Easiest way to test on 2600 hardware?

[CPFace]

So it's been a while since I've done any Atari 2600 programming. And so far, all of my testing has been on the z26 emulator. This is for two reasons -- one is that I haven't had hardware to test it on, and the other is that I'm pretty clueless as far as hardware goes.

 

Well, now I have hardware to play it on. So I'm fishing around to try and see what my options are.

 

What do you folks recommend? Can I trust the z26 emulator to catch any peculiar behavior my games may have? Should I just take the plunge and hook up with one of the cartridge-producing services out there? Or should I try and get a test cartridge together before I start getting involved in all of that? And if a test cartridge is the way to go, what's the best way to go about it? What, in your experience, is the best way to go about transfering a game binary into the system on a temporary basis? (Presumably, if there are many problems, I'd like something that would be relatively inexpensive/easy to rewrite.)

 

I guess when it comes right down to it, I'd be mostly doing these for my own amusement, but I'd like to keep a proper distribution open as an option. I dunno, what do you guys recommend?

[+SpiceWare]

How big a program? If it's 4K track down a SuperCharger and use makewav to create the audio files.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Cuttle Cart 2 on a 7800 with 115,200 baud serial download is really the best way, short of lucking your way into a 6502 in-circuit emulator. Less than 15 seconds per load gives you great turnaround time. That's how I was finally able to finish Red Box/Blue Box.

[CPFace]

Hmmmm. Well, thanks for the information. And yeah, these are 4K ROMs I'm talking about.

 

Gotta admit, those sound like some fairly grim prospects to me -- two more pieces of discontinued hardware for me to try to track down.

 

Guess we'll see to what lengths I'll pursue this hobby, eh?

[Albert]

Hmmmm. Well, thanks for the information. And yeah, these are 4K ROMs I'm talking about.

 

Gotta admit, those sound like some fairly grim prospects to me -- two more pieces of discontinued hardware for me to try to track down.

 

Guess we'll see to what lengths I'll pursue this hobby, eh?

There are other ways. Besides the aforementioned Cuttle Cart 2 and Supercharger, there's also the original Cuttle Cart as well as the Krokodile Cart. While none of these are available "new" right now, you might be able to find someone to sell you one used. And failing that, you can get a socketed 4K board (we sell these in our store) and use an EPROM burner to burn 4K EPROMs to test (a fairly fast process, but you need an EPROM programmer, a number of 2732 EPROMs, and an EPROM eraser).

 

..Al

[+Nathan Strum]

Ask people in the forum with one of the aforementioned devices to test the ROMs for you on real hardware. I've tested a bunch of games on my Krokodile Cart.

 

Plus, seems to me Stella has a pretty useful debugger in it. That should help some, barring real hardware.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Can I trust the z26 emulator to catch any peculiar behavior my games may have?

No emulator is 100% reliable, but z26 is pretty close to it. I did 99% of my development with the emulator, only for the final tests I used real hardware.

 

Just make sure, that you use the emulator right. E.g. enable the scanline count, check the logfiles...

[Uzumaki]

I'll gladly help test your game on a real console. I have NTSC TV BTW, no PAL TV.

[CPFace]

Wow, thanks everyone. Yeah, I was poking around the store, looking at the stuff you've got there. Probably just going to end up biting the bullet and getting a proper EPROM burner.

 

Thing is, when I run my game on z26, the scanlines are only 260 instead of 262, but they're constant. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not. O_o I programmed it in bBasic, and it seems like a lot of games written with the default kernal for that language run at 260 lines.

 

And Uzumaki, thank you. I've got the ROM and related instructions for my game in this topic: melbourne tatty If you wouldn't mind trying it out and making sure it's not doing anything peculiar, I'd really appreciate it.

[+SpiceWare]

There's also A26 USB MaxiCart, though I'm not familiar with it as it requires Windows. It supports up to a 16K game.

[+batari]

And failing that, you can get a socketed 4K board (we sell these in our store) and use an EPROM burner to burn 4K EPROMs to test (a fairly fast process, but you need an EPROM programmer, a number of 2732 EPROMs, and an EPROM eraser).

You can forgo the erase cycle (and the eraser) if you use pin-compatible EEPROMs (28-series.) They are electronically erasable via the programmer itself so you really only need one 2832 instead of a slew of 2732's. They are more expensive and less common, but still possible to find. Also, a ZIF socket on your board will speed things up a lot.

[CPFace]

Wow! O_o That MaxiCart sounds like just the thing for me. Thanks for mentioning it. The store seems to have been down for maintanence all day, but if they still have them in stock, I'm definately scooping one up.

[SeaGtGruff]

Thing is, when I run my game on z26, the scanlines are only 260 instead of 262, but they're constant. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not. O_o I programmed it in bBasic, and it seems like a lot of games written with the default kernal for that language run at 260 lines.

It will probably be okay on a real Atari and TV, but it would be better to fix it to 262 lines. There *is* a minor bug in bB that causes the incorrect line count, and I think I posted a correction for it, but it depends on which version of bB you're using. It's a simple fix to make, so let me know which version of bB you're using, and I'll tell you what to fix and where.

 

Michael

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Wow! O_o That MaxiCart sounds like just the thing for me. Thanks for mentioning it. The store seems to have been down for maintanence all day, but if they still have them in stock, I'm definately scooping one up.

I am not sure how much the MaxiCart costs, but if it is close to $100, then IMO you should go for the Krokodile Cart instead. Except for using the serial bus, it is better (more memory, more banskwitching schemes, multicarts...).

Edited November 21, 2006 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Cybergoth]

Wow! O_o That MaxiCart sounds like just the thing for me. Thanks for mentioning it. The store seems to have been down for maintanence all day, but if they still have them in stock, I'm definately scooping one up.

 

You can also try sending the VGWIZ staff (Avraham or OldGuru) a PM right here

[CPFace]

There *is* a minor bug in bB that causes the incorrect line count, and I think I posted a correction for it, but it depends on which version of bB you're using.

 

Heh, I must've missed that. Well, right now I'm still using version 0.35 alpha. I found the fix for the floating point calculation bug when I was in the forums, but I didn't find the scanline fix. That'd be great.

 

Yeah, the MaxiCart is listed for $85. Krokodile Cart looks useful too. Might just have to go on their waiting list. c_c

[SeaGtGruff]

There *is* a minor bug in bB that causes the incorrect line count, and I think I posted a correction for it, but it depends on which version of bB you're using.

 

Heh, I must've missed that. Well, right now I'm still using version 0.35 alpha. I found the fix for the floating point calculation bug when I was in the forums, but I didn't find the scanline fix. That'd be great.

 

Yeah, the MaxiCart is listed for $85. Krokodile Cart looks useful too. Might just have to go on their waiting list. c_c

My fault probably, since I mentioned it only in the Deimos Lander thread of the Homebrews forum, rather than in the Atari 2600 BASIC forum, and the fix is for version 0.99c, not version 0.35. For 0.35, the fix should be similar, but the value that you change it to will probably be different, and the code looks a little bit different because 0.35 doesn't have the vblank_time variable. The code is still in the same place, near the very end of std_kernel.asm:

 

 lda #43; <--- change the 43 to something else (try 45)
 sta TIM64T

Michael

Edited November 21, 2006 by SeaGtGruff

[CPFace]

Whoo hooo! Thanks, that's been bugging me.

 

I changed the value to 46 and recompiled everything I have. Everything's rock solid at 262 scanlines.

[SeaGtGruff]

Whoo hooo! Thanks, that's been bugging me.

 

I changed the value to 46 and recompiled everything I have. Everything's rock solid at 262 scanlines.

Glad to hear it! And now we know what value to use to fix version 0.35's line count.

 

Michael

[CPFace]

Thanks a lot to everyone again for your suggestions. I ended up getting a Supercharger with some games, and tonight, I got the chance to test every game I've made on my Atari 2600. And it's a fantastic feeling.

 

Now I'm wondering if I want to attempt the hardware modification and continue making 4K games, or if I want to start digging deeper and learn to program for the Supercharger as my main platform. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to distribute games in audio format, but I'd have a much smaller audience. Decisions, decisions...

[Uzumaki]

Just make standard 8k games and let AA sell them in cart form.

[shadow460]

Why not mod the Supercharger anyway, yet still develop for it alongside the stock 2600?

[mos6507]

There's also A26 USB MaxiCart, though I'm not familiar with it as it requires Windows. It supports up to a 16K game.

 

Is it possible to even buy anything from his site anymore? The storefront just says it's down.

[mos6507]

if I want to start digging deeper and learn to program for the Supercharger as my main platform. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to distribute games in audio format, but I'd have a much smaller audience. Decisions, decisions...

 

The audience could be getting bigger soon.