Best alternative to TBA Ultimate Cart - AVG Cart or Side 3/whatever???

[BIGHMW]

As many of you might know I am officially going to relaunch The Atari Report on Saturday May 1st, the very same Saturday as the Run For The Roses (a.k.a. The Kentucky Derby) and I have grown frustrated with the fact that TBA does not have any estimate on when they will be manufacturing The Ultimate Cart again, as there is a severe shortage on the chip that makes it work.

 

I had one with my first XEGS before I sold both it and the console, and have since acquired another XEGS and also plan to order the new modern 8-bit TBA power adapter to use on her so I do not have to put up with a 40+ year-old brick to run her on (my XEGS did not come with that brick but rather with some jerry-rigged adapter that I do not trust), but which multicart do you recommend to get for my XEGS since The Ultimate Cart is not available right now??? 

 

I have heard great things about both the AVG Cart and the Side series of carts, my XEGS is stock with 64K RAM, although I DO have plans on getting a U1MB upgrade to run more powerful games that can't run on my 5200 as well.

[Cheshire Noir]

I have an AVGCart and I'm a very happy customer. The newer versions are even available with a RAM expansion. Not sure compatibility with the XEGS, so worth checking with @tmp

 

Chesh

[BIGHMW]

16 minutes ago, Cheshire Noir said:

I have an AVGCart and I'm a very happy customer. The newer versions are even available with a RAM expansion. Not sure compatibility with the XEGS, so worth checking with @tmp

 

Chesh

Thanks! I'll look into the AVG Cart and ask @tmp about how to get one shipped to the States in time for the relaunch of The Atari Report!!!  

[+CharlieChaplin]

The AVG RAM upgrade works via PBI (XL-computers) or ECI (XE-computers) - since the XEGS lacks both of them, no RAM upgrade with AVG cart possible. So U1MB is the way to go for XEGS it seems.

 

Other than that, the AVG cart plays everything you want ATR, XEX, CAR/ROM, PDM, AVF, etc. But please note: It does not play any 5200 CAR/BIN/ROM images, no A8 machine (and no A8 multicart) does this ! You therefore have to download already converted XEX files of these 5200 games (e.g. from Glenn the 5200 man, Homesoft, etc.).

 

[BIGHMW]

1 hour ago, CharlieChaplin said:

The AVG RAM upgrade works via PBI (XL-computers) or ECI (XE-computers) - since the XEGS lacks both of them, no RAM upgrade with AVG cart possible. So U1MB is the way to go for XEGS it seems.

 

Other than that, the AVG cart plays everything you want ATR, XEX, CAR/ROM, PDM, AVF, etc. But please note: It does not play any 5200 CAR/BIN/ROM images, no A8 machine (and no A8 multicart) does this ! You therefore have to download already converted XEX files of these 5200 games (e.g. from Glenn the 5200 man, Homesoft, etc.).

 

I already know about that, and I already do have them, I DID own both an XEGS and an Ultimate Cart before and therefore already have all of the proper files needed to run her on, those I downloaded over 2 years ago (during the early stages of the COVID pandemic) when I got my first 65XE and then the XEGS, so yes I DO have those as well as all of those Glenn and Homesoft 5200-to-XL/XE conversions already.