[fedeedw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Edward Federmeyer), Re: Making carts]
>The only down side to producing carts this way is that it's only practical
>for games of 4K or less. BUT, from other threads I read in this list, it
>will be a while before games get that complicated. Perhaps by then, we can
>get together on a design for a "generic" 8K/16K/whatever board, and make
>enough for everyone, so that the per-board costs are lower.
Actually, I know someone else who's been tinkering with a board design,
but a recent technical snag has slowed him down a little. He may subscribe
to the list here; don't know. He'd sell boards to whoever needed them
when the time came.
>Unfortunatly, they key to bank switched carts is inside the ROM chip
>itself. No EPROM would have that kind of bank-switching built in.
>Ideally, we would have a "blank" board capable of taking a 74xx NOT gate
>and standard 1/2/4K EPROM, or a few standard 74xx chips that impliment
>bank switching, and a standard 8/16/32/64K EPROM.
It would be nice to have a board that could handle ANY size EPROM up to
at least 64K. If a couple 74xx chips go unused because the board only has
a 2K EPROM in it won't matter too much.
["Mike St. Clair" <mstclair@xxxxxxxxx>, carts, carts, carts]
>Based on the sample of responses so far, it seems that.
>a) The majority of the people on this list prefer carts, and believe that
> the collecting clientele prefers carts.
At least over .BINs, that's for sure. But .BINs are better than nothing.
> As I stated once before, based on the response to Okie Dokie, I bet a
> thousand carts could have been sold if it were even publicised on the
> net and snailmail 'zines
I don't know about a thousand... EdTris got fair coverage even outside
the net and hasn't sold half that many.
>2) Glenn is on the anti-cart side. Glenn may have what might be called a
> conflict of interest, because [...] he'd like to see the fruits of
> everyone's labor on this list end up on his next compilation CD.
I don't think Glenn is ANTI-cart. It's just that we went through a lot of
trouble to put dev tools on the CD rather than just the games, and Glenn
would like to see something happen with that. The truth is, making carts
ISN'T that hard, but not everyone will be able to do it. Glenn is trying
to point out that BINs are a convenient way to distribute games, and he
is encouraging people to use that method of distribution over not doing
anything.
>Just remember this, dear reader. YOU are the creator. You have ownership
>rights over what you create.
Absolutely. The more the merrier.
[Glenn Saunders <krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Making carts (post script)]
>A good compromise would be to start out making carts (or tapes or CDs)
>exclusively, and then only when the demand dries up or you've hit your
>"maximum", release it as a .BIN, esentially making it P.D.
This isn't a bad idea. With carts, you can keep making them as long as
you want, but it's a little harder with CDs, as you have a definite
minimum order.
[Glenn Saunders <krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Making carts (probably final reply
on this thread)]
>I don't really concern myself with the non-connected public because it's a
>pain in the ass to get the word on the street compared to the internet.
Except where the 2600 Connection and Digital Press are concerned. They
have many readers who aren't wired but are exactly the people who you'd
want to reach. And it doesn't take much effort. Beyond that, and maybe
offering carts to various cart sellers, it's too hard, I agree.
[Carol Shaw, <based on discussion I forwarded to her>]
>You've got the basic idea on River Raid: draw a sprite, move the player,
>draw the next sprite, and so on. As I recall, the kernel was fairly
>lengthy. There is the vertical scrolling, and there are places where two
>players or a player and a missile must be drawn. I think I had several
>successive loops. I always wondered if there was a more efficient way of
>doing it. Sorry I can't be of more help.
[Note: Carol generally seems too busy, so I didn't go much beyond just
forwarding the question someone had about River Raid. I won't forward
any questions to her unless they are particularly interesting, as in
general, she won't help.]
[Nick S Bensema <nickb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Final thought....]
>I suggest that we turn the B&W switch into a PAL/NTSC switch
I like this idea a lot. As others have pointed out, it shouldn't be that
difficult, especially not in Supercharger-only games.
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