Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Maxflash Cartridge Programmer and Cartridge Bus Interface with USB Interface ©2015 Steven J Tucker

Chapter 6: Additional Utility Functions

Updating Programmer Firmware

Your USB Cartridge Programmer firmware is completely upgradable from within the Maxflash Studio software.

Any updated firmware for your programmer will be available in the Maxflash Studio discussion forum here.

To upgrade your firmware, just select 'Tools -> Update Programmer Firmware' from the top menu, then select the binary firmware image provided to complete the process.

Firmware upgrades take approximately 10 seconds.

Do not unplug or otherwise disturb your programmer during the firmware upgrade process or your cartridge firmware may be corrupted. If you are unable to use your cartridge after an unsuccessful firmware upgrade attempt, please contact me to arrange service for your cartridge.

The Cartridge Menu - Direct Cartridge Access

Your USB Cartridge Programmer is also a complete Atari Cartridge Bus interface with clocks and can provide functions such as reading (dumping), erasing and writing of many cartridge formats.

These functions are not workbook oriented and are enabled even when no workbook is open.

Programming Cartridges using Binary Images

From the 'Cartridge -> Program' menu, you can program cartridges directly from pre-existing ROM, BIN or ISP (ATR) Programming images.

Cartridges supported for binary file programming are:

• Atarimax Maxflash 1mbit and 8mbit Flash Cartridges, from BIN or ATR ISP Programming Image format.
• Atarimax MyIDE+Flash 1mbit Flash Cartridge (Boot ROM), from BIN or ATR ISP Programming Image format.
• S/XEGS RAM Cartridge, all sizes, from BIN image only.

Dumping Cartridge to Binary Images

From the 'Cartridge -> Dump' menu, you can dumping existing ROM/Flash cartridges to disk in BIN format.

Cartridges supported for binary dumping are:

• Atarimax Maxflash 1mbit and 8mbit Flash Cartridges.
• Atarimax MyIDE+Flash 1mbit Flash Cartridge. (Boot ROM)
• Non-Bankswitched ROM Cartridges, 8k or 16k, 'Right' or 'Left' cartridges.
• Bank Switched Cartridges including OSS, ICD, Williams, XEGS, S/XEGS, 'MEGA' and other formats. (See Menu)

Erasing Cartridges

From the 'Cartridge -> Erase' menu, you can erase existing Flash/RAM cartridges.

Cartridges supported for erase operations are:

• Atarimax Maxflash 1mbit and 8mbit Flash Cartridges.
• Atarimax MyIDE+Flash 1mbit Flash Cartridge (Boot ROM).
• S/XEGS RAM Cartridge.

Updating an existing Maxflash ISP Programming Image (ATR Image)

The Maxflash Studio introduces a new version of the ISP programming software used in ATR programming images.

To upgrade any existing ISP programming images that contain older flash programming software, just select 'Tools -> Update Existing ATR Programming Image' from the top menu.

Then select the ISP Programming Disk Image to upgrade and a new filename to save the updated image to.

This process is otherwise automatic and the programming menu title for your image will be extracted and preserved.

Converting a raw BIN image to an ISP Programming Image (ATR Image)

This is the equivalent of the old '-bin2atr' switch in the older open source programming scripts.

This will take a raw binary image of a Maxflash 1mbit or 8mbit cartridge in .BIN format and convert it to an ISP Programming Image (ATR Image).

Navigation