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Atarimax "Maxflash" Flash MultiCarts
Preliminary Documentation, 07/10/2003
©2003 Steven J Tucker
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All information here is based on the state of the beta testers toolkit as of 07/10/2003.
This is only an overview the available features, please see the kit usage documentation for a complete functional description of all options.
Only features for currently available hardware are described here. As of 07/10/2003 that means only features for the 1Mb cartridge.
While the cartridge itself is not machine or OS specific, and can run any code
programmed into it, an open-source toolkit is provided to perform some functions
for those who don't care to write software.
- Open source design using Perl scripts and TASM 6502 table-driven assembler.
- Completely Windows/Linux compatible.
- Atari800 emulator support for cartridge images, very easy debugging and testing. (source included)
- Custom Atari800Win with features for debugging custom and disk-cart images.
- Fully automatic generation of flash binaries, Atari800 CART images and FLASH Programming disks.
- Pack any number of Atari EXE files into available cartridge space to create a multicart.
- Ability to include automatic Atari 800 OSB "translator" in cartridge.
- Built-in ability to bypass cartridge at startup for easy reprogramming.
- Fully tested for compatibility with Jellystone Park EXE Archive (1000+ games verified currently compatible)
- Automatic generation of custom multicart menu without modifying any source code.
- Compatible with all Atari computers, no multicart requires XL/XE OS support.
- Fully automatic EXE strip, compact and repair.
- Keyboard and joystick program selection support when using cartridge.
- Ability to remove unwanted visual features from multi-cart menu, make selection faster, etc.
- Tiny EXE unpacker stub, less than 200 bytes, can be relocated in RAM for extra unpacking compatibility.
- Ability to unpack anywhere in RAM, even under cartridge and OS spaces.
- Full support for 8Mb cartridge already being verified by 8Mb hardware testing group. (done. 07/20/2003)
- Time required to generate a multi-cart from Atari EXE files and test in emulator: 5 seconds @ 500Mhz.
- Ability to pack any single-density ATR image onto cartridge.
- Limited ability to pack some 2-side disks into 1Mb cartridge, for example, most Infocom games.
- Ability to include automatic Atari 800 OSB "translator" in cartridge.
- Ability to pack disk images that require use of internal BASIC cartridge. (XL/XE only)
- Built-in ability to bypass cartridge at startup for easy reprogramming.
- Fully automatic software design. Simply insert cartridge and 'disk' game starts with your custom generated options.
- Complete support for games/utilities that access the disk constantly, for example, Infocom games.
- Ability to pack most anything on disk, so for example making a 'dos cartridge' with your favorite utility set is a trivial operation.
- Complete access to real disks even when disk-cartridge installed, so saving games or using real/simulated disks still works.
- As of 07/10/2003 there are about 200 disk-cart games already generated, including most of the Infocom library.
- Automatically generated disk-carts require an XL/XE computer to operate, custom made disk conversions have no special requirements. (See the 'mule cartridge' tutorial for an example of how to custom convert a disk game to cartridge)
- Automatic and manual side-flipping of 2-disk images.
- Multi-disk compacter with menu currently being tested by 8Mb hardware testing group.
- Time required to generate a disk-cart from an Atari ATR file and test in emulator: 3 seconds @ 500Mhz
- Ability to unpack Atari800 state saves.
- Ability to unpack memory under the OS in XL/XE models.
- This option basically coded as a 'proof of concept', but useful for some hard to pack games that don't reload from disk.
- This option is currently working but has only had about 1 day of development time. EXE and disk packing options cover pretty much everything already.
- Ability to check and fix broken and mutated Atari EXE files.
- Ability to produce no-disk/no-exe transparent 'translator' cartridges. (1 second load time)
- Convert any arbitrary binary image into Atari800 'CART' or flash programming diskette. (Allows for programming your cartridge with any code you desire)
- See the software documentation for a complete, current list of features.
