options to load everything via SD card

[manotroll]

Wouldn't it be possible to convert all the Atari 2600 roms and put them on an SD card and choose from a menu?
Or add a matrix of buttons in place of the 4 keys and enter a number that would load the games to the pico's RAM?
Thank you for making the files available

[jasonfrowe]

You can have a menu with the 2600+. The 2600+ cannot interact with the cart, it will only dump the ROM, hence the need for a more analog approach with dip-switches.

Matrix decoder might be possible but that would require a substantial rework.

[manotroll]

I'm sure I'm going to use it on the old Atari 2600
and there are others like everdrive and derivatives that have a menu although they use a much more expensive chip for control
I don't know how much space is left after the conversions but sending commands via serial or with an LCD even with a second pi to send the files
I had the boards made when everything arrives I'll be able to see if the Atari is still working because someone disappeared with my cartridges

[jasonfrowe]

I haven't tested the board on a real 2600, since I do not own one. If you run into problems we can discuss how to compile with overclocking or adding an external power-source to deal with potential timing issues.

Other multi-carts are interacting with the 2600 via the cartridge slot. With the 2600+, the cart is dumped and run through an emulator, so an on-screen menu is not possible.

I am working on a WIFI version that would allow messages via MQTT to allow for cart swapping with a simple python script that can probably be easily implemented into a local web-service. It's about 95% complete, I just trying to resolve some interrupt instability that can affect a currently running game often enough to be annoying.

[manotroll]

I'm putting it together maybe this weekend so I can test it
Could it be that in the code you could give priority to the cartridge pins and one less to the selection pins?
something like 1.8 for the cartridge pins and 0.2 for the selector switch?
which games run well and which have problems so I can test on the original Atari for comparison