tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) AVGCART - THE average SD multicart for 8bit Atari FPGA based multicart for 8bit Atari computers, extensible with SIO and/or ECI/PBI cables supports CAR (cartridge dump) files up to 1MB and most bankswitching types supports XEX (executable) files supports ATR (floppy image) files (read/write) - support is limited without an optional SIO or ECI/PBI cable due to Atari cartridge port constraints (e.g. SW that uses RAM under OS does not work) supports ATX (protected floppy image) files (read-only, SIO cable required) supports CAS (cassette) files (SIO cable required) supports AVF (video) files supports PDM (audio) files fast file search, file shortcuts, randomizer and tons of other features when used with optional ECI/PBI cable, it can expand ATARI memory to up to 576kB, it can also provide extra 48kB RAM to stock 16kB 600XL machines (some limitations apply) firmware upgradeable via SD card (no additional hw needed) SIDE2 emulation (compatible with U1MB and SpartaDOS X) ability to stack emulated cart with emulated SpartaDOS X cart, together with SIDE2 emulated HDD unlike some other products, most of the functionality is running inside the cart and not on the host machine's CPU which makes it faster and more versatile (it can do stuff in parallel with host machine without having to gain 6502 control and doesn't require soldering extra internal upgrades like Ultimate 1MB for some basic functionality like ATR emulation or memory expansion) compatible with 600XL, 800XL/XE, 65XE, 130XE, XEGS (cartridge shell is too wide for 1200XL, bare pcb will fit, it is also too tall for 800, can be used with cartridge door opened and door switch triggered) Latest firmware is 0029 (changelog) Read the fine manual by @Mr Robot The included cartridge shell is compatible with 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 800XE, XEGS, it is too wide for 1200XL (either extender or removing from shell is needed), on 800 you need to trigger the cover switch since it's too tall to allow cover to close Available at MiscRetro (non-UK) and RetroLemon (UK) Questions? Issues? Feature requests? Discord flashjazzcat's SIDE firmware in AVGCART compatible CAR files (one enables SIDE emulation and runs SIDE loader, the other runs SpartaDOS X, use Shift-S to enable SIDE for use with U1MB) my older collection of CAR test files XEX files sources - http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php?idx=0 (use "Download all" link) - http://a8.fandal.cz/ sticker for the cart (courtesy of @Mr Robot) Unbricking information: here and here DIY SIO mod here (for full ATR/ATX/CAS support) Nir Dary's demo of the cart Review by Larek (in polish) Edited August 8, 2023 by tmp 0029 23 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndary Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 I am interested in testing.. and i hope that this cart will support the missing bank switching cart scheme that the ULTIMATE cart does not support if you need info on those i can help you with that 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016792 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) i'm using this as a reference and i'm adding types when i find some test files for them https://sourceforge.net/p/atari800/source/ci/master/tree/DOC/cart.txt i've posted req for files i miss here - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/277773-looking-for-cart-dumps/ if it's a known bankswitching type and you have any dump for it, just attach it and i'll add the support currently supported types are - 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 52, 58, 59, 60, 69, 70, 160 (it's a paste from code, i'll put it in a more readable list later) Edited April 28, 2018 by tmp Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016793 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox-1 / mnx Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 You may want to add some more in-depth info. Within a few minutes lot's of questions will follow, like, where are you located (for shipping purposes), does it support XEX loading, can I use it with ATR's, will it work with my Side/U1MB/etc... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016795 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 You may want to add some more in-depth info. Within a few minutes lot's of questions will follow, like, where are you located (for shipping purposes), does it support XEX loading, can I use it with ATR's, will it work with my Side/U1MB/etc... - i've updated my profile with location (which is Slovakia) - .xex files are supported (as stated in my original post), there still might be issues with certain .xex files, i've been fixing my loader when i found some non-working ones and i plan to continue to do so when more non-working ones are found - there is no atr support currently (and no promise about it) - i do not know whether there are any u1mb/side incompatibilities (as i don't own atari with any of those expansions), i'm certainly eager to find out but can't do that unless somebody tests it. if there is a issue, i'll try to fix it, if i can't, you can return the cart and get the money back, that's all i can promise 3 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016797 Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 If you're interested in making this device work elegantly with Ultimate 1MB, send me a PM so we can discuss ideas. How about simultaneous banked cart emulation, hard disk functionality and ATR mounting? All doable and it would comprise and all-in-one solution. 12 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016814 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I'm definitely open to any ideas that people find useful (and are within my skills ), I'm not exactly an atari person (i've owned a c64 as a kid (please don't throw the rocks at me)), i'm learning the ins and outs on the go therefore i'm not yet sure what's possible and what's not. What i'd like at first is to confirm the basics are there and working (personally i have only limited means for testing as i only own 800xe/xl, both unexpanded) and then add new features that make sense. Feel free to post ideas in this thread (preferably with some technical background or a link so i can get myself up to speed). Thanks! 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016818 Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1013 Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Hello tmp,I am really impressed and interested in a cart.best regards Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016823 Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) OK. The Atari can handle the FAT filesystem, so if you a) expose the SPI at $D5E0 or above or b) implement an IDE emulation layer and put the emulated IDE registers at the same location, the U1MB can drive the SD card (at the raw sector level) and use it as a hard disk. My own preference would be IDE emulation, but I guess 4-bit SD mode could work too. The SIDE loader can also handle the loading of cart images into MCU RAM direct from FAT, too (at around 80KB/s, depending on how the SD card is driven). I guess this could be a secondary mode of operation not interfering with stand-alone operation. Edited April 28, 2018 by flashjazzcat 6 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016825 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I think i understand the IDE part (emulating IDE interface that SIDE exposes to atari), I'm a bit lost in that SPI part, any pointer for more info? Are you saying that u1mb is able to access sd card via SPI exposed at $d5xx? (i have very limited knowledge of u1mb since i don't own one) Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016833 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Does it do virus scans too? In all seriousness though... nice and quick interface. It looks to be able to run one game then another even faster than a PC-based emulator which is saying something. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016834 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox-1 / mnx Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Does it do virus scans too? That's a software thingy. http://atari.fox-1.nl/atari-400-800-xl-xe/400-800-xl-xe-tools/virus-scanner-v1-0/ Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016838 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Hello tmp Two switches? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016852 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 yes, i've added one extra because why not, it might be useful for something one day i got a suggestion that it should "reset" the currently loaded cart so it does that at this moment (so you don't have to load it again from the selector, useful for e.g. multi game carts, pressing second button and resetting gets you back to cart's menu instead of avgcart's selector) 6 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016854 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyper68 Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Looks interesting...I'm a sucker for new hardware. I will take one for the team and be a guinea pig PM sent. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016874 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 What are the two holes under GC (white AVGCart text) for ?!? And the other holes at the right and left of the cart pcb ?!? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016880 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Hello tmp And why "AVG"? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016882 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) What are the two holes under GC (white AVGCart text) for ?!? And the other holes at the right and left of the cart pcb ?!? they can be ignored, those 2 pins are external power (if i wanted to do the initial programming without plugging it into atari) and the rest are some unused pins on fpga Hello tmp And why "AVG"? Sincerely Mathy it's just an average cartridge, nothing special ok, those 3 carts are reserved (ndary, z1013, Vyper68) Edited April 28, 2018 by tmp Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4016894 Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 I think i understand the IDE part (emulating IDE interface that SIDE exposes to atari), I'm a bit lost in that SPI part, any pointer for more info? Are you saying that u1mb is able to access sd card via SPI exposed at $d5xx? (i have very limited knowledge of u1mb since i don't own one) I'll send my wish-list via PM once I have time to document it, but driving the SD card directly (via SPI) or via emulated IDE layer are mutually exclusive options. Sure the the U1MB PBI BIOS (or any driver) could drive the SD card directly, but I'm pretty certain IDE emulation would be faster. U1MB has no special properties in this regard aside from one: that it provides a PBI math-pack overlay which can conceivably be used to drive any cartridge-based SD/CF solution as if it were an ECI/PBI attached external host adapter. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017082 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FULS Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 i'm using this as a reference and i'm adding types when i find some test files for them https://sourceforge.net/p/atari800/source/ci/master/tree/DOC/cart.txt i've posted req for files i miss here - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/277773-looking-for-cart-dumps/ if it's a known bankswitching type and you have any dump for it, just attach it and i'll add the support currently supported types are - 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 52, 58, 59, 60, 69, 70, 160 (it's a paste from code, i'll put it in a more readable list later) Hi, If you make any more carts, I'll take 1 or 2 for sure. Would you add type 18 (Bounty Bob Strikes Back)? Also does type 52 run this cart?MicroCalc (Altirra Emulator Only).bin 52 | 800/XL/XE | 32 | Ultracart 32 KB cartridge Thanks, Doug Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017215 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 Hi, If you make any more carts, I'll take 1 or 2 for sure. Would you add type 18 (Bounty Bob Strikes Back)? Also does type 52 run this cart?MicroCalc (Altirra Emulator Only).bin 52 | 800/XL/XE | 32 | Ultracart 32 KB cartridge Thanks, Doug i'll add bbsb, it's just when i start reading the bankswitching description, i decide to pick another type from the list to implement so it's getting pushed back but yes, it will have to be implemented as for microcalc, i have microcalc.car as ultracart 32kb test file and that is working (i just tried) 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017224 Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxl Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 I am interested in the card. in what town you live? I am quite close to Slovakia to pick up the package in person. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017356 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmp Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 i'm pretty close to both austrian and hungarian borders but pretty far from the polish one all assembled carts from the current pcb revision are sold (except for one i'm keeping for testing purposes), assembling new ones will depend on the feedback i'll get, i'll let you know thanks to files from ndary i've made some fixes today 0005 ==== - fixed type 39 (Phoenix 8 KB cartridge) - fixed type 38 (Switchable XEGS 1 MB cartridge) - fixed type 41 (Atarimax 128 KB Flash cartridge) - fixed type 42 (Atarimax 1 MB Flash cartridge) (bank is also switched on reads, seems to help with certain carts) - added type 9 (Express 64 KB cartridge) - added type 11 (SpartaDOS X 64 KB cartridge) i (think) i still miss test files for these cart types, any help is welcome | 5 | 800/XL/XE | 32 | DB 32 KB cartridge | | | 21 | 800 | 8 | Right slot 8 KB cartridge | | | 23 | 800/XL/XE | 256 | XEGS 256 KB cartridge | | | 24 | 800/XL/XE | 512 | XEGS 512 KB cartridge | | | 25 | 800/XL/XE | 1024 | XEGS 1 MB cartridge | | | 26 | 800/XL/XE | 16 | MegaCart 16 KB cartridge | | | 28 | 800/XL/XE | 64 | MegaCart 64 KB cartridge | | | 29 | 800/XL/XE | 128 | MegaCart 128 KB cartridge | | | 33 | 800/XL/XE | 32 | Switchable XEGS 32 KB cartridge | | | 36 | 800/XL/XE | 256 | Switchable XEGS 256 KB cartridge | | | 37 | 800/XL/XE | 512 | Switchable XEGS 512 KB cartridge | | | 38 | 800/XL/XE | 1024 | Switchable XEGS 1 MB cartridge | | | 44 | 800/XL/XE | 8 | OSS 8 KB cartridge | | | 46 | 800/XL/XE | 4 | Blizzard 4 KB cartridge | | | 47 | 800/XL/XE | 32 | AST 32 KB cartridge | | | 48 | 800/XL/XE | 64 | Atrax SDX 64 KB cartridge | | | 49 | 800/XL/XE | 128 | Atrax SDX 128 KB cartridge | | | 53 | 800/XL/XE | 8 | Low bank 8 KB cartridge | | | 54 | 800/XL/XE | 128 | SIC! 128 KB cartridge | p | | 57 | 800/XL/XE | 2 | Standard 2 KB cartridge | | | 59 | 800 | 4 | Right slot 4 KB cartridge | | | 60 | 800/XL/XE | 32 | Blizzard 32 KB cartridge | | | 67 | 800/XL/XE | 64 | XEGS 64 KB cartridge (banks 8-15) | | | 70 | 800/XL/XE | 64 | aDawliah 64 KB cartridge | | Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017382 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Hello tmp If the price stays (roughly) the same, I'm interested if you're gonna do a second run. (I'm not sure yet if I like the cartridge case) Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017527 Share on other sites More sharing options...
foft Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Nice job. Is it a spartan 6 and sdram or sram? I see ISSI but cant see which chip it is. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/#findComment-4017555 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.