Behr-Bonz 2015

[mrr19121970]

Standard as normally lile this or attached to the board.

I also mentioned the game blitz. This is a prg tape game. Could it be possible to add this too for future ?

[eslapion]

Standard as normally lile this or attached to the board.

If I affix the button to the board then it's not possible to put it at the back of a standard game cartridge case. You indicated you wanted to use a case...

Just like all original Commodore published VIC-20 game cartridges, the Behr-Bonz is 4.5 x 9 cm in size and the case is 8cm deep so a small length of wire is necessary to make from the board to the back of the case where the 5cm opening is located.

All Behr-Bonz 2015 are equipped in exactly the same manner.

I also mentioned the game blitz. This is a prg tape game. Could it be possible to add this too for future ?

If this is a prg tape game then it will not autostart upon restting the VIC.

The Behr-Bonz is based upon the principle that all VIC-20 game cartridges published between 1981 and 1984 will use memory areas in a set of specific manners.

1. All game cartridges which autostart from BLK 5 do NOT use BLK2
2. No game cartridge uses more than 16k
3. Non autostart game cartridges always use BLK 2 and BLK3
4. Games of 8k or less only use BLK5
5. Games of more than 8k which autostart always use BLK5 and 1 or BLK5 and 3

The Behr-Bonz 16Mbit (2MBytes) EPROM is therefore divided into 128 cells of 16k each. Each cell is divided into 2 sections of 8k, the same size as a VIC-20 BLK area. The first half of a cell is presented to the VIC-20 at BLK2 and mirrored at BLK 5, the second half is presented at BLK1 and mirrored at BLK3.

This configuration allows compatibility with all games cartridges published between 1981 and 1984 including Scott Adams games. Once a game has been selected by the user, the menu software just pokes the number of the game in a register located at IO3 and the hardware immediately (in less than 100ns) sets the higher address lines of the EPROM and trigger a hardware reset of the VIC-20 to start the game.

Most of the time, a tape game will partly load into the VIC's built-in RAM located $1000-$1FFF and this is completely innaccessible to the Behr-Bonz.

Assuming your game is designed for an unexpanded VIC, a programmer would have to relocate its code to $A009-$BFFF and generate the proper startup vectors with the CBMA0 autostart indicator at $A000-$A008.

A LOT of work...

[mrr19121970]

It's written in BASIC as far as I know.

Code: Select all

http://nitroroms.com/show/file-info/L97351/Commodore_VIC20/VIC%20Blitz%20%2819xx%29%28Commodore%29.prg.html

[eslapion]

It's written in BASIC as far as I know.

Code: Select all

http://nitroroms.com/show/file-info/L97351/Commodore_VIC20/VIC%20Blitz%20%2819xx%29%28Commodore%29.prg.html

Well, there you have it.

The initial objective of the Behr-Bonz was to combine in a single cart the greatest possible number of game cartridges in a single one. Blitz wasn't a cartridge so its original code isn't compatible with the normal cartridge format.

[Mayhem]

I was also going to ask, which version of Blitz, there's quite a few of them for the Vic! But you mean Commodore's version.

[English Invader]

Blitz might also be more familiar to North American users as City Bomber which is the version we got on the Mega-Cart.

[Judge Drokk]

Mine arrived the other day too........ its great!

I got a random vic cart to put the Behr Bonz inside, and tonight i will put the two together.

ThanX

[eslapion]

Still have 20 units in stock!

[mrr19121970]

Is there any scope to change the menu? Wishlist.

. Commodore key returns to BASIC startup
. Any chance of memory expansion?
. Top of screen scrolling up could wrap to end
. Pressing A-Z jump to game starting with this letter

[eslapion]

Is there any scope to change the menu? Wishlist.

. Commodore key returns to BASIC startup

Would require reprogramming the code of cartridges so:
- Behr-Bonz would no longer be a historical cart which contains the exact same code as the original cartridges
- It would require extensive reprogramming on all 127 games and threfore require at least 2 hours per cart or 254 total hours of work

Presently, if you want to return to BASIC startup without disconnecting the cartridge, just press '6' then press 'K' from the menu.

This actually selects one of the Scott Adams game but if you never start the game, you're effectively disabling the Behr-Bonz and falling back to an unexpanded VIC.

. Any chance of memory expansion?

At first glance, this seems quite difficult because Behr-Bonz occupies all 4 BLK memory expansion areas. However, you can deactivate the ROM completely by pulling high pin 13 of the 26C160 EPROM. Since the 74HCT08 (LS08 on older models) performs the BLK areas re-encoding, it might be possible to exploit the single unused AND gate of this chip to properly re-encode all 4 BLK areas into a 32k SRAM chip as was done with the Ultimate Expander (now discontinued).

Then a single switch would toggle between RAM expansion and games. At that point, however, you can have one or the other, the board just can't take a mixture of both.

. Top of screen scrolling up could wrap to end
. Pressing A-Z jump to game starting with this letter

That's a request for e5frog who created the menu.

Personally, I am very satisfied with pressing numbers 1-8 then one letter for the game you want. Also, there are 26 letters in the alphabet while there is 127 games on the cart so many games start with the same letter.

[RobertBe]

My original Behr-Bonz cartridge is looking shabby, because one of its switches fell off. I will have to buy the new Behr-Bonz 2015.

Traveling south of San Francisco,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

[eslapion]

My original Behr-Bonz cartridge is looking shabby, because one of its switches fell off. I will have to buy the new Behr-Bonz 2015.

The original Behr-Bonz of 2008 has no switches at all!


I think what you have is an Ultimate Expander, right?
It can have up to 4 switches.

[mrr19121970]

Will there be a 2016 model with the 3 diagnosis cartridge images too ??

[mrr19121970]

For those of you who are curious. Here are the differences between PAL and NTSC models:

NTSC
Bandits
Battlezone
Capture the Flag
Final Orbit + Bumper Bash
Frogman
Garden Wars
IFR (Flight Simulator)
Jungle Hunt
Mole Attack
Mountain King
Spider City
Squish'em
Tooth Invaders
Trashman

PAL
Alphabet Zoo
Cave-In
Deadly Duck
Deadly Skies
Droids
Fourth Encounter
KStar Patrol
Menagerie
Mine Madness
Quackers
Satellite and Meteorites
Springer
Sub Chase

COMMON
AE
Aggressor
Alien Blitz
Amok!
Arachnoid
Artillery Duel
Astroblitz
Atlantis
Attack of the mutant Camels
Avenger
Black Hole
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
Centipede
Choplifter
Cloudburst
Clowns Joystick
Clowns Paddles
Computer War
Congo Bongo
Cosmic Cruncher
Cosmic Jailbreak
Creepy Corridors
Crossfire
Cyclon
Defender
Demon Attack
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
Dragonfire
Frogger
Galaxian
Gorf
Gridrunner
In the Chips
Jawbreaker II
Jelly Monsters
Jupiter Lander
Keyquest
Krazy Antics
Lazer Zone
Lode Runner
Lunar Leeper
Maze
Medieval Joust
Miner 2049'er
Mobile Attack
Money Wars
Monster Maze
Moon Patrol
Mosquito Infestation
Motocross Racer
Ms Pacman
Mutant Herd
Omega Race
Outworld
Pacman
Paratrooper
Pharaoh's Curse
Pinball
Pipes
Poker
Polaris
Pole Position
Predator
Princess and Frog
Protector
Q-Bert
Radar Rat Race
Raid on Fort Knox
Rally-X
Rat Hotel
Renaissance
River Rescue
Road Race
Robot Panic
Robotron 2084
Scott Adams: Adventureland
Scott Adams: Mission Impossible
Scott Adams: Pirate's Cove
Scott Adams: The Count
Scott Adams: Voodoo Castle
Sargon II Chess
Satellite Patrol
Scorpion
Sea Wolf
Seafox
Serpentine
Shamus
Sir Lancelot
Skibbereen
Skyblazer
Space Ric-o-shay
Spiders of Mars
Spike's Peak
Spills and Fills
Star Battle
Star Post
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
Submarine Commander
Super Amok
Super Slot
Super Smash
Terraguard
The Sky is Falling
Threshold
Topper
Turmoil
Tutankham
Type Attack
Typo
Video Vermin
Videomania
Visible Solar System

[groepaz]

sure you didnt mix up pal and ntsc there? (bandits, capture the flag, squishem etc are NTSC only )