Entering the 6MB realm of danger - please advise

[Clint Thompson]

I've had more time recently to work on my projects than in the last 3 years combined, that's both a good and a bad thing.

 

Working on a demo now that's teetering at the 4MB mark but would certainly love to use the full 6MB if possible. (it is, I've just got a few issues/questions that need resolved)

 

1. When building and sending a project from Rb+ to the Skunk, it will load/flash both banks and the program starts on the Jag just fine shortly after, running as expected. However, if I power cycle the Jaguar and try to press up on the D-pad to start it again, nothing happens (goes into the dark void for eternity). I've researched this quite a bit looking into threads to try and find issues and the only thing that really came back was an older version of JCP that messed with the way it would flash the Skunk, however I've got what appears to be at very least a version that fixed those issues, so that shouldn't be the problem: jcp v02.04.02 built on Jul 10 2016 is what I'm working with.

 

What should I be doing or looking for to make that work so you're not forced to flash it each and every time you want to run the demo?

 

2. For the demo this is irrelevant but for the game I'm currently working on (completely different), if I want to actually release it as a 6MB cart, how do I:

  a. Split the ROM so that they can be burned to (assuming) a set of M27C322 (4MB) chips (even though it looks like rB+ is already handling the splitting anyway?)

  b. Can I use the same old Atari-spec carts that hold the 2MB M27C160s on or does something else exist and/or need to be designed from scratch to make this a possibility?

Edited November 10, 2020 by Clint Thompson

[+cubanismo]

On 11/10/2020 at 12:49 AM, Clint Thompson said:

. However, if I power cycle the Jaguar and try to press up on the D-pad to start it again, nothing happens

Are you holding 'A' while you press up?  This is needed when booting a 6MB ROM from the D-Pad.

 

Looking forward to answers to the other question myself.  I've been wondering if the 6MB carts are just two 4MB ROMs with the upper 2MB unused or what.  Haven't tried to work out the math on the address lines and interleaving options and all that personally.

[Clint Thompson]

12 hours ago, cubanismo said:

Are you holding 'A' while you press up?  This is needed when booting a 6MB ROM from the D-Pad.

 

Looking forward to answers to the other question myself.  I've been wondering if the 6MB carts are just two 4MB ROMs with the upper 2MB unused or what.  Haven't tried to work out the math on the address lines and interleaving options and all that personally.

Thanks, glad that's out of the equation as an issue. As with most stupid mistakes made in my late hour haste, scurrying through the manual with "6MB" references, I clearly missed the very blatant instruction:

"To launch a program in 6MB mode (Rev 2 only), hold 'A' while pressing UP."

 

Humorous, since I've flashed 6MB programs a million times but am constantly always flashing updates/etc. never keeping one on long enough to load it after a power cycle, until now.

[+Biff Burgertime]

18 hours ago, cubanismo said:

Haven't tried to work out the math on the address lines and interleaving options and all that personally.

 

Sorry, I had to.