chjmartin2 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I was bored and I wanted to do this for a while.... I couldn't get it to compile with 6 frame, so here is a four frame animation on the Aquarius. I am not sure why but TASM puked all over my six frame code, which is exactly the same - go figure. It could be better, but still pretty cool. I can't wait for my multicart to be able to look at it in all of its glory on a real aquarius, but this is still pretty neat... sonic.bin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Hey, that's pretty good! Worked fine for me in Virtual Aquarius. I can't wait for my multicart to be able to look at it in all of its glory on a real aquarius, but this is still pretty neat... We really do need some sort of solution for testing (bankswitched!) cartridge binaries on the Aquarius without having to burn an EPROM; I've often wanted one myself for testing the Aquaricart software. I've got several ideas along those lines, and I'll explore them further once I finally have the Aquaricart project finished. I've talked in the past about a true general-purpose flash-based multi-cart, and I'd still like to do it, but it would take a very long time to complete. I'm thinking now that even a simple bankswitched SRAM cartridge might be useful for software development projects like these. It's possible to use the AY-3-8910 controller ports in the Mini-Expander as a parallel interface for uploading the cartridge data, and we could even add a parallel-to-USB bridge chip to create a USB interface to the PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremysart Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 That would be very cool. The aquarius seems to show up fairly often at the local tradecenter here. Ive seen at least three of them, sell around $30 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Hey, that's pretty good! Worked fine for me in Virtual Aquarius. I can't wait for my multicart to be able to look at it in all of its glory on a real aquarius, but this is still pretty neat... We really do need some sort of solution for testing (bankswitched!) cartridge binaries on the Aquarius without having to burn an EPROM; I've often wanted one myself for testing the Aquaricart software. I've got several ideas along those lines, and I'll explore them further once I finally have the Aquaricart project finished. I've talked in the past about a true general-purpose flash-based multi-cart, and I'd still like to do it, but it would take a very long time to complete. I'm thinking now that even a simple bankswitched SRAM cartridge might be useful for software development projects like these. It's possible to use the AY-3-8910 controller ports in the Mini-Expander as a parallel interface for uploading the cartridge data, and we could even add a parallel-to-USB bridge chip to create a USB interface to the PC. Jay, I want to bite the bullet and get an EPROM writer to be able to make carts on my own. What do I need? I saw that you had a post that showed the FINFORM or FILEFORM or something basically had an EPROM in the cart. I have both of those carts, so I could check mine out. I just want to be able to write carts, burn them and plug and play. Any thoughts on a good way to do this? The Aquaricart won't be able to run homebrew code? Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I want to bite the bullet and get an EPROM writer to be able to make carts on my own. What do I need? I saw that you had a post that showed the FINFORM or FILEFORM or something basically had an EPROM in the cart. I have both of those carts, so I could check mine out. I just want to be able to write carts, burn them and plug and play. Any thoughts on a good way to do this? Most of the earlier Aquarius cartridges used 8K ROM chips that are pin-compatible with EPROMs (they switched to surface-mounted "glop tops" later). In the case of the FinForm cartridge, I just desoldered the ROM, installed an EPROM socket, and modified the board so it could support one 16K chip instead of a pair of 8K chips. This is what I used for testing when I first started working with the Aquarius last spring. It isn't necessary to take apart any of the original cartridges anymore, though: the SuperCart I cartridge board that I designed is a bankswitched EPROM board that you can use for any type of software, from 8K/16K/32K up to one megabyte, and it's much easier to work with than any of Mattel's old boards. I can build a few SuperCart I boards with EPROM sockets for you, if it would be helpful for testing. The Aquaricart won't be able to run homebrew code? The Aquaricart is just an EPROM-based album cartridge containing all of the original Mattel releases, plus the documentation and other "bonus" materials; it isn't user-reprogrammable and won't run homebrew code. It uses the SuperCart I board, but otherwise it's all software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 I want to bite the bullet and get an EPROM writer to be able to make carts on my own. What do I need? I saw that you had a post that showed the FINFORM or FILEFORM or something basically had an EPROM in the cart. I have both of those carts, so I could check mine out. I just want to be able to write carts, burn them and plug and play. Any thoughts on a good way to do this? Most of the earlier Aquarius cartridges used 8K ROM chips that are pin-compatible with EPROMs (they switched to surface-mounted "glop tops" later). In the case of the FinForm cartridge, I just desoldered the ROM, installed an EPROM socket, and modified the board so it could support one 16K chip instead of a pair of 8K chips. This is what I used for testing when I first started working with the Aquarius last spring. It isn't necessary to take apart any of the original cartridges anymore, though: the SuperCart I cartridge board that I designed is a bankswitched EPROM board that you can use for any type of software, from 8K/16K/32K up to one megabyte, and it's much easier to work with than any of Mattel's old boards. I can build a few SuperCart I boards with EPROM sockets for you, if it would be helpful for testing. The Aquaricart won't be able to run homebrew code? The Aquaricart is just an EPROM-based album cartridge containing all of the original Mattel releases, plus the documentation and other "bonus" materials; it isn't user-reprogrammable and won't run homebrew code. It uses the SuperCart I board, but otherwise it's all software. Even just one SuperCart I board with an EPROM socket would be great. This is the programmer I think I will buy: http://www.progshop.com/shop/programmer/BX32/eprom-programmer.html Actually burning EPROMs for me would be a new activity, but I am interested to learn. Is it hard to program for bank-switched carts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Even just one SuperCart I board with an EPROM socket would be great. This is the programmer I think I will buy: http://www.progshop.com/shop/programmer/BX32/eprom-programmer.html Actually burning EPROMs for me would be a new activity, but I am interested to learn. I haven't looked at it in detail, but that programmer should be just fine. I still use one of these, which is an old parallel-port pocket programmer. I have to use it from DOS or Windows 98 because the software isn't compatible with Windows NT or its successors, and it's a little slow, but it suits my purposes just fine. Is it hard to program for bank-switched carts? Not at all. The ROM is divided into 8K banks, and bankswitching basically involves writing a "bank number" into the cartridge address space (any address from $C000 to $FFFF) to select the 8K bank or the pair of 8K banks that you want to use, depending on which bankswitching mode you're working with. The bank you select is then mapped into the cartridge address space, replacing the one that was there before. This allows you to access up to one megabyte of code or data (or both!) in the cartridge by swapping it in and out of memory in 8K or 16K chunks; the main challenge from the programmer's point of view is determining how to efficiently break up the code and data to fit into these chunks in a way that best suits their particular application. It's a very "Atari-like" bankswitching scheme because the SuperCart I design is a direct adaptation of the bankswitching circuitry that Atari 7800 cartridges used. I actually think this would be a good opportunity for me to write up how the SuperCart I works so that you and other interested programmers can begin using it. I'll try to post it in the Intellivision Programming subforum this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 We really do need some sort of solution for testing (bankswitched!) cartridge binaries on the Aquarius without having to burn an EPROM; I've often wanted one myself for testing the Aquaricart software. I've got several ideas along those lines, and I'll explore them further once I finally have the Aquaricart project finished. I've talked in the past about a true general-purpose flash-based multi-cart, and I'd still like to do it, but it would take a very long time to complete. I'm thinking now that even a simple bankswitched SRAM cartridge might be useful for software development projects like these. It's possible to use the AY-3-8910 controller ports in the Mini-Expander as a parallel interface for uploading the cartridge data, and we could even add a parallel-to-USB bridge chip to create a USB interface to the PC. sure would be cool to see something like that Jay. As it is, the Aquarius "demo scene" is getting pretty interesting and if the guys with the mad skills had a good way to test the .bins quickly, it would surely help get more demos and actual software developed. chjmartin2, Sonic looks pretty sweet on Aquarius, even if just in emulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 sure would be cool to see something like that Jay. As it is, the Aquarius "demo scene" is getting pretty interesting and if the guys with the mad skills had a good way to test the .bins quickly, it would surely help get more demos and actual software developed. I agree. I don't know if I'd go to the trouble of designing a whole new board for a bankswitched SRAM cart, but perhaps a couple of hand-made ones would be a useful stop-gap solution for the developers who need them until we have a real multi-cart (something along the lines of the Cuttle Cart 3 for the Intellivision). Again, I'll pursue this further once I put the Aquaricart to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Careful... this one is not family friendly... Here's some Mattel Aquarius Pr0n.... not my best work... but I made it, so I figured I would post it... aqporn.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Careful... this one is not family friendly... Here's some Mattel Aquarius Pr0n.... not my best work... but I made it, so I figured I would post it... i cant see it!!!!!!!!!!! what am i doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Careful... this one is not family friendly... Here's some Mattel Aquarius Pr0n.... not my best work... but I made it, so I figured I would post it... i cant see it!!!!!!!!!!! what am i doing wrong? load it as a cart image in Virtual Aquarius... then go to Hard Reset... it'll show up dude... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 load it as a cart image in Virtual Aquarius... then go to Hard Reset... it'll show up dude... Yep, it works. I'm definitely not posting a screenshot for this one, but it works. So, judging from the size of that cartridge image, it looks like an 8K cartridge is enough for about three full-screen frames of animation. You can get even more if you use a 16K image: the space from $C000 to $DFFF is available for another 8K of data. That's also the space in which the Aquaricart maps bankswitched cartridge data, at least in its 8K bankswitching mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MattelAquarius Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) Careful... this one is not family friendly... Here's some Mattel Aquarius Pr0n.... not my best work... but I made it, so I figured I would post it... i cant see it!!!!!!!!!!! what am i doing wrong? Ahem...well...that makes you go blind, you know. Edited February 4, 2011 by Jay Silverheels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MattelAquarius Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I was bored and I wanted to do this for a while.... I couldn't get it to compile with 6 frame, so here is a four frame animation on the Aquarius. I am not sure why but TASM puked all over my six frame code, which is exactly the same - go figure. It could be better, but still pretty cool. I can't wait for my multicart to be able to look at it in all of its glory on a real aquarius, but this is still pretty neat... I haven't been paying attention. I look forward to checking this out after work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 load it as a cart image in Virtual Aquarius... then go to Hard Reset... it'll show up dude... Yep, it works. I'm definitely not posting a screenshot for this one, but it works. So, judging from the size of that cartridge image, it looks like an 8K cartridge is enough for about three full-screen frames of animation. You can get even more if you use a 16K image: the space from $C000 to $DFFF is available for another 8K of data. That's also the space in which the Aquaricart maps bankswitched cartridge data, at least in its 8K bankswitching mode. 4 frames... There are 4 frames in this animation, and in Sonic as well. The Aquarius has a lot more horsepower too, so if I were to write some kind of codec then we could do more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 4 frames... There are 4 frames in this animation, and in Sonic as well. The Aquarius has a lot more horsepower too, so if I were to write some kind of codec then we could do more... Ah, I'm sorry ... I miscounted. I can see some very interesting possibilities here, especially with the extra storage you would have at your disposal with a bankswitched ROM: if an 8K ROM can hold 4 frames, then a one megabyte ROM (the largest the SuperCart I will support) can hold at least 512 frames, and as you say, you could do even more with a codec of some kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 4 frames... There are 4 frames in this animation, and in Sonic as well. The Aquarius has a lot more horsepower too, so if I were to write some kind of codec then we could do more... Ah, I'm sorry ... I miscounted. I can see some very interesting possibilities here, especially with the extra storage you would have at your disposal with a bankswitched ROM: if an 8K ROM can hold 4 frames, then a one megabyte ROM (the largest the SuperCart I will support) can hold at least 512 frames, and as you say, you could do even more with a codec of some kind. RIGHT! Wow... right now I am cycling through each frame 10 times before moving to the next one, so lets say you wanted a 10 fps framerate, you could store almost ONE MINUTE of video on a cart! WOW! If you were to do a cartoon, like the simpsons, you do a full one minute clip! Holy moly... that'd be bad ass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 4 frames... There are 4 frames in this animation, and in Sonic as well. The Aquarius has a lot more horsepower too, so if I were to write some kind of codec then we could do more... Ah, I'm sorry ... I miscounted. I can see some very interesting possibilities here, especially with the extra storage you would have at your disposal with a bankswitched ROM: if an 8K ROM can hold 4 frames, then a one megabyte ROM (the largest the SuperCart I will support) can hold at least 512 frames, and as you say, you could do even more with a codec of some kind. RIGHT! Wow... right now I am cycling through each frame 10 times before moving to the next one, so lets say you wanted a 10 fps framerate, you could store almost ONE MINUTE of video on a cart! WOW! If you were to do a cartoon, like the simpsons, you do a full one minute clip! Holy moly... that'd be bad ass! I will see if can piece together a Run Length Encoder and Decoder. I've modified my previous bitmap converter to put out the .db lines as an .inc file. I think because we've discovered a bug in Virtual Aquarius, I am going to go ahead and release a version of BMPAQ that puts out the .inc file and then finalize work on my Flicker converter with just the full character set and the bloxel character set (that work is done) and release that too. Then I'll come back to codec. I also have to head back over the Atari 2600 for a bit because I have a project with an itch that I really want to scratch. I continue to be amazed at how learning a piece of ASM/Development on one system seems to help me on another. Oh and I have one more thing for the Aquarius I put together. I mocked up a screen to show what a nice strip poker program based on the flicker mode would look like - it is pretty sweet, so I'll post that demo as well. Just too many ideas with my newfound skillset! I am trying to work down my list of "stuff I'd like to see the aquarius do" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Exciting stuff! This is one reason I've long since settled on cartridge-based software for the Aquarius instead of continuing to use cassettes: with cassette tape, your program space is limited to the amount of RAM you have in the computer, since your code/data has to be loaded into RAM from the tape (or the tape image, if using an emulator) before you can use it. With a bankswitched cartridge, you have enough program space to do almost anything, and near-instantaneous load times as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.