10 replies to this topic

[SmileyDude]

Hi everyone --

I've been toying with writing another 2600 demo again lately (wrote a copper bars demo waaay back in 2003 -- see this post for more details), but I really want to see it on real HW while in development this time. I know there is the Harmony cart, but my initial look over at the specs gives me the impression that it's great for when you have something final that you want to load onto an SD card, but it might be a bit tedious to use in the midst of the code/assemble/run cycle.

Ideally, I would like to have something that I could have connected up to the 2600 and my computer at the same time (MacOS X machine) and that I could upload a new version of my code from the command line. Does the Harmony support that option? If not, is there something else that could be used? I'm not planning to go over the 4K size, so even something that only supports 4K and smaller ROMs would work for me.

[theloon]

The only ready-made solution I can think of is a Starpath Supercharger
http://en.wikipedia....th_Supercharger

If it were a Windows machine you could run a batch file and several utilities to patch your binary and then play it back to the Supercharger. Obviously this is a point of difficulty on a Mac. Maybe the utilites could run from VMWare Fusion or the like.

[Rex Dart]

theloon, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:20 AM, said:

The only ready-made solution I can think of is a Starpath Supercharger
http://en.wikipedia....th_Supercharger

If it were a Windows machine you could run a batch file and several utilities to patch your binary and then play it back to the Supercharger. Obviously this is a point of difficulty on a Mac. Maybe the utilites could run from VMWare Fusion or the like.

If those utilities have POSIX versions, it should be doable on a Mac.

[GroovyBee]

I'm pretty sure you can get a long way with the latest version of Stella in conjunction with ad hoc testing on a real machine using a Harmony cart. However, if you are trying new tricks that don't work on Stella, report them to its developers so they can fix any issues.

[disjaukifa]

SmileyDude, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:51 AM, said:

Hi everyone --

I've been toying with writing another 2600 demo again lately (wrote a copper bars demo waaay back in 2003 -- see this post for more details), but I really want to see it on real HW while in development this time. I know there is the Harmony cart, but my initial look over at the specs gives me the impression that it's great for when you have something final that you want to load onto an SD card, but it might be a bit tedious to use in the midst of the code/assemble/run cycle.

Ideally, I would like to have something that I could have connected up to the 2600 and my computer at the same time (MacOS X machine) and that I could upload a new version of my code from the command line. Does the Harmony support that option? If not, is there something else that could be used? I'm not planning to go over the 4K size, so even something that only supports 4K and smaller ROMs would work for me.

Harmony does support that and I do that on mine all the time. You can set the cartridge to developer mode which will axe the menu system and just load one rom at a time, allowing you to send new data to via a USB cable, my recommendations are getting a LONG cable from monoprice.

[SmileyDude]

disjaukifa, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:14 AM, said:

Harmony does support that and I do that on mine all the time. You can set the cartridge to developer mode which will axe the menu system and just load one rom at a time, allowing you to send new data to via a USB cable, my recommendations are getting a LONG cable from monoprice.

This sounds like the best option. Looks like I will be ordering a Harmony card soon. Thanks everyone!

[SpiceWare]

theloon, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:20 AM, said:

Obviously this is a point of difficulty on a Mac.

Guess I've been hallucinating using a Supercharger with my Mac since 2003

[raindog]

SpiceWare, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

theloon, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:20 AM, said:

Obviously this is a point of difficulty on a Mac.

Guess I've been hallucinating using a Supercharger with my Mac since 2003

Works fine on Linux too (or did when I last tried it 7 or 8 years ago... not even sure I have a copy of makewav right now except hopefully in backups). In my experience, every reputable 2600-development-related tool is open source and cross-platform.

[disjaukifa]

raindog, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:16 PM, said:

SpiceWare, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

theloon, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:20 AM, said:

Obviously this is a point of difficulty on a Mac.

Guess I've been hallucinating using a Supercharger with my Mac since 2003

Works fine on Linux too (or did when I last tried it 7 or 8 years ago... not even sure I have a copy of makewav right now except hopefully in backups). In my experience, every reputable 2600-development-related tool is open source and cross-platform.

I wish Visual bB was that way

Edited by disjaukifa, Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:06 PM.

[JAC!]

disjaukifa, on Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:14 AM, said:

You can set the cartridge to developer mode which will axe the menu system and just load one rom at a time, allowing you to send new data to via a USB cable, my recommendations are getting a LONG cable from monoprice.

Didn't know my Harmony supports this. I also don't remember something about it in the docs. Do you have more details in this?

Edited by JAC!, Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:07 PM.

[SpiceWare]

JAC!, on Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:07 PM, said:

Didn't know my Harmony supports this. I also don't remember something about it in the docs. Do you have more details in this?

http://www.atariage....ost__p__1998736