bfollowell

Just an old style bootleg cartridge with a load of pirated games on it. They were beyond my capabilities back in the day, but they definitely existed. This one was obviously larger than most fromm the size and number of games on it. It may have been more of a 90s cart rather than 80s. I can't say that I know anything about this cart specifically.

I ordered mine from PCBWay. I have ten coming in if you'd like to purchase one is mine. Otherwise, their minimum order is five.

It doesn't sound like he's willing, or at least not able, to spend much to upgrade beyond his stock, very basic setup, so I guess it would depend on price. From his replies, I think he may be looking into an SIO2USB cable/adapter and a 64KB upgrade. Those two together would open up a world of opportunities.

I've followed your multiple threads off and on and I haven't noticed anyone criticizing you. We've tried to help and have offered you some very good suggestions. The problem that I've seen is that you've seemed reluctant to take any of the advice that's been given and you've been very reluctant to accept the reality that your current setup is extremely limited and that it is next to impossible to do what you're wanting to do with the current setup that you have. Those of us with knowledge and experience with these machines know that a base Atari 400 or 600XL are the most base machines and are little more than glorified game consoles without any upgrades or extra peripherals, able to do little more than run cartridge or cassette games. @MrFish's suggestion of an SIO2USB device was an excellent suggestion that I didn't think to make earlier just because I haven't used one in years and have moved on to other, more elaborate devices. He is correct though, it is a relatively inexpensive yet elegant option that will allow you to emulate an Atari disk drive with your 600XL, opening up a world of software options to you. Of course, the 16KB limitation of the machine is then going to hurt you. His later suggestion of 64KB upgrade options was also spot on.

Well, of course things could change, but if that's the ballpark, those seem like pretty darned good prices to me.

This is sounding better by the day. Do you have an expected price range for the basic and pro models, or is it still too early for that, or did I miss it altogether? Thanks for all the information. We're waiting anxiously.

I will. Thanks for the advice!

That's a good point. I never thought of that. I just automatically think of buying new.

Yeah, and if we take that approach, then we may not have upgrades like U1MB, VBXE, etc., and I don't think any of us would consider those as going too far, even though they really may be in comparison to our original 80s tech. I'll agree that it's a slippery slope.

Yeah, that's what I've been told. 4K seems like way overkill for anything other than the main playfield screen, which I would like. I've had several people tell me that my CPU looks good, but that I'd probably need to pair it with a 70 level card, maybe a 3070 to get really good performance for a 4K playfield screen. The main thing is that, when it comes to TVs, which is pretty much what we're all using for VP displays, it's getting darned near impossible to find 1080p screens anymore. Not that you can't run a 4K screen at 1080p, but in my experience, at least with gaming monitors, using a display's native resolution is best. Anything less and the display seems fuzzy and washed out to me. Of course, all of the TVs in my house are 4K, and I'm certain I'm seeing a lot of 1080p content on those and I've never noticed an issue, so maybe I'm overthinking it.

Hadn't we already decided on a palette? That's what FJC used for his U1MB plugin, right? I mean, it may not have been sent to candle & company but, unless we find a better one, we've pretty much already decided on the palette.

IMHO, yes, things can go too far. In the example you gave, you said it yourself. The game is actually running on a Raspberry Pi and the cartridge circuitry basically turns the console into not much more than a glorified video circuit. At least that's my take on it.

This is awesome news! So, is this easily flashed to existing boards? I realize the term easily is likely open for debate.

I was beginning to wonder if this post would ever get a reply. Thank you for the information.

I don't know how I missed that. I guess I was focusing on the simple. Oh well, it won't really be a concern for mine as that's not how I use my 8-bits and they're not really near a computer with USB, So I'm not overly concerned with this first revision. I look forward to seeing your final design though, and maybe working it into a future revision of the PCB.

So, just that one diode between +5V and VSYS pin #39? That might be easy enough to add in even without a PCB change. I'll look into doing that on mine, just to be safe. Thanks @mytek!

Yeah, just because of my normal processes, not to mention the positions of my various computers around my home, it's really hard for me to relate to the accidental plugging in of a device into my 8-bit and to USB at the same time. Still, I'm sure it happens and, if there's some way to protect against that, I'd say it's certainly a worthwhile effort.

Exactly! As I said in the OP previous post, they're trying to do more advanced stuff that requires a disk drive or drive emulator with their extremely limited equipment and they're not at all receptive to purchasing the required equipment or listening to the good advice that they've been given. Can you take this six-disk-based game and put it on a cartridge so that I can play it on the equipment that I have? No, that isn't possible. Starts new post. Can you take this six-disk-based game and put it on a cassette so that I can play it on the equipment that I have? OP, I know that maybe oversimplifies what you're asking, but it's more or less the same. So, to reiterate. Unless you want to do something more simple than play an old game or two, you are going to need to purchase some form of drive/peripheral emulator. There is no way around this. The more advanced titles that you're wanting to use are not capable of being put onto a cassette or a cartridge, and even if they could be put on a cartridge, you don't have a multi-cart to put the image on, and I seriously doubt that anyone is going to create a physical cartridge for you. As I stated in your other post, and @Beeblebrox stated here, you really need to look into a FujiNet, an AVG Cart, or an SDrive-MAX. The bottom line is that we cannot help you if you won't help yourself. Most of us are more than willing to help new users out. Heck, most of us go out of our way and bend over backwards to help others, but you really need more equipment as you're not capable of doing what you want with what you have.

Agreed. Assuming a user has both devices installed in the same machine, which obviously some do not, but I'd say most do, then it's really something of a moot point.

I agree. I could easily see the U1MB without the VBXE, but not the other way around.

I agree. I don't recall the details, and maybe there's a good reason, but I don't see why we couldn't have an NTSC version and a PAL version, then each just has only the appropriate palette. There's a plug-in for the U1MB that allows you to select an NTSC palette though, assuming you have both installed in the same machine, correct?

That's pretty cool. Thanks @mytek!

Well, I had to order a minimum of five boards from PCBWay, and I ordered enough Purple Pico clones and switches to make five carts, so I'll have four extra eventually. I'll figure out a price later, but I'm not going to try to make much of any money on them. I'll just be looking to recover the cost of my supplies, so if anyone without the skills or time to make one is interested, you can let me know via private message. I figure, if things go well, everything should arrive in a couple of weeks. If so, I could have the four ready to ship in 3-4 weeks. I don't own a 3D printer, so I figure these will be caseless and everyone can make their own cases using their own equipment, or ordering through a 3D printer online like I will. Of course, if one of you wants an assembled and tested board in swap for printing and sending me a case using Robin's stl files, I might be open to that too. The more I think about it, I'd be glad to sell any combination of blank PCB, Pico clone board, and momentary switch too, if anyone is interested in going that route and assembling it on your own. It's not like I need five of these carts. Robin, I'll get a donation to you soon.

Thanks Robin!

Would someone be willing to post Gerber files for the PCB? I know that the KiCAD files are available for download, but I don't do PCB design work, and I hate to download and install KiCAD and putter around in it just to figure out how to create a Gerber file to send to PCBWay or whoever I decide to use. I'd be surprised if there aren't others in the same boat. Thanks in advance. Robin, thanks for posting all the files and details for this awesome little project. Your hard work and dedication to our community is much appreciated. Get well soon.