GrizzLee Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 I have what seems like hundreds of games (disk/cratidges) for my 8bits. I would like to know if there is a one stop cart that supports all the games via SD card (bios differences and all). I really want to leave only one of my 8bits hooked up to play without the drives, cassettes, etc.. I must apologize if there is something. I haven't really followed the 8bit scene that closely. I recently got a an Atarimax for the 5200 and am having a good time with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) That's a really, REALLY basic question. No insult intended, and we'll all be glad to help you out, but make it easy on us. Go and read through the thread I'm attaching below first, then come back and askr any questions you still have. We'll be glad to help you any way we can. There's a on of good, basic information in that thread. Heck, I still go back to it occasionally myself, and I haven't considered myself an Atari newbie in a long time. Topic for newbies Edited November 23, 2020 by bfollowell 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApolloBoy Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) This is one of the best choices out there right now: https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/atari-800-xl-xe-ultimate-sd-cart It's compatible with almost every A8 out there, including the 400 (albeit only if it's upgraded to 48K) and 800. I'm actually thinking about getting one to replace my My IDE II cart... Edited November 23, 2020 by ApolloBoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 AVG cart with optional sio cable supports cart images, xex files, atr images and cassette files. I love mine, it has replaced all the other loading options in my collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzLee Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) 35 minutes ago, ApolloBoy said: This is one of the best choices out there right now: https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/atari-800-xl-xe-ultimate-sd-cart It's compatible with almost every A8 out there, including the 400 (albeit only if it's upgraded to 48K) and 800. I'm actually thinking about getting one to replace my My IDE II cart... This looks more like what I am after. Now I need a good s video or better signal. Thanks for the prompt replies everyone. Edited November 23, 2020 by GrizzLee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApolloBoy Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) 1 minute ago, GrizzLee said: Now I need a good s video or better signal. What A8s do you have? Edited November 23, 2020 by ApolloBoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzLee Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 45 minutes ago, bfollowell said: That's a really, REALLY basic question. No insult intended, and we'll all be glad to help you out, but make it easy on us. Go and read through the thread I'm attaching below first, then come back and askr any questions you still have. We'll be glad to help you any way we can. There's a on of good, basic information in that thread. Heck, I still go back to it occasionally myself, and I haven't considered myself an Atari newbie in a long time. Topic for newbies Thanks for the link. No insult taken. Good stuff in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzLee Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) 18 minutes ago, ApolloBoy said: What A8s do you have? Probably just about all of them released commercially. The oddest ones are the XEGS and the 1200XL ( pic here of my pong unit sitting on top of the 1200xl). When I lived in the same neighborhood as Joe Decuir, he came by and signed my 800 when we did interviews for movies, PBS and local TV ... I think the 800 is the coolest of them all. I was never a collector of these or the commodores, they all fell into my lap over the years. Although, I still do have my 400 I got in High School ... on clearance for $75. Programmed the heck out of that. The darn cassette drive cost me $140 though. Edited November 23, 2020 by GrizzLee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 Don't listen to the comments about the Ultimate Cart if you're wanting an all-in-one device, because that's not the Ultimate Cart. I have an Ultimate Cart and I love it, but it only does rom/bin/cart images and xex files, which are just renamed Atari 8-bit executable files. You can't run disk or cassette images from it. I love my Ultimate Cart, and when I bought it, the AVG cart was just coming out, and the Ultimate Cart beat it, hands down. A year-and-a-half later, and there's been very little new development of the Ultimate Cart, while AVG gets continuous updates and improvements. It surpasses the Ultimate Cart in the sheet number of cartridge types that it emulates, plus you can now run disk and cassette images from it. The AVG cart does everything the Ultimate Cart will do and much more, plus it's $25-$40 cheaper. You still may wish to look into a true disk emulation device though. The two main ones going right now are the SIO2SD and the SDrive-Max. You can find plenty of details on all of these in the newbie thread. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 1 hour ago, GrizzLee said: I have what seems like hundreds of games (disk/cratidges) for my 8bits. I would like to know if there is a one stop cart that supports all the games via SD card (bios differences and all). I really want to leave only one of my 8bits hooked up to play without the drives, cassettes, etc.. I must apologize if there is something. I haven't really followed the 8bit scene that closely. I recently got a an Atarimax for the 5200 and am having a good time with that. AVGCART is the only multicart that does everything you want. Wont fit in a 400/800 or 1200XL though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilsaluki Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 AVGCART is the only multicart that does everything you want. Wont fit in a 400/800 or 1200XL though... I bet if you used Dropcheck's 1200XL cartridge port extender ($15) that AVGCART would work with the 1200XL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 5 minutes ago, gilsaluki said: I bet if you used Dropcheck's 1200XL cartridge port extender ($15) that AVGCART would work with the 1200XL. It would, or just take it out of the cart shell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Ultimate Cart is a good cart but unfortunately it wasn't updated for years. Now there are two better options, AVGCart and Side3. As written by others, in the first post of Topic for newbies there are some very useful informations on how to load software and on loading devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, Philsan said: Ultimate Cart is a good cart but unfortunately it wasn't updated for years. Now there are two better options, AVGCart and Side3. As written by others, in the first post of Topic for newbies there are some very useful informations on how to load software and on loading devices. SIDE 3 can't load CAS files and loads 'most' ATR's but requires Ultimate 1MB to do it. The only device that loads 'everything'* is the AVGCART with SIO cable addon. This chart from tmp's site Says it all. AVGCART is the only cart to also load a random image if you want and the only one that supports template files. AVGCART and SIDE3 are still in active development so cool stuff is coming from FJC regularly just as it does from tmp, I expect they will flip flop back and forth in friendly competition with their feature sets for some time to come but without an SIO cable, the ATR/ATX/CAS loading compatibility of the SIDE3 is never going to compare to the AVGCART with one fitted. As Candle said, he sees the SIDE 3 as a more serious cart for more serious uses, developers ect. The AVGCART is for people who mostly want to load everything, play with it and only use a hard drive occasionally. *now I've said 'everything' we guarantee the pedants will pop up with a list of images that don't load for @tmp to fix in the next firmware release. Edited November 24, 2020 by Mr Robot I'm a bit wordy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzLee Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 Hey thanks guys. This lively discussion gives me something to chew on. I am more of a casual user/gamer and don't really intend to develop on the system. Sold all my disk drives at one of the Portland Shows a couple of years back. Still have a cassette system (uugh) in the closet. I'll look around and more likely come back with some more questions. Like the cart port extended and such. Also, so I understand, the bulk of these carts take care of the bios differences in these machine? Or is it recommended to use an XL or XE over the 400/800? I could totally use my XEGS for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 1 minute ago, GrizzLee said: Also, so I understand, the bulk of these carts take care of the bios differences in these machine? Or is it recommended to use an XL or XE over the 400/800? I could totally use my XEGS for everything. No, none of the multi-carts do anything to rectify OS differences. Most of them just emulate a certain cartridge, disk drive, etc. If the software you're loading would have issues with a certain OS, then it will still have issues if used on that OS. The U1M upgrade takes your machine up to 1MB of memory and has four OS slots that you can use for various operating systems, but that's an internal upgrade and, while relatively easy to install, does require at least some soldering if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Any OS-a or OS-b only titles have long ago been patched to work with os-xl, if you find an image that doesn't work, there will be a fixed one around to replace it. Some images require BASIC enabled some require it disabled, most don't care. Some images require PAL, some require NTSC, most don't care. Some require 128K of RAM, a few require more, most will work in 64K or less. The carts won't take care of these things, I name my files to include the settings they require to run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 (edited) Bit late but another vote for the AVG with SIO cable, its a complete setup with amazing compatibility and the nearest to what you are after. I'm not putting any other carts down, the Side 3 is a wonderful bit of kit as are the others but when it comes down to the amount of stuff it plays then the AVG with SIO lead is the winner, just being honest. I have an SD-Max and the AVG with lead, the SD-max never gets turned on these days. The next nearest is Side3 with FJC implementing things all the time.. Its also worth remembering that Everdrives are primarily for rom / cart based systems, disk drive emulation is a whole new ball game compared to loading a cart image. And even then you have to pay top dollar for say a Snes Pro cart with DSP / SFX etc support, even the everdrives do not cover them. Edited November 25, 2020 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NISMOPC Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 (edited) AVGCART or FUJINET - Love BOTH of them in their own quirky ways. I have a few DIY SIO2PC as well as a few DIY SDrive-Maxes that I built, but tend to use one of the above for every day use. Edited November 25, 2020 by NISMOPC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinjinhawke Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 I use a SIDE3 and and SDrive2. Once I have my FujiNet I will just use SIDE3 and FujiNet on my main Atari and the SDrive2 can go to the other one. I think that covers 99% of my needs. Tempted to buy an AVG as well because I can and not because I need. Does tmp have a store or is it just via contacting him through AA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 AA is the easiest way 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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