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Fake Harmony cartridges on eBay?


tdp

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I have started programming using Batari. I decided I need to get a Harmony cartridge so that I can test my games on a real VCS. Whilst hunting on ebay, I saw the following:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...sd=262985404875

 

The menu looks the same (minus the Harmony logo). I cannot find any information about these anywhere. Plus the tech specs seems to be the same too:-

Specifics:

 

  • 2600 Ninja Drive MicroSD/SDHC version
  • NXP 70MHz ARM7TDMI-S microcontroller
  • 8KB SRAM, 32KB Flash, and 512KB EEPROM
  • 7MHz SPI bus controller
  • Micro USB FTD232 serial interface
  • Supports FAT32/16/12 with Windows Long Filenames (LFN)
  • Bankswitching types supported: 2K, 4K, F8, F8SC, F6, F6SC, F4, F4SC, FA, FE, 3E, 3F, E0, E7, CV, UA, Supercharger, DPC, 0840, Custom

 

Specs from the Harmony instruction manual page 9 - (http://harmony.atariage.com/files/harmony_manual_v2_online.pdf)

 

Harmony Cartridge Technical Specifications
Processor:
NXP 70MHz ARM7TDMI-S microcontroller
Memory:
8KB SRAM, 32KB Flash, and 512KB EEPROM
SD Card Interface:
7MHz SPI bus controller
USB:
FTD232 serial interface
Filesystems supported:
FAT32/16/12 with Windows Long Filenames (LFN)
Bankswitching types
supported:
2K, 4K, F8, F8SC, F6, F6SC, F4, F4SC, FA, FE, 3E, 3F, E0, E7, CV, UA,
Supercharger, DPC, 0840, Custom

 

 

 

The specs are the same, even the order that they are listed. At the guys at Atariage okay with this? Or is this a legit Harmony competitor worth considering? Or should I just stick with the Harmony cart?

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Wow, this is criminal! icon_mad.gif "Program & Audiovisual ©2016 GunSlinginNinja, INC.", really???

 

Someone simply copied Harmony cart hardware and software and sells the result for a higher price than the original.

 

He is selling those via his store too.

 

 

post-45-0-23679500-1494931079.jpg

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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He has taken a bunch of the Everdrive flashcarts and renamed them NinjaDrive carts too. The seller doesn't seem to try to hide the fact either with a hodgepodge of some left labelled "EverDrive", others state "NinjaDrive", and navigation under his store sorts it all under "EverDrive".

 

Too bad eBay doesn't provide any of the seller's business details...

 

post-18-0-20698100-1494935267_thumb.png

;)

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Thanks for the confirmation, guys.

 

When I buy a Harmony cart - I want the money to go to the right people. I was just trying to find a UK supplier.

 

I think Atariage/Harmony makers needs to enforce a big fat cease-and-desist

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:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

:(

 

BTW, if you increase luminosity in a graphic program, you can see that the screenshot has been modified to erase the Harmony logo, so the software doesn't seem to have been hacked.

Furthermore, the positioning of the micro-sd slot and mini-usb socket seems to match exactly the one in the original (see pics).

These two facts makes me believe the guy didn't recreate the Harmony, but is just reselling relabeled original carts.

That might be less alarming than the idea of a pirated fully working cart, but is an equally dishonest behaviour.

 

post-10599-0-44176600-1494937286.jpg

post-10599-0-14215100-1494937802.jpgpost-10599-0-39105300-1494937301.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by alex_79
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Seriously, are there any UK suppliers of the harmony cartridge? Because of import tax to the UK, I suspect it will jack price right up.

With economy shipping, the micro sd Harmony is 74.99 USD, that is about 58.2 GBP. With the 20% VAT that's about 69,8 GBP.

And that's for a single cart. You can probably combine shipping if you buy more of them, reducing the cost per cart or using a faster and more secure shipping method.

 

 

The guy is asking 90 GBP + shipping.

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Thanks alex_79. I want to get the encore version, which I noticed is the specs of that "Ninjadrive".

 

The problem is, once you spend over £50 on items from abroad, you have to pay additional taxes as well. So, I would have to pay the cost of the cart, p&p and UK Duty (3.5% of total item cost) 3.5, then the tax (VAT) is calculated on the total cost of that. Not just the cost of the item.

 

Harmony Encore - $84.99 / £65.80

P&P - $15.00 / £11.60

UK Duty - £2.30

UK Duty + VAT - £17.00 (estimate)

Total - £94.40

 

post-6065-0-85503100-1494947409_thumb.jpg

 

And the above doesn't even include the logistical risks of shipping from the US. the killer is that the government includes the P&P into it calculations. It didn't used to do that.

 

Welcome to RIP OFF Britain!!

 

This is why I'm looking for a UK supplier, to reduce my risk. If Atariage has a UK supplier, I would bought some many 2600 homebrews, it's not even funny.

Edited by tdp
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It's not. The specs in the ebay auction (8KB SRAM, 32KB Flash, and 512KB EEPROM) are for the standard Harmony.

Ohhh. Okay. Looking on the Encore site, it states that the encore version supports games upto 512K. I thought that's what the 512Kb EEPROM would be used for. My bad I guess.

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  • 2 months later...

Not even sure if this is really a Harmony or if somebody slapped a (dead cheap looking) label on a Combat cart. The latter could well be, and maybe there is a stupid around who buys this, even though it is way overpriced even if it contains a real Harmony.

 

Notice that there is (deliberately) no picture which shows a USB port of SD slot! And a very vague description.

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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Just got this reply from the seller:

 

 

It's a everdrive style flash cart you can play rom files on this cart it's plug and play . You just add a sd card get roms for Atari 2600 of internet install and plug and play it comes with a manual

So at least it is no Combat cart. :)

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A similar shitty clone-problem happened to several models of the Everdrives some years ago, when some people from China sold clones under the name "Everdrive" for less than half the price of the originals.

 

Was a problem of course for KRIKZZ, the ukrainien developer of the original Everdrives. He then started making his new-published firmwares unworkable on the clones and the funny thing was - some people who bought such a clone and knew it before (because of the low price), complaint on KRIKZZ in the Everdrive forum, because their Everdrives don`t work anymore after firmware-upgrade. :)

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I have confirmed through Fred Quimby that these are real Harmony cartridges that Fred sold this seller. Fred doesn't know why the seller changed the label.

 

..Al

It's a bit shitty of them to replace the label with one that has their name printed on it. No mention of Fred Quimby on it at all.
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