[AQUARIUS] Mattel Aquarius Multi-Cart

[jaybird3rd]

Just a quick update: the first five preorder cartridges have been assembled and shipped, and the recipients have been notified. I've also sent out requests for updated shipping information from the others on my preorder list, so if you preordered an Aquaricart from me and did not get my message, please PM me and I'll make sure you're added to the list.

 

Once my parts come in, the remainder of the preorder cartridges should be done within a week, and then I'll start gearing up for a general release (including getting a simple Aquaricart website set up). I'll start a new thread about the finished product when the time comes; in the meantime, I'd like to invite everyone who receives a cartridge to share their opinions and first impressions. After hearing me talk about this thing for over a year now, I'm sure that those who are following this thread would enjoy seeing some real user feedback!

[Mirage]

Eagerly awaiting! My Aquarius has been set up and ready to go from the day I got it just for this!

 

:thumbsup:

[+cmart604]

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).

 

Jay, those boards are so sweeeeet looking! Is it weird that we get excited about pictures like that? (Cause, you know, there's OTHER kinds of pictures on the interwebs too)

[chjmartin2]

Jay,

 

What is the size of the ROM? I already have a cart!

 

Actually - please let me know how you are taking orders, I will order one to be dedicated.

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

[GroovyBee]

What is the size of the ROM? I already have a cart!

 

I don't think that your cart will work . You need special hardware on the PCB because of this cart's bank switching.

[the-topdog]

What is the size of the ROM? I already have a cart!

 

I don't think that your cart will work . You need special hardware on the PCB because of this cart's bank switching.

 

I think he already has one of Jay's prototype boards

[GroovyBee]

I think he already has one of Jay's prototype boards

 

Ah! OK. It wasn't clear.

[chjmartin2]

I think he already has one of Jay's prototype boards

 

Ah! OK. It wasn't clear.

 

I have one of Jay's cart. It has been the only way I can develop anything! Cart works perfectly. Bank switching is beautiful. Love it. Want more of it.

 

 

But I don't think I have one component that is needed for the Aquaricart anyway.

[+evg2000]

received mine today, looks great I like what you did. only had a short time to play with it, I had never seen burgertime before, surprised how good they did with the limited character set. At one point I did see a glitch, I was trying the bonus cassette games, and it didn't load properly, I got garbled graphics, turn machine off and tried again no problem.

 

thanks for doing this,

charles

[marcfrick2112]

OK, I got my Aquaricart in the mail today....

 

OK, first impressions: I love it... But I am bummed in one regard... I can't get Extended BASIC to work, can never get past the 'Press RTN to begin' prompt...*

 

*Edit: Oh this is SOO strange!! OK, Extended BASIC works WithOUT my 32K RAM cart. installed?!!? Weird...

Dang, I hope this can be fixed... since, one would really want more RAM with Ext. BASIC... I'll try with my 4K (or is it 8K, LOL) cart. tommorow... and also maybe on my other Aquarius system.

I haven't tried all the programs yet, but so far, 90% works.

The Aquarius I used for testing was an un-modified NTSC Aquarius 'family pack' with Mini Expander, and 32K RAM cart., that I ordered from Crimac, Inc. just before the Aquarius 'crash'....

 

Something odd, I swear that the 2 versions of Burgertime each require opposite controllers. e.g. original uses controller 1, other version cont. 2...

And.. well, I am a HUGE Burgertime fan... but, gotta admit... the Aquarius version bites... Not like that's your fault, Jay!! LOL!

 

Yea, these carts are not cheap... But, it felt SO GOOD to plug a *NEW* (kinda) cartridge into my Aquarius!! It is a shame my dad passed away... he would have been thrilled... (We had 'matching' Aquarius systems, even 'ordering' me to find games on EBay years ago, so we both had all the best games!!!) Anyway, my dad owned only 3 systems in his entire 69 years of life: Mattel Aquarius, Atari 2600, and a Genesis 3, with only fighting games!.... all 3 are hooked up to a nice 30" or so TV.

 

I used a Snafu cart. as the donor. I have 2...

 

The quality of this is outstanding!! A beautiful proper Aquarius instruction manual, (signed and mumbered on the back by Jay.. I have # 17!!) ,addendum, cart. stickers. I found the menu system quite easy to navigate, even without reading the menu. (I kinda use the controllers as much as possible.. blame that on hours and hours of D+D!!! )

 

Jay, I was curious if there's some way to update the cart. if a few bugs might be found/fixed? I would really love to use Ext. BASIC with my 32K cart. ...

 

Anyway, I'll post more later, as I do more in-depth testing.... it may be my RAM cart. messing up stuff... Hope not tho...

 

Grr, OK... No biggie.. unless a LOT of others have 32K RAM carts. too....

It appears all programs seem to work with a 16K RAM cart. Even Shark!

...

drat, and I was so proud of having that HUGE 32K on my Auqarius!! LOL!!

 

Wow, great job, Jay!!

 

My Aquarius setup hasn't seen this much use in a bit less than a year, when I helped my dad run a new cable to his Aquarius, and I ended up 'testing' out D&D for about 2 hours.. LOL! Hey, it was Totally NOT my fault... I kept on finding ladders right away!

 

Edit2: The bank switching works great! I can even hit Reset and get back to that same game... it feels just 'right' !

Edited September 1, 2011 by marcfrick2112

[jaybird3rd]

OK, first impressions: I love it... But I am bummed in one regard... I can't get Extended BASIC to work, can never get past the 'Press RTN to begin' prompt...*

 

*Edit: Oh this is SOO strange!! OK, Extended BASIC works WithOUT my 32K RAM cart. installed?!!? Weird...

Dang, I hope this can be fixed... since, one would really want more RAM with Ext. BASIC... I'll try with my 4K (or is it 8K, LOL) cart. tommorow... and also maybe on my other Aquarius system.

I haven't tried all the programs yet, but so far, 90% works.

The Aquarius I used for testing was an un-modified NTSC Aquarius 'family pack' with Mini Expander, and 32K RAM cart., that I ordered from Crimac, Inc. just before the Aquarius 'crash'....

So the "Press RTN key to start" prompt never goes away if you have your 32K cartridge plugged in? Strange. I don't have one of those cartridges to test with, but I've tested it successfully with one of my own 32K modules, and a 4K module as well.

 

I've gotten stuck at the "Press RTN key to start" prompt also, but it only happened once, and with one machine. I got it to go away by re-seating the cartridge a few times.

 

Something odd, I swear that the 2 versions of Burgertime each require opposite controllers. e.g. original uses controller 1, other version cont. 2...

And.. well, I am a HUGE Burgertime fan... but, gotta admit... the Aquarius version bites... Not like that's your fault, Jay!! LOL!

That's odd, too ... I've played both versions with the same "Player 1" controller (the right port, facing the back of the Mini Expander) a bunch of times.

 

Jay, I was curious if there's some way to update the cart. if a few bugs might be found/fixed? I would really love to use Ext. BASIC with my 32K cart. ...

I left the EPROM socketed in case I need to send out replacement chips to fix bugs in the software, so yes, that's certainly a possibility.

 

That original 32K module of yours is exceedingly rare, so very few people will have this problem if indeed there is a compatibility issue with it, but I wouldn't give up on it: try re-seating both cartridges a few times to get better connectivity.

[jaybird3rd]

By the way, here's an "undocumented feature" for everyone to try if you're using the Aquaricart with a Mini Expander and hand controllers: instead of pressing the disc edges to navigate the menu, try holding "UP" or "DOWN" and then spinning the disc around in a circle. I tried to emulate the iPod "click wheel" functionality with the hand controller, by allowing you to "spin" through the menu. That's one feature that actually takes advantage of the sixteen-direction disc; it wouldn't have worked as smoothly if there were only eight directions.

[marcfrick2112]

Jay, Oh WOW, oh WOW! You were right!

 

I will say that the Aquaricart needs an Exceptionally clean cart. port., ditto for the RAM cart. used with it, if any.... I used an expensive contact cleaner, (not the junk R-S sells) and repeatedly inserted various carts. and RAM carts. .... Took about 5min. but , all seems good now...

Gonna have to find room for a cassette recorder again.. I may go back to programming Aquarius ..

 

Jay, how much of the extended Basic manual is on the cartridge?

 

Got my 32K working with Extended BASIC, Marc is a Happy Camper!! ..oh, and the Y2K patch for Biorhythms works..

 

As of now, the ONLY issue I have is that the 'click wheel' for me only allows to scroll down, going up is HARD to accomplish... I did take the liberty of running the Mini-expander diag. .. it said I have a damaged RAM chip.. but my controllers tested out fine...

 

Edit (again) ... Never mind Jay.. got the 'click wheel' thing working.... might help if I actually READ your instructions!! LOL! Wow, so far everything seems 100%... again, one needs a Squeaky CLEAN Aquarius for this cart...

Jay, were you ever able to test cassette loading and saving from e.g. Ext. BASIC, Fileform, or Finform?

 

 

 

I may try a 'full-blown' cleaning of my system... and try with my other Aq. tommorow....

 

But, gotta say Jay... FANTASTIC JOB!!! Wow, just wow! LOL!

Edited September 1, 2011 by marcfrick2112

[jaybird3rd]

I will say that the Aquaricart needs an Exceptionally clean cart. port., ditto for the RAM cart. used with it, if any.... I used an expensive contact cleaner, (not the junk R-S sells) and repeatedly inserted various carts. and RAM carts. .... Took about 5min. but , all seems good now...

Glad to hear it's working for you!

 

Cartridges of any kind start doing strange things if the cartridge ports are dirty, and I suspected that this would be one of the biggest issues people would have with the Aquaricart, at least in the beginning. The cartridge port on the Aquarius wasn't used nearly as often as it is on Atari consoles, and many of the people receiving the Aquaricart haven't used their systems for a while, so it's only natural that those cartridge ports would be overdue for a cleaning. That's one reason I added some cleaning tips that I've found useful to the Aquaricart manual, in the "Troubleshooting" section.

 

Jay, how much of the extended Basic manual is on the cartridge?

 

Got my 32K working with Extended BASIC, Marc is a Happy Camper!! ..oh, and the Y2K patch for Biorhythms works..

The Extended BASIC manual is an abridged version of the original, as are the Guide to Home Computing and Logo manuals. I'll have an Aquaricart website up soon, which will include full scans of all the manuals that I have, but in the meantime, I've attached an OCR scan that Dean Lazell put together (this was my source for the documentation in the cartridge).

 

aquarius_extended_basic_manual.pdf

[jaybird3rd]

As of now, the ONLY issue I have is that the 'click wheel' for me only allows to scroll down, going up is HARD to accomplish... I did take the liberty of running the Mini-expander diag. .. it said I have a damaged RAM chip.. but my controllers tested out fine...

The "click wheel" thing seems to work better with some controllers than others.

 

As for the Mini Expander Diagnostic, I'm curious about something: did it actually recognize the 32K module, or did it test it as a 16K module? You're the first person to try it with that particular module. With my own 32K modules, it wouldn't detect any memory above 16K even though the full 32K is indeed there, so I had assumed it was only designed to test up to 16K modules. It does the same thing in Virtual Aquarius if I enable the 32K module emulation.

 

Jay, were you ever able to test cassette loading and saving from e.g. Ext. BASIC, Fileform, or Finform?

My only Data Recorder has a broken belt, I'm afraid, but I don't see why cassette I/O wouldn't work.

 

Thanks very much to you and evg2000 for putting the Aquaricart through its paces, by the way. It's great to get such good user feedback! I stretched it every way I could think of while I was working on it, but it's always helpful to have fresh pairs of eyes looking it over so closely.

[marcfrick2112]

Jay, here's some more details after more testing tonight:

 

As for the Diagnostic program.. at first, it doesn't tell me what memory it is testing... I get 'RAM error A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8' ..

 

OK... now this is super-weird.. NOW the Diagnostic reports my 32K as a working 16K module, no errors... but, alas Extended BASIC really doesn't want to 'play ball' with my 32K RAM....

 

I've cleaned all the contacts twice... I'll see if I can test on my other aquarius later... tho, both should be from the same 'batch' .. Dad bought us both matching 'family packs' from K B toys...

 

Oh well, 16 K is better than nothing!

 

*just thinking.. if someone might Google and find this page... they would be floored that we are talking about 32 KILObytes causing an 'issue' ROFL! *

[jaybird3rd]

Here's something that occurs to me: I'll have to look up the details, but the Mini Expander will only support a limited number of ICs in the cartridge ports at once; the exact number is mentioned somewhere in the technical manuals. The original 32K RAM module contains sixteen 2K RAM chips, and several other logic chips as well, which is why it had to be so large. Combined with the four ICs in the Aquaricart, that might simply be too much of a load. It would also explain why my newer 32K modules (which use only two chips) seem to work perfectly.

 

Fortunately, if this is the case, it's a very isolated issue: there are only a handful of original 32K cartridges like yours in the world. I'll get in touch with you offline about sending you a newer 32K module, so you can at least make use that extra RAM.

 

In the meantime, thanks again for your reports, and let me know if you find any other issues. I want to find solutions to as many of these problems as possible (or at least get a better idea of how widespread they are) before I proceed to a general release.

[marcfrick2112]

Here's something that occurs to me: I'll have to look up the details, but the Mini Expander will only support a limited number of ICs in the cartridge ports at once; the exact number is mentioned somewhere in the technical manuals. The original 32K cartridge contains sixteen 2K RAM chips, and several other logic chips as well, which is why it had to be so large. Combined with the four ICs in the Aquaricart, that might simply be too much of a load. It would also explain why my newer 32K modules (which use only two chips) seem to work perfectly.

 

Fortunately, if this is the case, it's a very isolated issue: there are only a handful of original 32K cartridges like yours in the world. I'll get in touch with you offline about sending you a newer 32K module, so you can at least make use that extra RAM.

 

In the meantime, thanks again for your reports, and let me know if you find any other issues. I want to find solutions to as many of these problems as possible (or at least get a better idea of how widespread they are) before I proceed to a general release.

 

O wow, Jay, you are a great guy! It'd be neat to use Ext. BASIC with my full RAM! LOL, as I was the 'programmer' in the house, dad ordered me the 32K, and he 'suffered' with the 16K cart. ...I had long since been making programs way bigger than the Aquarius' built-in memory...not like that is hard..

 

I am still floored that the 32K modules were that rare... Just to double-check.. I did a mem check in BASIC with only 32K RAM installed...and no Aquaricart. I get the correct response of -31,037. LOL! I seem to remember the docs. for this mentioning that a FRE(X) command will return a negative number with the 32K! LOL!

The couple of times I got my 32K working with the multicart, I got 17,010 or so response from a FRE(X) command.. thus, showing 16K... odd...

But, really thanks much for your work on this Jay!

[jaybird3rd]

But, really thanks much for your work on this Jay!

My pleasure! I've tested every Aquaricart board in four different Aquarius computers, but there seems to be a lot of variation in the Aquarius hardware, so I suspected there would be at least a few wrinkles as it began to be used with other systems.

 

For now, I'd recommend that you avoid using the Aquaricart and your original 32K RAM module together. This will at least let us know that any other issues you find with it are not due to conflicts with the 32K module. Note that this only applies to the original 32K RAM modules; the new 32K modules, and the original 4K and 16K modules, should be fine.

[marcfrick2112]

But, really thanks much for your work on this Jay!

My pleasure! I've tested every Aquaricart board in four different Aquarius computers, but there seems to be a lot of variation in the Aquarius hardware, so I suspected there would be at least a few wrinkles as it began to be used with other systems.

 

For now, I'd recommend that you avoid using the Aquaricart and your original 32K RAM module together. This will at least let us know that any other issues you find with it are not due to conflicts with the 32K module.

 

No worries, Jay.. that's what I am doing right now to torture-test the Aquaricart... So far, things work 100% with the 16K module, FRE(X) in Extended BASIC shows a correct amount of RAM..

I don't have a cassette on this Aquarius.. but I hope to test that aspect soon...

*BTW, never had an official Data recorder for mine... just used an old portable cassette recorder... I am assuming my remaining ones are still working...

[psquare75]

I've been testing this out as well. Received mine yesterday. My question relates to the diagnostic program. i guess my AQ has a fault? It goes through the sound test, the ram test, the controller test, then I have a fault light not working, or something? (I should have written it down, I don't have a computer that works at home right now. )

 

I can only imagine how much time it took to type in ALL those manuals. They display great.

 

So far everything I've tried (save that diag test) works with 16k and the mini expander + controllers.

 

I would test the print function, but I still need a cable for my printer.

 

Two side notes:

 

1. The game *shark*...Someone could easily make a Star Trek type game.. my gf and I both thought one size of the fish looks exactly like the starship Enterprise.

 

2. According to Biorhythms, my gf and I are not very compatible. She is upset, lol!

[jaybird3rd]

I've been testing this out as well. Received mine yesterday. My question relates to the diagnostic program. i guess my AQ has a fault? It goes through the sound test, the ram test, the controller test, then I have a fault light not working, or something? (I should have written it down, I don't have a computer that works at home right now. )

I think this is the message you're referring to:

 

 

After the diagnostic tests are complete, the program displays the results and halts the computer. This message is simply telling you that, if you have an LED connected to the HALT output pin of the Z80 processor (which is something a technician might do during troubleshooting), the LED should be on at that point. It doesn't indicate a problem with the Aquarius. I should have mentioned this in the "trivia file", because it can be confusing.

 

I can only imagine how much time it took to type in ALL those manuals. They display great.

Thank you! That gives you some idea of why it took an extra couple of months to finish it.

 

I'm especially happy with the way the AD&D Treasure of Tarmin and Utopia manuals turned out; those ones in particular really took advantage of the ability of the Viewer to exactly reproduce the in-game graphics. I like those on-screen manuals better than the original printed ones, but again, I know I'm biased.

[jaybird3rd]

Just a quick update on the status of the preorders: at the moment, all but the last three have been built and shipped. I should have those last ones out by the beginning of next week.

[coyo5050]

Got mine today, looks great. Can't wait til this Sunday when I will get a chance to play with it!

[marcfrick2112]

Got mine today, looks great. Can't wait til this Sunday when I will get a chance to play with it!

 

Jay, just a thought.. once you have your website going, it would be awesome if you could put ALL relevant Aquarius info on it as well... pinout of the cassette interface, etc.

 

And, uhh... I don't want to open a can of (virtual) worms up.... but someone like you should come up with an affordable hard drive/floppy drive for the Aquarius... but, I doubt Ext. BASIC could ever be used with it... UNless you can do a little more MODding, Jay!

 

I can ONLY IMAGINE how difficult this was Jay... So far, with a Mattel unit 'Family Pack' with Mini-Expander, and CRIMAC, Inc. 16K memory, ALL programs work. It does really seem as if it's the 32K RAM causing my issues... Even, both Burgertime versions now use the same controller, LOL!