What would it cost to have a custom cartridge made?

[AtariDude]

Hi everyone.

 

I am hoping that maybe someone can answer this question for me. I was reading one of the other posts that someone had written about a matchmaker cartridge that was running on an Atari 800XL.

 

Supposed for a second that I had written a program that I would like to have put into cartridge form for the 8-bits. What would be the cost of creating such a cartridge? Is it possible to write a basic program and have it made into a cartridge or does everything for the Atari cartridge system need to be written or translated into machine language?

 

Hope to hear from you soon. Also what programs are available that can convert Atari basic programs into machine language programs? i.e. compile them into their machine language equivalents.

[Bryan]

You will need to compile your BASIC program. There are compilers out there (I think one was called ABC - A BASIC Compiler). I suppose someone could make a cartridge that includes BASIC (8K) and a program, but this would probably be even more work.

 

-Bry

[classics]

You can make your own cartridges with a MaxFlash cartridge.

 

You put the BASIC program on a DOS disk with a small program to auto-load it. Once that is working correctly you then change that DOS disk into cartridge with the free software that comes with the MaxFlash cartridge.

 

You can get more information on flash cartridges at:

 

http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/

 

There are some example cartridge images in the forum there that load BASIC programs as well.

[Super-Genius!]

If you are comfortable writing in Basic, that is fine! After you are finished,

just compile your code. I like MMG Basic Compiler. It seems to work

the best. The only thing you have to worry about are timing loops,

Basic loops run slower, so when you compile it, the loops will run much

faster. So timing always becomes an issue.

 

After you have your binary file, it is very easy to make a cartridge.

If it is less than 16K, you can upload it to a Hollex cart. If the program

is larger, you would have to use something like a Mega-Cart to store

the program.

 

Mark

[analmux]

But it must be possible to burn a basic program on a cartridge. My experience with compilers aren't that good.

 

Just make a little MachineCode program that copies the raw basic file from cartridge ROM to the system RAM. No problem

 

-----

mux

[AtariDude]

If you are comfortable writing in Basic, that is fine!  After you are finished,

just compile your code.  I like MMG Basic Compiler.  It seems to work

the best.  The only thing you have to worry about are timing loops,

Basic loops run slower, so when you compile it, the loops will run much

faster.  So timing always becomes an issue.

 

After you have your binary file, it is very easy to make a cartridge.

If it is less than 16K, you can upload it to a Hollex cart.  If the program

is larger, you would have to use something like a Mega-Cart to store

the program.

 

Mark

 

Where can someone get MMG Basic Compiler? I used to have a lot of fun in writing programs in Atari Basic and would have loved to make them into binary games so that they would play better.