Forrest Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Just wondering if anyone has used the SidecarT - a new device that plugs into the ST cartridge port and uses a Raspberry Pi PicoW to emulate ST cartridges, floppies and download these files over the internet https://sidecartridge.com/ Apparently 400 of these have shipped as of February, 2024 though these are currently sold out. The author is still calling this device early access. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarkdluG Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Yes, I have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 How compatible is it with most programs? How long does it take to load games? Any other comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfcatari Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I bought one as well. Tested the beta firmware out last weekend with my ste. Worked really well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyfromanotherplanet Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 I also have one. I generally just use it as a RTC (very good), but I've tried a few ROMs and they work well. It's still very much a WIP with many possibilities (networking, dongle emulation) yet to explore but my gut feeling is that these things are possible. The project is open source, so anyone can get involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarkdluG Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 On 2/2/2024 at 4:17 PM, Forrest said: How compatible is it with most programs? How long does it take to load games? Any other comments? If you use it as a disk emulator it doesn't load the game. You mount the whole *.st (or *.msa) as a floppy which take some time (pretty fast). Then the disk is accessed on A:\. So then it will load as a normal disk. All disks doesn't work though. It depends how the game/program is accessing the floppydrive. So it is used sort of like a gotek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfranklin0598 Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 I just loaded the beta v.15 firmware on my new SideCarT and it worked just fine loading from the MicroSD or wifi server included. Hopefully the next firmware version will make it easier to access other online sources such as Atarimania.com or Abandonware.com for other Atari ST files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) I have 2 on the way to me. Looking forward to giving this a try. Based on the original out of Spain?(aka the sidecart site) Is there a 3d case designed yet? James Edited March 7 by Bikerbob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marfans Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 This works really well since for me there is something wrong with my ASCI (just doesn’t work) on my 520STM. I am new to the Atari ST and really don’t have any original hardware peripherals. A 3d printable case would be cool, also a cartridge right angle connector would make it great. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 I’ve ordered 2 without the PicoW header/socket installed for $24 each plus $11 shipping. The PicoW is available locally at MicroCenter for $5.99 I checked the SidecarT documentation page and noticed “It seems that SidecarT cannot talk with computers with CPUs faster than 8Mhz. Future versions will eventually support higher CPU speed after appropiate testing period.” There is a workaround for some machines “Change the CPU speed to 8Mhz without cache for compatibility. Note: starting in beta-v0.0.14 Sidecart supports MegaSTE in 16Mhz and cache enabled.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickster Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I have got one and it works very well. I updated to latest firmware and then loaded a few carts from the internet. I didn't even bother with a sdcard yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 For those living in the US, how long did it take to receive your SideCart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfcatari Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Less than 2 weeks I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 Arrived today - only took a week to get here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 On 3/11/2024 at 7:00 PM, mickster said: I have got one and it works very well. I updated to latest firmware and then loaded a few carts from the internet. I didn't even bother with a sdcard yet. I got mine and I have tried getting it working on my stfm so far no luck. Running .15 beta, but I am not able to get anything working on my monochrome monitor, wonder if that's the issue. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 Here’s a thread listing monochrome games for the Atari ST Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Got mine yesterday but haven't had a chance to look yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfranklin0598 Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Has anyone had any issues loading games from the included floppy database and running them on a TOS 1.4 (Rainbow TOS) STFM? Most of the attempted games bombed on my 1040STFM computer! Thanks, Cal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarkdluG Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 1 hour ago, calfranklin0598 said: Has anyone had any issues loading games from the included floppy database and running them on a TOS 1.4 (Rainbow TOS) STFM? Most of the attempted games bombed on my 1040STFM computer! Thanks, Cal https://docs.sidecartridge.com/troubleshooting/#floppy-emulation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Another question from me (firmware 0.18beta) - does GEMDrive (C) autoloads content of AUTO directory for anyone? In my case it seems ignored. Contrary to floppy emulation, where AUTO is normally loaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Will flash it later and see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJolly Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Has anyone got Firmware 018 beta to work? If so what is the format of your SD card & it's size. Detailed info about a problem with this update for some or many users is in the Atari Forum thread: SidecarT: An Atari ST(E) Cartridge Emulator Supercharged by Raspberry Pi Pico - Page 11 - Atari-Forum The developer has replied - awaiting further response from him, when he's had time to get his head around the problem. " bj wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2024 4:37 pmOK. So I reflashed with firware 0.0.17 . Mass Storage mode for SD card works again now. Sidecart now recognises the SD card in the configurator and the previous options for that firmware seem to be available again now. That's a relief thanks @logronoide . Will check if various functions all ok again. The three essential folders are visible to the configurator again. However it seems there is / may be a serious fault with the firmware update 0.0.18 that I respectfully suggest needs to be fixed because it renders the Sidcartridge pretty much unuseable in my experience. Would the fact that this SD card is formatted for FAT make any difference? Not idea what the problem is, but it’s crystal clear is in the access to the SD with the FatFS library (well, the no-OS-FatFS-SD-SDIO-SPI-RPi-Pico library). Time to dig in and figure out what is going on, or roll back to the previous version of the lib if necessary. A few questions about your environment could help me: - what is the max size of the SD card? - is it formatted FAT16 or exFAT? FAT16, correct? - Did you created multiple partitions in the SDcard, or simply a default partition? Again, thank you very much for your support and feedback. And apologizes for the inconvenience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 20 minutes ago, BJolly said: Has anyone got Firmware 018 beta to work? Just flashed it and tried on my STE, seems to work fine 7 hours ago, Jacques said: does GEMDrive (C) autoloads content of AUTO directory for anyone? Mine is configured as drive K, but it does load the contents of the AUTO folder (reason it's not "C" is sometimes I boot my "real" hard drive and it's partitions take C thro I) But today I just booted the SideCartridge and it works as before. For info I'm using a SanDisk 16GB SD card (forgot to check the format, but probably exFAT as I think that's all Windoze offers) It only has the one partition (default) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJolly Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Quote Mine is configured as drive K, but it does load the contents of the AUTO folder (reason it's not "C" is sometimes I boot my "real" hard drive and it's partitions take C thro I) But today I just booted the SideCartridge and it works as before. Thanks sounds good. Does your Configurator page show both the SD card and all 3 folders ( floppies, hd, roms ) as being recognised in the info at the bottom of the page? If they all work that's great and suggests a temporary work round. My update doesn't work when using a 2GB or 1GB card formatted to FAT16. So everything dependent on access to the card doesn't work. If you haven't installed all of those folders has anyone else had success in getting this firmware update to work with all the previous features of firmware 0.0.17 plus the new bells and whistles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logronoide Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 I have released a version with a hot fix to solve the problem with old SDSC cards: BETA 0.0.18b (2024-09-25) - SDSC Card Support Re-enabled This release is a hotfix for version 0.0.18, bringing back support for SDSC cards. These cards were inadvertently disabled in the previous version due to an upgrade of the no-OS-FatFS-SD-SDIO-SPI-RPi-Pico library to version 2.6.0. In this release, the library has been reverted to version 1.2.4 to restore SDSC compatibility. The upcoming v1.0.0 release will also remain pinned to version 1.2.4 to ensure SDSC support. However, starting from v2.x.x, we will officially drop SDSC support and upgrade the library to version 2.6.0 or higher. You can download from the Downlod page of the website or the GitHub release page More details in this thread in the Discord server channel of the project: #multidevice-support Sorry for the inconvenience D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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