Welcome to "The!Cart Studio", the free cartridge image authoring tool for
The!Cart
and
Atarimax Maxflash Cartridges
. The program enables you to create workbooks for cartridge images which contain one or more ROMs or executables. The workbook an then be exported in different formats. Besides plain binary images (".BIN", ".ROM") for usage in an EPROM or external
flash programming device, emulator images (".CAR") to run the cartridge in emulators and flash
programming images (".ATR") which can be booted directly from the Atari to flash the target module.
This is the English manual. The
German manual
is under construction and will provided completely once the English manual is complete.
If you have question regarding The!Cart or The!Cart Studio, you can contact me directly or post in the
The!Cart thread on
AtariAge (English)
or in the
ABBUC Forum (German)
.
This is version ${version} of the program. Click
here
to download the latest version of the program. The download is a single ".zip" archive file which contains the actual program. Simply extract the files from the archive into a folder of your choice.
"The!Cart Studio" is implemented in Java which makes is compatible with all popular operating systems.
In order to run the program you need has Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Java Development Kit (JDK/SDK) with version 1.6 or newer versions
installed. Using Java 1.7 is recommended because on the one hand Java 1.6 is out of maintenance and on the other hand, multi-selection in the file selection dialog will only work with JDK 1.7 or newer versions.
The installation of the Java runtime normally registers itself as the default application for the file extension ".jar". So by simply double-clicking the "TheCartStudio.jar" file or by choosing "Open" from the context menu, the program
should start.
If you have an archiving program like WinZIP or WinRAR installed, it may be the case that they registered also for this file extension. As a result the ".jar" file is opened in the archiving program instead of being executed. In this
case you can
choose
"Open With... Java(TM) Platform Binary" from the context menu.
Alternatively you can run the program also from the command prompt ("cmd.exe").
In this case you can change the current path to the folder where "TheCartStudio.jar" is located and type "java.exe -jar TheCartStudio.jar".
The installation of the Java runtime normally registers itself as the default application for the file extension ".jar". So by simply double-clicking the "TheCartStudio.jar" file or by choosing "Open" from the context menu, the program
should
start.
After extracting the "TheCartStudio.jar" file from the download archive, the so called "executable
bit" is not set,
resulting in the following error message when you double-click the file.
Open the file properties, set the executable flag a shown below. Now the program should start when the "TheCartStudio.jar" file is double-clicked.
Please note that there is a
known bug in Ubuntu
, for example 12.10 with openjdk7. It is tracked as "Unreadable menu bar with Ambiance theme in Java/Swing GTK L&F" and causes the menu to appear too dark; making is barely readable with the standard desktop theme. Changing the desktop theme
fixes
this.
The UI of "The!Cart Studio" is localized and current comes with English and German screen texts. You can change the display language via the menu entry "Tools/Options...". The default value is "Automatic", which means that the language
is
determined
automatically based on the language settings of the operating system.
By default, only the most frequently used columns are display in the various tables. You drag & drop to change the order of the columns. Clicking on column header with SHIFT or CONTROL held down extends the sort order by appending this column.
This way you can sort by genre first and then by title for example. Clicking a
column header without pressing SHIFT or CONTROL resets the sort order to that single column. You can also use the context menu to hide visible columns, unhide invisible
columns and reset
visibility and
sort order to the default. All layout changes are saved
automatically when the program is closed. This also applies to the size and the position of the main window and to the different folders that were last used for
loading/saving
workbooks, adding
entries and exporting cartridge images.
All relevant commands also have a key binding, so you can use your keyboard to fully control the program.
In the "File" menu you can find the usual "New", "Open", Save", "Save As"
and "Close" actions. When "The!Cart Studio" is opened, a new unnamed project is already prepared. You can display the dialog to edit the workbook options via the menu entry
"Edit/Workbook Options...".
You can add files for new entries via the menu entry "Edit/Add Entries...".
The file chooser has multi-selection enabled, that means you can select multiple files at once and add them in go.
Alternatively you can use drag & drop to
drop one or
multiple files onto the window to add entries.
The!Cart Studio contains a database of popular ROMs and will assign the correct title automatically
based on size and the CRC32 checksum of the file. If no matching entry is found in the data,
the title of the entry is defaulted from the file name
by
removing the file extension.
When new files are added, they remain at their original location first. When you save the workbook, all newly added files will be copied into the data folder of the
workbook.
This way you have all files and the workbook
together in one location. As a
consequence,
a file in the workbook is uniquely identified by its case-insensitive file name, irrespective of the folder it was originally copied from.
Adding files with the same file name will result in a confirmation dialog where you can choose to overwrite the
existing file in the data folder with the new file, rename the file automatically during copying or to skip the new file, leaving the
existing
file in the data folder
unchanged. The choice can either be applied to the current file only or to the current file and all following files.
File Format and Content Type
Several file formats are supported when adding entries. In order to properly handle the ROM specific bank switching scheme, every entry must know its content type.
For those file formats where the content type cannot be determined automatically, for
example because there are multiple possible options, you have
to select it in the "Content Type" column. The value help in the "Content Type" column is automatically
filtered based on the file length and content. So it only offers the potentially
matching content types. In additional some file formats even automatically converted before they are added to the workbook.
Saving the workbook is possible at any time, even if there are entries with unknown content
type. Only when the workbook is
exported, the content type for all entries must be present.
Here is a description of the supported file formats and their handling.
| File Format |
Description |
| CAR Cartridge Image |
This is the recommended format to add ROM files. It is also by emulators. It contains a header with the exact type of
the ROM file and a check sum to verify its integrity.
This enables emulators to run the file without prompting the user for the
exact content type upon each start.
Similarly it enables "The!Cart Studio" to automatically determine the content type, so
you don't have to choose something and the content type is not editable in this case.
|
BIN Cartridge Image
ROM Cartridge Image
|
This is the regular dump format for ROM file. It does no contain any information on the type of module was dumped from and the require bank switching to run it. Based on the size of the file, the "Content Type" column is restricted to those
values
that represent ROM of with the exact size of the file. For example a file with exactly 1 MB of data could be "Atarimax 1MB", "Mega Cart 1MB", "XEGS 1MB" or "Switchable XEGS 1MB".
If you want to use your ROM files also in an emulator, it is
advisable
to
convert the plain ROM file into a .CAR" files.
All popular emulators have this function built in. This way you don't have to choose the correct module type on every start.
|
| ATR Programming Images |
Collections created with the "Maxflash Cartridge Studio" are sometimes available as "ATR Programming Images" instead of "BIN" or "ROM" cartridge images. They are bootable disk images which contain the program to flash the "Maxflash" cartridge
directly from the Atari. They cannot be run or tested in an emulator. These programming images are recognized by "The!Cart Studio". When you add such a file as entry, it is first converted into a "CAR" cartridge image which is saved in the folder of
the programming image. In case the ".car" file already exists in that folder, it will be overwritten. The new ".car" file is added to the workbook. This way you can even run and test the content of the "CAR" image in an emulator before flashing.
|
| ATR Disk Images |
This is the standard Atari disk image format used in emulators. Many disk based programs that are available in this format can also be started from flash cartridges. But there are some natural limitations arising from the fact that loading the ATR
images requires a simulation of the SIO routines that are located in ROM of the original Atari OS.
For example the code for the simulation must be located in the RAM and may be overwritten when the loading from the ATR image starts. In addition the
banks of the flash cartridge have to be activated during the SIO operation to load the data of the ATR image. As a consequence a program that uses a display list,
graphics or interrupts in the module memory area will run into problems.
Also programs
that
try to write data to the disk will fail when run from an ATR simulation.
For the simulation itself two approaches are used,
Modified ATR Images
and
Modified Atari OS in RAM
. It depends on the individual ATR file and its programs which of them will work best.
Modified ATR Images
This is the approach used by the The!Cart Extended Menu. When you add an ATR file directly to a workbook, the file is analyzed and all potential code locations that call the Atari OS SIO routines are identified.
The result of this analysis is stored
in the "Parameters" column in the form "base=$400, $123=SIOV, $456=DSKINV". This column is hidden by default and can be made visible via the context menu of the table. When the workbook is exported for to the Atari, the calls at the found offsets
are
modified to point to the SIO simulation which as located
at the address specified
with the
"base=$...." parameter. The advantage of this approach is that it works also for software that uses the RAM under the OS like for example "Turbo Basic XL 1.5"
or "The Brundles".
And by specifying the corresponding parameters it will work even for software that uses nonstandard SIO routines instead of the Atari OS SIO routines like for example "MyPicoDOS".
The disadvantage of this approach is that it will
not work with program where the code that calls the SIO vectors is packed or encrypted in the ATR.
The following parameters are supported. Numbers are given in hexadecimal notation and are just
example values.
-
base=$400
This specified the base address for the SIO simulation code which is less than 256 bytes in size. The default base address is $400.
If the ATR crashes while loading, it might be the case that the program overwrites this memory area.
For example
MyPicoDOS uses the memory location $400-$40f during loading.
To solve this problem you can change the base address to $410 for example.
Other good choices for base addresses are $480,$500,$600 and $100.
-
$123=SIOV
The two bytes starting at offset $123 are changed to the start address of emulation code for the SIOV vector ($e459).
-
$123=<SIOV
The byte at offset $123 is changed to the low byte of start address of emulation code for the SIOV vector ($e459).
-
$123=>SIOV
The byte at offset $123 is changed to high low byte of start address of emulation code for the SIOV vector ($e459).
-
$123=DSKINV
The two bytes starting at offset $123 are changed to the start address of emulation code for the DSKINV vector ($e453).
-
$123=<DSKINV
The byte at offset $123 is changed to the low byte of start address of emulation code for the DSKINV vector ($e453).
-
$123=>DSKINV
The byte at offset $123 is changed to high low byte of start address of emulation code for the DSKINV vector ($e453).
If you messed up the parameters somehow, you can simply add the ATR file
again to the workbook and choose to overwrite the existing file in the workbook. In this case, the analysis is performed again and a default for the parameters is generated.
The
SIO simulation in this approach supports both the read ("R", $52) and the status ("S", $53) command for "D1:".
The status command set the 3 density bits of the "DVSTAT" status based on the density and size of the ATR.
Using other disk units than "D1:"
results in the error code "130 - Nonexistent Device".
Using commands than "R" and "S" results in the error code "132 - Unknown command".
Modified Atari OS in RAM
This is the approach used by the Atarimax Maxflash Menu or MegaCart Menu. The operating system is copied to the RAM under the OS
ROM and is then modified to load the "disk sectors" from the flash cartridge instead of the real disk. The
advantage of
this approach is that it works equally for all software that uses the standard Atari OS SIO vectors, even if the SIO relevant code on the ATR is packed on encrypted.
The disadvantage is that the approach will not work with programs that use the RAM
under the OS themselves.
You can use the
Maxflash Cartridge Studio
to create 128 KB or 1 MB collections with ATR disk images. This program comes with proven emulation and provides several options to specify how the disk image shall be handled. You can then export the collection as BIN or CAR cartridge image
and add
it to the workbook.
|
COM Executable
EXE Executable
XEX Executable
|
This is the Atari DOS composite file format of executable files that can be loaded from a DOS. Many disk based programs that are available in this format can also be started from flash cartridges. To achieve this, typically a minimal DOS is copied
to
the RAM.
The DOS is modified to load the "file segment" from the flash cartridge instead of the real disk.
Of course this emulation has its limitations, for example for programs that use the RAM where the DOS or loader is located or perform real
DOS
operations like reading the directory or writing to disk.
Currently cannot add these files directly to a workbook.
Instead you can use the
Maxflash Cartridge Studio
to create 128 KB or 1 MB collections with COM or EXE executables. This program comes with proven emulation and provides several options to specify how the executable shall be handled. You can then export the collection as BIN or CAR cartridge
image
and add it to the workbook.
|
The title and content type of many popular ROMs is also stored in the cartridge database.
If you ROM is found in the database, the title and if known the content type are proposed.
If no matching entry is found, the content type is set to "Unknown" and
you have to select
the appropriate content type manually before exporting the cartridge in and
form.
The cartridge database is based on the list maintained by Tomasz Krasuski (Kr0tki) at
AtariAge
. It currently contains over 700 known titles and almost 700 known content types. The exact number are shown on the about dialog.
You can support "The!Cart Studio" and improve the quality of the cartridge database by sending your own workbook file
without (!)
the ROMs to
.
Export Formats
| Export Format |
Description |
Supported Flash Types |
| BIN Cartridge Image |
Single plain binary cartridge file without header information with exactly the size specified by the flash type. Can be used directly to burn or flash the cartridge file to a physical cartridge with an arbitrary eprommer or flasher. You can
also
run the cartridge file in an emulator like
Atari800, Atari800Win or Altirra. The emulator will try to detect the
cartridge type from the ROM size and content. In case of doubt the emulator will prompt you for the correct cartridge type every
time you
open they cartridge file. Therefore using
the "CAR Cartridge Image" export instead in recommended in this case.
|
AtariMax 128k
AtariMax 1MB
The!Cart 128MB
User Defined
|
| CAR Cartridge Image |
Single extended binary cartridge file with header information. Can be used directly run the cartridge file in an emulator like Atari800, Atari800Win or Altirra. The emulator will detect the cartridge type directly from the header, so you don't
have to select in when opening the cartridge file.
|
AtariMax 128k
AtariMax 1MB
The!Cart 128MB
User Defined
|
| ATR Programming Image for AspeQT |
Single disk image in ATR format for use with AspeQT and the "The!Cart" flasher software on the Atari. The ATR file uses large sectors to achieve the maximum transmission speed and to store up to about 512 MB of information (65534
sectors
of 8k size)
in a single file. The file contains additional information to support incremental flashing to speed up flashing in case only parts of the project have been changed. In addition the file only contains the used sectors. Therefore
this
export
format can
also be used to program "The!Cart" cartridges of a size smaller than specified by the flash type, as long as the size does not exceed the physical size of the cartridge.
|
The!Cart 128MB
User Defined
|
| ATR Programming Images (16 MB) |
Multiple disk image in ATR format for use with SIO2USB, SIO2SD, SIO2PC or AspectQT and the "The!Cart" flasher software on the Atari. The ATR files uses normal double density sectors to be compatible with SIO2USB, SIO2SD and Atari
DOS versions like
MyDOS and SpartaDOS. The files contains additional information to support incremental flashing to speed up flashing in case only parts of the project have been changed. In addition the files only contain the used sectors.
Therefore this export format
can also be used to program "The!Cart" cartridges of a size smaller than specified by the flash type, as long as the size does not exceed the physical size of the cartridge.
|
The!Cart 128MB
User Defined
|
You can print the content of the workbook including the list of entries via the menu entry "File/Print" (CTRL-P).
The columns in the print output are the visible columns on the entries tab. Hence you can configure the columns you want to
see as described
in the section
General Usage
. For example you can make the column with the start bank visible, so you can use the simple menu to start entries and see the banks which are assigned to user space entries.
For the time being, please refer to the documentation you received with your flash cartridge.
Pressing the RESET button on the The!Cart cartridge followed by pressing the RESET button on your Atari will take you to the menu.
If the cartridge contains the simple menu only, holding OPTION while pressing RESET on the Atari disables the cartridge.
If the cartridge contains the extended menu, holding OPTION while pressing RESET on the Atari starts the simple menu.
This allows for starting the flasher and update the extended menu in case it does not work properly.
You can use the joystick or the keyboard to control the extended menu.
You can narrow list by selecting the tab of a genre. The tab "All" always contains all entries.
You can narrow down the list within a genre tab by typing any word or part of the title
of the entry you are looking for.
The search is find the entry no matter if something is in lower case or upper
case.
You can also use the joystick and the cursor keys to scroll though the result list.
You can use the following controls.
- HELP - Display the help menu
- DELETE - Delete the last character from the search term
- Joystick UP, cursor UP or "-" - Move the cursor line up
- Joystick DOWN, cursor DOWN or "=" - Move the cursor line down
- FIRE or RETURN - Start the selected entry
- FIRE+SHIFT or RETURN+SHIFT - Start the selected entry's cartridge menu, if there is one. Otherwise start the selected entry
- Joystick LEFT, cursor LEFT - Select next genre to the left
- Joystick RIGHT, cursor RIGHT - Select next genre to the right
- TAB - Toggle the details display mode of the selected entry between readable and technical information
A number of advanced features of "The!Cart Studio" that are not so interesting for the regular user are also available.
-
Displaying additional columns in the entries tab
By default only the most frequently used columns are visible on the entries tab.
Using the context menu on the header row of table , you can make more columns information about the entry visible.
-
Using fixed start banks
By default entries are assigned automatically to a suitable start bank and the user cannot change this assignment.
For developers who want to create software that uses "The!Cart" directly, for example in "Flexi-Mode" to directly access the 128 MB,
it
may be required to put certain content in certain banks.
To do this, use the context menu to make the column "Start Bank Fixed" visible". This column offers a check box and if the check box is active for an entry, the column "Start Bank" becomes
editable for this entry and the entry is excluded from automatic bank assignment.
-
Defining User Space
By default all banks of the flash cartridge are under control of "The!Cart Studio". But if you want, you can reserve a portion of the flash cartridge for direct flashing from the Atari. This portion of the flash cartridge is called "User Space".
You
can define the size of the user space in the workbook options. You can enter the size in bytes, kilo bytes or mega bytes, e.g. "1023 B", "8 KB" or "2 MB". The effective size of the user space rounded to the next full bank, depending on the bank
size.
In addition the size of user space automatically rounded to a multiple of the flash block size, i.e. to 64 KB for the flash target types "Atarimax 128 KB/ 1 MB" and "Flash MegaCart 4 MB" and to 128 KB for "The!Cart 128 MB".
The use space is always
located in the last banks of the flash cartridge. This way the ATR programming images are shorter and the flash software does not overwrite the banks that belong to the user space.
Though the content of the user space is fully under control of the
Atari you can still define entries with "The!Cart Studio" to start the content in the user space from the cartridge menu. Via the menu entry "Edit/Add User Space Entry" a new user
space
entry is added to the list. This type of entries does
not have
an associated file in the project. Instead it is mandatory to specify the content type and the start bank manually. Therefore these two columns become visible if a user space entry is
added.
-
Using a special version of the "The!Cart" Atari flashing software and standard menu
By default "The!Cart Studio" uses the Atari flashing software and standard menu that is included in the ".jar" file.
In case you want to use a more recent or modified version of the
"The!Cart" Atari flashing software and standard menu
instead of the version which is currently included in "The!Cart Studio", you can put the "cartmenu.rom" file in the same folder as the "TheCartStudio.jar".
Whether the built-in or the external software is used and which version it has is displayed
in
the "About" dialog.
2014-08-04
-
Extended menu now also works with The!Cart modules with 32 MB and 64 MB.
2014-07-18
-
Download link and download version number are correct again now in the about dialog.
-
Content type for CAR files of type "The!Cart 64MB" is not detected correctly.
2014-07-12
-
ATR simulation now also works on NTSC machines and some images that ended in a lock-up on PAL will also work now.
-
ATR loading speed has been increased again by 50% for the cases where the destination address is not overlapping with the ROM area.
-
Sorting tables by multiple columns is now supported. Clicking on column header with SHIFT or CONTROL held down extends the sort order by appending this column. This way you can now sort by genre first and then by title for example. Clicking a
column header without pressing SHIFT or CONTROL resets the sort order to that single column.
2014-07-02
2014-04-03
-
RAM is now cleared before starting inner entries from Atarimax or MegaCart compilations. This will fix artifacts in programs that rely on this, for example Spy's Demise.
2014-03-18
-
ATR loader now correctly sets "DSTATS=1", making it more compatible with some disks.
2014-03-02
-
First version of filtering via genres is now working in the extended menu. Use joystick or cursor left and right to step through the genres. Visualization of the selected genre is not yet how I want it to be, but it works.
-
HELP key now displays a built-in help menu that explains all controls.
-
Initialization error in direct start for MegaCart's inner menu entries fixed (DLI vectors, BASIC not off after warm start).
-
Some cartridges like for example Asteroids have the property that pressing the RESET button on The!Cart sometimes brings you to the extended menu by incident.
This the case simply because they use the same memory area and pressing the button swaps
the
code. This can lead to garbage on the screen and a non working menu.
Now the menu detects that the RESET button of The!Cart is still pressed during initialization (which is normally not the case).
It then performs a cold start to ensure proper
initialization, once the button is released.
-
Keyboard definitions are now included directly in the extended menu, so it works correctly if an with "OldRunner" OS is active.
-
TAB - Toggle the details display of the selected entry between readable and technical information.
2014-02-27
-
Display type "Multiple Entries" is now also supported one additional older version of the Atarimax Maxflash Studio menu.
For the very first version, this also includes the direct start. Looks like there were as many releases of that software as for
The!Cart Studio....
-
Direct start of MegaCart's inner menu entries from the extended menu is supported for the latest version of the MegaCart Studio menu. Thanks to Bernd for his support to make this possible so quickly.
-
By holding down "SHIFT" when starting an entry that comes from an inner menu disables the immediate start and takes you to the inner menu instead.
-
New Atari software version 2014-02-24 included. It includes fixes for the handling of the SPI EEPROM which stores the configuration of the simple menu.
2014-02-22
-
Display type "Multiple Entries" is now also supported seven additional older versions of the Atarimax Maxflash Studio menu. Those were the ones with "<A>,<B>,<C>"
lists. So you can see and search the entries from the contained
menu
directly in the extended menu.
-
Direct start of Atarimax's inner menu entries from the extended menu is supported for the latest version of the Atarimax Maxflash Studio menu.
-
First - very experimental - support for ATR loading based on binary translation. Only non-encrypted single/enhanced density disks may work. This ATR loader supports loading of programs that use the RAM under the OS. For all other ATR stuff, you
are
currently
better off with putting it into an Atarimax Maxflash image or MegaCart Studio image.
-
Sort order in the extended menu is now case insensitive.
-
New Atari software version 2014-02-17 included with improved high speed handling.
-
Timing bugs fixed that could cause the menu or cart to freeze during boot or ROM start, for example Asteroids.
2014-02-16
-
Display type "Multiple Entries" is now also supported for the content types "MegaCart 512 K" and "MegaCart 2 MB" and for two older versions of the Atarimax Maxflash Studio menu. So you can see and search the entries from the contained menu
directly in
the extended menu.
-
Entries are now automatically sorted by title when you save a workbook, so the are sorted by default when you open the workbook the next time. Clicking on the column header of course changes the display sorting just like before.
-
The recurring lockup with a black screen that was introduced in the last version should be solved now. After 28 years of Atari programming I found out that display list interrupts are triggered, even if the display list DMA and the screen is
switched
off. This again caused the VBI to not update the shadow registers to switch the DMA on because it assumed that is the VBI interrupts an interrupt, then this is probably the serial I/O. But this time it wasn't. Fortunately I have my
Turbofreezer and
so
I could find what is different on the real machine - because the issue never occurs in the emulator. Phew.
2014-02-13
-
Search speed improved from 25s to 9s for a full search in 16.000 entries with short names. When the search is finished, the elapsed time in frames is displayed.
-
Scroll speed and acceleration adapted.
-
Cursor keys now control the scrolling also without pressing pressed "CONTROL". This also means these characters are no longer available for typing in, which should not be a problem.
-
Clearing of result lines when restricting the result now works properly.
-
For Atarimax 128K/1 MB modules created with the recent Atarimax Maxflash Studio, the display type "Multiple Entries" is now supported. The entries of the Atarimax menu will also appear in the extended menu search. Selecting such an entry starts
the
Atarimax menu it comes from. Direct start support will be added later. Due to a potential bug in the Maxflash Studio, only the first 70 entries of the Atarimax menu are accepted to be on the safe side.
-
New flash target types "The!Cart 32 MB" and "The!Cart 64 MB" added in the workbook options, because these sizes are requested and actually shipped now.
-
New cartridge types "65 - The!Cart 32 MB" and "66 - The!Cart 64 MB" added as they are because these sizes are requested and actually shipped now and also supported by Atari800.
-
Definition of initial banks fixed. Now all cartridge types use initial bank 0 (again) except for CARTRIDGE_OSS_034M_16 (bank 1), CARTRIDGE_ATMAX_1024 (bank 127) and CARTRIDGE_MEGA_4096 (bank 254).
-
New Atari software version 2014-02-09 included. This fixes the problem that SDX64, Express and Diamond cartridges were not started correctly due to a wrong initial bank register (was 7, must be 0). It also adds a new option to the flasher when
starting
the cartridge. You can now choose to enter the default (extended menu) or if you want to explicitly enter the simple menu directly. When entering the simple menu this way, the auto-start feature is disabled, so you don't start with the wrong
bank after
flashing new content.
-
Command line option to generate sample cartridge files now generates correct files also for "Megacart 2MB" and all Atari 5200 cartridge types..
2014-01-23
-
First version of Google like search and scrolling in the result list of the "Extended Menu" is now implemented. Some bugs still in there like cleaning the screen lines that are not part of the result, but for sure worth trying.
-
The workbook options now allow all types of menus if the flash module type is "user defined". The "Simple Menu" and "Extended Menu" will of course only work if the actual module later is a The!Cart module.
2014-01-17
-
Title and genre column were not editable in the version from 2014-01-15 because introducing the new data type for sorting disabled the default editor. This is fixed again now.
2014-01-15
-
New Atari Software version 2014-01-15 included.
-
Fixed several flasher issues:
-
- only ask for a disk when data will actually be read from it
-
- added retry option on I/O errors
-
- don't print empty bank numbers
-
- in non-incremental mode program checksum block after data has been programmed (like in incremental mode)
- Display software version in The!Cart simple menu
- Check SHIFT key (to keep main config registers enabled) when
disabling The!Cart with ESC from the simple menu and when
OPTION is pressed during boot
-
Cartridge database was broken after refactoring and is now working again.
-
First version of output for entry number, The!Cart module type, start bank number and boot bank number in the status bar of the extended menu.
-
Columns with ATASCII strings (titles, genres) are now sorted with binary order and not with locale dependent collation. This means "Atarimax 1 MB" now appears before "Atarimax 128 KB" both in the studio and in the menu.
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New flash target type "Turbo Freezer 2005 448 KB" added which can be used to create ".BIN" files with 56 banks and 8k, 16k, OSS and SDX bank switching.
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Flash target type "User Defined" now allows all content types, so you can create arbitrary image files with it.
2014-01-14
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First version of "Extended Menu" implemented. Displays the first 20 entries of the menu are displayed. You can use the cursor keys plus return or the joystick in port 1 with the fire button to select. Press ESC to enter the simple menu.
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Cartridge type for "64 - MegaCart 2 MB" fixed, it was 63 instead of 64 so ".CAR" file were not recognized correctly.
2013-12-28
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Mapping to The!Cart mode $22 fixed for cartridge type "61 - MegaMax 2 MB".
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New cartridge type "64 - MegaCart 2 MB" and mapping to The!Cart mode $2F added.
2013-12-26
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About dialog now displays if a newer version of "The!Cart Studio" is available on the web site.
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Genre column now has a sorted drop-down selection for the genres as defined in the workbook options.
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Coloring of bank fixed for entries which span multiple rows.
2013-12-18
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Text and help of the menu entry for "Export as ATR" changed into "Export as ATR for AspeQt" to be more explicit about the different export types of ATRs.
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Action "Cancel" now keeps the program open when closing the program via the close button.
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Changes to the "Genre" column are now detected correctly when trying to close the program with unsaved changes.
2013-12-13
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New file selection dialog which is as close as possible to the native file selection dialog of the underlying operating system now. This enables proper browsing, context menus and more.
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New algorithm to layout the blocks for the banks on the banks tab. The size and position of the blocks now adapts better the use the available size of the window. Now 16.384 can be seen properly also in 1024x768 resolution.
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New color schema for banks including separate color for user space.
2013-12-12
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All relevant Atari characters are now allowed in titles:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^_
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Titles, for example when derived from the file name, are now automatically truncated to the allowed 40 characters.
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Banks assignment problem when using the "Overwrite" option for equally named files fixed. It could cause overlapping bank assignments and corrupted bank display.
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Error message in case of .CAR file with incorrect content size fixed.
2013-12-11
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Import of "ATR Programming Images" for "Atarimax 1 MB" and "Atarimax 128 KB" extended. It can now recognize 9 different versions of the Atarimax Maxflash software (2003-11-03,2003-05-29, 2004-08-25, 2005-04-09, 2009-08-15, 2011-10-03, 2012-04-07)
with
two different extraction algorithms. It was tested against 99 different "ATR Programming Images" and successfully created working "CAR Images" for them.
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New cartridge types "CARTRIDGE_MEGAMAX_2048=MegaMax 2 MB" and "CARTRIDGE_MEGA_4096=Flash MegaCart 4 MB" added to the recognized content types in accordance with the new Atari800 definition. Please note that this is just for completes of the
Studio.
Only the MegaMax 2 MB can be emualted by the "The!Cart" itself.
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New flash module type "Flash MegaCart 4 MB" added to the "Flash Module" presets in the workbook options. Please note that this is just a preset and no flasher is included.
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New field "Cartridge Type" in the workbook options which allows explicit specification of the cartridge type for user defined flash modules. This cartridge type is used when the workbook is exported as "CAR" cartridge image.
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The size of user space is now automatically rounded to a multiple of the flash block size, i.e to 64 KB for the flash target types "Atarimax 128 KB/ 1 MB" and "Flash MegaCart 4 MB" and to 128 KB for "The!Cart 128 MB".
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The external software in "cartmenu.rom" is now also found if the folder path contains spaces or other special characters.
2013-12-06
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Import of "ATR Programming Images" for "Atarimax 1 MB" and "Atarimax 128 KB" fixed, so it also works with cartridges that are not full, i.e. where the ATR is smaller.
2013-12-05
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1 MB Atarimax cartridge images are now correctly defaulted to content type "Atarimax 1 MB" instead of "Atarimax 128 KB.
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Section "Printing Workbooks" added to online help.
2013-12-04
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Existing collections for 128 KB or 1 MB Maxflash cartridges are often only available as "ATR Programming Image" but not as "CAR" cartridge images.
Therefore a conversion for Maxflash Studio ATR programming images to "CAR" cartridge images has been
added.
This way you can even test the collection directly in an emulator.
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Description of supported file formats (CAR/BIN/CAR/ATR/EXE) and their usage added to the online help.
2013-12-02
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The window state "normal/maximized" is now also saved and the default window position and size are those that the user has set before maximizing/minimizing the main window.
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The program now also starts and works correctly if the folder path of "TheCartStudio.jar" contains a folder with a name that ends with an exclamation mark "!".
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Cartridge database cleaned up. Additional characters like "+-*/=?" are now allowed in titles. Title suggestions with more than 40 characters from the cartridge database are automatically shortened.
2013-12-01
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New Atari Software version 2013-11-30 included. External software is now also found if the name of the "TheCart.jar" was changed manually.
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Default bank for user space entries is now the first bank of the user space.
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Table of contents with links added to help.
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Help content is now displayed with correct small font.
2013-11-26
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New menu entry "Edit/Add User Space Entry" added to defined cartridge menu entries also for those parts of the flash cartridge that are in the user space.
The user space is the part of the flash cartridge that is not touched by "The!Cart Studio"
but
is flashed directly from the Atari. The size of the user space can be specified in the workbook options.
2013-11-25
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New Atari Software version 2013-11-03 included. This version supports delayed autorun for the last used ROM. In additional a newer version of "cartmenu.rom" can be placed manually into the folder where "TheCartStudio.jar" is located. It will be
loaded
automatically then. Whether the built-in or the external software is used and which version it has is displayed in the "About" dialog.
2013-11-04
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New menu entry "Tools/Options" allows selection of the display language of "The!Cart Studio". Possible values are "Automatic", "English", "German".