Omega-TI Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Imagine, a PC based program with... 1) A menu to select up to 36 entries where YOU pick the menu's title names. 2) Where YOU enter the E/A program names (up to 5?) for each entry. Once everything is entered properly, the program would do all the calculations and allow you to delete items that may exceed 512K. Once everything is ready, it would assemble a compilation file that would then be "READY-TO-BURN" for either the RED or BLUE cartridges. Custom Cartridge Software, that even NEWB's like me could run! Since it would be so easy and straight forward to operate, the technical gurus would not be interrupted with trivial questions every time a new guy came along. Just an idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Why did you pick exactly 36 entries ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Why did you pick exactly 36 entries ? Alphabetical keys A-Z = 26 + 0-9 Numerical = 36 This would give maximum flexibility to those who only program the ROM chip(s). This type of program will be a necessity soon. Why? Well, have you seen all the freaking games in current development right now? It's bloody mind-boggling I tell you. I can't think of a better solution myself! Put the FIAD format images is a dedicated directory, fill in the blanks and the PC spits out an image ready-to-burn... complete with it's OWN MENU... maybe even personalized? With a program this simple to use, even guys without burners would be able to get specialized cartridges from others, because it would not take forever to setup and burn. People could easily make the image themselves. then e-mail it to a friend with a burner... then wait a week or so for it to arrive in the mail and then plug it into their own cartridge and go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 One last thought connected with the last message... As more and more of the 'old guard' die off, the rest of the 'non-experts' will need a way to keep things fresh and active for as long as possible. Having new tools (and documentation) will be a must. We are already a small group, while I believe there will always be casual gaming-type users, I doubt many of the current generation will want to devote the massive amount of time required to learn an obsolete platform for a rapidly shrinking user base. 1) PC based support tools are going to be more important as time goes on. 2) A Cartridge based option is going to be more important to bring in new users to the platform (lower cost = easier to take a gamble). 3) A small & cheap 32K memory expansion will need to be developed. (If it'll help get things going, I'm a +1). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Why did you pick exactly 36 entries ? Alphabetical keys A-Z = 26 + 0-9 Numerical = 36 Okay. Just that sometimes 36 entries does not fit nicely on one screen, and if you use numbers for individual screens, then the letters should be sufficient if you have one per line (24 lines on screen). 512K / 8K = 64 entries, if all are 8K or less. Technically one 8K can hold more than one program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 True--and the menu program Gazoo built for the 2048K cartridge has 121 entries divided into eight pages. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Just that sometimes 36 entries does not fit nicely on one screen, My bad, I was thinking in F18A terms of 80 columns... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 What kind of compilation cart would you like to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 What kind of compilation cart would you like to do? For myself, I have two different ones in mind. The first would be all your games and my other favorites, the second cartridge cannot be done yet, as one of the programs I'd like does not yet exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Fred Kaal has made a module creator that's doing more or less what you want, but it only works for 64k carts. But it's more complicated because the e/a#5 versions of both Titanium and Road Hunter are loading from disk so in order to make a Rasmus supercart you would have to start with the cart versions and recompile them to select the right ROM banks. I will probably do this myself at some point. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 ... but it only works for 64k carts. But it's more complicated because the e/a#5 versions of both Titanium and Road Hunter are loading from disk so in order to make a Rasmus supercart you would have to start with the cart versions and recompile them to select the right ROM banks. I will probably do this myself at some point. Yeah, I'm trying to 'standardize' with one type of cartridge so I can use the same chips on everything. Sounds great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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