[HN Gopher] SidecarT - Atari ST/STE/Mega Cartridge Emulator on R...
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       SidecarT - Atari ST/STE/Mega Cartridge Emulator on Raspberry Pi
       Pico Steroids
        
       Author : nynyny7
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2023-12-02 14:35 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (sidecartridge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (sidecartridge.com)
        
       | cmrdporcupine wrote:
       | Such a major bummer that Atari restricted cartridge sizes to
       | 128kB (not enough address lines for more). Really limits what can
       | be done with that interface. Can't even hold a new TOS ROM
       | (192kB).
        
         | alexisread wrote:
         | Agreed, better to have been a full mega expansion bus as a
         | cartridge port, to upgrade ram/cpu/graphics etc.
         | 
         | Would have also liked the blitter socket in every machine from
         | the start (for a T212), Amy or at least a pwm on the dma,
         | stereo output and low byte addressing for the video.
        
           | cmrdporcupine wrote:
           | Yeah they really cut corners on the first couple generations
           | that came out. RAM expansion was a PITA, and even though they
           | knew they wanted to do the blitter later, they never made
           | room for it.
           | 
           | But Tramiel never understood or cared about building a
           | platform or backward/forward compatibility. It was about
           | moving product out at rock bottom price and moving on. It was
           | only once his sons started taking on more of the business
           | that they made (some) smarter moves.
           | 
           | The first generation Mega ST was actually an amazing computer
           | though. High quality mechanical key switch keyboard. Internal
           | expansion bus, but still a compact form factor. The MegaSTe
           | was more powerful, and did the VMEbus thing, but cut corners
           | on quality.
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-03 23:02 UTC)