Atarimax "Maxflash" Flash MultiCarts Preliminary Documentation, 07/10/2003 ©2003 Steven J Tucker

Chapter 1: Hardware

Physical Description

• Professionally manufactured PCB made in the USA.
• Brand new black ABS injection molded cartridge casing.
• Full color custom die cut labels.
• Flash devices fully socketed for replacement in case of damage or device failure.
• No batteries or other high-wear components.

Capacity

• 1Mbit flash-memory device arranged as 16 banks of 8KB. (1Mb Cartridge)
• 8Mbit of flash-memory arranged as 128 banks of 8KB. (8Mb Cartridge)
• Maximum capacity 1GB (per device), typically 5% overhead for file system. Footprints TBD. (MMC/CF Cartridge)

Reprogramming

• In system reprogramming using custom flash-programming software included in toolkit.
• In system programming time of 1Mb flash cartridge is 1-2 minutes, depending on OS selection.
• Minimum flash-memory lifetime of 100,000 program/erase cycles.
• Minimum data pattern retention time in absence of power, 30 years.
• GNU licensed software kit to encourage free distribution of cartridge images and development of new cartridge based software.