Cartridge Size

[up2knowgood]

Is there a resource out there for the size of Atari cartridges? Like which ones are 4k and 8k and so on?

 

The reason I ask is trivial, but the Retron 77 will only play 4 and 8k cartridges, so I wanted to see which ones would work beforehand. I know the CBS RAM Plus cartridges are probably over 8, and I read that Burgertime is a 12k, just curious about any others.

[Flojomojo]

https://atariage.com/software_search.php?SystemID=2600

 

It sounds like it will be mostly compatible, moreso than say the Flashback Portable or Flashback 2 with cartridge slot, but slightly less than real hardware or latest Stella.

[up2knowgood]

https://atariage.com/software_search.php?SystemID=2600

 

It sounds like it will be mostly compatible, moreso than say the Flashback Portable or Flashback 2 with cartridge slot, but slightly less than real hardware or latest Stella.

Forgive me for being daft, but where does it say the size?

 

I keep hoping for the day Pitfall 2 will play with its incredible music.

[Flojomojo]

I was thinking you'd download them and sort by size. They're not big, and most of them should work, so you'll just be picking a few nits. Here are the bundles to make it easier

https://www.atariage.com/system_items.html?SystemID=2600&ItemTypeID=ROM

 

You can download individual Atari 2600 ROM images, but since most 2600 ROMs are 4K or less we've created some bundles to make them easier to download:

 

I would not be surprised if someone does something like this for Retron77 when it comes out.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

If you have the ROMs on your computer, you can change the view for that folder to List on Mac or Details in Windows to show the file size, then sort by file size.

Edited June 3, 2018 by KaeruYojimbo

[Keatah]

https://atariage.com/software_search.php?SystemID=2600

 

It sounds like it will be mostly compatible, moreso than say the Flashback Portable or Flashback 2 with cartridge slot, but slightly less than real hardware or latest Stella.

 

Even old stella like 3.x played bigger than 8K roms. I wonder what's causing the 8K limitation in a 4.x based product.. like, well, the Retron77!

[+Karl G]

 

Even old stella like 3.x played bigger than 8K roms. I wonder what's causing the 8K limitation in a 4.x based product.. like, well, the Retron77!

 

It's not Stella that's the issue, since they have said it will play larger ROMs from a SD card successfully. It presumably has to do with their cart interface. Hopefully the limitation is software and not hardware. Since the whole system will be open source, software limitations can be overcome with code contributions.

[+stephena]

I agree, it's more likely a (possibly fixable) limitation of the current cart reader hardware/software. I can't see how the emulator itself wouldn't be able to play ROMs larger than 8K. Certainly it wouldn't be a RAM issue on the included hardware, since going from Stella + 8K ROM to Stella + 16/32K ROM is basically lost in the noise.

 

Although I could see issues with playing ROMs using more advanced bankswitching schemes (DPC/DPC+/CDF/etc) if the base hardware isn't fast enough. The latter two BS schemes in particular also have to emulate an ARM CPU. It's nothing on any PC made in the past 7 years or so, but depending on the ARM CPU used in the console, it might be a limiting factor. Not to mention that Stella 5 has increased requirements for TIA video improvements, and Stella 5.2 will have increased requirements again for TIA sound improvements.

 

We just need to get the hardware and test it ...

[Shawn]

, but the Retron 77 will only play 4 and 8k cartridges,

 

[up2knowgood]

 

Apologies, after rereading the post in the Retron 77 thread, he does say 4k/8k/16k will be supported, my bad. Don't know how I got myself confused there.

[+stephena]

Apologies, after rereading the post in the Retron 77 thread, he does say 4k/8k/16k will be supported, my bad. Don't know how I got myself confused there.

 

That still leaves out 10k/12k/32k/64k, though, as well as potentially Supercharger ROMs. We don't know for sure yet; we just have to wait for the hardware. Also, some of these issues can potentially be fixed after the fact.