Bill Loguidice Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I don't count the Channel F multicart as it's not produced on a large scale, it is, if I recall right, made from cannibalized original carts, and it's damn expensive . Well the major point here is availability. I think it's produced in exactly the right amount considering there are so few of us collecting for that particular system. I also don't think it's especially expensive considering the low production runs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Well it's a kind of catch 22 for me. For 150 bucks, aside from the homebrews on the carts, I can buy all the games for at least the European library. And it mean I won't get more when new Homebrews will come. I'll have to buy another multicart. For 150$ I'd rather buy a flash cart, even an old tech one game-flash by parallel port cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billysastard Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Does that mean that, if I bought a Famicom, I'd only need the RAM adapter (not the drive itself) and the FDSStick to get full FDS functionality? If so, awesome, and maybe a good reason for me to finally snag a Famicom. yes, exactly but if you buy an fdsstick make sure you get the newest version, the old one only holds 8 sides, the new one holds dozens, the latest firmware includes a menu program so you don't need to remember what is in every slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800fan Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 yes, exactly but if you buy an fdsstick make sure you get the newest version, the old one only holds 8 sides, the new one holds dozens, the latest firmware includes a menu program so you don't need to remember what is in every slot. Also does that mean I could use FDS on NES with adapter? That wasn't possible in the past because the short cable length between RAM cart and the drive unit wasn't long enough for top loader NES and it wouldn't fit inside front loader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billysastard Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 ok, firstly i'm not familiar with the toploader my nes is one of the early box ones however i have a converter that consists of a standard nes cart with a ribon cable coming out the top/front so the cart can be pushed down inside the nes) the ribbon cable goes to a small box with a famicom cart port on it so the fds rampack just plugs in there. the fds stick is about the size of a common usb sd card reader with a usb port on one end and a socket for the connector from the ram pack on the other so as olong as youu have a way to boot your ram cart you'll be fine. at present i'm having fun trying to get it running on my (us) snes with a retro port adapter and a 72 to 60 pin converter with the ram pack plugged into that and fdsstick attached to the ram cart lead, sadly i think my ram cart may have died, i've tried giving it a thorough clean with ipa but no joy so i've ordered a replacement ram pack. i can take a pick of the fdsstick plugged into the ram cart if that would be any use to you, but i'll have to be tomorrow as it's 4am here in the uk now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarshipUK Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 yes, exactly but if you buy an fdsstick make sure you get the newest version, the old one only holds 8 sides, the new one holds dozens, the latest firmware includes a menu program so you don't need to remember what is in every slot. Does anyone know where you can buy a FDS RAM adapter for this? I also thought the Everdrive NES carts supported playing FDS games. Is there any benefit to the fdsstick over the NES Everdrive Carts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billysastard Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) Does anyone know where you can buy a FDS RAM adapter for this? I also thought the Everdrive NES carts supported playing FDS games. Is there any benefit to the fdsstick over the NES Everdrive Carts? ram cart, ebay as for ed n8, yes it does and absolutely no advantage if you have an evedrive, but if not this is much cheaper. (or if you collect flashcarts and want both). Edited January 9, 2016 by billysastard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 This. Just throw the FDS ROM on an Everdrive or Powerpak. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Well, the advantage is that the EverDrive's emulation of FDS sound hardware is kind of screwed up, as I understand it, in that the FDS sounds are played at the wrong pitch. Unfortunately I can't find any examples on YouTube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 FWIW, I've got both e5frog's multicart for the Channel F and SirMorris' multicart for the Sord/CGL M5. I would say both have been produced in just about the right quantities to fit the demand, although I know work is going on to improve on the M5 design and make a second run. This probably is true for just about every minor system, that no matter if you do a multicart, reflashable or memory card based solution, the initial one or two batches won't cover more units than the manufacturer easily can offset. Since most people who would do this are private persons with no real intent to make profit, they'd rather be losing money if they overdo a batch that has to sit and collect dust over the next 3-5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Well, the advantage is that the EverDrive's emulation of FDS sound hardware is kind of screwed up, as I understand it, in that the FDS sounds are played at the wrong pitch. Unfortunately I can't find any examples on YouTube. Is that due to the fact that unless you use a Famicom, the NES 72 pins lack the added audio lines, and so, FDS sounds are botched/missing because of this? If you used a Famicom with a Famicom Everdrive, then ignore my comment ^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Is that due to the fact that unless you use a Famicom, the NES 72 pins lack the added audio lines, and so, FDS sounds are botched/missing because of this? If you used a Famicom with a Famicom Everdrive, then ignore my comment ^^ No, I think it's because the EverDrive N8's emulation of the FDS sound hardware (which adds 1 channel of wavetable synthesis) is inaccurate and off-pitch (I don't know how much, but I assume it's not an octave). Unless I'm mistaken, if you use an unmodified NES to play FDS games via the EverDrive N8 (or PowerPak), you simply won't hear that channel at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 that's good to know. I will still order an Everdrive, but I mgiht need the FDStick as well. I have a Twin Fami so I'll get best of both worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 that's good to know. I will still order an Everdrive, but I mgiht need the FDStick as well. I have a Twin Fami so I'll get best of both worlds. Ooh, be careful -- I think there may be complications. IIRC the cartridge slot on the Twin disables the disk drive when it's in use, so I'm not sure how that accessing the FDS audio hardware from the N8, and the FDSStick requires a special adapter to work with a Twin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Well, FDS works on the Twin Fami... All it does is locking access to the cart port, not disabling it (I haven't tried to check this tho). The most likely explanation is that when you switch from cart to FDS on the Twin Fami, the system power the RAMpack that is connected to the Famicom mainboard and directly feed the cart port. So obviously you gotta lock the cart doors so the system doesn't load data from both the RAMpack and a cartridge. All I really need is to plug the stick at the bridge between the RAMpack and the floppy drive that is accessible under the system. Because thansfully, probably for quick diagnosis reason, Sharp made it that way. But indeed, finding the right pinout for it is going to be trouble and any help it welcome Edited January 11, 2016 by CatPix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 No, I think it's because the EverDrive N8's emulation of the FDS sound hardware (which adds 1 channel of wavetable synthesis) is inaccurate and off-pitch (I don't know how much, but I assume it's not an octave). Unless I'm mistaken, if you use an unmodified NES to play FDS games via the EverDrive N8 (or PowerPak), you simply won't hear that channel at all. Maybe someone will come along and fix the audio like they did with VRC6 and FME7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApolloBoy Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 yes, exactly but if you buy an fdsstick make sure you get the newest version, the old one only holds 8 sides, the new one holds dozens, the latest firmware includes a menu program so you don't need to remember what is in every slot.There's also an alternative to the FDSStick which will hold pretty much every FDS game ever made and then some: http://fdsemu.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billysastard Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) There's also an alternative to the FDSStick which will hold pretty much every FDS game ever made and then some: http://fdsemu.com thanks for that but the latest version of fds stick also does 256 sides and it comes cased (for 5 bucks more). still nice to know there is an alternative. Edited January 11, 2016 by billysastard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarshipUK Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 FWIW, I've got both e5frog's multicart for the Channel F and SirMorris' multicart for the Sord/CGL M5. I would say both have been produced in just about the right quantities to fit the demand, although I know work is going on to improve on the M5 design and make a second run. This probably is true for just about every minor system, that no matter if you do a multicart, reflashable or memory card based solution, the initial one or two batches won't cover more units than the manufacturer easily can offset. Since most people who would do this are private persons with no real intent to make profit, they'd rather be losing money if they overdo a batch that has to sit and collect dust over the next 3-5 years. I'd say the multicart for the Sord\CGL M5 was under-produced, mainly because I would have liked one and never got one, as they were not very well advertised and well sold out by the time I had tried to obtain one. I spoke to Charlie back in April 2014 and mentioned the new M5 ROM finds to him, who mentioned it might spur him on to build a few more M5 boards, but that was back in April 2014 and I am also still waiting for him to get back to me about buying a einsdein SD card (I had one reserved) for the Einstein since then. I believe every cart known to exist for the M5 has now been dumped into MESS so now would be a good time to make a new complete multicart for the system. In the meantime I am in talks with someone I know to modify a M5 cartridge with a ZIF socket and burn all 23 games onto separate chips so I can just change the ROMs. This is easier to do than creating a multicart. They are also doing this for the Casio PV-1000 for me and making 13 ROM chips for each game. I don't know why I never thought of something like this before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I'd say the multicart for the Sord\CGL M5 was under-produced, mainly because I would have liked one and never got one, as they were not very well advertised and well sold out by the time I had tried to obtain one. I spoke to Charlie back in April 2014 and mentioned the new M5 ROM finds to him, who mentioned it might spur him on to build a few more M5 boards, but that was back in April 2014 and I am also still waiting for him to get back to me about buying a einsdein SD card (I had one reserved) for the Einstein since then. I believe every cart known to exist for the M5 has now been dumped into MESS so now would be a good time to make a new complete multicart for the system. In the meantime I am in talks with someone I know to modify a M5 cartridge with a ZIF socket and burn all 23 games onto separate chips so I can just change the ROMs. This is easier to do than creating a multicart. They are also doing this for the Casio PV-1000 for me and making 13 ROM chips for each game. I don't know why I never thought of something like this before. I too am interested in the M5 and Einstein cartridges. I have one for the former from Nishida, but have yet to try it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I believe one issue with Charlie's design, if we should get into specific details, was that it didn't seem to work/reset properly on all M5's. I had no issues with my setup, but understood others had. Thus he has been looking into a way to solve that problem before making another batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 I'd love to be able to report on the PS-IO, but their preordering process is a complete disaster. They have the clock set on Australia time, and sold out in minutes, most likely to an ebay wholesaler, and yet again shut out loyal backers/followers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Mine should be on the way. I guess shipping will take about a month. The problem with the preordering is that their countdown was a disaster. I can only assume that they programmed it to take the local time and remove the remaining time? Except of course with the 12 hours difference between Australia and the US it didn't got well. Well I dunno what BS happened with their countdown, but it sure wasn't workign right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Since the thread already mentions DivIDE, here are a few more memory card solutions for the ZX Spectrum whether they're relevant to this thread or not: DivMMC & PicodivSD - http://www.divide.cz/?x=eshopn DivMMC Enjoy - http://www.bytedelight.com/?product_cat=divmmc-enjoy Interface 1bis - https://sites.google.com/site/interface1bis/ ZX Matrix - http://user.tninet.se/~vjz762w/ SMART Card - http://www.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Ah the DivMMC Enjoy, I picked one up it's brilliant. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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