The DIY cartridge: JOLLY CARTRIDGE!

[doug_in_nc]

The text on the non-Commodore version is the same as on the original cartridge, as is the picture on the front. The text on the back is half of the text that is on the cassette sleeve. As I said before, I don't try to copy the original packaging exactly, but I want to make it close enough that it looks like it could have been the original design. I have enclosed a shot of some of the others I have done, so you can see the general idea.

As I mentioned before, I store my cartridges in "sleeves" rather than full sized boxes, so I would print it on 65 lbs (about 180 g/mm2) card then cut, fold and glue the edge. I don't think I could print a full sized box on my A4 sized printer, but if I was to make a full sized box, I would do the front and one side on one piece and the back and the other side on the other, and include all the ends, tabs etc to glue it together,

[orion70]

Oh, I see.. it's much in the style of Giacomo Vernoni's creations. As for my box, I'd rather be using a box similar in dimensions to a big standard Commodore one, or recycle a box from another cartridge, e.g. a generic one used for cassette utilities.. we'll see, I'll think about it when the cart arrives

[doug_in_nc]

Exactly! I use Giacomo’s sleeves for my Commodore cartridges and make my own similar ones. In the future I may change to making full-size boxes for all of them though. For now this takes up a lot less space to do it this way. If you have quite a lot you keep in boxes, then it makes sense to put others into your own design of boxes too.

[orion70]

Meanwhile, my setup is eagerly WAITing for it..

[doug_in_nc]

What is that? OK, I recognize the VIC 20 and the 1020 expansion housing, but the monitor? It makes the whole setup look like a Super Pet.

[orion70]

Yep that's what's intended to look like . It's simply a VIC within a (not working) 1020 shell, with a standard Philips 80 green phosphor monitor atop. The monitor is encapsulated in the front part of a CBM computer, which I bought a couple of months ago, and happens to fit perfectly once you put some rubber pads inside the frame.

Files are loaded via a Final Expansion cartridge.

Overall, it's all theater, but it responds to my need for retro aesthetics

[MCes]

Another interesting use of the JOLLY CARTRIDGE:
+32k expansion RAM: +24k RAM for BASIC +8k RAM into BLK5
+hidden into I/O areas: SJLOAD (7) for using your jiffydos modded disk drive (SYS40000)
+hidden into "no basic" RAM1,2,3 areas: EASYLOAD+ (7) for speed up your not jiffydos disk drive (SYS4000)

[orion70]

So guys, I managed to convince my wife that it's crucial for my mental health to have THREE new cartridges before Christmas .

The first will be Sorcery, the second my Unexpanded Games Compilation we talked about before in this thread; and for the third one, couldn't resist to one of the best combat flight simulators around (it was between this and ACE tbh). Well, it's up to you Max now

[doug_in_nc]

That looks good. I was going to focus on completing my Commodore cartridge collection with ones I have little or no chance of picking up on E-Bay - Jelly Monsters (VIC-1905), the Japanese version of Super Expander (VIC-1211M), Rally-X (VIC-1903) and Waterloo Basic (VIC-1001) before branching out into non-Cartridge games (except Bonzo, of course )

[MCes]

That looks good. I was going to focus on completing my Commodore cartridge collection with ones I have little or no chance of picking up on E-Bay - Jelly Monsters (VIC-1905), the Japanese version of Super Expander (VIC-1211M), Rally-X (VIC-1903) and Waterloo Basic (VIC-1001) before branching out into non-Cartridge games (except Bonzo, of course )

If you want the "perfect clones" they can be done,
but you can also make....

Cart N°1:
+27k RAM (BLK1,2,3+RAM1,2,3)
+(selectable by J2 switch L/H):
H) U1BLK5: Japanese version of Super Expander (VIC-1211M)
L) U1BLK5: Waterloo Basic (VIC-1001)

Cart N°2 with a switch to select:
A) U2BLK5: Jelly Monsters
B) U1BLK5(L/H): Rally-X (VIC-1903) (both "PAL/NTSC fixed version" selectable via jumper or another switch)

refer to:
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/ ... index.html

[MCes]

So guys, I managed to convince my wife that it's crucial for my mental health to have THREE new cartridges before Christmas .
The first will be Sorcery, the second my Unexpanded Games Compilation we talked about before in this thread; and for the third one, couldn't resist to one of the best combat flight simulators around (it was between this and ACE tbh). Well, it's up to you Max now

Orion70, you made the mistake to send me both "ACE.PRG" and "JUMP JET.PRG", I've noticed that both are less than 9.75k large, so the two bank of available ROM can be used to put both simulator into the same JOLLY CARTRIDGE!

SIDE NOTE: Ace has an instability (it's evident when you try to re-load the game) that appear to be resolved filling also the RAM 1,2,3 area with RAM.... probably it was developed for VIC20 using an emulator, I suppose....
JOLLY CARTRIDGE with ACE is setted for having also 3k ram on RAM1,2,3

[orion70]

Excellent... I did send both games in fact, just because i wanted you to appreciate how good ACE was too... now that's a good example of serendipity

I'll have to modify the package and label for my new Combat Flight Sim cartridge, now including BOTH games!

Thanks so much for that Max - also for having solved the instability issues in ACE. Will the games be selected through a switch and if so, will it be compatible with the cart being included in its shell?

[doug_in_nc]

That looks good. I was going to focus on completing my Commodore cartridge collection with ones I have little or no chance of picking up on E-Bay - Jelly Monsters (VIC-1905), the Japanese version of Super Expander (VIC-1211M), Rally-X (VIC-1903) and Waterloo Basic (VIC-1001) before branching out into non-Cartridge games (except Bonzo, of course )

If you want the "perfect clones" they can be done,
but you can also make....

Cart N°1:
+27k RAM (BLK1,2,3+RAM1,2,3)
+(selectable by J2 switch L/H):
H) U1BLK5: Japanese version of Super Expander (VIC-1211M)
L) U1BLK5: Waterloo Basic (VIC-1001)

Cart N°2 with a switch to select:
A) U2BLK5: Jelly Monsters
B) U1BLK5(L/H): Rally-X (VIC-1903) (both "PAL/NTSC fixed version" selectable via jumper or another switch)

refer to:
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/ ... index.html

The games I would do as separate cartridges, though I really like the idea of putting multiple versions of Rally-X on the same cartridge. I hadn't thought of that! I had planned to put Waterloo BASIC and Super Expander on separate cartridges, but with both having the max amount of RAM possible - BLK1-3, BLK 5, RAM 1,2&3 and I/O 2 &3. From what I understood of the configuration, that should be possible, right?

[Mike]

... Waterloo BASIC ...

Doug, also @MCes - I'd recommend you use the version of Waterloo BASIC that I had fixed for the inclusion in Mega-Cart, see here. Not only does this correct a small bug when printing error messages, it also includes the DOS wedge (with @ in direct mode) and a OLD routine callable with SYS 44444.

[doug_in_nc]

... Waterloo BASIC ...

Doug, also @MCes - I'd recommend you use the version of Waterloo BASIC that I had fixed for the inclusion in Mega-Cart, see here. Not only does this correct a small bug when printing error messages, it also includes the DOS wedge (with @ in direct mode) and a OLD routine callable with SYS 44444.

Ah, I wasn't aware of that version! Yes, I will definitely use it. Thanks, very much for the tip