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Best "everdrive" for Atari 800 XL


AmintaAtari

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Basically almost yes, normally a rom loader for SNES Mega Drive etc, nearest is a thing for the C64 called a 1541++ Ultimate in terms of what he wants it to do (does tapes, carts disks etc ) but nothing as close as that on the Atari..(as yet)

Edited by Mclaneinc
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I don't know if it's the best, but I use the SIDE2 from Lotharek. It plugs into the cart port and has a CF card slot. You can put carts and disk images on the CF card and when you boot the the computer, you get a nice menu to select the cart/disk from. It has some other goodies up its sleeves too, but that's all I use it for.

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OK, then, no, I don't believe there is any one device that works for everything.

 

SDrive-MAX works with disk images and cassette images. I believe it also allows you to load XEX files, which are basically just renamed executable files. I don't believe it will do ROM images though.

SIO2SD works pretty much the same for disk images, but I don't think it works for cassette images. Like the SDrive-MAX, no ROM images.

At least four or five different flavors of multi-carts with varying compatibility with the different Atari style ROM images and XEX files. Most won't read disk or cassette images, but there are a few that will even do those to one degree or another.

 

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30 minutes ago, AmintaAtari said:

Thanks to all for your very useful replies!

 

So, not having been a possessor of an Atari 8 Bit in the '80s, I ask you: did the best or the "iconic" games are released on cart, tape or disk?

 

Many thanks!

 

 

There's a disk image of almost everything "iconic" these days.

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I purchased the S-Drive Max and it is very functional. I just recently purchased the Uno Cart: 

https://github.com/robinhedwards/UnoCart

 

I believe the Uno-Cart might better fix the OP. If there are any left they were on sale here: 

https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/atari-xl-xe-uno-cart

 

As far as loading disk images from cart or pbi --- I have noticed that all these new devices reach what seems to be a technical limitation. As put eloquently in one of the manuals for the IDE+ 2.0 (http://drac030.krap.pl/ide-plus-config-screen-reference.pdf)

 

(Regarding disk image compatibility) "some programs use own serial I/O routines instead of calling the OS to perform the I/O – such programs will not work"

 

So buy both. Collectively the S-Drive max and the UnoCart it will extend the functionality far beyond just game rom playing.

Edited by MrFSL
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33 minutes ago, AmintaAtari said:

I ask you: did the best or the "iconic" games are released on cart, tape or disk?

Most of the iconic titles were either cart or disk. I believe most of the cassette titles are either, older titles that were later re-released on disk, or were toned down, limited versions of existing disk titles. Of course, this isn't true for all titles, but I believe most would fall into this category. As far as carts go, many classics, like Star Raiders, were only released in cartridge format, at least in the U.S., though they are available in other formats now. Also, many of the titles that were released as both cartridge and disk, the cartridge version is often a toned down version, missing either some features or loading and title screens or both.

 

You can rest assured that most iconic Atari 8-bit titles are available these days in one form or another.

 

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I also believe that UnoCart is the best solution for the AmintaAtari. It looks like he (or she?) is mostly interested in games, and UnoCart can manage: 1)ROMs (cart games) . but not only that, UnoCart does great with 2)executables (aka binaries or XEXs). Finally, on top of that is does 3)disk drive emulation (can run ATRs), so with Carts and XEXs you have most of the titles for Atari 8bits covered nowadays, and you have disk drive emulation just in case. The search feature is also amazingly fast and convenient.

The shortcomings of UnoCart is that the max size of the romfile loaded is 1Mbit (so 8mbit titles like AtariBlast! won't load) and that some ATRs with fancy loaders (without xex released) like Stunt Car Race (last time I checked) did not load either.  

In my personal experience, when I just want to find and play a game quickly, I use UnoCart, in fact first I had the sio2sd and sio2pc, but then when I got the UnoCart the sio2sd and sio2pc were almost never used anymore by me and also my son.( too complicated when I just want to find and play a game)

 

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I may be wrong but isn't there compatibility issues with some / all hardcoded disk titles that search for a device, the issue is that the person wants an everdrive type thing, now what that normally means depending on model that it will load 99% of games and the more expensive say Snes version will support the secial chips in some of the cart, the point being its pretty well compatible with most of the software off the bat and that is what this person is looking for. The nearest for me would be the SD-MAX and an AVG cart, its two purchases but gives the most possible effective playability of tapes, roms disks and xex's...

 

ANd, they can be plugged in at the same time..

Edited by Mclaneinc
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