Fred_M Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) 12 hours ago, ndary said: How can I get the A8Pico Cart to work on the old Atari 800 computer? Afaik it does not work correctly on a standard 800. Though some people reported it does work after pressing reset... This was discussed in this topic earlier, that part of the discussion starts around here: Edited March 6 by Fred_M 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 4 hours ago, Fred_M said: Afaik it does not work correctly on a standard 800. Though some people reported it does work after pressing reset... This was discussed in this topic earlier, that part of the discussion starts around here: I can make it work (sometimes) by booting the 800 computer pressing Start, so it beeps and gets ready for cassette loading, then press reset and that should get you to the A8Pico menu. The problem is that the system stops working (sometimes again) when navigating the file system of the sd card. If I get to the point where I select the desired ROM or CAR to emulate, the selected cart starts and everything is fine. Otherwise, I boot the 800 and try again. The same happened to me the couple of times I tried the A8Pico cart in a stock Atari 400 with OS-B: it got stuck, sometimes, while browsing the sd cart content. I don't know the reason of this problem, but I suspect it has something to do with the memory area used for the RP A8Pico cart <---> Atari native menu program communication since once you start the emulation of a selected ROM everything works as expected and the system is rock solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 800/400 boots faster than the pico, and there is a timing issue with the cart port. It's a workaround to use the cassette start to give it time to get ready and the timing issue should be firmware fixable or a mod to the 80/400 cart port might be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electrotrains Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 It sounds like it would be doable to get this working on the 400/800. First, there is an issue probably with boot speed which is faster on these machines, and it sounds like the picocart firmware doesn’t get enough time to load from the onboard flash before the Atari starts making requests from the cart port. Some kind of two stage firmware boot might fix this, but hard to be sure. Second there is some issue with the cart/atari comms which is probably easier to fix. The firmware uses reads/writes to $d500 (cctl) to manage this. But… Without a 400/800 to experiment with, I’m unlikely to be able to resolve either. If someone in the UK was willing to lend me one, then I could have a go - though unfortunately my day job looks like its going to be a lot more demanding for the forseeable future, so I’m unwilling to commit to this right now. Maybe someone else can have a go… happy to provide suggestions and assistance if so, feel free to PM. Robin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 The 400/800 boot speed issue also affects FujiNet. Would there be value in a slightly modified 400/800 OS with a delay loop in the coldstart routine, to support the A8Pico and the Fujinet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Don't slow down the Atari, use a method that cart insertion a signal and reset of some kind. I thought FujiNet now boots faster and can be externally powered so it's not an issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Can't remember which FW version I am on , but it works on my 400 now if I hit reset after the boot up. NTSC 400, tf_hh 48/52k RAM upgrade and SCCC fitted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Knight Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 On 1/27/2024 at 4:48 PM, Fred_M said: The autorun is a standalone firmware and is not built in the normal firmware. You can find the autorun firmware here: Hi, is it potentially possible to do this with XEX files? Looks like currently it's only CAR or Roms that can be Autorun.(format) Would love to see a single XEX run off the single booter program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piotr D. Kaczorowski Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 @electrotrains, "I think the on-board SPI flash is too slow to provide random access for the Atari." So... What would be the proper performance in nanoseconds to access memory on the cartridge from Atari's internal perspective? 70 / 100 / 200 ns ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electrotrains Posted March 10 Author Share Posted March 10 10 hours ago, Piotr D. Kaczorowski said: @electrotrains, "I think the on-board SPI flash is too slow to provide random access for the Atari." So... What would be the proper performance in nanoseconds to access memory on the cartridge from Atari's internal perspective? 70 / 100 / 200 ns ? I think we talked about this earlier in the thread? You've got something 200ns to get data on the bus after the address lines are stable. This is an interesting thread discussing the issue (using a gameboy): https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=321846 (Looks like he got it working - though is running a faster overclock that I am) Another issue is that some of the purple pico clones come with slower (z-bit) flash rather than the "standard" winbond chip. I had to change the flash divisor on the project to make it work with this flash. So any solution might not work on some of the purple picos. But the above linked thread looks like a good place to start if you want to try to get this working. Robin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piotr D. Kaczorowski Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 @electrotrains, I've checked my RP2040... It has Winbond Flash @133Mhz. I've checked also that ZB25VQ128 works @104Mhz not @133Mhz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piotr D. Kaczorowski Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Finally, I have it 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascrnet Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Cartridge proof of concept "Universal RAM COPY" This cartridge needs the 5 vols to be turned off, but since this is not possible without adding more electronics to the design. I came up with the idea to modify it to be activated by turning off RD5 like the turbo 2000. 😁 Now I need your help for testing @w1k Instructions for use: Have the firmware updated with the latest version delivered in this thread by me. disable basic (hold down the OPTION key until the cartridge is loaded) test the copy operation. Universal Ram Copy.car 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1k Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 succe 6 hours ago, ascrnet said: Cartridge proof of concept "Universal RAM COPY" This cartridge needs the 5 vols to be turned off, but since this is not possible without adding more electronics to the design. I came up with the idea to modify it to be activated by turning off RD5 like the turbo 2000. 😁 Now I need your help for testing @w1k Instructions for use: Have the firmware updated with the latest version delivered in this thread by me. disable basic (hold down the OPTION key until the cartridge is loaded) test the copy operation. Universal Ram Copy.car 8.02 kB · 1 download succesfull tested, it works.. but i preffer working original ROM files, not modified:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascrnet Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 1 hour ago, w1k said: succe succesfull tested, it works.. but i preffer working original ROM files, not modified:) Thanks, but that ROM is already altered from before so I wouldn't call it original. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1k Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 9 hours ago, ascrnet said: Thanks, but that ROM is already altered from before so I wouldn't call it original. 😉 but its working:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scitari Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 (edited) Finally gave this bad boy a spin. Very nice! Easy to use. Nice menu. Boy do I wish it could play ATR files! Purchase an A8PicoCart for Loading Cartridge ROMs on Your Atari XL and XE 8-Bit Computers (10-15 mins) – Atari Projects Edited March 16 by scitari 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1k Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 hello again, i have latest firmware, but this ROM file doesnt work (similiar czechoslovakia cartridge with button to reset) DMOS.rom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 4 minutes ago, w1k said: i have latest firmware, but this ROM file doesnt work (similiar czechoslovakia cartridge with button to reset) Very interesting, but does this rom work in at least one emulator? I tried different combinations and versions and none of them worked run in Altirra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 I was only able to run it in Atari800win with settings as the right cartridge. And something tells me that this is a very specific thing in itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascrnet Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 6 hours ago, w1k said: hello again, i have latest firmware, but this ROM file doesnt work (similiar czechoslovakia cartridge with button to reset) DMOS.rom 8 kB · 4 downloads Strange that it doesn't work for you, since it has the same technique as the Turbo 2000 which is to turn off RD5. 😉 Dmos.car 6 hours ago, LessNick said: I tried different combinations and versions and none of them worked run in Altirra. Altirra does not have support for cartridges that must shut down RD5. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1k Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 works, but what about original dumped rom?:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascrnet Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 4 hours ago, w1k said: works, but what about original dumped rom?:) As I see you still don't understand, I'll explain it quickly. The ROM format works with the type of cartridges designed by ATARI these are 8k, 16k and the standard XEGS. Now many other manufacturers made their own 8k, 16k, 32k, etc. versions. Then the CAR format was invented to be able to correctly identify each cartridge, since some of them have some particularities of their own like memory usage, buttons, etc... This rule applies to all emulation from atari800, altirra and cartridges such as AVGCart, Ultimate, etc...😉 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndary Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Here is a video showing how the cart behave on the Atari 800 computer and how the Ultimate IMG_4363.mov IMG_4360.mov cart behaves 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndary Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 How can i upgrade the firmware of the A8PICOCART? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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