Ultimate Cart - Users thread

[Roydea6]

Hi, can someone help me out. I need a working Mario Bros. for the XEGS working rom. I keep getting an error message. I got the game from Atarimania. I need a working game for a game review I am doing, thanks.

I get the following message Error: Bad Rom/Car File?

 

 

Mario Bros..car.txt

 

This is a car file made from the rom file you posted. Works with Atariwin Plus 4.0

 

strip the TXT extension and just leave the ..car

 

 

 

[David Alexander]

 

 

Mario Bros..car.txt

 

This is a car file made from the rom file you posted. Works with Atariwin Plus 4.0

 

strip the TXT extension and just leave the ..car

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much. I will try it tonight. I appreciate your help.

[David Alexander]

 

 

Mario Bros..car.txt

 

This is a car file made from the rom file you posted. Works with Atariwin Plus 4.0

 

strip the TXT extension and just leave the ..car

 

 

 

 

Hi, It works great. Can you tell me what was wrong with that file? Thanks

[Roydea6]

Just a bad CART header line. The header is a 16 byte add on to the File to ID the type and banking for the ROM.. This one needed the XEGS Switching

 

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hmmm,

 

would like to update my older Ultimate cart. to the newest firmware with XEX loader, but I am completely lost... (but I do have at least an Altera programmer / USB-Blaster)...

 

- creating an account at Alterra was awful as hell, after this was done, I tried to download a Quartus 15.1 version and it took approx. 100 clicks where it always moved me back to the start page (no clue why), but after a while I came to the download page; here the same thing happend, I clicked onto one of the many download versions and it moved me back...

 

- after another 100 tries (download version 15.1, Windows OS, direct download) I finally reached the page where I could choose between Pro Edition, Standard Edition and Lite Edition

 

Question 1: Which version (Pro, Standard, Lite) do I need ? Or doesn`t it matter ?!?

 

- I simply chose the Lite version, now a new page comes up (still no download!):

Quartus Prime Lite Edition (Free), Quartus Prime (includes NIOS II EDS), ModelSim-Altera Edition (includes Starter Edition)

 

Question 2: Which one do I need ? Or do I need all of them ?

 

- there are even more choices: DEVICES: You must install device support for at least one device family to use the Quartus prime software. ARRIA II Device support, Cyclone IV device support, Cyclone V device support, Max II / Max V device support, MAX 10 FPGA device support

 

Question 3: Which one do I need ? Or do I need to select all of them ?

 

- When I select all, a new window opens up (still no download!): Akamai NetSession Interface, to download the selected software you first have to install this download manager, bladebladebla. I never use such download managers, because most ot the time they do things I do not want automatically...

 

So I clicked here and there dozens of times and downloaded some single files (still not sure, if these are the right ones), e.g. Quartus Lite 15.1.0.185-windows.tar (size: 5.2 GB) and ModelSimSetup-15.1.0.185-windows.exe (size 1.1 GB);

 

Question 4: Are these files okay or do I need something else ?

 

Are they completely nuts at Altera ? Do they want to avoid that anyone is downloading their software ? Do I need a special IT degree or diploma to unterstand their process of creating an account, logging in and downloading some software ?!? Can I take revenge on them for endlessly wasting my time and most likely downloading stuff I do not need, while forgetting to download software I require ? Could someone kill that Altera page...?!?

 

Question 5: Last not least, assuming I get the software I need downloaded one day (hopefully, before the Apocalypse) - will that software work with Win XP 32 Bit (SP 2)...?!? Or can I stop searching and downloading, because it will not work with Win XP anyway ?!?

 

"Thanks for choosing Altera". No, never again!

May the next A8 hardware never ever use Altera again, please !!!

Edited October 9, 2016 by CharlieChaplin

[electrotrains]

Hmmm,

 

would like to update my older Ultimate cart. to the newest firmware with XEX loader, but I am completely lost... (but I do have at least an Altera programmer / USB-Blaster)...

 

 

Have a look at the firmware upgrade guide posted by mulcmu earlier in the thread.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/249491-ultimate-cart-users-thread/?p=3459873

 

Send me a PM if you're still stuck?

 

Robin

[+CharlieChaplin]

 

Have a look at the firmware upgrade guide posted by mulcmu earlier in the thread.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/249491-ultimate-cart-users-thread/?p=3459873

 

Send me a PM if you're still stuck?

 

Robin

 

Yep,

 

found the guide yesterday late at night (while I already had it for several months, ouch) and downloaded the mentioned software Quartus Prime Programmer and Tools, which is available in two versions a) Windows and b) Windows 32 bit. Since I have Win XP 32 bit, I tried to install the 32 Bit version first, but shortly before it was fully installed it showed a window with "An Error occured. Aborting Installation" (well, in german language: Ein Fehler ist aufgetreten. Installation wird abgebrochen.) and the program then did not work. Therefore I guess it was Win XP and not the program that gave me this error message...

 

So I tried the other version which told me that it was for Windows 64Bit and asked me if I still wanted to install it - but this time it was me who aborted the installation. Looks like none of the newer Quartus versions is working under Win XP (SP2) 32Bit, not sure if one would work with Win XP SP3 or if one would work with Win XP at all. (Other OS I have for the PC are Win 2000 with SP4 and MS-DOS 6.22 plus Win 3.11, so atm Win XP is the newest OS I have...)

 

I am gonna visit my friend in a few days and try the software under Vista and/or Win7, but if the Quartus software still does not work, then I have to send my Ultimate cart. to someone for updating it. If so, who would be willing to do that for me - Robin? Panos ? someone else ? Of course I would pay full shipping costs and everything else that may produce costs...

 

-Andreas.

Edited October 10, 2016 by CharlieChaplin

[electrotrains]

Andreas,

 

I can upgrade it for you - just send me a PM.

 

Robin

[santosp]

Question 5: Last not least, assuming I get the software I need downloaded one day (hopefully, before the Apocalypse) - will that software work with Win XP 32 Bit (SP 2)...?!? Or can I stop searching and downloading, because it will not work with Win XP anyway ?!?

 

 

 

Andreas you are awesome! Believe me I fully understand your indignation about it.

 

From my little experience, all these companies Altera, Xilinx, Lattice, not care for the simple user who just need to work their programmer.

Conversely to have just the programmer, you need to d/l all of their program suite, available in some dozens of MB or even GB's some times.

Now especially the Altera on their latest program suite (who support the MAX 10 family), need Windows 7 64 bit to work! You can try also the WinXP 64 bit, but...... if ever you got it to work, just tell me your solution....

 

So with a windows 7 64 bit machine on your side, go to the below link and d/l the package. Check from "Quartus Prime Lite Edition (Free)" only the tag "Quartus Prime (includes Nios II EDS)", and from "Devices" only the tag "MAX 10 FPGA device support".

 

After that you will able to program your Ultimate Cartridge.

As a info, on this latest programming Suite look like the Altera improve their programmer, and now can load the data in one pass and very fast, contrary to the previous version.

Of course this have not much impact to the single user, but is very helpful for someone who have to program a lot of devices.

 

http://dl.altera.com/16.0/?edition=lite

 

System requirements for Altera suite support the newest MAX 10 family to work. Programmer also included.

 

http://dl.altera.com/requirements/16.0/

Edited October 12, 2016 by santosp

[+CharlieChaplin]

Thank you for that information, Panos !

 

Today I also downloaded this software and at the weekend I will visit my friend (who has Win 7 64Bit available) and we will try to update the Ultimate cart...

[santosp]

Andreas,

maybe this also work. I have not tried it myself. Is their latest edition of standalone programmer, in a size of 360 MB.

Go on the below link, choose "Additional Software" tag, and from there d/l the "Quartus Prime Programmer and Tools" file. Maybe is better idea to try this one first.

 

http://dl.altera.com/16.0/?edition=standard&platform=windows&download_manager=direct

[+CharlieChaplin]

Andreas,

maybe this also work. I have not tried it myself. Is their latest edition of standalone programmer, in a size of 360 MB.

Go on the below link, choose "Additional Software" tag, and from there d/l the "Quartus Prime Programmer and Tools" file. Maybe is better idea to try this one first.

 

http://dl.altera.com/16.0/?edition=standard&platform=windows&download_manager=direct

 

Did download this already - and noticed it does not work with WIN XP, but will also test this software with my friend`s Win 7 (64Bit) at the weekend. If both the "Quartus Prime Programmer and tools" and the "Quartus Prime (includes NIOS II EDS)" do not work, then I will send my Ultimate Cart to Robin for updating...

[Jungsi]

I'am also failing at upgrading the firmware - I've spent several hours - I've followod all instructions and read it 10 times.

The last was the above programmer software on Windows 10 from Altera - Windows 10 is very often crashing with this.

I always get a jtag error 34 or 35

Is there a chance that someone will upgrade the firmware for me? :-)

[electrotrains]

Hi Jungsi,

 

If you got the cart from me, I'd be willing to upgrade it for you.

 

However, I'm a bit reluctant to offer a general upgrade service, since there have now been many production runs by different people (and perhaps some I don't even know about since this is an open-source design) and it all takes time including parcelling things up and trips to the post office.

 

Hopefully somebody in Germany can offer to do it for you? If that doesn't happen, send me a PM in a few days and I'll try to arrange something for you?

 

Robin

[Jungsi]

Hi Robin,

thanks for your answer - the board wasn't made by you.

Maybe someone here in Germany will contact me for the upgrade :-)

Gerhard

[billkendrick]

Just a bad CART header line. The header is a 16 byte add on to the File to ID the type and banking for the ROM.. This one needed the XEGS Switching

 

Capture.PNG

 

So how does one do this to the Summer Games (XE cart) ROM dump? My Ultimate Cart's reporting a similar error. I did a hexdump of the Mario Bros ROMs in this thread (non-working, vs the one you fixed up), and saw _one byte_ difference. I attempted to hack the same change in the SG dump, but to no avail. I have no idea what I'm doing, though.

 

Is there a description of cart ROM headers out there that I could work off of? Or clues you give me? Thanks!!!

[Roydea6]

 

So how does one do this to the Summer Games (XE cart) ROM dump? My Ultimate Cart's reporting a similar error. I did a hexdump of the Mario Bros ROMs in this thread (non-working, vs the one you fixed up), and saw _one byte_ difference. I attempted to hack the same change in the SG dump, but to no avail. I have no idea what I'm doing, though.

 

Is there a description of cart ROM headers out there that I could work off of? Or clues you give me? Thanks!!!

I believe that SG is an XEGS-SWITCHABLE 64k Cart. So when using the rom 2 cart utility verify that you select the proper selection. Or your rom may be bad and you need to get another.

 

cart8BIT2010.txt

 

Summer Games.rom

 

I found a good XEGS 128k switchable.

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by rdea6

[Justin Payne]

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.
I've just started to use the UCart and I had seen mention of the Rom 2 Cart utility but my quick search didn't come up with anything. Can you tell me where that might be posted?

[Roydea6]

http://www.wudsn.com/productions/atari800/atarirommaker/atarirommaker.zip

[billkendrick]

Awwww yeah, thanks! Thanks so much!

[ianoid]

I have an Ultimate Cart loose board with an Atari Age symbol on one side and "electrotrains ©2015" on the other. It does not run all the .xex files, and it does not run Dropzone. I would like to upgrade it to the current firmware. I'm put off of doing it myself by the above discussion of Alterra, and the fact that I have no Windows laptop to use next to my 800xl which I would use to power the cart while upgrading. Is anyone willing to upgrade the cart for me? Happy to pay or trade modestly for the service.

[+MacRorie]

I have an Ultimate Cart loose board with an Atari Age symbol on one side and "electrotrains ©2015" on the other. It does not run all the .xex files, and it does not run Dropzone. I would like to upgrade it to the current firmware. I'm put off of doing it myself by the above discussion of Alterra, and the fact that I have no Windows laptop to use next to my 800xl which I would use to power the cart while upgrading. Is anyone willing to upgrade the cart for me? Happy to pay or trade modestly for the service.

 

 

You can send it to me. Pay for the return postage and that's fine.

[bfollowell]

I finally bit the bullet and ordered an Ultimate Cart from The Brewing Academy. I'd been researching the three top multi-carts available at the moment, The!Cart, the Ultimate Cart, and the new AVG Cart. They all looked great, but the Ultimate Cart seemed to be work with the most cart types and recently added xex support, so it seemed like the one for me. I have to say, after only playing with it for about thirty minutes before bed last night, I love it. It's an awesome piece of hardware.

 

I do have one question though. To my mind, it seems that it would be logical to sort the titles in the root, or any sub-directory, alphabetically. However, they don't seem to be. Actually, I really can't tell how they're sorted, though they do seem to sort the same way each time the computer is powered on. Does anyone have an idea how the files are sorted and why they wouldn't be sorted alphabetically? Is there anyway to force them to sort alphabetically?

 

Thanks again for this wonderful product!

 

Next up, my SIO2SD!

[electrotrains]

 

I do have one question though. To my mind, it seems that it would be logical to sort the titles in the root, or any sub-directory, alphabetically. However, they don't seem to be. Actually, I really can't tell how they're sorted, though they do seem to sort the same way each time the computer is powered on. Does anyone have an idea how the files are sorted and why they wouldn't be sorted alphabetically? Is there anyway to force them to sort alphabetically?

 

My atari has been away in a box for a bit while I've been playing with other projects, but from memory, it should be sorting A-Z (ignoring case). The only exception to that is that directories will be sorted above files (and again, sorted A-Z).

 

Glad you are enjoying your cart!

 

Robin

[bfollowell]

 

My atari has been away in a box for a bit while I've been playing with other projects, but from memory, it should be sorting A-Z (ignoring case). The only exception to that is that directories will be sorted above files (and again, sorted A-Z).

 

Glad you are enjoying your cart!

 

Robin

 

I'll check again when I get home and see what I can make of it. I'm sure you're probably right. Like I said, I only got to play with it for about thirty minutes and it had been a long day. I probably looked at something wrong.