bigmessowires Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) Hi, I'm new to the Atari scene and struggling with all the different multi-cart options mentioned in the forums. I searched for a noob-friendly sticky or wiki that describes the most popular multi-carts and does a brief feature comparison between them, but couldn't find one, so I decided to make my own. Could you please help me correct any errors or important omissions in the list below? A lot of this may be obvious for anyone who's been around the Atari scene for a while, but as a newcomer I've found it difficult to understand all these options. Thank you! EDIT: This list has been updated with corrections and additions from the follow-up comments. Currently-Available Flash Carts and Multi-Carts for the Atari 2600 Harmony original developer: Fred Quimby / batari loads ROMs from: SD card max supported ROM size: 32KB supports all original Atari games: yes extensions for homebrew games: DPC+ coprocessor, ACE, CDF, CDFJ firmware updates: from a file on the SD card (undocumented, see here) also with USB cable to your computer, requires Harmony Programming Tool software design license: closed source CPU: NXP ARM7TDMI-S @ 70MHz Memory: 8KB SRAM, 32KB Flash, and 512KB EEPROM where to buy: https://harmony.atariage.com/Site/Harmony.html Harmony Encore same as Harmony but with 512KB RAM and 1MB EEPROM to support larger homebrews CPU: NXP ARM7TDMI-S @ 60MHz where to buy: https://harmony.atariage.com/Site/Harmony.html UnoCart 2600, a.k.a 2600 Uno original developer: Robin Edwards / electrotrains loads ROMs from: SD card max supported ROM size: 64KB (up to 1024KB with UCA firmware) supports all original Atari games: yes extensions for homebrew games: ACE firmware updates: from a file on the SD card (also with USB cable to your computer and STM32CubeProgrammer software, or with ST-Link II hardware) design license: open source CPU: STM32F4 @ 168 MHz Memory: 192KB SRAM, 512KB Flash where to buy: https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/uno-2600-cartridge PlusCart(+) a fork/extension of the UnoCart 2600, using a networked ROM server instead of an SD card original developer: Wolfgang Stubig / Al_Nafuur loads ROMs from: WiFi connection to cloud-based ROM server (the PlusStore) max supported ROM size: up to 1024KB supports all original Atari games: yes extensions for homebrew games: ACE, PlusROM API for internet access firmware updates: over WiFi from the PlusStore (also with USB cable to your computer and STM32CubeProgrammer software, or with ST-Link II hardware) design license: open source CPU: STM32F4 @ 168 MHz with ESP8266 @ 80 MHz Memory: 192KB SRAM, 512KB or 1024KB Flash (not including ESP8266 memory) where to buy: https://pluscart.onlineweb.shop/, https://pluscart.firmaplus.de/pico/?Shop PlusCart Duo, a.k.a PlusCart SD a fork/extension of the PlusCart that supports both networked ROM servers and SD cards original developer: Wolfgang Stubig / Al_Nafuur and AtariAge community where to buy: you have to build it yourself Melody A simplified version of Harmony with no SD card, no USB, no menu UI. Stores one game in Flash memory. Intended for physical distribution of a homebrew. where to buy: ??? Concerto a Flash Cart for the Atari 7800 backwards compatible with Harmony Encore, also supports Atari 2600 games, but won't physically fit in a 2600 cartridge port where to buy: https://erstwhile-technologies-7800.square.site/ Edited January 23, 2023 by bigmessowires 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: UnoCart 2600, a.k.a 2600 Uno original developer: Robin Edwards / electrotrains loads ROMs from: SD card max supported ROM size: 64KB supports all original Atari games: yes extensions for homebrew games: none? firmware updates: from a file on the SD card design license: open source CPU: STM32F4 @ 168 MHz Memory: 192KB SRAM, 512KB Flash where to buy: https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/uno-2600-cartridge The UnoCart can be updated to the UCA Firmware to support larger/newer ROMs and the same menu screen like the PlusCart. 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: PlusCart(+) a fork/extension of the UnoCart 2600, using a networked ROM server instead of an SD card original developer: Wolfgang Stubig / Al_Nafuur loads ROMs from: WiFi connection to cloud-based ROM server (the PlusStore) ✔️ 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: max supported ROM size: 64KB up to 1024KB 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: supports all original Atari games: yes extensions for homebrew games: PlusROM API for internet access one more extension for hombrew games: ACE e.g. https://forums.atariage.com/topic/344157-lord-of-biscay-rpg-demo-for-pluscartunocarthttps://forums.atariage.com/topic/344158-ace-picture-and-3d-demos-for-pluscart maybe @MarcoJ or @ZackAttack have some more/better links for ACE. 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: firmware updates: with USB cable to your computer, requires STM32CubeProgrammer software Firmware updates can be done via USB or ST-Link II and a PC or via the SD-card, but usually new firmwares are distributed by the PlusStore via the WiFi connection. 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: design license: open source CPU: STM32F4 @ 168 MHz with ESP8266 @ 80 MHz ✔️ 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: Memory: 192KB SRAM, 512KB Flash (not including ESP8266 memory) usually the STM32F407VGT6 with 1024KB flash is used, but the smaller STM32F407VET6 with only 512KB can also be used to build a PlusCart. 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: where to buy: https://pluscart.onlineweb.shop/ There are also two Brazilian seller of PlusCarts on my list here: https://pluscart.firmaplus.de/pico/?Shop 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: PlusCart SD, a.k.a Plus Cart Duo PlusCart Duo, a.k.a. PlusCart SD 46 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: a fork/extension of the PlusCart that supports both networked ROM servers and SD cards original developer: Andrew Davie? where to buy: you have to build it yourself ✔️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 Thank you! It looks like I can no longer edit the original post to correct that info - maybe because I'm a new forum user? If any mod wants to edit it, go ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 5 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: Thank you! It looks like I can no longer edit the original post to correct that info - maybe because I'm a new forum user? If any mod wants to edit it, go ahead. I've given you the ability to edit the first post indefinitely. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 14 hours ago, bigmessowires said: Harmony ... extensions for homebrew games: DPC+ coprocessor Homebrew games can use the ARM CPU, which allows multiple additional formats like DPC+, CDF and CDFJ. 14 hours ago, bigmessowires said: firmware updates: with USB cable to your computer, requires Harmony Programming Tool software Also via a special file on the SD cart. 14 hours ago, bigmessowires said: Harmony Encore same as Harmony but with 512KB RAM and 1MB EEPROM to support larger homebrews AFAIK the CPU runs at 60MHz (not 70). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 15 hours ago, bigmessowires said: Concerto an extension of the Harmony Encore with Atari 2600 and 7800 compatibility backwards compatible with Harmony Encore, also supports Atari 7800 games where to buy: https://erstwhile-technologies-7800.square.site/ Note that while the Concerto can play 2600 games, it is actually a 7800 cartridge and requires a 7800 console (It won't physically fit in the 2600 cartridge port). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a7mag3ddon Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Hi, The UnoCart can be updated to the UCA Firmware to support larger/newer ROMs and the same menu screen like the PlusCart. I just received my unocart this week, if i update to the UCA firmware will i loose the ability to load games from SD card? and if i dont like the fw can i update/ downgrade back to the unocart official firmware? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 10 minutes ago, a7mag3ddon said: The UnoCart can be updated to the UCA Firmware to support larger/newer ROMs and the same menu screen like the PlusCart. I just received my unocart this week, if i update to the UCA firmware will i loose the ability to load games from SD card? No 10 minutes ago, a7mag3ddon said: and if i dont like the fw can i update/ downgrade back to the unocart official firmware? Yes. You can find the files to update/downgrade via SD in this post here: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/297486-unocart-firmware-updates/?do=findComment&comment=5169405 After switching to UCA v2.3.14 you can update to v2.3.15 https://forums.atariage.com/topic/297486-unocart-firmware-updates/?do=findComment&comment=5192167 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a7mag3ddon Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Thank you for the quick reply i might give the plus cart a go 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 (edited) Thanks again, I've updated the original post with the corrections. Regarding the Harmony cartridge: 6 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: Also via a special file on the SD cart. Where could I find more information about doing Harmony firmware updates directly from the SD card? The Harmony instruction manual says the firmware can't be loaded directly from the cartridge, and that a USB cable and programming software are required. Also the pinned Latest Harmony Cart Software thread in the Harmony sub-forum is full of people struggling with driver installations and who can't get the programming tool to recognize their Harmony cartridge. I didn't see any mention of an option for firmware updates directly from the SD card. Edited January 20, 2023 by bigmessowires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 2 hours ago, bigmessowires said: Where could I find more information about doing Harmony firmware updates directly from the SD card? No idea, but I have updated my cart that way at least once. @batari? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrZarniwoop Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 4 hours ago, bigmessowires said: Thanks again, I've updated the original post with the corrections. Regarding the Harmony cartridge: Where could I find more information about doing Harmony firmware updates directly from the SD card? I think this changed after 1.05 of the firmware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 Thanks for the pointer to the 1.05 Harmony firmware announcement from 2014. It looks like you're right. But this means the published Harmony instruction manual is 9 years out of date. ☹️ And there are still people in the pinned "Latest Harmony Software" thread struggling with USB driver problems for firmware updates as recently as 2021, so it looks like not everybody's aware of the ability to load firmware from the SD card. Is there a better place to find up-to-date Harmony information than the Harmony manual and web site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 Updating the firmware from the SD card is only possible if the existing firmware is working. (Similarly, upgrading off SD card/wifi for the Unocart/Pluscart requires a working bios. If the cart is unresponsive for some reason, you need to use the usb port, if present, or a ST-link programmer) In some circumstances the firmware can be corrupted, and then the only option is to use the usb cable and the PC software to revive the cartridge. Moreover, the PC software + usb cable is the only way to flash the cart in "single game" mode (useful for developers) and to revert back to multicart mode. So the information in the manual is still relevant. I suppose that when a new firmware will be released, the instructions and the loader for upgrading from SD will be posted again, like it happened with the 1.06 beta release. Anyway, the cart comes already flashed with the latest bios and ready to use. You don't need to program it. 14 hours ago, bigmessowires said: Is there a better place to find up-to-date Harmony information than the Harmony manual and web site? The Harmony subforum here on AtariAge is the where you'll find the most up-to-date info. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 I am not the designer of the PlusCart SD. However I have done a fair bit of work on the UI code for PlusCart and SD variant, and designed/sold the 3d printable cart shells for both variants. @Al_Nafuur is the real creditable designer for these cartridges. The software has been a bit of a community effort. I also reworked the circuit board design to make it UnoCart and SD-variant compatible. Others have also worked on the UI software. Mine was just a contributing role. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 23, 2023 Author Share Posted January 23, 2023 How does the PlusCart work if you're a game developer? Do you have a private locker in the PlusStore where you can upload your work-in-progress ROM? Or is there a way for the PlusCart to connect to your local server instead of the PlusStore, so you can load WIP ROMs? For UnoCart 2600 and PlusCart, is the lack of support for DPC+, CDF, and CDFJ due to technical differences versus Harmony, or to a lack of info on how to implement those extensions? In an ideal world I'd think all the popular game extensions would be supported on all the major multi-carts (assuming the hardware is capable of it), to avoid fragmenting the audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 32 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: How does the PlusCart work if you're a game developer? Do you have a private locker in the PlusStore where you can upload your work-in-progress ROM? Or is there a way for the PlusCart to connect to your local server instead of the PlusStore, so you can load WIP ROMs? You can create a PlusStore account here: https://plusstore.firmaplus.de/index.php/apps/registration/ (You might as well create a account with your PlusCart) Every PlusStore account has a 15 MiB "My ROMs" space. To connect your PlusCart to this account see the manual: https://pluscart.firmaplus.de/pico/?Manual#connect-plusstore 32 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: For UnoCart 2600 and PlusCart, is the lack of support for DPC+, CDF, and CDFJ due to technical differences versus Harmony, or to a lack of info on how to implement those extensions? both. 32 minutes ago, bigmessowires said: In an ideal world... We are not there yet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Isn't DPC+/CDFJ proprietary stuff and that combined with different ARM processors the hurdle? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 6 hours ago, Prizrak said: Isn't DPC+/CDFJ proprietary stuff and that combined with different ARM processors the hurdle? Yes and no. I think the DPC+/CDFJ stuff is documented well enough (e.g. by Stella's source code) to be able to implement it for the PlusCart too. However the different ARM processors are the main problem. E.g. the address ranges differ. Therefore the games would have to be recompiled for the PlusCart. I think it is mix of lack of time and also a chicken and egg problem. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 On 1/24/2023 at 8:27 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said: Yes and no. I would say only yes On 1/24/2023 at 8:27 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said: I think the DPC+/CDFJ stuff is documented well enough (e.g. by Stella's source code) to be able to implement it for the PlusCart too. No, what Stella does is enough for emulation, but not enough for hardware (2600 + cartridge). The parts of DPC+/CDFJ that are important for the hardware are not documented publicly at all. On 1/24/2023 at 8:27 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said: However the different ARM processors are the main problem. E.g. the address ranges differ. Therefore the games would have to be recompiled for the PlusCart. I think it is mix of lack of time and also a chicken and egg problem. Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 12 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said: No, what Stella does is enough for emulation, but not enough for hardware (2600 + cartridge). The parts of DPC+/CDFJ that are important for the hardware are not documented publicly at all. I am no hardware guy, so I wonder what is missing here. Can you explain to me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 23 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said: No, what Stella does is enough for emulation, but not enough for hardware (2600 + cartridge). The parts of DPC+/CDFJ that are important for the hardware are not documented publicly at all. Sorry if this is a touchy subject, I'm merely curious. If the programmer's API for DPC+/CDFJ is published and documented, which I think it must be in order for game developers to use it, then isn't that alone enough information to construct a DPC+/CDFJ hardware emulator? As I understand it, that's exactly what Harmony, UnoCart, and PlusCart have all done for plain DPC emulation. Nobody knows exactly how David Crane's chip worked internally, but it doesn't really matter as long as you can build some hardware that exhibits the same external behavior. In the same way, I would think UnoCart/PlusCart could implement DPC+/CDFJ support by creating something with the same external behavior (known and documented), even if the internal implementation is quite different than Harmony's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+splendidnut Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 23 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said: The parts of DPC+/CDFJ that are important for the hardware are not documented publicly at all. You could always ASK @batari. That's seems like the logical thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 45 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: I am no hardware guy, so I wonder what is missing here. Can you explain to me? Stella is executing the custom ARM code within one 6502 CPU cycle. This is only possible because Stella is emulating the 2600. @JetSetIlly is making a very very huge effort to emulate the custom code of DPC+ and CDFJ ROMs (but not the drivers) in gopher2600. He is much closer to what is happening on the hardware, but still not perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said: Stella is executing the custom ARM code within one 6502 CPU cycle. This is only possible because Stella is emulating the 2600. Sorry, probably I don't get you. The emulation doesn't have to be 100% cycle perfect. Only developers would need that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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