Igor Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 3 hours ago, UHATEIT said: Oh I want to say it DID say I had 270 which is what I had total. But it went from mid B to Z then # to mid B but was missing a while page of them like 14-16 or so. But removing down to 250 was perfectly fine after that. But I saw the update eventually will allow over 256 someday right? Ah looks like I have a bit of an overflow issue, it should never go beyond 256 even if you have more, I'll look into the code to fix that. Yes Once BennVenn releases firmware that will have directory support and support for more files, it will do...though from what you're reporting the firmware may be sneakily supporting more than 256 files already and I just need to update the menu to do the same. I'll talk to Ben and see what he says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Hi all, I can't seem to get T-Tris running using El Cheapo SD. It works perfectly fine on Handy. Is there a list of games which do and don't work? Rgds BadPricey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42bs Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 6 hours ago, BadPricey said: Hi all, I can't seem to get T-Tris running using El Cheapo SD. It works perfectly fine on Handy. Is there a list of games which do and don't work? Rgds BadPricey Do you own a copy of T-tris? If not, you have not even the right to play it. Go get it from Songbird! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 2 hours ago, 42bs said: Do you own a copy of T-tris? If not, you have not even the right to play it. Go get it from Songbird! In answer to your question, no, I don't own T-tris. The ROM is being hosted freely on the Internet and I wanted to try it. It doesn't work so I can't play it on real hardware. No loss I've deleted it. Fortunately I do have this. So to answer my original question is there a list of games that do or don't work on El Cheapo SD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42bs Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 (edited) 19 minutes ago, BadPricey said: In answer to your question, no, I don't own T-tris. The ROM is being hosted freely on the Internet and I wanted to try it. It doesn't work so I can't play it on real hardware. No loss I've deleted it. Fortunately I do have this. So to answer my original question is there a list of games that do or don't work on El Cheapo SD? You can buy a copy of T-Tris from Songbird (he invested a lot on the re-release). The Gameboy version is not an adequate replacement ? If an why it does not work on the SD card is likely because it was a bad copy. Edited May 26, 2021 by 42bs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 16 minutes ago, 42bs said: The Gameboy version is not an adequate replacement ? ? ^^^??? It's a game I'd like to try before I buy on real Lynx. Normally I'll try two or three games out and then stick them on my Birthday /Christmas list. I usually order from Telegames UK as shipping from Songbird is expensive. Bad ROM, not convinced, worked on Handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 There is no list but ElCheapoSD only supports real LNX files, the ROM could be a LYX or an O type ROM, that would most likely be your issue. Handy is a lot more lenient as it can detect LNX vs LYX vs O ROMs, so can Retro HQ's Lynx GD. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oski_98 Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Does anyone else have trouble playing the "Super Asteroids and Missile Command" ROM on their ElCheapoSD? I'm using the atari gamer boot.bin and when I select the room it fails to load, there's some text the flashes in front of my eyes too quickly for me to read (could be an error). Subsequent attempts to load the ROM seem to just hang. If I remove the associated .SAV file seems to go back to quickly failing with flashing text too quick for me to read then back to freezing on load. I searched the forum but couldn't find any specific mention of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oski_98 Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 On a hunch I just shorted the rom name to astro.lnx and somehow that fixed the issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dopy25 Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 1 minute ago, oski_98 said: On a hunch I just shorted the rom name to astro.lnx and somehow that fixed the issue. Any chance the original had an ampersand (&) in the file name? It's just a theory and probably way off. It could also be a long file name. I haven't dug that deep into any SD art yet so I'm not familiar with the El Cheapo but have been looking at bits of information. I'm hoping to get the SD cart and the screen at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oski_98 Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 It didn't have an ampersand, but it was a long name. I think the firmware, or maybe the boot image, don't handle long names and also certain characters well. For example I noticed that for some file names, ones that have only letter characters, it doesn't show the extension. But if the file has an underscore it shows the file extension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 3 hours ago, oski_98 said: It didn't have an ampersand, but it was a long name. I think the firmware, or maybe the boot image, don't handle long names and also certain characters well. For example I noticed that for some file names, ones that have only letter characters, it doesn't show the extension. But if the file has an underscore it shows the file extension. The issue you described is when the firmware can't launch the selected ROM for some reason and falls back into the menu without a clean reset, that causes it to just hang. Can you tell me what the original file name was so I can see if I can reproduce the issue and fix the menu loader please? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oski_98 Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 On 3/25/2022 at 10:31 PM, Igor said: The issue you described is when the firmware can't launch the selected ROM for some reason and falls back into the menu without a clean reset, that causes it to just hang. Can you tell me what the original file name was so I can see if I can reproduce the issue and fix the menu loader please? Yeah, I had issues with the following names for the ROM: 1. "Super Asteroids, Missile Command (USA, Europe).lnx" 2. "super_asteroids_missle_command.lnx" It works fine if I just name it: astero.lnx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted March 27, 2022 Author Share Posted March 27, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, oski_98 said: Yeah, I had issues with the following names for the ROM: 1. "Super Asteroids, Missile Command (USA, Europe).lnx" 2. "super_asteroids_missle_command.lnx" It works fine if I just name it: astero.lnx I just tried renaming a ROM like that and it didn't cause a crash for me. At least there's a workaround, I'll document that on my site. Thanks for the info! P.S. ElCheapoSD troubleshooting guide is here - https://atarigamer.com/pages/elcheaposd-troubleshooting-guide Edited March 27, 2022 by Igor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oski_98 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 @Igorpossibly I have an older revision? I downloaded it last week though. Could it also be that the presence of other files affect it? Or even the quality of the SD card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 3 hours ago, oski_98 said: @Igorpossibly I have an older revision? I downloaded it last week though. Could it also be that the presence of other files affect it? Or even the quality of the SD card? I assume you're using the one that I wrote, not the original menu? The version on itch.io is the latest, it hasn't had an update in about a year ? It would be the presence of other files on the card and also the order that those files were copied to the card, bit tricky to debug! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefred Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 On 5/26/2021 at 3:50 AM, BadPricey said: ? ^^^??? It's a game I'd like to try before I buy on real Lynx. Normally I'll try two or three games out and then stick them on my Birthday /Christmas list. I usually order from Telegames UK as shipping from Songbird is expensive. Bad ROM, not convinced, worked on Handy. It works fine on Elcheapo, the rom being shared is a bad dump. Buy the game it is worth it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johannesmutlu Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 This beenvenn’s sd card for the lynx looks freaking damn cool,but what’s the benefit of it compared with the gamedrive? i own the first sd card from saint wich load games pretty slow(i don’t know if it was because of the slow ram or the chip inside that sd card )but i first tout it had to do with the lynx hardware,but the gamedrive loads games twice as fast and it can emulate eeprom save files on to the sd card. on the saint version you have to moddifie eeprom save games to take advantage of the sd card, also the gamedrive does support builtin cheat option via an os menu(i don’t know if that’s possible on the early saint version trough os update) but it would be cool,now despite i own the old saint version am still happy with it since it sincr it is still better then that rotery flashcard or masta flash card system, it also beats that unhandy aga sd card to the punch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagChris Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 The El cheapo card supports saves. First thing I looked up about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 (edited) On 4/6/2022 at 3:23 AM, johannesmutlu said: This beenvenn’s sd card for the lynx looks freaking damn cool,but what’s the benefit of it compared with the gamedrive? i own the first sd card from saint wich load games pretty slow(i don’t know if it was because of the slow ram or the chip inside that sd card )but i first tout it had to do with the lynx hardware,but the gamedrive loads games twice as fast and it can emulate eeprom save files on to the sd card. on the saint version you have to moddifie eeprom save games to take advantage of the sd card, also the gamedrive does support builtin cheat option via an os menu(i don’t know if that’s possible on the early saint version trough os update) but it would be cool,now despite i own the old saint version am still happy with it since it sincr it is still better then that rotery flashcard or masta flash card system, it also beats that unhandy aga sd card to the punch? Here's a comparison table - https://atarigamer.com/pages/sd-flash-carts-for-atari-lynx In the end it comes down to price really. The ElCheapoSD is named that way to reflect it ? Edited April 8, 2022 by Igor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johannesmutlu Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Whooaaah a whopping $35 difference in price between those rival sd cards for the lynx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johannesmutlu Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 On 2/26/2021 at 10:05 PM, KevinMos3 said: I've been itching to do a label for the BennVenn cart, and finally got around to throwing together a quickie. The idea was to use the tie-dye pattern at the top so it matches the rest of the shell, and put something Lynx-like where a label normally goes. I didn't plan on using the circuitboard on the label, but once I scanned it in for sizing, I liked it better than the plain orange or purple. Here's what it looks like applied to my BennVenn cart: There's approximately a millimeter or so of excess on the sides to give room for trimming. I actually applied this label to the cart before trimming off the edges, letting the hobby knife ride in the groove between the PCB and shell. It gave a nice fit. All images uploaded in 600dpi. If forum software resizes them, I'll zip them up or something. WoooW that sd card and it’s menu looks freaking damn cool along with amezing features, but remeber that a sd card was SUPPOSEDLY ABSOLUTELY TO BE WAAAY IMPOSSIBLE for the lynx,because the lynx lacks a hardreset wich is normally required for a flashcard to work on a certain system,only the dev-kit of the lynx does contain a hardreset feature(probably for testing) but the consumer version of the lynx lacks such luxury feature,and theres no time machine to going back to fix that,and the softreset of it could only reset 1 of those two 256K blocks but not the other one,BUT here comes the ultimate solution ,by disconnecting and rejoining 2 specefic pins together, you can isolate the ram,thus causing it to reflash itself,this creates a fake hardreset but the effect is the same,also since the lynx bios does NOT give up after a failed attempt to load a game,it reattempts to load a game,this way a sd card did became possible on the lynx,this is absolutely fantastic,i just can’t say it enough how fantastic this is,because this opens up new capabilities for the lynx such as overcoming the 512K limit by swapping 512k of data in and out to make new larger homebrew games possible ,releasing multi rom carts for the lynx,even cheat codes became possible with such smart clever tricks,this might be the best smart clever trick i have ever see to get around hardware limitations,and remember “limitations leads to creations”??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted April 10, 2022 Author Share Posted April 10, 2022 I like to think of the BennVenn ElCheapoSD as the 'budget SD flash cart' and the RetroHQ Game Drive as the 'premium option', GD has more features and supports more EEPROM types by emulating them, ElCheapoSD has a physical EEPROM chip on it. In terms of hard resetting a Lynx, it's doable in software with a few lines of code, it's not a hard reset but close enough as it forces the Lynx to fully re-initialise. We've also worked with both BennVenn and @SainT from RetroHQ to bring the official boxes and cart stickers out for each of the flash carts... These are available from our shop (atarigamer.com/shop) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42bs Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 On 4/8/2022 at 4:30 PM, johannesmutlu said: lynx does contain a hardreset feature(probably for testing) I added a reset to my Lynx, but the GD does not return to the menu. One needs a reset button at the card to clear the memory. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johannesmutlu Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 On 4/10/2022 at 4:13 AM, Igor said: I like to think of the BennVenn ElCheapoSD as the 'budget SD flash cart' and the RetroHQ Game Drive as the 'premium option', GD has more features and supports more EEPROM types by emulating them, ElCheapoSD has a physical EEPROM chip on it. In terms of hard resetting a Lynx, it's doable in software with a few lines of code, it's not a hard reset but close enough as it forces the Lynx to fully re-initialise. We've also worked with both BennVenn and @SainT from RetroHQ to bring the official boxes and cart stickers out for each of the flash carts... These are available from our shop (atarigamer.com/shop) WoooW that official box art and cart look pretty darn cool as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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