PicoA10400 preview

[aotta]

i'd like to anticipate my next flashcart based on Pico for the Atari, after the others made for several different consoles.

I take most of the ideas (and big parts of code too! ) from UnoCart, Otaku-flash and other who shared they great works to the community, and i realized a doubleface menu-driven multicart for both A2600 and A7800, cheap and easy to build.

Due to the timing issue at pico starting (it's not enough fast to handle the bus before the Atari hangs), i had to add a rechargeable lir2032 battery and the cart need to be started a couple of seconds before the console.

Also, not all bank switching schemas are supported (but most of them) due to limit of Pico and the need of handling two different kind of cartridge.

Here's a video (sorry for the bad quality) with latest test.

I'm waiting for a final version of the PCB with minor fixes then i'll publish both PCB and code on my github repo for who's interested in building one!

 

 

[+Al_Nafuur]

1 hour ago, aotta said:

Due to the timing issue at pico starting (it's not enough fast to handle the bus before the Atari hangs), i had to add a rechargeable lir2032 battery and the cart need to be started a couple of seconds before the console.

You should take a look at:

https://github.com/gtortone/PlusCart-Pico

 

might have saved you a loot of time and work..

 

[aotta]

50 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said:

You should take a look at:

https://github.com/gtortone/PlusCart-Pico

 

might have saved you a loot of time and work..

 

Thank you, i'll study source and the patching way to have 2600 running after Pico booted... but anyway it won't work for the A7800 side

Edited: i gave a quick look to the code by Gennaro, the startup is like mine (and UnoCart too) and i don't think it's enough fast for the Pico to run on a classic Atari 2600 before the console hangs, if pico is not yet powered.... maybe it works only with the 2600+?

Also, @electrotrains already built a flash cart Pico based for the A2600, but it worked only for the 2600+... all we had no further details from him, but i don't think there is an easy solution.. i hope so for avoiding the coin cell, and continue looking for! 😅

Edited Wednesday at 07:46 PM by aotta
added a question

[+Al_Nafuur]

49 minutes ago, aotta said:

Thank you, i'll study source and the patching way to have 2600 running after Pico booted... but anyway it won't work for the A7800 side

Edited: i gave a quick look to the code by Gennaro, the startup is like mine (and UnoCart too) and i don't think it's enough fast for the Pico to run on a classic Atari 2600 before the console hangs, if pico is not yet powered.... maybe it works only with the 2600+?

Also, @electrotrains already built a flash cart Pico based for the A2600, but it worked only for the 2600+... all we had no further details from him, but i don't think there is an easy solution.. i hope so for avoiding the coin cell, and continue looking for! 😅

You will find more information in this topic:

 

[aotta]

Thank you @Al_Nafuur, now it make sense to me, GTortone change the bootloader to lower the Pico boot time, not the firmware! i'll check it deeper!