The!Cart Studio

Welcome to "The!Cart Studio", the free cartridge image authoring tool for The!Cart , Atarimax Maxflash Cartridges and free-style binary cartridge images. 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 for usage if an EPROM or external flash programming device, emulator cartridge images to run the cartridge in emulators and flash programming disk images which can be booted or loaded directly from the Atari to flash the target flash module. You need a device and software that is capable of transferring the data from your PC to the Atari like for example SIO2PC (available here and here ) with AspeQt or SIO2SD . For "The!Cart", you do not need a USB programmer device or other PC related hardware for programming. Because "The!Cart Studio" can also create plain binary export files for a workbook, you can of course also use an USB programmer device to burn or flash them into any kind of cartridge supported by the device.

Sequence for creating workbooks and tranferring them to the cartridge

You can watch the youtube video presentation get an idea how it works and looks like. To really learn about the details and features you should carefully read this English manual. 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) .

Downloading the Program
Starting the Program
General Usage
Advanced Topics
Related Links
Compatibility Patches
Change History

Downloading the Program

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 plus additional operating system specific wrapper files. Simply extract the files from the archive into a folder of your choice.

Download archive content

Starting the Program

"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 or newer 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 Java 1.7 or newer versions. "The!Cart Studio" requires enough RAM available for the Java process to be able to export images. The amount of available RAM is display in the "About" dialog. It should be twice the size of the cartridge you want to export. So for a 128 MB "The!Cart" export, the program requires at least 256 MB. You can specify this when you start from the command line via "java -Xmx256M -jar TheCartStudio.jar". By default "The!Cart Studio" check if an update is available during the start. The check is performed in the background and has no impact on the startup time. You can disable this check in the options.

Windows

Double-click "TheCartStudio.exe" to start the program. The "TheCartStudio.jar" file with the actual program must be present in the same folder. 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" to start the graphical user internal. Alternatively the following parameters are supported when running from the command line.

Starting in Windows command prompt

Linux

After extracting the "TheCartStudio.sh" and the "TheCartStudio.jar" file from the download archive, the so called "executable bit" should already be set. In case it is not, you will see the following error message when you double-click one of the files.

After unpacking

Open the file properties, set the executable flag as shown below for both files.

Setting the executable bit

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 that is not the case or if you get error messages reporting that there is not enough memory reserved for Java, you can double-lick the "TheCartStudio.sh" instead which sets the -Xms and -Xmx parameters of Java as required.
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.

Mac OS X

The folder "TheCartStudio.app" in the download is a native package which contains a small Java stub, the "TheCartStudio.jar" and some additional configuration files. You can start the app directly from the Finder. It also sets the -Xms and -Xmx parameters of Java as required to overcome the default of only 128MB heap space. Upon the first start you will have to open the app directly from the Finder via the "Open" entry in the context menu. Then you have to confirm the "TheCartStudio is from an unidentified developer. Are you sure you want to open it?" warning by pressing the "Open" button and authenticating the action with an administrator user.

Confirming the start of the app

General Usage

The "The!Cart" 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 if an EPROM or external flash programming device, emulator cartridge images (".CAR") to run the cartridge in emulators and flash programming images (".ATR") which can be booted or loaded directly from the Atari to flash the target flash module. Depending on the disk emulation you are using, you can export the workbook a single large programming disk image for use with AspeQt or as multiple 16 MB sized programming disk images for use with SIO2SD , SIO2USB or similar SIO device emulators. You can also export cartridge images in plain binary (".BIN") to burn or flash them to any kind of cartridge using a programmer device.

Detailed sequence for creating workbooks and tranferring them to the cartridge

In case you are creating workbooks for "The!Cart", you can make use of the native cartridge emulation feature and reuse the existing software for "Atari Maxflash" cartridge and "MegaCart". This means you can one the one hand directly use existing compilations and just add them as a single file. On the other hand you can use Maxflash Studio and MegaCart Studio to create new compilations and images for these cartridges and then add them as a single file. Because the Extended Menu of "The!Cart" also recognizes the menu systems of these two cartridge systems, it can optionally offer you the entries within these menus directly.

Detailed sequence for creating workbooks and tranferring them to the cartridge

Using the different studios with their specific loaders can be useful in particular when adding ATR disk images. It is in the nature or ROM cartridges that no 100% emulation of standard disk handling is possible. Any kind of ATR emulation must use at least a little amount of the computer's RAM. And if a certain program uses this RAM area while loading from the cartridge, the loader will be overwritten and crash. The details on the different methods used can be found in the section ATR Disk Images . The following table given an overview of the features supported by the individual loaders. With this information you can decide which loader might be the right one for you.

Loader	Method	Compatible with Programs using the RAM under the OS	Supports Disk Swapping	Supports Poke and Patches
Maxflash Studio	Modified Atari OS in RAM	No	Yes	No
MegaCart Studio	Modified Atari OS in RAM	No	Yes	No
The!Cart Studio	Modified ATR Disk Image	Yes	No (planned)	Yes

User Interface

The user interface 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.

Options

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.

Creating Workbooks

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...".

Adding Entries

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.

Selecting one or more files to add

"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 (".tcd") 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.

Confirm overwriting an existing file

Entry Properties

The information for every entry is displayed in the columns of table on the "Entries" tab". Only the most important columns are visible by default. They are show with bold names on the table. You can configure the visibility and order of the columns as described in the section General Usage . Columns listed as editable can be read-only for certain entries depending on the type of the entry or other conditions.

Column	Editable	Description
Line	No	The line number in the table.
Type	No	The type of the entry. Possible values are: File This entry was added via the standard "Add Entries..." action by selecting a file that is now part of the workbook. The entry and content of the file will be exported when the workbook is exported. User Space This entry was added via the "Add User Space Entry..." action by selecting a file that is now part of the workbook. User space entries can only be added if user space is reserved in the workbook options. A user space entry is exported as menu entry only and points to a bank in the User Space that is not maintained from from "The!Cart Studio".
Title	Yes	The title of the entry in the extended menu. It must be specified and should unique within the workbook because it is the basis for the search in the extended menu. The length of the title is limited to 40 characters and to characters that actually exist in the Atari's character set. The title is defaulted when the entry is added based on built-in the cartridge database. If no entry can be found in the database, the title is defaulted based on the name of the newly added file.
Genre	Yes	The genre of the entry. Genres like "Games", "Demos" or "Tools" can be defined in the workbook options. Every entry can optionally be assigned to a genre. There are three ways to do this. First by typing in the name of the genre with the keyboard. Second by choosing the genre from the drop down list of the field. Third by the action "Set Genre..." in the "Edit" menu. Using the "Set Genre..." action, you can set or clear the genre for all selected entries at once. If an entry not assigned to a genre, is will only be present on the "All" tab of the extended menu. If a type is assigned to a genre, it will be present on the "All" tab and on the tab for the genre.
Favorite	Yes	If you set the favorite indicator for an entry, the initial list of entries in the extended menu only shows the favorites for the active genre. This way you can use the joystick or cursor keys to select from restricted list of entries. As soon as you start typing a search term, the favorite indicator becomes irrelevant and all entries are searched foe the search term.
File Path	No	The source file path for newly added and not yet saved entries. Once the workbook is saved, the file will be copied from the source file path into the data folder of the workbook and the file path will be cleared.
File Name	No	The file name of the entry that uniquely identifies the entry within the wookbook and the data folder of the workbook.
File Size	No	The exact file size of the file in bytes.
File Header	No	The file header type of the file. Possible values are: None The file does not have a specific file header that describes its content. The complete file content is considered as relevant data for "The!Cart". You have to select the proper content type manually. Cartridge The file is a ".CAR" file that contains an additional header that describes is content. Only the part of the file after the header is considered as relevant for "The!Cart". The content type of the entry is set automatically and cannot be changed manually.
Content Size	No	The size of the relevant content in the file. For files with header type "None", it is equal to the file size. For files with another header type, it is the file size minus the size of the header.
Content CRC32	No	The CRC32 checksum of the content. This checksum is used as identification to find information in the cartridge database. You will sometime also find this checksum when people try to identify which ROM or version of a ROM they have.
Content Type	Yes	The content type of the entry. The content type controls how "The!Cart" and the extended menu interpret the binary content behind the entry. To start an entry correctly, the correct content type must be set. If you add entries with a "Cartridge" file header, the content type is determined automatically and cannot be changed manually. If you add a plain binary file, "The!Cart Studio" will default the content type is possible based on the size of the file. If there is more than one content type that matches the file size, you have to select the correct one from the drop down list of the field. You can see the available content types and the associated file size in the "Content Types Overview" dialog. The dialog can be opened via the "Help/Content Types" menu.
Display Mode	Yes	The display mode for the entry. Possible values are: Single Entry The entry is represented as single entry in the extended menu. The entry title in the workbook is used as entry title in the extended menu. Multiple Entries This value can only be selected if the file behind the entry contains an own menu that is supported by "The!Cart Studio". The inner menu entries are extracted from the file during the export of the workbook. Only the titles of the inner menu entry, but not the title of the workbook entry, will appear in the extended menu.
Parameters	Yes	The parameters are relevant for entries with content type "ATR - Atari Disk Images". They contain the information required for modify the disk image content, so it can run from "The!Cart" instead of running from a disk drive. When you add a entry based on a disk image, the default parameters are automatically determined by "The!Cart Studio". You can change them manually in case the disk images does not work correctly with the defaults. To restore the defaults, add the disk image file again. For more information on the parameters see File Format and Content Type .
Start Bank Fixed	Yes	By default "The!Cart Studio" arranges the data for the entries of a workbook automatically. This is done based on a strategy that keeps the position of existing entries stable as long as there is enough free space. Together with the incremental flashing feature of the flashing software, this helps keeping the time required for updating "The!Cart" short. If you are a developer that creates software specifically for "The!Cart" or you even create other arbitrary binary exports with "The!Cart Studio", you may want to have control of the order and position of the entry data in the export. By setting the "Start Bank Fixed" checkbox, the corresponding field in the "Start Bank" becomes editable. "The!Cart Studio" will then used the specified start bank for the entry and will not rearrange the entry is space on the cartridge runs out.
Start Bank	Yes	The bank where the content for the entry is located. By default the start bank is determined and managed automatically by The!Cart. By setting the "Start Bank Fixed" checkbox, you make make this field editable and specify a fixed value manually.
Banks	No	The number of banks the entry will occupy on the cartridge.
Bank Assigned	No	This checkbox indicates the required banks for the entry could be assigned correctly. If there is not enough continuous space for the banks of the entry left on the cartridge, the "Banks Assigned" checkbox will not be set. Saving the workbook is possible in this case, but exporting the workbook is disabled. You can use the menu "Edit/Reassign Banks" to trigger a reordering of all entries to minimize gaps and free more space.

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 flash 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" file. All popular emulators have this function built in. This way you don't have to choose the correct flash module type on every start.
ATR Programming Images	Collections created with the Maxflash 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 "Atarimax 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" cartridge 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 disk 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 disk image. As a consequence a program that uses a display list, graphics or interrupts in the cartridge 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 Disk Images and Modified Atari OS in RAM . It depends on the individual ATR disk image and its programs which of them will work best. Modified ATR Images This is the approach used by the "Extended Menu" of "The!Cart". 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. For disks that contain a known DOS (DOS 2.0S, DOS 2.5, MyDOS) and its "DOS.SYS" file, only the sectors that belong to that file are patched by default. For disks that contain the Bootmanager by Mike Langer , only the sectors of the Bootmanager are patched. For all other disks, the complete disk is scanned for usages of the SIO and that may potentially result in some false positives you have to removed manually from the parameters. The result of this analysis is stored in the "Parameters" column in the form "base=$100, $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 on Atari 400 an Atari 800 machines that do not have RAM under the OS and 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 disk image. The following parameters are supported. Numbers are given in hexadecimal notation and are just example values. In the Compatibility Patches you can find a list of known parameter combinations for programs that don't work with the default parameters. base=$100 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 disk image 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 $100, $400, $480,$500,$600 and $100. Just try which one works for the specific program. $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 $123 is changed to the high byte of start address of emulation code for the SIOV vector ($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 $123 is changed to the high byte of start address of emulation code for the DSKINV vector ($e453). $123=SELECTEDITEMNUMBER The two bytes at offset $123 is changed to memory location which contains the item number of the selected menu entry. This can be used to modify inner menus to skip the selection and start the selected entry automatically. The item numbers are counted starting at zero. For example if you select the a menu entry which represents the 3rd item on a disk based ATR disk image, the values in the memory location will be "2". If you messed up the parameters somehow, you can simply add the ATR disk image 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 disk image. 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 disk image is packed on encrypted. The disadvantage is that the approach will not work on machines like the Atari 400 or Atari 800 that do not have RAM under the OS like the Atari and not with programs that use the RAM under the OS themselves. You can use the Maxflash Studio or MegaCart Studio to create 128 KB, 1 MB or 2 MB collections with ATR disk images. Both studios come with proven emulation and provide 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. They can be added to "The!Cart" in three ways. All of them have advantages and disadvangates. Directly as single file Executable files (COM,EXE,XEX) can be added directly to the workbook. While adding files directly is very convenient, the worst case waste of space is 8191 bytes per file. Therefore it is recommended to use the below mentioned options instead, if you add many executable files. Included with multiple files on an ATR disk image The most compatible and most space efficient way to run these files is to copy them together with the required DOS onto an disk. For execuable files which load additional data like fonts from separate files, it is even the only valid way. And while adding executable files directly in the workbook is possible, adding them onto an ATR disk image with the Bootmanager by Mike Langer first, and then adding the ATR disk image has advantages. You can create ATR disk images which represent compilations and also work on real disk drives. In addition, ATR disk images work with sectors of 128 or 256 bytes. So if multiple file are copied to one disk, at most 127 or 255 bytes of space are wasted per file on a full disk. The HomeSoft web site contains many disk images which are already prepared with the Bootmanager by Mike Langer . Included with multiple files on an "Atarimax Maxflash" or "MegaCart" cartridge This is similar to including files on an ATR disk images. Instead of using DOS and a Bootmanager, you can use the Maxflash Studio or MegaCart Studio to create 128 KB, 1 MB or 2 MB collections with COM/EXE/XEX executables. Both studios come with proven emulation and provide several options to specify, how the executable shall be handled. You can then export the collection as BIN or CAR cartridge image and add that to the workbook.

Cartridge Database

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 e-mail address .

Display Mode

Via the column "Display Mode" you can select how the entry is represented in the extended menu. Possible values are:

Single Entry
The entry is represented as single entry in the extended menu. The entry title in the workbook is used as entry title in the extended menu.
Multiple Entries
This value can only be selected if the file behind the entry contains an own inner menu that is supported by "The!Cart Studio". The inner menu entries are extracted from the file during the export of the workbook. Only the titles of the inner menu entry, but not the title of the workbook entry, will appear in the extended menu.

The following types and versions of inner menus are currently supported. For all of them, you can add the inner menu entries to the extended menu by choosing "Multiple Entries". When you add an entry to the workbook, the "Display Mode" will be set to "Multiple Entries" automatically by default. You can of course change the values if you don't want the inner menu entries to show up separately. By default you will start the inner menu when you select one of its entries in the extended menu. For some inner menus dedicated support has be implemented so selecting the inner menu entry even starts it directly.

File Type	Menu	Description
ROM Image	Maxflash Studio	Multiple entries is supported for a very large number of versions of Atari Maxflash Studio . Direct start is supported for the menus created witd the latest version of Maxflash Studio.
ROM Image	MegaCart Studio Menu	Multiple entries is supported for all official versions of MegaCart Studio . Direct start is supported for the menus created with the latest version of MegaCart Studio.
Disk Image	Bootmanager by Mike Langer	Multiple entries is supported for the 1996 version of the Bootmanager by Mike Langer , which is the only known version. Direct start is not supported. You can find the huge archive of disk images that use the Bootmanager on the HomeSoft web site .
Disk Image	MyPicoDOS Menu by Matthias Reichl (hias)	Multiple entries is supported if there is a "PICONAME.TXT" configuration file on the disk. Direct start is not supported.

Previewing Workbooks

The menu entry "Tools/Preview" allows for a testing preview of the complete cartridge export and its menu in an emulator. For the preview, the workbook is exported as ".CAR" file with a fixed name into the temporary folder of the user. A previously existing preview is overwritten automatically. If no path to an emulator executable is configured in the options, "The!Cart Studio" tries to open the ".CAR" file with the associated default program of the operating system. If that fails, it will ask you to maintain the full path to the emulator, for example to "Altirra.exe" or "atari800.exe", in the options.

Exporting Workbooks

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 AspeQt 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

The export always also generates a ".txt" index file with the title and origin of all menu entries. This way you can use the file system search of your operating system function to find games in exports. The index file also contains the information the for example "Amaurote 128 (130 XE)" is one of the menu entry that stees from the "Multiple Entries" setting for the workbook entry with the title "GAMES403" stored in "GAMES403.ATR"."

Printing Workbooks

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.
Print output

Programming Flash Cartridges

The!Cart

Plug "The!Cart" in and power on your Atari.
Press "ESC" to leave the extended menu and enter the simple menu with the black text screen.
Press "F" to select the built-in flasher and then "RETURN" to start it.
The flasher will automatically detect if the attached storage device supports high-speed SIO.
Press "1" for "Program Cartridge".
If you use AspeQt and SIO2PC, insert the single large disk image created in the step Exporting Workbooks into the emulated drive "D1:" in AspeQt.
If you use SIO2USB, SIO2SD or your alternative storage device, insert the the first of the nine 16 MB disk images created in the step Exporting Workbooks into the emulated drive "D1:" in AspeQt. If your storage device supports emulating multiple drives, you can insert the disk images 2..9 already in the subsequent virtual drives. This way you can leave the Atari along for a longer time during flashing.
The flasher will prompt you with "drive number (1-15)"
Press "1" and "RETURN" to start loading the data from disk.
The flasher will load the header information and display the workbook title, date and number of used blocks. It will display if the export consists of multiple 16 MB images. In that case you can choose to search for further 16 MB disk images in all available drives.
The flasher will prompt you with "perform incremental update (y/n)?"
Press "y" to use incremental update.
The flasher will prompt you with "start programming (y/n)?"
Press "y" to start the actual flashing.
The flasher will load the check sums, determine which differences exist between the current content of "The!Cart" and the content of the exported workbook. Only blocks that are different are loaded and updated.
When done with programming, the flasher will prompt you with "Press any key to continue"
Press "S" to start the cartridge.
The flasher will prompt you with "Start Cartridge: 'E' for expert menu (y/e/n)?"
Press "y" to start enter the updated extended menu.

Important: If The!Cart does not start anymore after flashing

In very rare cases, for example when I/O errors corrupt the first few banks of The!Cart, you may not be able to enter the menus or the built-in flasher anymore from The!Cart itself. Then you have the following options:

Download latest disk version of the flasher from Atari flashing software .
Insert the "thecart.atr" from the download archive in disk drive 1.
Hold down the OPTION key during power-on. You will then either end up in the simple menu and can try to update from there. If there is no extended menu on the cartridge, the cartridge disables itself completely and the computer will boot from disk.
If even holding down OPTION does not disable The!Cart, hold down the SELECT key instead during power-on. The cartridge disables itself completely and the computer will boot from disk.
If even this does not disable The!Cart, you need a Turbo-Freezer or similar monitor program, so you can disable The!Cart during power-on by writing the value $00 to address $D5A6. If you have a Turbo-Freezer, hold down the freezer button and power-on the computer. Enter the debugger by pressing "D" and enter "CD5A6<00". Then press RESET to let the computer boot.
If all this fails, you can try the strictly not recommended way and hot-plug The!Cart. This may damage your cartridge and you computer. First boot the flash from disk without The!Cart inserted. You are prompted to press the RESET button on The!Cart. Insert the cartridge carefully and completely. Press the RESET button on the cartridge and then press RETURN on the computer. The flasher will report if and which cartridge was detected.
You can flash the cartridge as described in the previous section. If the problem remains, try flashing again and answer the question "incremental update" with "n".
Now your The!Cart works again. If not, feel free to contacts us.

Extended Menu

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 extended menu, holding OPTION while pressing RESET on the Atari starts the simple menu. This allows for starting the built-in flasher and update the extended menu in case it does not work properly. Holding SELECT while pressing RESET on the Atari disables the cartridge completely. This allowes for starting booting the flasher from a disk drive.
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 will 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 / ATARI - 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. Lock the the cartridge configuration to prevent changes.
FIRE+SHIFT or RETURN+SHIFT - Start the selected entry. Don't lock the the cartridge configuration.
RETURN+CONTROL - Start the selected entry's cartridge menu, if there is one. Lock the the cartridge configuration to prevent changes.
RETURN+SHIFT+CONTROL - Start the selected entry's cartridge menu, if there is one. Don't lock the the cartridge configuration.
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
ESC - Exit the extended menu and start the simple menu. From there the flash can be started also.

The most recent version of the CPLD logic for the "The!Cart" cartridge supports a configuration lock. The configuration lock ensures no software can unintentionally or maliciously change the contents of the "The!Cart" cartridge. If you have an early version of "The!Cart" cartridge, you can use a JTAG interface to update the CPLD logic . By default the configuration of "The!Cart" is locked when an entry is started. This means the configuration cannot be changed via software anymore until you press RESET button on the "The!Cart" cartridge. By pressing the "SHIFT" key as additional modifier when starting an entry, you can prevent the configuration lock. This can be useful when using software that is built to access the "The!Cart" cartridge in native mode, for example RAM disk drivers.

Advanced Topics

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.

Trouble Shooting

In case of problems, just post your question to the forums mentioned at the beginning of this document. Frequent mistakes are

You have used the wrong flash module type and size in the workbook options
Make sure you set the flash module type and size to the actual type and size of your cartridge. This is esp. important if you did not create the workbook yourself but download it from somewhere. Other people may have other hardware then you.
Yout have used the wrong menu in the workbook options
Make sure you set the flash module type to "Extended Menu" to get the Google-like search. This is esp. important if you did not create the workbook yourself but download it from somewhere. Older workbooks use the "Simple Menu".
You have use the wrong flashing mode in the flasher
Make sure you use "Program Cartridge" by default. Programming raw files or images is not required when using "The!Cart Studio". Make sure you use incremental flashing by default if it is available to save time. Non-incremental/full flashing is only required is nothing else helps. In non-incremental mode, all blocks (16 banks are 1 block) of "The!Cart" are are explicitly erased to initialize the flash, even though the banks may have been empty already.
You have used the "E) Erase cartridge" option in flasher
This completely erases all content in the Flash ROM, including the menu and the flasher. The empty cartrige will lock up the computer during the boot process. See section "If The!Cart does not start anymore after flashing" for the required steps. The first flash process will again erase all blocks (16 banks are 1 block) to initialize the flash, even though the banks may have been empty already.

For testing if your cartridge and the flasher work correctly, a number of test workbooks are available for download here . In case the computer does not even start with the cartridge inserted, you can try holding down the OPTION key during power-on to bypass the cartridge. The load the flasher program from disk instead and flash the cartridge again.

Compatibility Patches

This is a list of patches for programs that don't work out of the box with newer or non-standard Operating Systems or with the ATR loader of The!Cart. For them you can adapt the default parameters determined by "The!Cart" Studio. Just enter the solution listed in the "Parameters" column of the respective workbook entry the to patch the files during the export. Since the offsets specified here are specific for a given disk image, they may not work on other disk images.

Program	File	Issue	Solution
Amaurote 128 (130 XE)	GAME403.ATR	Uses the memory starting at $480 during loading, hence overwriting the ATR loader if it uses that area.	base=$0500, $011d=siov
Bandits	Bandits (1982)(Sirius Software)[OS-B].atr	Uses an indirect jump to the disk SIO vector to hide where it takes place. This requires an addition patch location $119D1 to be added manually.	base=$500, $45=dskinv, $1617=dskinv, $208f=dskinv, $5326=dskinv, $0105c9=dskinv, $01065e=dskinv, $119D1=dskinv
Bounty Bob Str. Back!	GAME049.ATR	Uses the wrong PORTB value $8f when activating the OS ROM, causing extended RAM to become active in extended machines. The data from the empty extended RAM is copied under the OS and when pressing RESET, the empty data is copied over the actual program. Though the program seem to start correctly, it'll break later.	base=$0400, $011d=siov, $122ed=$ff, $12318=$fe
M.U.L.E.	GAMES067.ATR	The crack intro uses the normally unused stack area starting at $114 and page 4 starting at $400. Therefore the base address for the ATR loader must be place at a different address.	base=$0600, $011d=siov, $016a01=$ae, $016a02=selected_item_number, $016a04=$4c, $016a05=$8b, $016a06=$09
Popeye	GAME009.ATR	Uses and illegal entry point to OS-B, so it doesn't work on a standard Atari XL.	base=$0400, $011d=siov, $1101a=$ea, $1101b=$ea, $1101c=$ea

Change History

2020-08-13

Workbook entries now have an additional column "Comment" besides the "Title". The column is hidden by default and can be made visible via the context menu on the table header. Opposed to the title, the comment is only used in the studio and has no restrictions in terms of length and usable characters.
During the export of Maxflash and MegaCart entries, the title of the entry ins no longer replaced by version of the MaxFlash menu (e.g. "MaxflashMenu-$1f47-$ffffffff"). Instead the title is now kept and the version information is stored as comment the new column "Comment" (e.g. "comment=MaxflashMenu-$1f47-$ffffffff"). This way the entries keep their original or user defined title.
All loaders now initializes PMBASE ($d407) to $00 before starting the selected entry. This fixes player missile display issues with programs which rely on being started on a freshly booted system. For example the "Moon Patrol Redux" on "GAMES449.atr".
The ATR loader now initializes DBUFLO/DBUGHI ($304/$305) again to $400 after the boot sequence. This fixes loading issues with program which rely on this OS specific default. For example "Sexy Six Data disk #1(19xx)(Sikor Soft)(PL).atr".

2020-05-21

Fixed ArayIndexOutOfBoundException when adding and ATR disk image which has a partial match for DISKINV/SIOV at the end of the file.
Fixed XEX detection for files where the last segment is a single byte.
The text of the message I425 has been improved: Export the '{0}' project of this ROM using the latest program version of '{0}' and import the ROM into this workbook again." Then you can start these entries directly.

2020-01-01

The long pending feature to mark entries as favorites is now working. If you set the favorite indicator for an entry, the initial list of entries in the extended menu only shows the favorites for the active genre. This way you can use the joystick or cursor keys to select from restricted list of entries. As soon as you start typing a search term, the favorite indicator becomes irrelevant and all entries are searched foe the search term.
The search which was broken in the version 2019-12-24 is working again.
The XEX loader now also handles files without RUNAD segment and file where the RUNAD segment is not the last segement correctly.
The XEX loader now clears the cold start flag (COLDST, $244), like DOS would. This way programs that perform the start via changing the DOS vectors and jumping to a warm start can start correctly.
The wait cursor is now also displayed while saving the files created via "File / Export" to indicate the program is still busy.

2019-12-24

The tabbed display for the genres now only scrolls, if the select genre does not fit on the screen. This is what you'd expect from a tabbed visualization.
The XEX loader now sets the BOOT? flag to $01, like a DOS would. This fixes problems with programs that rely on the XEX being loaded from a disk.

2019-11-26

The columns "Title", "Genre", "File Path" and "File Name" are now sorted case-insensitively.
Fixed file exception when adding "Goonies.atr", "ElektraGlide.atr", "Rampage.atr" and other ATR files.

2019-11-04

Content type "Executable File" is now set automatically when executables files (COM,EXE,XEX) with a valid file structure are added.
New content type "SAP Music File" has been added and is set automatically when Slight Atari Player files (SAP) with a valid file structure are added. These files will be supported directly by the menu in future.

2019-10-28

Executable files (COM,EXE,XEX) can now be added directly to the workbook. Previously they had to be copied to an ATR disk image or be included in an AtariMax ROM. The corresponding sections in the documentation have been updated. For now, only files with a valid RUNADR ($2e0) segment will start, just like under DOS 2.5.
Bootmanager by Mike Langer is now included in the The!Cart studio download and online help. While adding executable files directly in the workbook is possible, adding them onto an ATR disk image with the boot manager first, and then adding the ATR disk image has advantages. ATR disk images work with sectors of 128 or 256 bytes. So if multiple files are copied to one disk, at most 127 or 255 bytes of space are wasted. If you add executable files directly, you waste 8191 bytes of space per file in the worst case.
In addition to the HELP key, the ATARI/INVERSE key now also displays a built-in help menu that explains all controls. This solves the problem that there is no HELP key on the Atari 400 and the Atari 800.
If the application detects that a new version is available, it prompts the user if the download should be performed. If the user confirms the download of the new version, the current application instance is now closed automatically, so it's files can be replaced.

2019-08-29

The default file name for the "Export To ATR Programming Images (16MB)" is now fixed to "Part.atr". The resulting export files are then named "Part_1.atr" to "Part_9.atr". This ensures that devices like SIO2USB and SIO2SD, which only display "8.3" file names, can actually display the full file name and users do not mix up the parts.

2019-07-20

The values for the reduced keyboard delay and increased repeat speed and now set only based on the PAL/NTSC type of the machine. This fixes the problem of the menu not being usable because the speed was too high if the OS has already set non-standard speeds.

2019-06-01

The boot sequence now correctly disables and locks The!Cart if SELECT was pressed. This fixes the problem that The!Ramdisk driver sees The!Cart even though it is not usable.
On Windows the TheCartStudio.exe can now be associated with the ".tcw" file extension. This way you can have file type icons and open the workbook file via double click from the Windows Explorer or by dragging workbook file on the executable or its link.

2019-03-02

New 48x48 icon for Window, Mac and Java.

2018-08-05

Section "If The!Cart does not start anymore after flashing" added in this documentation.

2018-07-17

Titles defaulted from the file name are now correct, also if the file name contains multiple period characters.
The ATR loader no longer sets a temporary blank display list to prevent flickering if the screen DMA is already disabled via SDMCTL ($22F). This keeps the screen from remaining black after loading in cases where the program directly writes to DLISTL/DLISTH ($D402/$D403). This is the case for Bandits.

2018-06-17

The preview option ("CTRL-T") has been enhanced. When no or no valid path to an emulator is configured in the global options and no default application for ".car" files is registered, a file chooser dialog now prompts for selecting the emulator executable to be used. If a valid executable is chosen, it is also saved in the global options. Note that there is currently a bug in the JDK, so detection not always works. See JDK-8204537 . You can work around this by manually entering the path in the oprtions.
The ATR loader now clears the memory locations $80-$ff and from the end of the loader (around $2000) to $9fff before the boot process. This fixes incompatibilies with programs that assume these locations to be zero, like for example Turbo-Basic XL 1.4.

2018-06-06

Fixed a bug added in the 2018-05-05 version that can prevent entries from being added when they are in the cartridge database.
If the title derived from the file name and the title in the cartridge database are equal, no confirmation dialog is displayed anymore.
Content type "XEGS 32 KB" is now correct mapped to the The!Cart mode for "XEGS 32 KB" instead of "Switchable XEGS 32 KB" in the extended menu. With this cartridges that use bank numbers with bit 7 set now work correctly, for example "Castle Crisis".
Usage of the SHIFT modifier is now the same in the expert menu and the extended menu. When starting and entry with SHIFT, i.e. FIRE+SHIFT, RETURN+SHIFT or RETURN+SHIFT+CONTROL, the configuration registers of The!Cart remain unlocked. Using the CONTROL modifier in addition, i.e. RETURN+CONTROL or RETURN+SHIFT+CONTROL indicates that the inner menu of the cartridge containing the entry is started instead of starting the entry directly. Note that FIRE+CONTROL alone cannot be detected on the Atari due to way POKEY works.
Built-in MyPicoDOS and flasher software from hias updated from version 4.05T (2014-04-07) to 4.06T (2017-09-24);
1. Added .CAR file loader so you can load cartridge images up to 512k from the disk into the The!Cart RAM without flashing them. very useful for fast test cycles during development.
2. Attract mode is now disabled when using joystick navigation.
3. Added directory and drive switching using joystick.
4. Bugfix: Don't disable high speed SIO if reading a directory fails.
The generated unit test cartridges now contain more details including the The!Cart mode used for emulation. In addition the VBI is now still active, so the cartridge can be freezed using TurboFreezer to analyze problems on the real hardware.
Import conversion for Williams 32 KB ROM is more robust now and always generates a new filename for the converted file.
File and conversion errors occuring during adding new entries are now reported correctly in the status bar.

2018-05-05

Import of Maxflash Programming ATRs now automatically converts the ".ATR" file to a ".CAR" file only if the Atarimax bank switching scheme is supported by the flash target type of the workbook.
Import of Williams 32 KB ".ROM" and ".CAR" files now automatically converts the file to a Williams 64 KB".CAR" file in case only the Williams 64 KB bank switching scheme is supported by the flash target type of the workbook.
The new Atari800 cartridge types and corresponding content types for "Atrax 128 KB" (68), "aDawliah 32 KB" (69) and "aDawliah 64 KB" (70) have been added to the cartridge detection and unit test generation. Note that they are not supported by The!Cart itself. But if you have used "Atarax 128" (17) - which is supported by "The!Cart" - in your your existing workbooks, you have to re-classify the corresponding entries now as "Decoded Atarax 128" (17). This is an incompatible change but I want to be 100% in sync with Atari800 and its definitions.
The cartridge database has been updated to Kr0tkis version from 2018-04-24. Now 839 instead of 737 known titles, 807 instead of 717 known content types.
If a matching entry in the cartridge database is found when adding a file, the user is prompted to decide if the proposed title from the database should be used.
The about dialog now also displays the number of supported content types.

2017-10-30

Documentation updated with details for running the native app on Mac OS X.

2017-06-21

Holding OPTION while pressing RESET on the Atari disables the cartridge now also if the extended menu used. If the cartridge contains the extended menu, holding SELECT 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. Note: The function of these two key was swapped in later versions.

2015-09-20

The "Multiple Entries" feature is now more reliable for corrupted Atarimax menus and can handle menus with more than 70 entries correctly now. "Maxflash Studio only reserves about 2000 bytes for the title texts. Title texts are stored as variable length strings. Typically the entry space on the cartridge runs out for the entry data, before the title space runs out for the titles. But due to a missing warning in Maxflash studio, the title space can overwrite the entry space if many long titles are used. The!Cart studio now tries to detect that situation and stops at the last correct entry. See Maxflash Studio Menu corrupted when using >70 entries .

2015-08-08

Typing in the extended menu now creates a regular key click via GTIA.
A bug during the search that was introduced in the previous version is fixed again.

2015-08-07 - Fujiama 2015 Edition

"TheCartStudio.app" for Mac OS X users now works correctly and allows to start the application directly from the finder.
New modifier key "CONTROL" is evaluated when starting an entry to disable the default configuration lock. This can be useful when using software that is built to access the "The!Cart" cartridge in native mode, for example RAM disk drivers. See Extended Menu for details. Note: This was changed to "SHIFT" in newer versions.
New section Trouble Shooting added to the documentation. It also contains a download link to an archive including test workbooks for different sizes of cartridges and all supported cartridge types. for details.
Description the flashing process for "The!Cart" added to section Programming Flash Cartridges of the documentation.

2015-04-26

The download now contains a "TheCartStudio.exe" for Windows users. This wrapper program comes with a proper icons, a version and location test for the Java Runtime and the required Java parameters to ensure enough heap memory is available.
The download now also contains a "TheCartStudio.sh" for Linux users. This script provides Java with the required parameters to ensure enough heap memory is available.
The download now also contains a "TheCartStudio.app" for Mac OS X users. This one is still very experimental and is not yet tested as I don't own a Mac OS X machine. But I wanted to get this version out now.
Online help has been revised. New sections and diagrams in now explain the overall workflow and creating and flashing workbooks. Also the different options to add files directly or via Maxflash Studio and MegaCart Studio are now explained.
The selected line in the extended menu now uses black text and a more constant and darker flashing. This reduces bending and artifacts on CRT TV.
Player missile graphics of the extended menu are now disabled correctly before an entry is started. That was an issue for example with Flop Magazine 56 Intro.
An exception that occurred with ATR files that do neither have a boot manager menu nor are DOS 2.5 disks is fixed.
New Atari software version 2014-04-07 included. It includes a fix for the CAR or MyPicoDOS when loading OSS modules.
The "-createSampleFiles" command now correctly creates separate folders "ROM-Correct", "ROM-Size-Too-Small", "ROM-Size-Too-Large".
Console output for error messages is now routed to "System.err", so the command line can properly distinguish between information and error messages.

2014-09-25

The last entry on from Bootmanager by Mike Langer disks is now visible in the extended menu. Thanks to Frank for pointing out the bug.
New cartridge type "67 - XEGS 64 KB cartridge (banks 8-15)" added to list of recognized cartridge and content types for completeness.

2014-09-24

Bootable ATRs without DOS 2.x or MYDOS are now correctly recognized again. They had worked before and became broken with the support for the Bootmanager by Mike Langer ATR disk images.
The new menu entry "Tools/Preview" allows for a testing preview of the complete cartridge export and its menu in an emulator, just as in the Maxflash Studio. For the preview, the workbook is exported as ".car" file with a fixed name into the temporary folder of the user. A previously existing preview is overwritten automatically. If no path to an emulator executable,is configured in the options, "The!Cart Studio" tries to open the ."car" file with the associated default program of the operating system. Only if that fails, it will ask you to maintain the full path to the emulator, for example to "Altirra.exe" or "atari800.exe", in the options.
The modifier key for menu entries should now be "Command" instead of "Control" on Mac OS X.
The buttons for choosing the bank colors are now also correctly displayed on Windows XP.
The "Check for Updates during Start" setting in the options is now saved correctly when the program is closed.

2014-09-22

The export now also generates a ".txt" index file with the title and origin of all menu entries. So you can use the file system search of your operating system function to find games in exports. The index file also contains the information the for example "Amaurote 128 (130 XE)" is one of the menu entry that stems from the "Multiple Entries" setting for the workbook entry with the title "GAMES403" stored in "GAMES403.ATR"."
The resident part of the SIO simulation that must be present after booting has been reduced from 231 to 148 bytes. This makes is possible to use the stack area with "base=$100" also. Since that part of the stack will be unused most cases, it has become the new default base address. Yet there may be programs that use that area for example during unpacking, so you'll have to try other values in case it doesn't work there.
The ATR analysis now patches DOS disks correctly also in case the "DOS.SYS" is not stored starting at sectors 4 but on other parts of the disk. Example: "Asteroids.atr" by Norbert Kehrer
In the new appendix Compatibility Patches you can find a list of known parameter combinations for programs that don't work with the default parameters. This includes fixes for OS-B only games (Popeye) or file versions with plain bugs (Bounty Bob).
Pressing RETURN to start the selected entry now correctly starts the entry even if the search is still active. Before RETURN was interpreted as ESC in this case and the simple menu was started.
Menu entries from double density Bootmanager by Mike Langer disks with more than 9 entries (i.e. more than 1 directory sector) now appear correctly in the extended menu. Example: "GAMES009.ATR".
The documentation has been extended with the description on starting Java with enough memory to export large workbook. The about dialog now displays the amount of memory that is available in Java. Errors that occur during the export due to insufficient memory are no caught and displayed in the status bar. This was a problem on Mac OS X 10.9 where the default heap size for Java is 128 MB on some machines.
The new parameter "$123=SELECTEDITEMNUMBER" can be used to patch menu code of ATR images to directly load the correct menu item. For Bootmanager by Mike Langer disks, this is done automatically already now. So you can start all of them from the extended menu without bothering with the actual Bootmanager by Mike Langer menu.

2014-09-16

"The!Cart Studio" now automatically checks if a newer version is available on the web site during startup. If a newer version is available, a dialog box is displayed and the download can be triggered directly by pressing "Yes". For those who have a slow internet connection or simply don't like automatic updates, the check can be disabled in the options. You can then use the "About" dialog to display the local and the version available on the web site.
The analysis of the ATR with respect to SIO patching has been improved. For disks that contain a known DOS (DOS 2.0S, DOS 2.5, MyDOS) and its "DOS.SYS" file, only the sectors that belong to that file are patched by default. For disks that contain the Bootmanager by Mike Langer , only the sectors or the Bootmanager are patched. For all other disks, the complete disk is scanned for usages of the SIO and that may potentially result in some false positives you have to removed manually from the parameters. If you added ATR files to a workbook before and did not manually modify the parameters, you should add those files again. This will set the parameter to the new default, reducing the risk of wrong patches.
Patches specified in the "Parameters" column for ATR files can now also be used for direct patching and pokes. You can specify a patch or poke as "$1234=$56" to set the byte at offset "$1234" in the disk image content to "$56" during the export. For example to make "Popeye" work on OS-C/XL machines you can specify "base=$0400, $011d=siov, $1101a=$ea, $1101b=$ea, $1101c=$ea" as parameters for the "GAME009.ATR" from HomeSoft.
The ATR loader now correctly clears the RAM before the boot process. Before the RAM was unintentionally filled with a pattern. This resulted in graphics garbage in some programs that do not initialize the RAM themselves like Master of the Lamps.

2014-09-11

A detailed description of all columns on the "Entries" tab and a description of the "Multiple Entries" setting for the "Display mode" have been added to the Adding Entries section.
"Multiple Entries" is now also supported for two disk based menus. Disks that contain the "Bootmanager" by Mike Langer or "MyPicoDOS" by Matthias Reichl are now supported. The long file names maintained in these menus will be listed in the extended menu and can be used for searching. You can find the huge archive of disk images that use "Bootmanager" on the HomeSoft web site . As a test all currently present 405 disk images with 2477 games have been added successfully and appeared correctly in the extended menu.
Memory organization of the extended menu optimized. It now also works correctly on an Atari 400 with only 16k of RAM. Isn't that cool with 128 MB of ROM? The result list is now automatically limited based on the available RAM in the Atari. On a 16k Atari there is space for 512 entries in the result. On a 48k Atari there is space for 12.800 entries in the result.
Link to hias' web site fixed in documentation.

2014-08-04

Extended menu now also works with "The!Cart" cartridges 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

Java 1.6 is now sufficient to run and use The!CartStudio. This is particularly valuable for Mac OS X users, because there Java 1.6 is the default and Java 1.7 is still hard to install. The only limitation when using Java 1.6 is, that multi-selection in the file dialog will not be possible. But you can normally bypass that restriction using drag & drop.
The SIO simulation for ATR entries based on the "Modified ATR Image" approach is now complete in the sense that both Single and Double Density disks as well as ATRs with non standard sector counts are supported. Due to a bug in the analysis code of the previous "The!Cart Studio" versions you may have to re-add the ATRs again to trigger a new analysis.
Screen is now temporarily disabled when loading from a simulated ATR. This speeds up the loading by a factor of about 25. Before the routine was waiting for a blank screen area, which slowed it down dramatically and also could not work properly in many cases. So I decided to rather make the loading so fast, that you don't even realize that there would be a loading screen.
A restriction has been added to prevent interchange issues with workbooks created on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac, Unicode vs. Non-Unicode). The problem appeared for example for "Q¤Bert" which causes a very cool special character on some file systems. The file names for files that are added to the workbook are now restricted to the following interoperable subset of the ASCII range:
```
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!#$%&'()+,-.;=@[]^_ 
```
Names of the genres are now automatically sorted in the workbook options. Empty genre names are now filtered out implicitly. The length of the genre name and the total allowed number of genres (128) is checked now. Changes to the genres list are detected correctly now.
Direct start for inner menu entries now starts the correct entry number also in case some banks on the Atarimax cartridge are occupied by an Atari OS, for example OS-B.
Some initialization errors in direct start inner menu entries are fixed now. Especially the handling of cold start and warm start settings for Atarimax menus is working better now. This is important for games that are reset proof and use a warm start for the initial startup like Frogger.
The colors of the banks in the summary panel and in the banks tab can now be configured individually in the options. In addition there is a "Reset" button to reset the colors to the default values. Pressing "Cancel" in the options dialog now actually discards all the changes performed in the options dialog.

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 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 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 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 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 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 Turbo Freezer 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 cartridges created with the recent 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 cartridge later is a "The!Cart" cartridge.

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" flash 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.
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.
Flash target type "User Defined" now allows all content types, so you can create arbitrary image files with it.

2014-01-14

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.
Cartridge type for "64 - MegaCart 2 MB" fixed, it was 63 instead of 64 so ".CAR" file were not recognized correctly.

2013-12-28

Mapping to "The!Cart" mode $22 fixed for cartridge type "61 - MegaMax 2 MB".
New cartridge type "64 - MegaCart 2 MB" and mapping to "The!Cart" mode $2F added.

2013-12-26

About dialog now displays if a newer version of "The!Cart Studio" is available on the web site.
Genre column now has a sorted drop-down selection for the genres as defined in the workbook options.
Coloring of bank fixed for entries which span multiple rows.

2013-12-18

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.
Action "Cancel" now keeps the program open when closing the program via the close button.
Changes to the "Genre" column are now detected correctly when trying to close the program with unsaved changes.

2013-12-13

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.
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.
New color schema for banks including separate color for user space.

2013-12-12

All relevant Atari characters are now allowed in titles: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^_
Titles, for example when derived from the file name, are now automatically truncated to the allowed 40 characters.
Banks assignment problem when using the "Overwrite" option for equally named files fixed. It could cause overlapping bank assignments and corrupted bank display.
Error message in case of .CAR file with incorrect content size fixed.

2013-12-11

Import of "ATR Programming Images" for "Atarimax 1 MB" and "Atarimax 128 KB" extended. It can now recognize 9 different versions of the 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.
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.
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.
New field "Cartridge Type" in the workbook options which allows explicit specification of the cartridge type for user defined flash module types. This cartridge type is used when the workbook is exported as "CAR" cartridge image.
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".
The external software in "cartmenu.rom" is now also found if the folder path contains spaces or other special characters.

2013-12-06

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

1 MB Atarimax cartridge images are now correctly defaulted to content type "Atarimax 1 MB" instead of "Atarimax 128 KB.
Section "Printing Workbooks" added to online help.

2013-12-04

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.
Description of supported file formats (CAR/BIN/CAR/ATR/EXE) and their usage added to the online help.

2013-12-02

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.
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 "!".
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

New Atari Software version 2013-11-30 included. External software is now also found if the name of the "TheCart.jar" was changed manually.
Default bank for user space entries is now the first bank of the user space.
Table of contents with links added to help.
Help content is now displayed with correct small font.

2013-11-26

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

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

New menu entry "Tools/Options" allows selection of the display language of "The!Cart Studio". Possible values are "Automatic", "English", "German".