SS Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 I know that the "XE Demo Cartridge" contains four common games but I was wondering if the Demo Cart itself has ever been dumped? Atari Mania doesn't have a dump of it and I haven't been able to locate it elsewhere either. Thanks for any info that you might have. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kr0tki Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) I haven't heard it being dumped with an EPROM reader, but the four games were dumped using the AtariMax tools. FULS's archive contains four files named "Demo Cartridge *.bin", this is what you are looking for. Of the four titles only Flight Simulator II is different from the commercial version. Edited October 8, 2017 by Kr0tki 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 Thanks for the info and link, Kr0tki. Has anyone actually seen the cartridge in action? How does it select a game/demo? Is there an onscreen menu or does the cartridge just randomly select one of the four titles when the computer is switched on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brentarian Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I remember seeing it in action at an Atari dealer in Maryland (either Toad Computers or a place called Black Patch). If I remember correctly, when you turned off the computer and back on it would boot to the next game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 That's the way mine works, it selects a cart to boot on start up. I have no idea how it selects each cart. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I have one, I think that may be my dump in Fuls archive. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 Mitch, if you have a full cart dump of it could you please post it here? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Are there any images of the cartridge board? There's custom hardware there... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Mitch, if you have a full cart dump of it could you please post it here? Thanks. I believe the original dump was one big ROM with all four games and I split it into 4 parts. I think I still have the original dump but I'll have to look around for it. Mitch 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I'd like to see the mechanism for cycling the games. How long does it remember the last game? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I couldn't find the combined dump yet. Here is a link to pics: http://atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/acarts.html#xedemo Mitch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Oh, okay. Pretty simple. It will remember the last choice until that Tantalum cap drains. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 So what happens with the full cartridge dump when it's separated from the onboard hardware? If the full ROM is added to a Ultimate Cartridge or a UNO Cart is it unable to select games? Will it simply default to game #1 each time? Or are there really physically four separate ROMs on the cartridge and switching between them is completely done via hardware? I had assumed that sans a menu it would be one giant ROM image and that switching on the machine would trigger a simple random selection of one of the four games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 (edited) It would seem it uses a latch for the upper address bits with no software control available. To simulate that with a flashcart you'd need to write back a block to hold the "last game selected" which would be pretty wasteful, an entire block for 2 bits of data. Also - flashcart = 8K visible at a time, I would think that the games on this cart are all 16K visible at a time. So not straightforward to have working from an Atarimax cart. To do 16K games you have the bottom half or entire game based in Ram. Chances are the games have self-overwrite copy protections present. Doing a random selection wouldn't be of great use - in emulation you'd in theory get the same game every time and probably the same with real hardware. Given that according to an earlier post only one game differs from dumps of standalone versions you'd have to ask why would you want to recreate this? Edited October 9, 2017 by Rybags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 There is no real reason at all to want to recreate this. I just got really interested in the mechanics of it all of the sudden. Finding that it's all hardware based makes it both more and less interesting. Certainly less interesting to try to recreate. I guess that what I really need to do now is find a real cartridge for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I have a 2600 that's got 128 games. 4 position switch with 32 games selectable by power cycling or pressing the repurposed B&W switch. Like this thing it's an inelegant solution and annoying for the user. So yes, you would question why would you want to recreate it? It'd be like removing the power steering and brake assistance from your car. Pointless nostalgia trip with the side effect of being annoying and inconvenient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kr0tki Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 (edited) Pointless nostalgia trip with the side effect of being annoying and inconvenient.* spends time using a 35 years old computer * Edited October 9, 2017 by Kr0tki 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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