> Well, okay... it's between you and Randy if you're supplying him boards.
> I woudln't like to see a price increase to the end user just to save Randy
> some effort in assembling the carts, though - his current method works
> well enough. Maybe he could charge $18 or $20 for a 16k bankswitched
> cart, since he can't do them with his current method, but if you supply 4k
> boards, I wouoldn't want to see his price go up.
Yeah, I'm ever mindful of price. $16 is too much for a cheapskate like me ;)
I haven't actually spoken with Randy. Anyone here have his email address?
I think he moved, and I lost the new address...
> Well, okay.... though it has to be breakable somehow - if the 2600 can
> read the data, you could at the least tap into the 6502's bus and read the
> data from there.
>
> Another concept that came to me while writing that, not quite connected -
> is it possible to swap carts while the power is on, if you run the code in
> RAM during the swap? - could you transfer control to a loop in zeropage,
> and have it constantly check a certain address for a certain value, and
> when it finds it, it assumes the new cart has been inserted? Or does
> inserting and removing a cart cause enough havoc on the bus to make that
> impossible?
That's a cool idea. There would be a big power dip when you inserted the new
cart. Maybe enough to glitch the system. I dunno. But yeah I think this
is possible. Why don't you try it? I would suggest requiring several
consecutive successful reads, though...just to make sure that the cart has
stabilized. Assuming A12 is low, the bus won't see the cartridge. You just
need to worry about the temporary power glitch.
Hmmm...kinda reminds me of hot-swapping car batteries. Start the car with a
new battery, then let the alternator run the car while you switch in a dead
battery. Now you can charge up the dead battery, assuming nothing's wrong
with it. :)
-Chris
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