the MegaFLASH-ROM by Manual Pazos... and of course the Konami Sound Cartridges...

Are there any flash based megaroms that are based on intel strata flash instead of the AMD Am29F040B?

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Is is also possible to make a real game ROM. Like in the old Konami days? Have prices gone down enough to make this 'commercially viable'. Or better yet; viable uncommercially. Is PROM still used, and is it even cheaper than EPROM? Or is all of this too expensive to even begin to consider?

MATRA Corp shown it's very own cartridge in past BCN meeting. They plan to release some of its old games in rom format ( if I'm correct) and new releases as well. Maybe kralizeck productions ( there was a Dream On demo running from the rom)

Not only it's a new rom, but it will use a new music chip ( maybe the post by DHAU was making reference to this same Matra cartridge)

So I believe the answer is YES, it is possible, commercially viable and nearly already done.

If you look at the pics of the BCN meeting is a RED cartridge in the Matra stand.

About the MegaRAM, I have been doing some research lately, and you can use it on an MSX1 computers, but -of course- you cannot upload the ROM in one computer and then put it into another, because the contents are erased.

Note that EXECROM is an MSX-DOS executable and works fine both in ANY MSX computer with disk drive. I have done now some tests, and I am loading games into the megaRAM using the cassette interface and WAVeR technology. Now I can load a 2 Mbit game (256 KB) in 3 minutes. Not bad, uh?

If you need some megaROMs or ROMs to be converted and ready to load using the cassette port, just let me know. I am not willing to publish the tool yet, because it is in an early alpha, but perhaps it can help you.

Robsy, your handy tape loader, will it be able to be used with larger megaRAMs such as the 512k one I have? I am impresed with your load speeds, are you using a higher baud rate? data compression?

Will the mapper in DUMAS work with a similar loader? (I know that execrom is just for the MegaRAM!)

I am impressed with the work you have done with the MegaRAM, have you found any great uses for the "hypershot" controller yet ?

Hahahaha! Yes, of course: any megaROM can be converted to WAV. The problem is, as you know, that I only owe a 2 Mbit, but the conversion can be done for megaROMs of any size.

About DUMAS, I have no idea, but I guess that they will implement a normal memory mapper (support for 16 KB pages, not for 8 KB pages as the megaRAM).

Regarding the Hypershot controller, maybe we will code a new game for it, but it will be after MSXdev'05. We're pretty busy right now.

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About the MegaRAM, I have been doing some research lately, and you can use it on an MSX1 computers, but -of course- you cannot upload the ROM in one computer and then put it into another, because the contents are erased

is it possible to use a battery to hold the data?

I have no idea, but I guess that it could be done. IIRC one of Tsujikawa's flasheable devices uses a battery for this purpose.

The megaRAM uses normal D- RAM IC's, it would be imposible in its current state to made it "Battery" backup. It is a nice idea, I seem unable to locate a circuit for it, but one signal that would be need by the RAM would be a clock signal.

It is easier to redo it with some SRAM taken from an old 486

Maybe a EPROM cartridge.
If you use a socket for the chip you could replace the games.
There is a EPROM reader/writer for MSX.
The EPROM chip is the same that was used in Coleco or Atari.
If you only want 8KB or 16KB games, this could be done.
Most Brazilian cartridges are non socket able EPROM cartridges.
With a EPROM cartridge it is even possible to sell the final product's.
In fact there are some cartridges for Atari 2600 VCS!

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Maybe a EPROM cartridge. If you use a socket for the chip you could replace the games. There is a EPROM reader/writer for MSX.

EPROM reader... My MSX2 seems to be a EPROM reader as all those ROM chips inside are EPROMs

EPROM writers are pretty simple devices. The problem with EPROM is, that writing to it is quite a slow and unreliable. Normally writing 16KB takes almost 15 minutes. You also need voltage converter to get correct writing voltage (that is typically 25v, 21v or 12.5v) The bigger problem is however clearing the EPROM content. You need a strong UV-light or if you are lucky to live in a sunny place, placing the chip in direct sun light for few weeks might do the trick as well.

There is a board for use with EPROM chip's.

Placa Proto-1

http://www.carchano.com.br/portal/proto1pcb.asp

Compatibe memories:
EPROM: 2716 - (2Kx8), 2732 - (4Kx8), 2764 - (8Kx8), 27128 - (16Kx8),
27256 - (32Kx8), 27512 - (64Kx8), 27C1000 - (128Kx8), 27C4000 -
(512Kx8)
SRAM: 6116 - (2Kx8), 6264 - (8Kx8), 62256-(16Kx8) e 628128 - (128Kx8)
FLASH: 29C512 - (64Kx8), 29C010 - (128Kx8), 29C020 - (256Kx8) e
29C040 - (512Kx8)

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Are there any other presistent memory cartridges than ESE-RAM, and the Padial LPE Flash Cartridge? I tried to use the ESE with my MSX1 but for some reason it doesn't work. When putting the ESE into the MSX, the image stored in the ESE seems to get corrupted (can't be run in an MSX2 after being placed in the MSX1). MegaRAM is I guess an ok invention but it can't be loaded on an MSX2 and then run on an MSX1, right?. Would be nice to know if there is such a solution.

This is the MEGARAM board:
Placa para Megaram GAL1 e GAL2

This is the PROTO-1 board:
Placa PROTO-1

MEGARAM only use normal RAM memory.
This board PROTO-1 use other types of chips.

You can see the other products on the site Grupo MSX Projetos:
http://www.carchano.com.br/portal/msxprojetos.asp