VIC-20 Multicart

[PaulQ]

Yeah, that was me. I need it like a hole in the head as I've got a nice VIC-1541 but I couldn't resist. Once the MegaCart and Flashcarts are released, I'll probably never use a floppy drive on the VIC again.

Oh, come on. We both know you'll try to sell it to me for $100.

[gklinger]

Oh, come on. We both know you'll try to sell it to me for $100.

Bah. The only way I'm getting $100 out of you is if I try to sell you $200. Worse yet, you'll walk away if I stand firm at $150!

Thanks go to Schema who schooled me on the 1540 today. I'm finally up to speed (pun intended) on VIC disk drives.

[Ian Colquhoun]

Oh, come on. We both know you'll try to sell it to me for $100.

Bah. The only way I'm getting $100 out of you is if I try to sell you $200. Worse yet, you'll walk away if I stand firm at $150!

Hahaha! Now that's funny. Thanks for the daily chuckles Golan. We're all thrifty in this hobby I think!

[eslapion]

Recently I've been thinking of a "bare bones" multicart that uses only 4 chips.

I realised 27C160 EPROMs have as much capacity as two 8Mbit EPROMs as used by 6502dude on the megacart, does have an 8bit access mode and sell for only 2.50$ each.

If I make a multicart with no ram expansion, only one latch system for 127 times 16k cells in a single 27c160 then I could probably make a multicart for less than 50$.

The flashcart is technologically thrilling but it is a pain in the butt to assemble, it competes directly with the megacart and there is no software for it.

The chips would be as follows: one 27C160 EPROM, one 74LS273 8bit latch, one 74LS08 quad AND gates and one 74HCT14 hex inverter.

This multicart would be limited to carry 127 games but it would be very low cost.

[gklinger]

My feeling is that if you make prototypes of stuff, people will step up to do software. Multiple devices isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I'll tell you one thing, it would be awesome if these things offered pass-through. Perhaps if you could add pass-through to your RAM expander so that one could plug a flash cart or the like. You'd have a winner there.

[eslapion]

My feeling is that if you make prototypes of stuff, people will step up to do software. Multiple devices isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I'll tell you one thing, it would be awesome if these things offered pass-through. Perhaps if you could add pass-through to your RAM expander so that one could plug a flash cart or the like. You'd have a winner there.

I don't really know what I could pass-through...

The ultimate expander could allow you to put IO2, IO3 and the 3k RAM expansion area to other uses. This is not true however for the flash-cart, it occupies everything the cartridge port offers.

Added edit:
==============================================
Ok, I admit, something got lost in translation here.

Add a pass through to the Behr-Bonz to have both the UE and the BB at the same time.

Not bad...not bad.

The problem is, both the UE and the BB want to occupy BLK 1,2,3 and 5 at the same time. Can you suggest a solution?

[eslapion]

My feeling is that if you make prototypes of stuff, people will step up to do software. Multiple devices isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Well, I'd love to see that because, so far, apart from Viande (which translates as "meat" in english) nobody jumped in the bandwagon of the Behr-Bonz cart.

Anyways, the Behr-Bonz work. Of the 127 installed games, 12 don't work well. One of them has a PAL, screen setup, two of them seem not to have been properly burned in the EPROM and 9 cause a game shift by writing to IO3.

The game shifting will be solved by a pair of diodes and a resistor judiciously placed.

I've had my lesson. I won't invest a minute without some support.

[eslapion]

Hey, what do you know, only 2 games left that won't work well.

Behr-bonz is getting better.

[davidv_]

Hey, what do you know, only 2 games left that won't work well.

Behr-bonz is getting better.

Which ones my friend?

[eslapion]

Hey, what do you know, only 2 games left that won't work well.

Behr-bonz is getting better.

Which ones my friend?

Cannonball Blitz and Scorpion... but now Scorpion is fixed too.

So... only one left officially.

And considering how quickly I fixed Scorpion and the fact that Scorpion's problem was only a small screen adjustment, maybe I should consider fixing other games made for PAL to NTSC.

Of course, I don't claim I could fix those who have special raster effects.

[6502dude]

And considering how quickly I fixed Scorpion and the fact that Scorpion's problem was only a small screen adjustment, maybe I should consider fixing other games made for PAL to NTSC.

There were PAL and NTSC dumps of Scorpion in ROM collection that KilrPilr posted for download (almost a year ago).

So, there was no need to spend time to fix this one.

Scorpion was one of the first ROM images that I loaded onto MegaCart.

It is a pretty poor game though.

[eslapion]

There were PAL and NTSC dumps of Scorpion in ROM collection that KilrPilr posted for download (almost a year ago).

When I asked KilrPilr to let me have these, he refused saying it was too much work.

Would you be so kind as to let me have them?

So, there was no need to spend time to fix this one.

Well, I must admit I learned a couple of things doing it. It was an academic exercice...

It is a pretty poor game though.

I second that.

[KilrPilr]

There were PAL and NTSC dumps of Scorpion in ROM collection that KilrPilr posted for download (almost a year ago).

When I asked KilrPilr to let me have these, he refused saying it was too much work.

You know thats complete BS francis! The rom images Brian speaks of are still on my server for anyone to grab and they have been their since day one and only modified to add any changes I have received from others. Nothing important has been taken away. Maybe it was too much work for you to click a link? Anyways dont drag me into your lies and make believe world thank you!

[eslapion]

You know thats complete BS francis! The rom images Brian speaks of are still on my server for anyone to grab and they have been their since day one and only modified to add any changes I have received from others. Nothing important has been taken away. Maybe it was too much work for you to click a link? Anyways dont drag me into your lies and make believe world thank you!

When I asked you for these images, you told me that you would not redo for me the work that you did for 6502dude and that you didn't have the time.

I have no clue why you replied that since I was not asking you to redo anything. All I wanted was the images you already had.

As for your server its nice of you to mention it but I have sifted hundreds of messages and found no link, nor is there one in your latest post.

[eslapion]

You know, you've been quite generous with your insults towards me in your posts.

You've publicly accused me of selling counterfeit JiffyDOS chips. In fact they were donated to me by the same gentleman who gave 7 Commodore monitors to MacbethPSW and who gave me about 12 Amiga 500 I had to donate back for lack of space.

He also gave me abput 20 dead Amiga 2000, some of which I cannibalized back together to revive them, one of which I sold on dec. 1st to DQ with a triple kickstart and a monitor.

Also for free where about 3 1571 fully working drives and about 20 dead one. 2 working 1581 drives which I sold last year and another more/less 20 dead ones.

I also put another less good looking Commodore monitor on the freebies table on dec. 1st.

I suppose all of this suddenly came out my rear end by miracle...

I was about to forget the A1200, also sold on dec. 1st. for 180$

And I still have a few more A2000, one of which has a 68030 G-Force accelerator, and piles of accesories for both the 8 bit line and Amiga of Commodore computers, all of it for sale. Hey, I suppose these are counterfeit too...