KoenigUnhold Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 How does that design stack up against the competition ? :-) If anyone is interested in building such a MultiCart please let me know! I'm also interested in your feature requests, although I cannot guarantee that I'm able or willing to realize them. Cheers, KoenigUnhold AWESOME DUDE!! I was always interested in such a device for the 2600 (cuttle cart woulda been cool, but they've always been out of my price range) I would definately be interested in building a cart, so I'd like to look at iny info you have on this. IF you have plans to make some pre built ones, I'd definately be interested in that too. I have an issue with frying chips and other problems due to not being knowledgable in electronics, pluss not haveing the proper tools. Thanks1!! I kept the design very simple, so there aren't that many spots you could have screwed up while building it :-) Can you solder 0603 SMD packages as well as PLCC44 packages? Then you are good to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenigUnhold Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 Maybe the attached pics could help. For my vote, I would love to try building myself. Thank you very much! I was definitely looking for that information! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenigUnhold Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 (edited) ... I hope so, it depends on what you need. If you just need some measurements, I can do that. Unfortunately I don't have any CAD or mechanical drawings, though... What are you looking for? No, I'm not expecting you to do the measurements for me. I just thought you might have already made a Atari 2600 PCB yourself and thus already know the exact dimensions of the board outline such that it fits into a shell. I'd also like to know the position and diameter of the drill hole for the shell screw, but I guess I'll have to figure that out myself, since noone seems to be willing to share this kind of information :-( So...somebody could just gut a $0.00 - $0.50 Combat cart and send you the empty shell so you can measure for your specs? Thank for your help! I hoped someone was in posess of a "official" mechanical specification for the cartridge shell and the pcb, but it looks like those documents haven't survived or even did never exist. Since I don't want to cannibalize old cartridges, I'm planning to buy new cartridge shells for my MultiCart. I wonder if the ones from vgwiz and PixelPast are compatible to each other. I somehow doubt that - even old cartridge shells were slightly different to each other, so I'll have to design my pcb to fit one of these in advance. On a different thread, a user called bah posted his measurements of a Atari 2600 and 7800 pcb - I'm going to use that as a reference. Edited February 24, 2007 by KoenigUnhold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I could possibly fit in 64k support with 3F bankswitching - would that be okay? If not, we'll have to defer that until the next design revision (which will probably look much different). Sounds good to me. What kinda time frame are we looking at before the prototyping is done,ect and your ready to take orders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 How much would a fully assembled cart cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 (edited) I used to feel guilty for cannibalizing these "rare and valuable treasures" (haven't you looked on ebay?). Came here, got over it. Plan to try to make a deal on a recently spotted pile o' Combat carts so I can do my own repros of the rarest of the rare for myself. Will it minimize your guilt if someone else commits cartricide for you? I can go pick up one cart at any time for 50 cents just a short hop from my house. [EDIT]: Though if you're located in deepest, darkest Africa, transportation might be a bit pricey... C'mon, you know you want one. You don't get to lament people's unwillingess to share information if you can have said information right at your fingertips. Add me to the list of people who'd be interested in technical specs required to build my own version of your multicart toy. Have thought about it myself, but haven't mustered the interest or energy to that level. Don't speak FPGA yet, but could always use an excuse to learn. Thanks for sharing. (If you offer a kit or completed unit at a low enough price, I'll be asking to be moved to one of those lists instead. ) ... I hope so, it depends on what you need. If you just need some measurements, I can do that. Unfortunately I don't have any CAD or mechanical drawings, though... What are you looking for? No, I'm not expecting you to do the measurements for me. I just thought you might have already made a Atari 2600 PCB yourself and thus already know the exact dimensions of the board outline such that it fits into a shell. I'd also like to know the position and diameter of the drill hole for the shell screw, but I guess I'll have to figure that out myself, since noone seems to be willing to share this kind of information :-( So...somebody could just gut a $0.00 - $0.50 Combat cart and send you the empty shell so you can measure for your specs? Thank for your help! I hoped someone was in posess of a "official" mechanical specification for the cartridge shell and the pcb, but it looks like those documents haven't survived or even did never exist. Since I don't want to cannibalize old cartridges, I'm planning to buy new cartridge shells for my MultiCart. I wonder if the ones from vgwiz and PixelPast are compatible to each other. I somehow doubt that - even old cartridge shells were slightly different to each other, so I'll have to design my pcb to fit one of these in advance. On a different thread, a user called bah posted his measurements of a Atari 2600 and 7800 pcb - I'm going to use that as a reference. Edited February 24, 2007 by BigO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenigUnhold Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 Thanks for your kind offer, but I just opened one of my cartridges to verify the measurements I received. If I do a small production run, I'll buy new cartridges from vgawiz though - unless they're charging a ridiculously high prize for them. I can't promise if there will be some kind of kit - I never intended to do that. I just planned to release the schematics and PCB layout, so everyone can make his/her own cart. Since I'm getting so much positive feedback, I think I'll go further than that ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atwwong Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I can't promise if there will be some kind of kit - I never intended to do that. I just planned to release the schematics and PCB layout, so everyone can make his/her own cart. Since I'm getting so much positive feedback, I think I'll go further than that ...I'd be very interested in purchasing a kit or whatever you are planning; I can solder but I'd rather buy a finished multicart (Just because I'm feeling lazy right now...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenigUnhold Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 Just a quick question - are these your own measurements or did you copy them from a original source? I'm asking, because I get slightly different measurements from my cartridge ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenigUnhold Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 How much would a fully assembled cart cost? I haven't thought about that yet. It really depends how you plan to acquire yours! If you're building it yourself, the parts cost about 10 maybe 12 Euros without shipping (that does not include the price for making the pcb itself, nor does it include the cartridge shell). Assembling a PCB that has been manufactured by a board house can be done very quickly, since you don't have to do the drilling and the vias are also already there. I guess it'll take me 30 minutes to build such a cartridge. So assembly costs wouldn't be that high. But that's only rough estimates ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaGtGruff Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 What bankswitching schemes would you like to see support for? Are the already supported bankswitching schemes not powerful enough? I'm considering adding some kind of interface to the MultiCart, that will allow uploading ROMs through a commonly available interface (serial port, parallel port, USB, ...) I'd like to see all of the classic bankswitching methods, otherwise you won't be able to upload and play ROMs of all the games (e.g., games that use E7 or MNetwork bankswitching). And for doing new development, I'd love to see the new 4A50 bankswitching method, created by supercat-- so he can give you the details. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Thanks for your kind offer, but I just opened one of my cartridges to verify the measurements I received. If I do a small production run, I'll buy new cartridges from vgawiz though - unless they're charging a ridiculously high prize for them. I can't promise if there will be some kind of kit - I never intended to do that. I just planned to release the schematics and PCB layout, so everyone can make his/her own cart. Since I'm getting so much positive feedback, I think I'll go further than that ... Sounds great. I'll be following the progress. Go forth and multicart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bah Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 KoenigUnhold, The measurements were taken from a 1981 Pac Man cart that had the sliding dust cover. The PC board fits somewhat loose in the cart and the 7800 board fits tightly. The key is the two notches that measure up about 1.350 from the connector end. These are what align the board. Please note that the 7800 board is not a drop in but you must break off two small tabs that hold the 2600 board. FYI I had to salvage one of my 7800 carts that had a destroyed case, so I decided the chance the board might fit was worth more than one of my several Pac Mans! Also note that a hair dryer heated up the Pac Man label and it came off amazingly cleanly and easily. BAH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I'm interested either way it goes, pre produced or build it yourself. Although, I'd love for the programming to be easier-- either USB like the Colecovision mulitcart from Atarimax, or even flash memory supported like some of the newer multi carts-- the Nintendo DS one comes to mind with the SD cards. I know most MMC type cards are gonna be overkill size wise, but still may be the most practical approach for the ham and egger to use. After all, if you can make it Sd card compatible where you can load the card drag and drop style, you've gotta sure winner IMO. I'd like to release my first revision of the MultiCart in a couple of days, so I won't be able to incorporate your requests. They are noted for the revisions to come after that! Brilliant! I'd rather see a limited-functionality release soon than an expaned-functionality release who knows when. Thanks, 5-11under Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I'll buy new cartridges from vgawiz though - unless they're charging a ridiculously high prize VGWIZ is way overpriced and takes forever to fill orders. I can say that from first hand experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Hello everybody, I just wanted to announce the completion of a new MultiCart-prototype for the Atari 2600. Before anyone begins to wonder or even complain, why someone has built just another MultiCart, let me explain my motives first. In my oppinion, playing Atari 2600 games inside an emulator does not compare to running them on the real thing. Although emulators for the Atari 2600 have become quite sophisticated, you can still tell the difference. When I first heard about a MultiCart a few years ago, I found that idea great - I almost immediately wanted to have one. At that time, I only knew about the Cuttle Cart which was no longer in production or available for sale. I contacted the creator of the Cuttle Cart and asked permission to build one myself, because he's obviously no longer interested in making money from them, but I got no reply. The same thing happened to me with a few other creators of MutliCarts as well, so I was really fed up. Since I had a lot of spare time recently, I decided to start building my own MultiCart and now, the first prototype is finished. My idea is to "open-source" this MultiCart, so that anyone interested in it, will be able to build his/her own. I will give away the schematics, the PCB layout, the VHDL sources as well as the assembler sources for the menu for free. The first prototype I've finished has quite some nice features. It does emulate F8/F6/F4/FA/3F bankswitching correctly and also supports 2K (without doubling) and 4K games. The games can be stored on a 4MBit flash rom. Unlike many other MultiCarts there's no need to store only games with the same bankswitching scheme on one cart! The design itself is very simplistic - I managed to pack all these features just inside a XC9572, which can be obtained quite cheaply. Besides that only a 4Mbit flash rom IC, a 32K SRAM IC, a 25MHz quartz oscillator and a couple of capacitors are needed. How does that design stack up against the competition ? :-) If anyone is interested in building such a MultiCart please let me know! I'm also interested in your feature requests, although I cannot guarantee that I'm able or willing to realize them. Cheers, KoenigUnhold Given the situation with Chimera, I'll request Supercharger. But this is probably easier said than done, I'm sure. How do you load games into the flash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepax Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Given the situation with Chimera, I'll request Supercharger. But this is probably easier said than done, I'm sure. How do you load games into the flash? I use the SMC 1211TX-WL50 NIC which has a 32pin DIP socket along with the ctflasher Linux flashing software. The NIC and Flash ROMs are from old PCs, btw. I'm also looking forward to having this fine MultiCart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Sounds interesting if I can use it on a 7800 (for 2600 ROMs) Anyone know if it will be compatible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Given the situation with Chimera, I'll request Supercharger. But this is probably easier said than done, I'm sure. How do you load games into the flash? I use the SMC 1211TX-WL50 NIC which has a 32pin DIP socket along with the ctflasher Linux flashing software. The NIC and Flash ROMs are from old PCs, btw. I'm also looking forward to having this fine MultiCart. Any chance of making this programmable on the cart itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Given the situation with Chimera, I'll request Supercharger. But this is probably easier said than done, I'm sure. How do you load games into the flash? I use the SMC 1211TX-WL50 NIC which has a 32pin DIP socket along with the ctflasher Linux flashing software. The NIC and Flash ROMs are from old PCs, btw. I'm also looking forward to having this fine MultiCart. Any chance of making this programmable on the cart itself? Possible but not probable IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenigUnhold Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Hello everybody, as promised, I released my Atari 2600 MultiCart design to the public today. You can grab an archive with all the necessary files to build one yourself from this address : http://www.altmuehlnet.de/maze/projects/a2...ti_revb_100.zip Please note that this is revision B of my prototype. I haven't built this design revision myself, so I can't promise you, that it will work. With respect to revision A - which I built - I only corrected a few minor layout errors, so I assume it'll work just fine. If you find a severe error anyway, please let me know immediately! There's a readme.txt inside the archive that explains a few things for those of you who intend to build this device. If your have any questions, please ask them in this thread or write me an e-mail. Since I'll be busy the next few days with a different project, I may not be able to answer your questions very quickly. Please be patient with me. I'd certainly like to hear from those of you who have decided to build this device and how it went! This is probably the last revision of my MultiCart design that can be fully built and assembled at home. I intend to integrate some of the features that people were asking for in this thread in the next design revision. That necessitates to switch to a more "advanced design", that most DIYer will no longer be able to build. I hope you will understand that. I intend to produce a couple of these MultiCarts and sell them instead. Have fun with this project! Regards, KoenigUnhold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Hello everybody, as promised, I released my Atari 2600 MultiCart design to the public today. You can grab an archive with all the necessary files to build one yourself from this address : Thanks, especially for using VHDL instead of some obscure HDL that I don't understand or have the proper tools for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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