Question about The Brewing Academy "Ultimate Atari Cartridge" SD Cart

[BIGHMW]

I was wondering, since I intend to acquire both an XEGS as well as this product, https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/atari-800-xl-xe-ultimate-sd-cart in which I found out about, in order to use all of the nearly-1000 ROMs I have for the Atari 8-bit computers, is how do I format the files onto an SD card??? I know how to load them up onto one, is there anything special I need to do or is there any firmware I need to download in order to use it or is it simply "drag-&-drop, plug-&-play"???

 

Thanks, and looking forward to adding this system to my 2600, 5200 and 7800 as well for debuting my 7800 and 8-Bit Editions of The Atari Report this coming January!!!

 

Ray Jackson

AtariAge User ID: BIGHMW

Host of The Atari Report

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgW22q4hD1AhsdRkno-SLFw/

Edited October 10, 2020 by BIGHMW

[BIGHMW]

 

[bfollowell]

You can watch the video above. It's a pretty good overview. But to answer your question, no, you don't have to do anything special, assuming your SD card is 32GB or less. If so, just make certain it's formatted to FAT32 and yes, it's drag and drop. I created directories and sub-directories to help me organize my files, but that was a personal choice, not a requirement. You can just dump everything straight onto the root if you want to. One thing to note, in the video, the reviewer states that UltimateCart is limited to a 4GB card, and this has never been true for me. Even if the docs say that officially, I've used 32GB SanDisk Ultra cards with my UltimateCart for the past 18 months and had no issues whatsoever. I think it has more to do with the way it's formatted. You can't format a card greater than 32GB as FAT32 by default. It takes a special app to do this. For this reason, any microSD card larger than 32GB typically comes formatted as exFAT, and I think that's where the problem comes in.

 

All that being said, I think you need to seriously consider the  AVGCart. I'm an UltimateCart owner and I love it. When I purchased it about 18 months ago, it was top of the line in terms of overall cartridge type compatibility. At that time, the AVGCart had just arrived and, while nice, it didn't offer compatibility with nearly as many cartridge types. Step ahead after 18 months of extensive development and updating and the AVGCart has definitely surpassed the UltimateCart in terms of overall features and cartridge type compatibility. I still love my UltimateCart, and probably won't be getting an AVGCart, but if I were making my purchasing decision today, it would definitely be the AVGCart, hands down. If you still decide to purchase the UltimateCart, I'm certain you'll be happy with it, and you can't do better than dealing with Marlin at The Brewing Academy, but you owe it to yourself to give the AVGCart a serious look if you haven't already purcahsed. The icing on the cake is that it's actually a little bit cheaper for the AVGCart with more features and better cartridge type compatibility. It's too bad that Marlin hasn't started selling those as well. Maybe he will eventually.

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by bfollowell