psquare75 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 This should be a sticky "How to run a homebrew project". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thank you very much. I'm proud of the results, but in the end, I suppose it's up to the users to decide how well everything came together. Speaking of results, have a look at what I picked up at the print shop today ... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Looking good there Jay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thank you very much. I'm proud of the results, but in the end, I suppose it's up to the users to decide how well everything came together. Speaking of results, have a look at what I picked up at the print shop today ... Wow, this looks really stunning! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-topdog Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thank you very much. I'm proud of the results, but in the end, I suppose it's up to the users to decide how well everything came together. Speaking of results, have a look at what I picked up at the print shop today ... **passes out from the excitement** 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrozoneorg Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 The Manuals look great! They look identical to the real thing..... THEY ARE THE REAL THING!!!! This is the best homebrew product ever. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavvv Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 just making sure I didn't miss an actual 'for-reals' preorder as jay's gotten closer and closer . can't miss this one gavv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 now only if it had a box. :lust: :lust: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 now only if it had a box. :lust: :lust: I'll get there someday, I'm sure. I'd really like to find a source of new cartridge shells first! As nice as it would be to have a box, it almost seems beside the point if I can only ship bare boards inside (once my limited stock of shells runs out). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyo5050 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 now only if it had a box. :lust: :lust: omg box maybe someday. Manual look awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Well, this is the completion date that I established for myself a few weeks ago, and surely enough, I think I'm finally at the point where I can sign off on both the hardware and the software. I fixed a few lingering issues with the cartridge boards over the last two days, and in the process, I was able to simplify the design by ditching the "lockout chip" that I added last summer. That chip was a way of working around the original cartridge images which were causing "involuntary" bank switches with my hardware, but I was never very happy about it: it was an ugly hack, and it made the boards more difficult to build because of the tiny little chip I had to use. Instead, I went back and patched the cartridges which were causing the problems: BurgerTime and "BurgerTime Plus", Logo, Utopia, Space Speller, and Zero In. I've tested the completed cartridge with four of my Aquarius computers so far, a mix of Mattel and Radofin machines with both S1 and S2 operating systems, and I'm very satisfied with it. Early next week, I'm going to start putting together the first of the cartridges, and I'll be getting in touch with my preorder customers soon afterward to work out the shipping arrangements. To a certain extent, I'll be relying on all of you to put the cartridge through its paces, and to uncover any remaining issues which might have escaped my notice. I'm really looking forward to hearing everyone's feedback and impressions, and in particular, I'm eager to hear from those Aquarius owners in Europe who will be using the Aquaricart with PAL computers (which I've been unable to obtain here in the USA). Every cartridge will be tested with multiple NTSC computers before I ship. I'll be very busy through the remainder of this month, but I'll let everyone know as soon as I'm ready to make the Aquaricart available for general orders. Just a little longer, folks! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Heh ... I couldn't help but notice this, just a few minutes after I wrote my previous post: I guess there are a few more people following this project than I thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Awesome news Jay, can't wait to get mine! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-topdog Posted August 21, 2011 Author Share Posted August 21, 2011 **does the happy Snoopy dance** 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Heh ... I couldn't help but notice this, just a few minutes after I wrote my previous post: I guess there are a few more people following this project than I thought! That is actually alot of people at one time for this thread! maybe once you open up orders you will be surprised at how many you have to make? btw.....maybe you already said it, but how many total games are on this? maybe a list? (i dont feel like going through every message) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 btw.....maybe you already said it, but how many total games are on this? maybe a list? There are 23 cartridge images in all, twenty Mattel/Radofin originals and three "bonus" items. One of them, the Demo Cassette conversion, has six games in it. Here's the complete list: AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin Astrosmash Biorhythms BurgerTime Chess Demonstration Cartridge Extended BASIC FileForm FinForm Logo Melody Chase Mini Expander Diagnostic Night Stalker Shark! (an unfinished "Shark! Shark!" prototype) Snafu Space Speller TRON Deadly Discs Utopia X10 Command Console Zero In BONUS: 1541 OS ROM (a modified Extended BASIC with some extra commands) BONUS: Demonstration Cassette (a "sampler" with six mini-games converted from cassette format: Stalactites, Macho-Man, Torment, Cute Cubes, Alien Quest, and Mad Mould) BONUS: "BurgerTime Plus" (BurgerTime with some fixes and a limit of 99 lives and peppers instead of 9) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Nice!! good to see the cassette games too, now if only you could port them to intv.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Nice!! good to see the cassette games too, now if only you could port them to intv.... Well, they're very simple mini-games, because they had to fit into the Aquarius's ~1.7K of built-in program RAM. When I started this project, I wanted to include some cassette conversions, and these were the ideal choice for two reasons: everyone can use them because they don't require expanded RAM, and they originally came with the Aquarius as a free pack-in. I'm still considering a "second volume" of cassette-to-cartridge conversions, since there was a lot more third-party Aquarius software released on cassette, but we'll see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psquare75 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 If you need to gauge interest on a possible 'second volume'. I am indicating interest. :!: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K6dude Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Hi Jay, I will test the cart out in the UK as soon as I can after it (and the 32k ram card) arrives...looking forward to it very much. Looks as if it is a very professional product Jay, well done for persevering...we believe in you! On a slightly different tack... Does anyone know of an assembler for the Aquarius? Is there some sort of assembler/ROM reference too? K6dude Nice!! good to see the cassette games too, now if only you could port them to intv.... Well, they're very simple mini-games, because they had to fit into the Aquarius's ~1.7K of built-in program RAM. When I started this project, I wanted to include some cassette conversions, and these were the ideal choice for two reasons: everyone can use them because they don't require expanded RAM, and they originally came with the Aquarius as a free pack-in. I'm still considering a "second volume" of cassette-to-cartridge conversions, since there was a lot more third-party Aquarius software released on cassette, but we'll see how it goes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Does anyone know of an assembler for the Aquarius? Its a sticky at the top of this forum :- http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/174191-aquarius-machine-language-programming-on-the-aquarius/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Hi Jay, I will test the cart out in the UK as soon as I can after it (and the 32k ram card) arrives...looking forward to it very much. Looks as if it is a very professional product Jay, well done for persevering...we believe in you! On a slightly different tack... Does anyone know of an assembler for the Aquarius? Is there some sort of assembler/ROM reference too? K6dude Thanks very much! It's great to have such generous support, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing the users' first impressions. I'll be sending an e-mail this evening to everyone who preordered, to ask for their updated shipping information. I didn't have as many EPROM sockets on hand as I thought I did, so my building of the cartridge boards has been held up a bit until more arrive in a day or two. Strictly speaking, the EPROMs don't need to be socketed, but I think it would be a good idea for this first run in particular, since I might have to make changes to the software if the users find any issues with it. In the meantime, here are the first five completed boards: 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyo5050 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Thanks very much! It's great to have such generous support, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing the users' first impressions. I'll be sending an e-mail this evening to everyone who preordered, to ask for their updated shipping information. I didn't have as many EPROM sockets as I thought I did, so my building of the cartridge boards has been held up a bit until more arrive in a day or two. Strictly speaking, the EPROMs don't need to be socketed, but I think it would be a good idea for this first run in particular, since I might have to make changes to the software if the users find any issues with it. In the meantime, here are the first five completed boards: Nice to see blue instead of the boring green 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Nice to see blue instead of the boring green Yes! I thought it would be a nice match for the blue/black/white color scheme of the Aquarius keyboard. I think it turned out very nicely (but then, I know I'm biased). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 In the meantime, here are the first five completed boards: Damn! That's so hot!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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