[Ultimate Cart (SD multicart) - Technical thread]

Please, we are not commies. That sounds like a very ugly device. You would have trouble in a 400/800 because of the cart door. Just get an Ultimate cart and one of the many SIO2 devices. U1M or Incognito also work well with it.

 

Sure, but it's probably the only way to have your Atari "all-in-one" device.

...and theoretically you don't need to have the cable to the cartridge permanently attached. An SIO socket on the cart will do if you don't use the functionality or if your 400/800 has cart bay issues.

[Ultimate Cart (SD multicart) - Technical thread]

 

You can't really "trick hardware into thinking an ATR is a cart", buy you can trick the system into thinking a cartridge is a disk, or multiple disks.

 

But I gather you could trick the Atari into thinking that the cart is an SIO device if you had a SIO cable attached to the cartridge to simultaneously use it as a disk drive.

 

That's the approach the 1541U2 cart does for the Commodore 64.

...or say, the Final Exapansion 3 cart for the Vic-20

[LIST OF MISSING / UNDUMPED SOFTWARE]

Do you have original dumps of all Avalon Hill tapes?

I have the Roadracer/Bowler tape, as well as Conflict 2500.

 

Also, does Atarimania have a collection of scanned type-ins that have not been archived yet?

[Grrr...People can be so awkward :)]

many times I don't even get a thanks, so I just don't bother uploading much anymore.

It's thankless work. We only doing to satisfy our retrogaming bug, and because history is worth preserving.

I must have spent a bucketload on buying titles to archive over the years, but fortunately the C64 scene has a lot to show for it.

[Grrr...People can be so awkward :)]

I know the feeling on Atari vs c64 stuff... Seems like everything is out there for c64....

 

Only because people such a myself busted themselves trying to archive as much as possible.

With more people on the case, even a large library like the 64's has been well preserved... although there are still things out there which we can't get due to the unobtanium status of some of it, or because some muppet on ebay is looking to overcharge

[Best cartridge without 1 MB]

The SIDE2 won't mount ATR files without the Ultimate 1MB, but you can play XEX files OK from it and use the device like a PBI atari hard disk. SpartaDOS is preinstalled with it.

 

I don't have a MyIDE-II, but if you're not looking to mod your Atari with a memory upgrade then MyIDE sounds like a better choice... if only for the ATR support.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

I would say so. Any ATR requiring the 800 OS is high and dry when it comes to PBI solutions. Unless you can find an XEX.

I wonder if it is remotely possible to backport the PBI code into OS-B, making some kind of hybrid OS to boot these problem case programs?

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Oh OK.... I see what you mean. I was loading it as a cartridge in the emulator, but I Just tried loading it as an XEGS game slot in Altirra myself and it crashes the emulator.

I guess Asteroids simply isn't compatible with the XEGS game rom slots.

 

That just leaves me trying to figure out how to boot Eggnapper when it is still reliant on OS-A/OS-B and ATR support isn't there through the SIDE2 because OS-B is selected.

Is a SIO2SD my only solution there?

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Also booting the Asteroids ROM directly off my SIDE2 works fine as well

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Put it into a basic slot and configure the bios for this in a basic slot. after clean boot type BASIC

 

Didn't work when flashed in a BASIC slot either. :/

...and yet the image works fine in an emulator, just like the original one I flashed before.

I have a PAL XEGS. I don't know if this makes a difference... although I can boot an XEX file of Asteroids from the SIDE2 just fine.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Asteroid.Rom

 

This is working on My 800Xl and Xegs.rom..

 

Strange. I just downloaded your image and tried flashing that ROM and I can report that it's not working on my XEGS in it's XEGS game mode slot.

I just get a black screen.

 

I wonder why my setup hates it so much?

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Maybe someone could try flashing Asteroids to one of the XEGS slots? Not sure why I couldn't get that to work, but other < 8K games had no problem....

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

I reflashed the OS with the XEGS OS ROM, and I found that the XEGS game ROMs could be accessed ONLY if there is no SIDE2 in the cartridge slot, and you hold SELECT from a cold power on.

 

After getting Missile Command to work, I then loaded up the other XEGS slots with Space Invaders, Pac Man, and Centipede. I managed to get all of those to start on booting the XEGS.

Again, you can only flash 8K roms, so some nicer games are not valid for the slots.

I tried to flash one of the slots with Asteroids, but it didn't work for some reason. Booted up with a black screen. That was strange considering the image I have works OK in an emulator.

 

All in all, the XEGS game rom slots are a bit useless when you have a SIDE2 - but that's how it works anyhow.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

 

You need an XEGS OS as well as the XEGS pins on the board jumpered before there's any chance of Missile Command putting in an appearance.

 

Ah.... of course.

 

I assume the XEGS ROM and the XL/XE ROMs are compatible?

I'm just thinking which OS to reflash on my ultimate.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Ok, on mine it's not. But I didn't get it forst hand form Lotharek.

And I had in mind, that you have to put there yourself.

 

As I was saying.... Galaxian and Frogger are flashed to the latest Ultimate 1Meg, because you can change the BASIC ROM to those games and it worked.

I assume Missile Command is in there too - but in the XEGS game rom section, but I can't/don't know how to access it.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Been playing with the 1Meg, and I jumpered the "XEGS mode" pins to see what that does. Sure enough it enables the XEGS game ROM selection in the ultimate setup menu, but the feature doesn't really seem to work.

Starting up the XEGS without the keyboard and holding SELECT (or nothing for that matter) doesn't get me Missile Command at all. It just drops me to BASIC.

I assumed that this might be because of the cold reset and BIOS functions can be set to use the SELECT button, but even when this is not the case it still doesn't work.

 

I *assume* that Missle Command has been flashed into the 1Meg. After all, the menu features to swap BASIC out with Galaxian or Frogger sure seem to work OK.

 

Also been having some issues getting some ATRs to mount. It seems that the ATR mounting won't work if OS-B is selected.

As I only have a SIDE2 for storage, how am I supposed to load an ATR-based game that depends on OS-B being present? (Case in point: Eggnapper)

 

Also trying to figure out how to mount multiple ATRs and swap disks (Yes, trying to get the Numen Demo to work)

 

I'm still very much an Atari noob here. I'm coming across from the C64 world.

[If you could only pick two OS ROMS for the 8-bit]

I have an ultimate 1Meg and Side2, and there are some games that can't be mounted as ATRs (e.g. Eggnapper), because selecting the OS-B it requires doesn't have the hard drive stuff needed to mount the ATR off the Side2.

 

Any workaround?

[Taking the plunge]

Recently acquired an XEGS.

 

Popular opinion for doing a modern upgrade of an Atari 8-bit is to get a SIDE2 catridge and an ultimate 1Meg board installed.

That will let you play pretty much everything you can download off the net for the system.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

You could always put the Ultimate in the other way up. Might have saved some trouble.

 

I tried that, but the brown chip socket on top of the board ends up sitting on the MMU and pushing the board up too high.

With the battery topside, I'd be concerned about the battery shorting itself out against the metal shield.... whereas in my current setup, it's that brown square socket that prevents this issue and it touches the shield.

 

Again,... the pin header move on the 1Meg board was pretty much my last resort to getting the 1Meg card to fit in the shield.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

The only thing I'd do differently is be more careful with desoldering the 1Meg pin headers... OR asking Lotharek if he's got a board without the pins in there, or if he could do one with the pins in the other side.

Also if he had any shorter cables for the OS and MMU hookup.

 

There was some real effort expended trying to get the ribbon cables to fit as the 1Meg hovers above both OS and MMU chips. I had to twist them to fit underneath without pushing the board up. Also had to be careful to avoid covering the centre hole in the board with ribbon cable as that's where the top of the XEGS case screws in

 

I *might* be able to put a VBXE on my XEGS too, but as you can see... a ribbon cable twist is hovering over the ANTIC.... but given that I've probably popped a trace on one of the hookup pins on th1 Meg board I'd probably need a new 1Meg now...

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Well I finally managed to install the Ultimate 1Meg into the XEGS and keep the shield in place with the 1Meg board installed.... but it only JUST fit!

This was not easy!

 

Atari OS ROM, MMU and CPU were all socketed for the job, with the CPU having a nice ribbon cable for the connections to the 1Meg board.

 

What I did do was to drill a hole through one of the shield bottom mountpoints for the screw to mount the 1Meg board (much like the XEGS in the other link). Then I realized that the place where the screw sits is lifted up by a "ramp" on the bottom part of the shield. Since the screw was pushing it up further, I had to push the "ramp" in so the screw had room to sit.

I had to use a dremel with a steel cutting blade to hack the screw down to size to keep it in the case (remember to wear eye protection for this - sparks will fly!)

 

The problem with getting the board inside the shielding was the header pins on the top of the board. There's plenty of space UNDER the board for them to go, but nowhere on top.

So I ended up hacking the 1Meg board itself by desoldering the header pins and sticking them around the other way and UNDER the board....

 

NOW.... DO *NOT* TRY THIS AT HOME!

 

I did you see... and while I'm pretty good with desoldering chips from boards, those headers are not only soldered in, but placed tightly in the holes. They are hard to desolder out and I think in trying to pull them out I must have busted a trace on one of the connections on the 5-pin header to one of the nearby resistors! So possibly I screwed up my ultimate board if I try and attach anything to those pins!!

In future, I think it would be safer to ask Lotharek to do this for us instead.

 

The board itself leans on the TV out box, in addition to leaning on the wires that are attached to the pins now under the board.

The wires were fixed with the dupont plugs and cut very fine. Then shrinktubing was done on the outside to protect them from making any unwanted connections down there.

 

Despite fears of possibly breaking the 1Meg board, I powered it on and it all seems to work.

I think I will put a jumper on the XEGS mode, because, well.... it's an XEGS after all

 

I just hope there's enough space for further mods... but as you guys were saying... the VBXE mod probably won't fit without the shield removed.

 

In any case, I'm fairly happy with the approach I took. If I wanted to dismount the 1Meg board and go back to stock, it won't be very hard.

Just annoyed at myself for potentially busting a trace on the 1Meg board... which I am more comfortable with, rather than breaking my XEGS beyond repair.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Welcome to the XEGS U-1meg Club! If you have any specific questions and/or need some additional photos of my installation (from a different angle or closer up) just let me know. The great thing about the XEGS as I recently found out, is that you have all kinds of headroom once you dispense with the metal shields.

Yes, I was trying to keep the upper shield. It sounds like some of the other modes demand it be gone though :/

 

I did manage to get some more of those M3 screws (only one comes from Lotharek, and it's a bit long), and the Dupont connector from the electronic parts shop.

Had trouble finding a tube for the extra screws, so I got some wall mount braces instead.

 

I will experiment with the placement a bit. I'm trying to avoid having to mod the XEGS beyond all recognition.

[XEGS with Ultimate 1Meg]

Hi,

 

I'm new to the Atari scene after having picked up an XEGS off ebay some time ago.

I got the SIDE2 cartridge to be able to play some games on the machine only to discover that I need the ultimate 1Meg upgrade to access ATRs.

 

So now I have the ultimate 1Meg board (lotharek's latest revision), but just trying to figure out how to install it.

The device comes with no instructions and what I do know about the device is very sparse.

 

There's nowhere to mount the board with the screw provided as far as I can tell. All the holes in the board are needed by the case with the exception of this one hole in the board up near the composite ports.

This seems like it could be a good fit with the board sitting over the TV box, but the screw is too long and the top metal shield of the motherboard won't fit back on.

Do I have to drill extra holes in the motherboard? (I don't want to)

I'm thinking I might be able to get away with mounting the board up there... so long as I cut the screw with a hacksaw as well as the plastic screw cover to make them shorter to fit. Then I'm worried about grounding the board out on the TV box as I have to position the board lower.

What have other people done to mount the board in an XEGS?

 

As for the CPU pins... the kit came with no header for this. I am going to try and source one from a PC parts shop (perhaps a molex to PC floppy drive 4 pin prong) and hack it to fit I guess. The standard square PC fan-esque 4-pin headers don't fit because the P3 2-pin headers are in the way.

Speaking of which, what are these P3 pins for? The board says "XEGS mode". I read somewhere that jumpering those pins allows you to load replacement roms to missile command or something.

 

How about wiring up the cables to the CPU? So far I've desoldered the CPU and intend to drop it in a socket. I'm thinking of soldering the wires to the revelant pins on the top side of the socket.

 

Any ideas, suggestions?