> I had had some ideas that would, I think, not take a whole lot of
> silicon or discrete components and would make it a device I'd be more
> likely to use.
>
> a) RS-232 interface, so we could download a game from our PCs rather
> than simply loading it via the cartridge slot; this would also take
> a bit of logic to recognize the different bankswitching formats and
> implement them, but not a whole lot. The Cuttle Cart does this.
> b) A/D converter and audio interface. Same argument, but for
> Supercharger games and/or WAV/MP3 versions of games. Again, done by
> the Cuttle Cart.
> c) Built-in "Cheetah"-like functionality. Look at Bob Colbert's pages.
> Basically, once you've loaded a game, zap the bytes in it to modify
> its behavior; kind of a tiny hex editor written in 6502 assembly,
> letting you modify the memory contents. If either a or b is
> implemented, it's really not necessary, but it's a cool hack.
> d) Composite video out, stereo audio out. It looks like you're already
> planning this.
> e) Multicart support. RAM is pretty cheap. A smallish interface that
> let you load multiple games into RAM (with a or b above) and then
> select among them would make this design a little more useful when
> divorced from a VCS cartridge library.
> f) Some sort of mechanism for debugging. Since all the VCS hardware is
> emulated anyway, it seems like it shouldn't be that hard to
> externalize some interface to it for the use of homebrewers who
> want, effectively, a VCS hardware debugger. I haven't given much
> thought to this, so I might just be babbling.
It really would be interesting to include this and other features in the
design. I hope I have enough free time to finish it soon!!!
Carlos Lopez
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