pops the menu. Runs ROMs just fine, CAR, and XEX. I haven't gotten it to work with the Atarimax EXE files I have, and none of the .ATRs I have function (SIO2SD in the future perhaps).

 

Glad you are enjoying the cart. If you haven't got a copy of the user guide, its worth downloading them from the github page:

https://github.com/robinhedwards/UltimateCart

 

Not sure what the atarimax EXE files are - but the cartridge firmware will only display files named XEX, so you could try renaming them?

 

Also its worth breaking the files up into directories of <100 files each - that way the firmware will be faster to load and sort the directory. Ideally, the cart will have read the directory, sorted it, and have it read for display before the atari has finished booting.

 

ATR files are tricky to do with a cartridge-based solution - so I'd recommend a SIO2SD (or SIO2Arduino). I'm not ruling out a future firmware to do ATRs, but unless it could support games like Alternate Reality (i.e. multidisk with saving) I don't really see much point.

 

Robin

[TheMontezuma]

You may like the NVC tool for organizing the files (for faster loading and sorting the directories)

[madhatter667]

"ATR files are tricky to do with a cartridge-based solution - so I'd recommend a SIO2SD (or SIO2Arduino). I'm not ruling out a future firmware to do ATRs, but unless it could support games like Alternate Reality (i.e. multidisk with saving) I don't really see much point."

-This is part of what is making me think SIO2SD would be a good device here. I'm really liking the flash media interface/flash media convenience/stability. I have the Vjetnam archive of 8 bit titles, and those are all .atr I think.

 

Renaming the Atarimax archive will take a while. BUT, it is worth trying, and seeing if it works. Could always do it to a game or two, and if it works, copy the change to all the files.

 

I have a copy of the user guide for the UC. The doc is quick and fairly straighforward. I didn't expect .atr compatibility, I just tossed the archive on a SD to see if it would see the files. Would have been a bonus.