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good, so that means it's compatible with the original computer keyboard :) Or wait, you said at least two.

 

I haven't actually tested it yet. I'll be honest that it's not high on my list at least for 1.0.

 

I do know that I've avoided a major hardware incompatibility, involving signals on the bus. Any remaining incompatibility would be at the software level, I hope, which means that even if it doesn't work with 1.0, it could be made to work later.

 

The KC adds a lot of additional pitfalls to account for, such as ROM at $7xxx that you can't turn off, 10-bit RAM at $8000 - $BFFF that you can't turn off, and so on.

 

Are there any KC-specific cartridges out there that plug into the Intellivision cartridge port? Or is all the KC specific software that we know of either tape-based, or plugs into the special KC-only connector in the back (such as KC Microsoft BASIC)?

 

I think the main audience for LTO Flash! on the Keyboard Component would be folks interested in writing custom software to reverse engineer the KC, and Frank Palazzolo I think has that covered fairly nicely. (Although, he did email me, and I need to get back to him.)

Edited by intvnut
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What :(

 

Yep, if you want to use cartridges with the System Changer, there's plenty of fine products over there in the Atari 2600 tab...

 

For the PlayCable, well... I don't have an FCC license to broadcast on the channel(s) it's looking for, for one. :-)

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I haven't actually tested it yet. I'll be honest that it's not high on my list at least for 1.0.

 

I do know that I've avoided a major hardware incompatibility, involving signals on the bus. Any remaining incompatibility would be at the software level, I hope, which means that even if it doesn't work with 1.0, it could be made to work later.

 

The KC adds a lot of additional pitfalls to account for, such as ROM at $7xxx that you can't turn off, 10-bit RAM at $8000 - $BFFF that you can't turn off, and so on.

 

Are there any KC-specific cartridges out there that plug into the Intellivision cartridge port? Or is all the KC specific software that we know of either tape-based, or plugs into the special KC-only connector in the back (such as KC Microsoft BASIC)?

I have one cart, let me check. I never looked at the cart, i still have it i the box it was shipped in.

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It does have a port on the side. thats the size of a cart.

 

The KC, as I recall, has three cartridge ports. The one on the side is for Intellivision Master Component cartridges, and the two on the back are for KC-only cartridges, such as KC Microsoft BASIC. As far as I know, no KC-specific software was produced that uses the Intellivision MC cartridge port on the side (where the LTO Flash! would plug in).

 

The two on the back are behind fold-open doors, and require special cartridges. The KC BASIC cartridge, for example, is quite a bit thicker than a MC cartridge, and has a "T" shaped bottom that forms a little stand to raise it up to meet the connector behind the door.

 

 

Im looking at the kc, the cartridge port on the kc is connected to a flixible cable that has an end that plugs into the consoles cartridge slot. so its like a cartridge extension cord.

 

Correct. This allows the MC to talk to the KC, and doubles as a pass through for MC cartridges.

 

There is a check in the KC EXEC for KC-specific cartridges plugged into that port. However, I have not come across any in real life. We only discovered this by accident, as the ROM header I gave Chad for the Intellicart managed to include the magic signature the KC looks for. Oops!

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well since it has a pass through in a sense LTO flash will work in KC

 

Modulo the other hurdles the KC throws at you, as I mentioned above. The KC maps additional ROM and RAM into the Intellivision address space, and the KC EXEC has some other twists in terms of what it looks for in a cartridge. LTO Flash! would have to operate within those constraints, and I am not guaranteeing that 1.0 of the software will do so.

 

Also, many Mattel/INTV titles released after the KC was canceled, as well as many third party titles, will not work with a KC attached. LTO Flash! does not provide a mechanism to make them work, either. The tricks LTO Flash! pulls to make the ECS work aren't available with the KC.

 

So, for now, I make no promises about KC compatibility. It's too much engineering effort for what I believe is very marginal gain.

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I haven't actually tested it yet. I'll be honest that it's not high on my list at least for 1.0.

 

I do know that I've avoided a major hardware incompatibility, involving signals on the bus. Any remaining incompatibility would be at the software level, I hope, which means that even if it doesn't work with 1.0, it could be made to work later.

 

The KC adds a lot of additional pitfalls to account for, such as ROM at $7xxx that you can't turn off, 10-bit RAM at $8000 - $BFFF that you can't turn off, and so on.

 

Are there any KC-specific cartridges out there that plug into the Intellivision cartridge port? Or is all the KC specific software that we know of either tape-based, or plugs into the special KC-only connector in the back (such as KC Microsoft BASIC)?

 

I think the main audience for LTO Flash! on the Keyboard Component would be folks interested in writing custom software to reverse engineer the KC, and Frank Palazzolo I think has that covered fairly nicely. (Although, he did email me, and I need to get back to him.)

 

Frank P. bought a Keyboard Component and is hoping to do some work on it for emulation purposes. He was hoping that the LTO Flash! would work on it. I hope it works out of the box. :-)

 

I have a picture of Frank P. myself and Carl Mueller by my KC in a pic somewhere.

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Frank P. bought a Keyboard Component and is hoping to do some work on it for emulation purposes. He was hoping that the LTO Flash! would work on it. I hope it works out of the box. :-)

 

I have a picture of Frank P. myself and Carl Mueller by my KC in a pic somewhere.

 

It may depend on when he buys the box. ;-) I need to make sure all the other headline features work before I start debugging on the KC. The KC adds a surprising number of variables.

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LTO Flash! Unleash the Intelligence in your Intellivision™

LTO Flash! unlocks the power of your Intellivision™ video game system. It places your entire game catalog at your fingertips in a single, powerful cartridge. It also opens the door to exciting possibilities for new games to come.

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LTO Flash! connects to your Windows or Macintosh computer via a high speed USB 2.0 link. An intuitive graphical interface organizes your game library however you like. Simply drag and drop games into folders, sync it up, and voila! You're ready to go!

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Set it and Forget it!

Some games aren't compatible with every system or peripheral. LTO Flash! won't let that get in your way. It detects and works around common incompatibilities, to let play on the Intellivision II and ECS that couldn't before.

 

LTO Flash! can also bypass the ECS title screen for games that don't need it. Now you don't need to unplug or fiddle with anything to play your favorite 3rd party game. Just point, click and play, all in a flash!

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1MB RAM, organized as 512K x 16 bits. Fully available to new games via bank switching.

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Compatible with all ROMs from Intellivision Lives! and Intellivision Rocks!, all Intellicart / CC3 ROM images, and homebrews developed with SDK-1600. Compatible with all Intellivision compatible systems, including Intellivision II, Sears Super Video Arcade, TandyVision One, INTV System III, and Intellivision SuperPro System. Compatible with the Intellivision Entertainment Computer System (ECS) and Intellivoice.

 

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post-31813-0-46348000-1406505069_thumb.png

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I don't have the complete list off the top of my head. But, some examples of ECS incompatible games/ROMs: PacMan, Defender, Dig Dug, Congo Bongo, MTE-201. These are all incompatible because they map a portion of their ROM at $7xxx.

 

Thanks. The $7000 makes a lot of sense. Based on that, I went digging into the standard list of CFG files to see what games used that range and came up with the following list (which is very close to the list off the top of your head).

  • Congo Bongo
  • Defender
  • Dig Dug
  • MTE-201 Test Cart
  • Pac-Man
  • Centipede
  • Choplifter (not one of the original 125)
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Thanks. The $7000 makes a lot of sense. Based on that, I went digging into the standard list of CFG files to see what games used that range and came up with the following list (which is very close to the list off the top of your head).

  • Congo Bongo
  • Defender
  • Dig Dug
  • MTE-201 Test Cart
  • Pac-Man
  • Centipede
  • Choplifter (not one of the original 125)

 

 

 

I'm getting rusty, I guess. ;-)

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... I should add that I took the cheap route and looked at CFG files for the games. I didn't actually test them with a physical ECS. That said, I suspect the list should be very accurate since any games with incorrect CFG files probably wouldn't work in emulators.

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... I should add that I took the cheap route and looked at CFG files for the games. I didn't actually test them with a physical ECS. That said, I suspect the list should be very accurate since any games with incorrect CFG files probably wouldn't work in emulators.

 

In theory, ROMs could have conflicts at $2xxx and $Exxx. No games that I know of map to $2xxx. Championship Tennis does have ROM at $Exxx, and it crashes when I bring it up in the emulator if I enable the ECS. Can someone with an actual Championship Tennis cart tell me if it plays when you plug it into an ECS?

 

I seem to recall hearing something to the effect that it's supposed to enable a 4 player mode or something, or maybe that's what was planned for it if it had been released as a proper ECS title.

 

I did try an experiment to see if it played properly after enabling $Exxx as a paged ROM, but it didn't seem to do the trick.

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I seem to recall hearing something to the effect that it's supposed to enable a 4 player mode or something, or maybe that's what was planned for it if it had been released as a proper ECS title.

 

 

 

That would be surprise! I will test it.

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