A26 MaxiCart is available

[Avraham]

A26 MaxiCart is available, the A26 MaxiCart is a special Atari 2600 cartridge that allows loading games into it using a PC. The MaxiCart is a great tool if you just want to play Atari 2600 games or you can use it to develop and test your homebrew games. All that you need to do is connect the MaxiCart to a PC with a USB cable start the loader program and you are in business. For more information go to www.vgwiz.com

[Flack]

A26 MaxiCart is available, the A26 MaxiCart is a special Atari 2600 cartridge that allows loading games into it using a PC. The MaxiCart is a great tool if you just want to play Atari 2600 games or you can use it to develop and test your homebrew games. All that you need to do is connect the MaxiCart to a PC with a USB cable start the loader program and you are in business. For more information go to www.vgwiz.com

 

Wow -- looks awesome!

 

I just bought one -- can't wait to try it out!

[bjk7382]

So it only holds up to a 16k game?

 

I thought it would go to at least 32, since some of the coolest homebrews are that big. And since it does handle bankswitching, why not do them all?

[Avraham]

We decided to support up to 16k with F6,F8 bank switching for a simple reason, affordability. Supporting all of the bank switching methods requires more expensive logic components which will bring the cost to the point that it becomes too expensive.

[Stingray]

Any plans on releasing a Mac version of your loading software?

 

-S

[Albert]

For those who haven't been keeping tabs on the Krokodile Cartridge being developed, it will be cost a little more than the 2600 Maxicart ($99 versus $85) and it supports a wide variety of bankswitching formats:

 

* 1K / 2K / 4K / Non Bankswitched Multicart (127 Games)

* F8 / F8SC / F8 Multicart (63 Games)

* F6 / F6SC / F6 Multicart (31 Games)

* F4 / F4SC / F4 Multicart (15 Games)

* 3F (up to 512K Rom)

* 3E (up to 512K Rom and 32K Ram)

* EF (Homestar)

* FA

* CV

 

One of the cool features of the Krokodile cart is that it allows you to load a bunch of games into the 512K Flash ROM and use the cartridge as a multi-cart. For instance, you can load up to 127 4K games, or a bunch of 8K games, and so forth (games have to be of the same bankswitching type for the multi-cart functionality). I am testing one of these now and it's very cool.

 

A big difference between the 2600 Maxicart and the Krokodile Cart is that the interface to the computer for the Krokodile Cart is via RS232 instead of USB. However, a Java version of the Krokodile Commander software is being written, which should allow platforms other than Windows to be supported. Right now I primarily use OS X, but I have a PC I use to program the Krokodile Cart. Once programmed, you use the cart as a normal Atari 2600 cartridge.

 

..Al

[Paul Slocum]

The USB is probably nice for some since serial ports are less common these days, except I think that's more of an Apple issue and there doesn't seem to be any OSX software yet. And the transfer rate seems a tad slow for USB.

 

Looks like a nice platform for development since it supports pretty much the same bankswitching schemes that can currently be produced as a cartridges (except for 32k and 64k). I suspect some gamers are going to want support for all bankswitching schemes though.

 

-paul

[Godzilla]

Is the cuttle cart 2 better thant he maxi thingy? I already have a CC2, and don't really have a need for replicated hardware. The krok cart, tho, sounds like it'll do some new stuff :-)

[+Mitch]

Is the cuttle cart 2 better thant he maxi thingy? I already have a CC2, and don't really have a need for replicated hardware. The krok cart, tho, sounds like it'll do some new stuff :-)

 

The maxi cart plays on the 2600, that's about the only advantage that I can see over the CC2

 

Mitch

[sku_u]

Looks nice. I'll be picking one up very soon.

[Robert M]

Any plans on releasing a Mac version of your loading software?

 

-S

 

I had the same question so I contacted them by PM. They are writing an interface for Linux. When it works, they will send me the source code and I will tweek it to compile for OS-X and share it. Support for 0S-9 is not in my plans personally, but maybe someone else would want to take on that port.

 

Cheers!

[Flack]

I guess if I ever need to upgrade to the Krockodile Kart, I'll just dump a proto on to my A26 cart, print out a new label, and put it on eBay ...

[Stingray]

Any plans on releasing a Mac version of your loading software?

 

-S

 

I had the same question so I contacted them by PM. They are writing an interface for Linux. When it works, they will send me the source code and I will tweek it to compile for OS-X and share it. Support for 0S-9 is not in my plans personally, but maybe someone else would want to take on that port.

 

Cheers!

 

Good deal. Please let us know when you finish the OS X version.

 

-S

[kamakazi]

Is this cart still being made? Could use one for testing my programming efforts on a real 2600.

[+Gemintronic]

Is this cart still being made? Could use one for testing my programming efforts on a real 2600.

 

Sadly, the MaxiCart had super absorbent wings and flew off the shelf! You need a Harmony Cart.