56 replies to this topic

[retroclouds]

Tursi, on Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:09 PM, said:

There were a couple of game cartridges released on the side port, but the fact is that the side port may be nice from the /developer's/ standpoint, but it rather sucks from the /user's/ standpoint. Most systems already have something plugged into the side port, usually a PEB. Unplugging the PEB just to plug in a cartridge is not only inconvenient, but a little distressing as the flex cable interface tends to get flakey as it is without continuously plugging and unplugging it.

If you had something like the speech synth that provided a port (or maybe even a little synth add-on that provided a port under the door ), that might not be so bad, but you limit your market to the people who have that add-on.

From my point of view, limited though it is, the cart port is the best place for ROM-based software distribution.

I only know Miner 2049 and Espial that used this format. Were there any others besides those two?

On a sidenote: there's an Espial cartridge up on ebay -ending today-.
I'm seriously considering setting a bid on it, but it's more than 60 euros already.
At the same time there's an arcade board on ebay for 80 euros.

I think the TI-99/4A Espial cartridge will probably go higher than the original arcade board. Can you believe that

[Ksarul]

There were four side port cartridges: Miner 2049er, Espial, Killer Caterpillar (Jon has one of these, I believe), and Arcturus (Jon has this one as well). Only a couple Killer Caterpillar carts ever existed, as they were prototypes. Arcturus made it into limited production, but sales tanked when a pirated copy of it on disk made it into circulation, so not a lot of them were made. Exceltek made both of these latter cartridges. One other item could be considered a side port cartridge: the GROM Buster from Navarone. It was made to allow GROM-less cartridges to run on the V2.2 consoles and has no other function. It is uncommon, but I have a pair of them, and it comes up on eBay once in a while.

[sometimes99er]

Ksarul, on Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:49 AM, said:

One other item could be considered a side port cartridge: the GROM Buster from Navarone. It was made to allow GROM-less cartridges to run on the V2.2 consoles and has no other function. It is uncommon, but I have a pair of them, and it comes up on eBay once in a while.

Hehe, nice hack.

[acadiel]

sometimes99er, on Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:59 AM, said:

Ksarul, on Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:49 AM, said:

One other item could be considered a side port cartridge: the GROM Buster from Navarone. It was made to allow GROM-less cartridges to run on the V2.2 consoles and has no other function. It is uncommon, but I have a pair of them, and it comes up on eBay once in a while.

Hehe, nice hack.

I'd love to see the PCB of that thing....

[RXB]

I always see a focus on RAM, I understand this as most are Assembly programmers.
But I only count 15 programs ever written to take advantage of the AMS or supercart or Foundation card.

On the other hand I have written quite a few GRAM programs over the years.
Others have created GRAMPACKER, RAGGPLASSEMBLER, and tons of mods to cartridges or combining cartridges or new cartridges have been around since 1983.

Not that GRAM/GROM is better but it seems to have had a heck of lot more interest and support over the years. Just by sheer numbers of programs.

[Ksarul]

@RXB, the most likely reason or that is simply: availability. There are probably a dozen or so AMS programs--availability of the hardware was a bottleneck that didn't open until recently with the resumption of production. There are still very few of them in circulation, unfortunately.

Supercarts gave RAM in the >6000 space, so they were mostly used as a development platform for code that would be burned into ROM for other cartridges. The Foundation card just came into wider use at exactly the wrong time for lots of development on it, especially with the later flood of Horizon, CorComp, Myarc, Rave, DataBioTics, and MorningStar cards (I probably missed a few here). GRAM files had the advantage that there was a lot of hardware out there that could use the files with little or no modification, even when it came from different sources.

The advantage of a cartridge board is that it requires NO additional hardware to use. Write the program, burn it into the chips, and you're ready for distribution. This board has the added advantage of being able to use those GRAM files as GROM--again eliminating the need for additional hardware. It also lets us put those files which normally only existed as GRAM files into GROM for our personal edification. I wonder if Lasso would work here. . .

[RXB]

Well RAM/ROM is a hell of lot faster granted.
And the GRAM devices all had the option of RAM instead of ROM, well except for the PGRAM that required a software switch, all the others had a hardware switch.
The Cart >6000 MENU and other RAM cart programs were very popular for a little while. It was just hobbled by incompatibility with XB or Forth in Cartridge port.
I had MENU loaded into Bank 4 of PGRAM ROM and RXB on Bank 1. Bank 2 and 3 had GRAM PACKER programs like DM1000 and YAPP for my 80 column card.

Classic99 and other emulators are a big improvement, but god do I miss my 80 column card and my GRAMULATOR.