Concerto SD-card multicart ordering info

[Renato]

On 12/11/2020 at 6:54 PM, batari said:

For those who aren't aware, Concerto is an advanced microcontroller-based SD-card flashcart with an onscreen menu, that is designed to support all of the original Atari 7800 titles and all original Atari 2600 titles, plus most of the modern homebrew titles and demos. It supports POKEY sound (POKEY chip not included) and other sound sources are on the drawing board (see below). Concerto is reverse-compatible with Harmony Encore so it plays all 2600 games that work on Encore, including the newer DPC+, CDFJ and other ARM-based games, and you can even load the Harmony Encore firmware on it and it will function exactly like one.

 

The Concerto has a total of 520k of RAM, 32k of parallel flash and 2MB of serial flash. Currently games up to 144k are supported, and work is being done to support the larger games.

 

SD cards can be FAT or FAT32 formatted, up to 32GB in size. Setting up the Concerto is easy: just put your A78 files or Atari 2600 games on the SD card, plug into the Concerto and go.

 

The onscreen menu display is 40 characters wide, but can display long filenames up to 240 characters as well. There is no hard limit to how many levels deep you can go with subdirectories. It supports up to 10,000 entries in a directory, and though currently the files aren't sorted, I am working on automatic sorting alphabetically.

 

The firmware is still in development, so you are expected to keep up on firmware updates for the latest features and bug fixes.

 

How to order Concerto:

 

Until now, I have been putting up small batches but they have been selling out quickly, to the chagrin of many.

I don't like preorder lists, but also don't want full payment up front. Lists are not a meaningful indicator of how many carts I would need to build as people sign up for lists then never follow through. And, full payment up front comes with higher expectations. So I think a better answer is to create a reservation system.

 

I will still release carts with the current lottery system, but if you miss out, don't fret. I am going to allow people to reserve a Concerto with a deposit. The $10 deposit is 100% refundable for any reason, and at any time, just ask. If you go on to purchase a Concerto through the reservation system, the $10 is also a down payment and will be used toward the cost.

 

There are a limited number of reservation slots. I will only allow as many reservations as I feel I can accommodate in about 30 days. I won't publicly display who made a reservation, but if you do make a reservation, I will let you know what your place in line is, and try to make an educated guess of how long it will be until you are invited to buy.

 

The $10 also does two more things:

 

1. It also locks in the sale price of $89, even if the regular price goes back up to $99, as I intend to return to the regular price once the preproduction carts are sold out and Concerto goes into general production.

 

2. An additional benefit from being a reservation holder is you will get the first shot at two new products I am working on:

 

One, a power adapter for the 7800. This allows you to use a bog-standard 12v PSU, *either* tip polarity, or even AC output. There will be 2.5mm and 2.1mm versions available, or with both plugs in one. Plug your PSU into the adapter, and the adapter into the 7800 with the included pigtail. The adapter itself is small: it is roughly the length of an SD card, but about half the width. It is designed to provide up to 1.5A of clean, filtered 9V power to your 7800, with quality brand-name components, so you don't have to worry about poor regulation, overvoltage or anything else you might find by using the direct output from a questionable PSU. Although it's designed for the common 12v power supplies, it should work with around 10v-24v, so you can use an adapter you probably already have. The expected price of this board will be $10 to Concerto owners. (This adapter is ready to order, actually, but I just need to find a source for the Atari 7800 connector housing. The ones I have found do not fit snugly enough, so I am still searching.)

 

Two, HOKEY! HOKEY is a POKEY replacement chip, if you aren't aware. Unlike other POKEY replacements, HOKEY is microcontroller-based, which allows for flexibility that is hard to match with a standard hardware approach. So, HOKEY will not necessarily just be a POKEY chip.

 

Once the basic POKEY is validated on the new design, I will begin work on an enhanced HOKEY and attempt to tackle Bupchip, plus an emulator author wants to adapt HOKEY to emulate the YM2151 chip and digital sample playback with PCM output once the basic driver is working, so that homebrew boards will have a reliable source of high quality sound chips without having to locate old chips or use expensive replacements. HOKEY is expected to start at $10. Although HOKEY is being designed specifically with the Atari 7800 homebrew market in mind, you can also use one on a Concerto.

 

The reservation system should go live shortly, and another batch of Concertos will be released for sale as well!

 

* The order page is here: https://erstwhile-technologies-7800.square.site/

 

If Concerto is sold out, there is a link on the product page to reserve a Concerto from an upcoming batch.

Hello. I would like to reserve one, but I'm not getting it. Can you help me? Thanks.

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, Renato said:

Hello. I would like to reserve one, but I'm not getting it. Can you help me? Thanks.

On the ordering page linked above, the last two words of the description are the link to reserve one.

[weasel5053]

On the ordering page linked above, the last two words of the description are the link to reserve one.

Hi. The ordering page says not in stock, but when you click on the link for the reservation page it ALSO says not in stock and does not allow you to place a reservation.

[tep392]

On 4/19/2021 at 7:33 PM, batari said:

Concerto are still being made! They are just in high demand and I am still working on reserved carts before I can open sales to the general public. I am hoping it won't be that much longer before I can get through the reservations.

batari's last update was on April 19th. I would assume new orders are still closed until he posts a new update.

[davidbrit2]

Anybody know what the current status of the backlog is? I put in a reservation on 2/11, but haven't been able to buy one yet.

[Deteacher]

6 hours ago, davidbrit2 said:

Anybody know what the current status of the backlog is? I put in a reservation on 2/11, but haven't been able to buy one yet.

I can tell you that I placed my $10 reservation on 12/31 and I have not been contacted yet.  Not complaining.  Waiting patiently and that's what everyone needs to do.

[+batari]

I spent the last couple of weeks assembling all of the boards for the remaining reservation holders, and just need to put them in cases. I am inviting half of the remaining reservation holders to order today and the other half in a few days.

 

After that I will be doing away with the reservation system and going back to an inventory-based order system.

[leech]

2 hours ago, batari said:

I spent the last couple of weeks assembling all of the boards for the remaining reservation holders, and just need to put them in cases. I am inviting half of the remaining reservation holders to order today and the other half in a few days.

 

After that I will be doing away with the reservation system and going back to an inventory-based order system.

Awesome, looking forward to it! 

[Deteacher]

I was so psyched to see Fred's email waiting for me.  Just placed my order!  Can't wait! 

[vnrCEO]

when is anticipated for the next batch of these?

 

 

[Oldschool80skid]

1 hour ago, vnrCEO said:

when is anticipated for the next batch of these?

 

 

Read post 357. ☝️

[leech]

On 5/6/2021 at 12:46 PM, batari said:

I spent the last couple of weeks assembling all of the boards for the remaining reservation holders, and just need to put them in cases. I am inviting half of the remaining reservation holders to order today and the other half in a few days.

 

After that I will be doing away with the reservation system and going back to an inventory-based order system.

Looks like I put in the reservation on 12/22/2020.  Looking forward to it!

[teuton17]

Any updates on availability? I have checked back to order site and waiting list site about 50 times - no changes...

 

I am really looking forward to this...

[+groundtrooper]

Check back on the last few pages. Check the last few posts. There is an update posted by batari. 

[+batari]

As of right now, ALL of the reservation holders have been invited to order. The last batch of emails just went out.

 

There are a handful who received emails some time ago but have yet to place an order, so I think they didn't see the invitation email.

 

If anyone reading this reserved a Concerto by paying the $10 deposit and has never seen the email, please PM me and provide your email address, and I will let you know how to place your order.

[leech]

19 hours ago, batari said:

As of right now, ALL of the reservation holders have been invited to order. The last batch of emails just went out.

 

There are a handful who received emails some time ago but have yet to place an order, so I think they didn't see the invitation email.

 

If anyone reading this reserved a Concerto by paying the $10 deposit and has never seen the email, please PM me and provide your email address, and I will let you know how to place your order.

I PM'd as I seem to have not received an email.  Looking forward to this one!  Wonder what will show up first, this or the JagGD/Adventure II XE?  Been waiting for a while on both.

[kspiff]

Watching. Fingers crossed that stock is built up before I forget to keep checking. ?

 

I don't suppose buying one as a kit might at some point become an option?

[marfans]

Im pretty close to the last reservation  for the card and i received my invite to by yesterday ?(my brother got the last one he got his email yesterday too). Thanks Fred. Good things are worth waiting for.

[leech]

29 minutes ago, marfans said:

Im pretty close to the last reservation  for the card and i received my invite to by yesterday ?(my brother got the last one he got his email yesterday too). Thanks Fred. Good things are worth waiting for.

Oops, okay NOW I've sent a PM to @batari apparently, I shouldn't be sending things at the wee hours of the morning.  Hopefully I get my invite soon! 

 

[Deteacher]

Mine has shipped!  It'll be here Monday!  I can't wait! 

[chrisdad]

Have not been contacted. PM sent. Thank you for keeping us posted.

[leech]

Mine shipped, woohoo!

On 5/12/2021 at 4:53 PM, Deteacher said:

Mine has shipped!  It'll be here Monday!  I can't wait! 

 

[+Nathan Strum]

Mine has arrived! I will be checking it out this weekend. Thanks Fred!

[TonySwish]

Got mine a few weeks ago and works great other than two things.

 

Is there a way to ensure the games are alphabetized?

 

And is it possible to just add Atari 2600 games and they will play? Wasn't sure if anything was required for them.

Thanks!

[leech]

3 hours ago, TonySwish said:

Got mine a few weeks ago and works great other than two things.

 

Is there a way to ensure the games are alphabetized?

 

And is it possible to just add Atari 2600 games and they will play? Wasn't sure if anything was required for them.

Thanks!

I'm guessing here, but it probably sorts based on file write time.  There is a program I have used in the past called fatsort, but not sure if there is a Windows equivalent of it.