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The purpose of the "Atari ROM Maker" is to convert plain ROM files (".bin", ".rom") into cartridge files (".car") within command line scripts. The resulting files will have the correct header and checksum. As a result, emulators will recognize them correctly, and you will not be prompted to choose the cartridge type every time. Unlike the interactive conversion options offered in most emulators, the command line tool can be incorporated into your build process. This allows for a single build process that creates multiple target formats. For example, you can create ".car" files for Atarimax Maxflash, SIC!, MegaCart, and others with the same script. It is open source, written in pure Java, and runs fine on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The download is available here. The source code is available here.
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Silly Venture 2k14 - the most significant international Atari party in history - is over, and it's been a blast. Here are some of my impressions. You can click on the images to enlarge them. My travel featured a slightly delayed flight from Frankfurt to Gdansk... that ended unplanned in Posznan due to the bad weather conditions in Gdansk. And after "only" 5 hours of bus ride, we arrived at Gdansk airport at 1:00 am.
From there, I went by taxi to Hostel Bursztynek, where I had planned to share a room with Slator, who unfortunately could not attend the party.
The party place was the elementary school close by, and the banners outside clearly indicated that this was where the fun was.
Inside, you could find what we have all been dealing with since 1986: Pretty girls on disks.
Again, I intentionally did not bring any computer. Instead, I used the available time to talk to friends and get to know new people, like Till Harbaum, the creator of the Atari MIST.
Every visitor also received a "Have you played Atari today - we have" car plate holder, which is appropriately mounted on my car.
You can find tons of additional pictures on ftp.pigwa.net. After the party, we tried hard to collect 250 reasons for Silly Venture 2k15. And it looked for a while that there would even be a summer party edition.

Yet, ultimately, Grey decided that he would not organize another edition in the future.

I am genuinely thankful for all he did and the damn best demo parties I've ever attended. The days I spent in Gdansk in 2013 and 2014 are some of the most memorable moments in my life. He deserves tremendous respect for all the work and passion he put into making Silly Venture the most fantastic Atari party in history. He received the lifetime Atari award at Silly Venture 2k14 for an excellent reason: He fucking deserves it! To ensure all the Atari 8-bit people properly celebrate the party at home, I will release a Silly Pack 2k14. But this will take some time due to the number and nature of the releases requiring heavy patching. Stay tuned, stay Atari!
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In October 2013, a new flexible Atari 8-bit cartridge named "The!Cart" was released. Watch this video I have created now to see what it can do.
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FAQ Updates:
- The new question, "Why are the errors and warnings from an include file assigned to the main source file in the problems view?" was added.
- Question "How do I compile into disk images?" extended with description and binaries for MacOS X users. The binaries have been provided by Fredrick Holst (freetz), and you can find the latest versions on his website.
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The following two parts of the tutorial series on Programming the Atari XL/XE are now available.