Dumb question about 8-bit carts

[liquidcross]

Will any 8-bit game cartridge work on any 8-bit Atari computer? (i.e., any cart will work on the 400, 800XL, 1200XL, etc.)

[JamesD]

Will any 8-bit game cartridge work on any 8-bit Atari computer? (i.e., any cart will work on the 400, 800XL, 1200XL, etc.)

Some later carts require 64K and don't work on earlier machines.

Some carts supposedly have issues with the ROMs of newer machines. I haven't seen it but it's possible.

The 1200 had some ROM issues so it might not run some stuff.

[analmux]

AFAIK:

 

The atari 400 and 800 have a Left and a Right cartridge slot. They are mapped to different banks of 8kb in the memory map (one from $8000 to $9FFF, the other from $A000 to $BFFF).

 

So, when you want to run 16kb cartridges (for example: ATARI LOGO) you can only use the XL/XE series: 600xl, 800xl, 65xe, 130xe etc.

 

...or am I wrong?

Edited February 16, 2007 by BRK

[deathtrappomegranate]

Only the 800 had a right-cartridge slot, and there are only a handful of utility carts that use it.

 

Some earlier games only work on pre-XL operating systems, and don't work on XL or XE machines. There are only a few of these, and there was a thread about that not so long ago.

 

The majority of carts will run an any A8.

[Shawn Jefferson]

The atari 400 and 800 have a Left and a Right cartridge slot. They are mapped to different banks of 8kb in the memory map (one from $8000 to $9FFF, the other from $A000 to $BFFF).

 

So, when you want to run 16kb cartridges (for example: ATARI LOGO) you can only use the XL/XE series: 600xl, 800xl, 65xe, 130xe etc.

 

...or am I wrong?

 

Wrong, since one cart in the 800's left slot can map to all 16k of the cart space. You'd have a problem with any software trying to use RAM under the OS, since it doesn't exist on the 800 ('64k' games.)

[tjlazer]

All the Atari 8 bits have the same cartridge slot. Some 400/800 carts do not work on the XL/XE due to the newer OS on those machines. Some XL/XE carts do not work on the 400/800 for primarily the reason of requiring 64k. Though it could also be due to the OS too. So basically yes they all have the same slot, just not 100% compatible.

[NiteHacker]

Yeah, MOST games of the XL/XE series will run on another one within that series (ie 600XL(upgraded), 800XL, 1200XL, 130XE, 65XE).

 

SOME that won't run just usually need the Translator to make it compatible to the older OS (400/800). However, you can't use the real cart in this situation. You have to use a disk drive to load the translator, then load the cart (from a file)... then they usually work too.

 

I am not sure about running them on 400/800, though? Correct me if I am wrong, but I think with an upgraded 800, you can run up to 32k... if you have the adequate memory installed... which I believe is a minimum of 48k??? You can't run 64k on 400/800 because that requires bankswitching and that was not implemented until the XL/XE series.

[Beetle]

If you mod in an OS-B you can make the XL/XE fully compatible to 400/800 (minus Joystickport 3 +4, of course) and be able to run all carts, including all the old ones designed for the 400/800.

 

The Atarimax 32in1 OS is a very good solution. The Turbofreezer 2005 (available for XL and XE systems at www.abbuc.de) has an Oldrunner OS built in, too.

 

You can use the QMEG 4 OS for most of the "problem carts", too. It was done not only to have new unique features but to be more compatible to software that run with old OS only, too.

[Rybags]

I believe there was a 3rd party Translator app released which allows you to insert a cartridge.

 

The "Left Cartridge" has the same functionality regardless of the machine. I would imagine a Right Cartrdige inserted in an 800 at the same time as a 16K left cartridge would cause conflict.

 

The 16K "limit" was overcome a long time ago. Various bank-select schemes permit virtually limitless sized ROM/RAM combinations, although they can't map outside the $8000-BFFF (and $D500-DFFF) region.

 

There are now all variety of RAM upgrades for the 400/800.

 

64K upgrades existed way back, 52K was contiguous (assuming no cart present), the extra 16K was available in 4 banks mapped to $C000-CFFF.

[ijor]

If you mod in an OS-B you can make the XL/XE fully compatible to 400/800 (minus Joystickport 3 +4, of course) and be able to run all carts, including all the old ones designed for the 400/800.

 

No translator in firmware or software can make an XL/XE fully compatible with an 800. And this is not just an issue of the number of controllers.

 

This is probably just for the record, because I am aware about a single program that needs a true 800. Furthermore, it happens only with the original copy protected disk version. But possibly there are more cases.

[mimo]

I thought this made an XL OS B compatable

APE Warp+ OS 32-in-1 from Atarimax

http://www.atarimax.com/warpos/documentation/

[Rybags]

OS compatibility is all well and good.

 

But it all breaks down if the program writes to PORTB and trashes the bank configuration.

 

The way I see it, it's no longer an issue. Virtually every disk program has been fixed at some stage. The number of ROMs is so insignificant that having to load a fixed XEX version isn't really a problem.