Ultimate Cart (SD multicart) - Technical thread

[ascrnet]

just for information, after many years, the changes I proposed to the master branch of the project were only accepted today. 🤩👍

[_The Doctor__]

so that means everything is in the build finally and we can program it without any shenanigans or patch files ??

time for quartus and blaster session? or should we wait for a double check?

[electrotrains]

5 hours ago, ascrnet said:

just for information, after many years, the changes I proposed to the master branch of the project were only accepted today. 🤩👍

Hi ascrnet,

 

Thanks for the well structured and documented patch.

 

I haven't had much time for Atari or projects for the last few years - moving house, work, my kids, etc, etc - and I had really wanted to test your changes before accepting them to the main branch. That's my excuse anyway.

 

Robin

[ascrnet]

11 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

so that means everything is in the build finally and we can program it without any shenanigans or patch files ??

time for quartus and blaster session? or should we wait for a double check?

changes that were submitted via github will have no problems, but this does not apply to changes that were made externally. 😅

 

7 hours ago, electrotrains said:

Hi ascrnet,

 

Thanks for the well structured and documented patch.

 

I haven't had much time for Atari or projects for the last few years - moving house, work, my kids, etc, etc - and I had really wanted to test your changes before accepting them to the main branch. That's my excuse anyway.

 

Robin

no problem, sometimes life takes all the time and leaves nothing for the hobby is totally understandable. It's good that you validate the changes, I'm not an expert in this subject just a hobbyist.

 

on my side I can't make any more progress on improvements since my Ultimate cart stopped working unfortunately. I hope someday to be able to fix this and add more improvements to this great cartridge.

 

regards

[ACML]

What are the fixes or changes to the newest firmware?  Is their any new functionality (just fixes to same menu or new capability)?  Was there something that needed fixing that was significant or can I leave the current firmware loaded?  I guess I'm asking if I should update or that the changes are so subtle, I probably wouldn't notice a difference.  Don't want to risk bricking the unit if the return on investment is very small.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by ACML

[ascrnet]

23 hours ago, ACML said:

What are the fixes or changes to the newest firmware?  Is their any new functionality (just fixes to same menu or new capability)?  Was there something that needed fixing that was significant or can I leave the current firmware loaded?  I guess I'm asking if I should update or that the changes are so subtle, I probably wouldn't notice a difference.  Don't want to risk bricking the unit if the return on investment is very small.

there are several important improvements, the main one being better binary loading and support for 4 new cartridges (TURBOSOFT 64K and 128K, 4K, ATRAX) 😉

[ACML]

On 5/15/2023 at 8:04 PM, ascrnet said:

there are several important improvements, the main one being better binary loading and support for 4 new cartridges (TURBOSOFT 64K and 128K, 4K, ATRAX) 😉

What exactly was the issue with binary loading?  What didn't work right?  I've read the upgrade instructions and it's full of warnings on how easy it is to brick this if you don't have the right setup.  The fact that it hasn't been updated in like six years would indicate that there are no major issues.  Adding the four new cartridge capabilities is not compelling enough for me to risk ending up with a paper weight. 

 

Don't get me wrong, it is great that this awesome Cart is getting support in 2023, and I applaud those who use their talents to keep improving an item.  This one for me is "good enough" since my experience level is not high enough to try the upgrade.  I didn't want to come off as saying the changes were not welcome.  Who knows, if I get more comfortable using the USB blaster and providing independent 5V to cart, I may try it in the future.

 

  

Edited May 20, 2023 by ACML

[ACML]

On 5/15/2023 at 8:04 PM, ascrnet said:

there are several important improvements, the main one being better binary loading and support for 4 new cartridges (TURBOSOFT 64K and 128K, 4K, ATRAX) 😉

 I found your July 16, 2021 uploaded _boot.rom and tried it out.  Seems to incorporate the DLI flicker and loader fixes.  Works great, thanks!  Does this version also have all your recent updates (newly supported cartridge formats)?  If not, any possibility of providing a new _boot.rom that does. 

Edited May 20, 2023 by ACML

[ascrnet]

7 hours ago, ACML said:

What exactly was the issue with binary loading?  What didn't work right?  I've read the upgrade instructions and it's full of warnings on how easy it is to brick this if you don't have the right setup.  The fact that it hasn't been updated in like six years would indicate that there are no major issues.  Adding the four new cartridge capabilities is not compelling enough for me to risk ending up with a paper weight. 

 

Don't get me wrong, it is great that this awesome Cart is getting support in 2023, and I applaud those who use their talents to keep improving an item.  This one for me is "good enough" since my experience level is not high enough to try the upgrade.  I didn't want to come off as saying the changes were not welcome.  Who knows, if I get more comfortable using the USB blaster and providing independent 5V to cart, I may try it in the future. 

it is not so complicated to update it, it is more complicated to prepare the development environment and understand all the advanced operation. if you don't need it, don't do it and that's it. 😉

 

3 hours ago, ACML said:

 I found your July 16, 2021 uploaded _boot.rom and tried it out.  Seems to incorporate the DLI flicker and loader fixes.  Works great, thanks!  Does this version also have all your recent updates (newly supported cartridge formats)?  If not, any possibility of providing a new _boot.rom that does. 

The support is programmed directly in the FPGA, the only way is to upgrade it using the blaster.

 

I had many other ideas to improve the cartridge but unfortunately mine died. 😅

[ACML]

55 minutes ago, ascrnet said:

I had many other ideas to improve the cartridge but unfortunately mine died. 😅

When you say mine died, you mean your hardware cartridge no longer works?   If so, did it just stop working or did this happen when trying to update it?

 

[ascrnet]

26 minutes ago, ACML said:

When you say mine died, you mean your hardware cartridge no longer works?   If so, did it just stop working or did this happen when trying to update it?

the hardware no longer works, probably from taking it out of its case and touching it with my hands it is most likely to damage it with static current. 😅i had a version that had the update port closed.

[ascrnet]

If your ultimate cart does not turn on, it may be that the memory is damaged causing the cartridge not to turn on.

This is the firmware that gives life to the FPGA.

Solution: Replace the sram with a new one and save the firmware again. 😉