How does the BIN get from Point A to Point B?

[Radio F Software]

I hope this question is not entirely stupid and simple to answer, but Ive been notorious for being horrible in electronics. How would I put the BIN image of my Pineapple2000 onto those EPROM chips for sale in the store? I know that I need the 4K board and that little tiny resistor too, but for now I would like to know how I get the BIN onto that little chip. If someone could tell me how this is done then in coming months I'll have something cool. (God that sounded like some Final Fantasy miniquest)

[Nukey Shay]

An Eprom Burner.

[Radio F Software]

And where do I get one of those?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Google? eBay?

[Susuwatari]

Or ask a friend. If you send the EPROM, the BIN, and a decent pizza for my work I'll send back the burned EPROM. The turnaround time would depend on how long it takes for me to find the cable to hook up my programmer now that I found my programmer I lost in my recent move.

[Radio F Software]

Or ask a friend.   If you send the EPROM, the BIN, and a decent pizza for my work I'll send back the burned EPROM.  The turnaround time would depend on how long it takes for me to find the cable to hook up my programmer now that I found my programmer I lost in my recent move.

 

Thank you for the offer Susuwatari! I need to order the parts for the cart from the AA Store and then I'll send the EPROM to you along with the BIN and then you do the burning. Thanks again! I'm glad everyone is pitching in to help me out, like MegomanJess who said he'd help with the labels.

 

1 more thing, is there a How To somewhere to build a cart? I know where the parts go but I dont HOW they go on there, like the Resistor and the EPROM.

[Radio F Software]

Gah no edit. I found this in the store:

http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=214

 

But is the EPROM removeable? This is right up my alley as it comes pre made. But like I said, does anyone know if the EPROM can be taken out or is it soldered in for good?

[Alex H]

Gah no edit. I found this in the store:

http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=214

 

But is the EPROM removeable? This is right up my alley as it comes pre made. But like I said, does anyone know if the EPROM can be taken out or is it soldered in for good?

 

There is no EPROM included with the board. The chip you see in the image is a hex-inverter, required when using a standard EPROMs - the EPROM itself goes on the other side of the board and would need to be soldered after it has been programmed.

 

Boards with EPROM sockets are also available so no soldering is required: http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=217

However, the combined height of the socket and EPROM mean that it will no longer fit instide a cart shell, so these are best used for development/testing.

 

I use an Elnec (www.elnec.com) PreProm-02aLV to program EPROMS and the EreProm-01A to erase them. I'm very happy with both products (especially the programmer - excellent Windows software and wide range of supported devices) but they seem to be very expensive outside Europe. (Not that these things are cheap in the first place.)

 

Alex

[Paul Slocum]

I think Albert (Atariage) will burn an EPROM for you. Just ask!

[Radio F Software]

Ah but the chips with EPROMS dont fit into a cartridge? How much oversized does the EPROM make the 4K Board? If it isn't *that* much of a big deal I could do some modification to the cartridge cases.

 

Also now I dont know what a hex inverter is. Do all Atari carts have a Hex Inv and an EPROM? Also, one more little question about the link to the preassembled board Alex H posted a link to. Does the EPROM snap into that little holder or does it need to be soldered on? If it snaps in and is removeable then this will fit one of my other ideas pretty well.

[Radio F Software]

Ok, no edit is really getting on my nerves . I THINK I got this figured out after reading into all of the products needed, tell me if I am right on this:

 

1>You dont need the socket that comes on the preassembled $7.00 board, as the EPROM will go on those same holes without it.

 

2>The socket on the $7.00 board allows you to switchout between different EPROMs for testing easier without wasting a whole PCB like it says in the description.

 

3>So what I do is to make one fit in a cart is get the $5.00 board, and solder the EPROM in, and without the socket it will make it fit in.

 

Am I mostly right? If so then I'm getting the hang of his better!

[Bruce Tomlin]

Gah no edit. I found this in the store:

http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=214

 

But is the EPROM removeable? This is right up my alley as it comes pre made. But like I said, does anyone know if the EPROM can be taken out or is it soldered in for good?

I've seen one kind of board with low-profile sockets where you can remove/replace the EPROM and still have it fit in a cartridge. But a standard IC socket with a regular EPROM in it is going to stick out just a little too far (maybe 1mm or so) to be able to put the cartridge back together.

 

Usually when a homebrew is being sold as such, the chip is soldered in.

 

If you're thinking of using a socket board as a development tool, I might recommend you think again. It's VERY difficult to debug code with just a socket board and a pile of EPROMs, if only because the code-burn-test-erase cycle is so long. That's why the CC2 was such a good deal for me at 200 bucks... the cycle is at most 15 seconds or so from code to console.

 

Now if only I had an ICE (in-circuit emulator) for 6502. Or just some kind of single-step front panel thingy. I've been thinking about what it would take to rig up something like that.

[PackratVG]

Both AA and Packrat Video Games will make custom carts for you. I think that you just have to send Al a PM for more details. Here's our page on it:

 

http://www.packratvg.com/hacks.htm

 

Several others on this board have helped make carts as well, you just have to poke around.

 

Best,

Jarett

[Radio F Software]

Hey thanks again for all the information. Im makin a notepad document for furute reference, but does anyone know if Sears Telegames still cares about their version of Space Invaders? This is what I made Pineapple 2000 from. If it is listed as Public Domain then this is good. Also, is Atari the ONLY company requesting for their hacks to be unsold? Does that mean like, lets say, Apollo or Xonox or any other compaines downed by the crash dont care?

[Susuwatari]

I don't think Sears care anymore about Atari games. But it is Taito you need to watch for as they own the right to Space Invaders.

 

As for making the EPROM cart fit, if you do it with a low profile socket or no socket, you can make the whole board fit in an empty 2600 cart. But soldered in EPROM would be a PITA to remove to change the game code while with socket, you can simply swap them.

 

If it was up to me and I use standard socket, I'd use Dremmel to carve out a window in the cart case so I could swap the EPROM chip without having to open the cart case. I have a shitload of 32 pin socket that can be easily modified to be 28 pin socket for 2K and 4K games. (eBay auction said "about a hundred" socket, bought it for $5 plus shipping, got over 500! )

[Radio F Software]

Yeah I mentioned that idea about cutting into the shell to my dad. He said its better if I should not destroy unless I have to . I found that PackratVG makes whole carts with labels a little extra for $9.95 a whack. That's an excellent deal.

[Nukey Shay]

The Space Invaders program was licensed to Atari from Taito...the game program is still exactly the same between Atari/Sears. Therefore, it would still be Infogrames call if they have no problem with the program being reused in something else

 

In addition, many old titles made by 3rd parties were later aquired by Atari (which Infogrames now holds the license to)...so even if a title doesn't have Atari mentioned anywhere on the cart itself, they might still own it.