How to make an Intellivision Cartridge

[INTVcollector]

I am learning to make Intellivision games and have ordered something similar to the cuttle cart 3. I want to know how to make a cartridge for the Intellivision. I've heard you can't use EPROM to make one, but I also know elektronite (a company that sells homebrew games) makes cartridges so it is possible. Does anybody know how to make an Intellivision cartridge?

[intvnut]

When you say "make a cartridge", I assume you mean a board with a game programmed on it, like an off-the-shell game.

 

There are a handful of cartridge designs out there for the Intellivision, and I believe they're all proprietary at the moment. I have my own design, the JLP board, that fits everything onto one chip. Elektronite sells their games on this design. Previously, I've released games on an EPROM based format that Chad Schell designed. You can use EPROM, but you need additional glue logic (usually in the form of a CPLD) to make it work.

 

The other designs I've seen have been similar to the old EPROM+CPLD-based design I used, sometimes replacing EPROM with more modern flash equivalents (AM29F series).

 

In any case, the Intellivision uses a unique multiplexed bus protocol, and requires glue logic in the cartridge to decode it. This is in contrast to some other classic games systems that only need an appropriately wired EPROM. (Atari 2600 and Coleco more or less fall into that category, although the 2600 quickly needs increasing amounts of glue logic as your game grows beyond 4K from what I hear.)

Edited November 17, 2014 by intvnut

[+5-11under]

I can sell you one or as many PCBs as you'd like. It's somewhat complicated to program the chips on the board, so you would need to provide a ROM file.

 

I can also provide shells for projects that aren't infringing anyone's copyrights, otherwise, I can provide just the PCB and you'd have to find your own used shells (with screws in the back). I'm also thinking of being able to supply professionally printed labels, to be able to provide a whole loose cartridge solution.

[GroovyBee]

The other designs I've seen have been similar to the old EPROM+CPLD-based design I used, sometimes replacing EPROM with more modern flash equivalents (AM29F series).

Apart from my Bee3 that uses an ATMega microcontroller.

[freewheel]

I can also provide shells for projects that aren't infringing anyone's copyrights, otherwise, I can provide just the PCB and you'd have to find your own used shells (with screws in the back).

 

Why the distinction between shells and PCBs? Just curious.

[+5-11under]

 

Why the distinction between shells and PCBs? Just curious.

 

I've purchased a bunch of LTO shells, with the caveat that they can only be used for non-infringing games.

I'm less particular about the PCBs. Those I can sell for pretty much any game. No copies of other people's homebrews (term used loosely), of course, unless you have permission.