New Mateos Rewritable Multigame Cartridge

[VectrexRoli]

Finally had some time to put the Mateos cart into a proper shell, did not invest much time, so this is just a "quick & dirty" hack.
I attached 2 photos so that you an see how that looks like.

[Sdw]

Anyone else who bought one of these? And if so, did it work without problems?

I bought one a couple of weeks ago and can't get it to work at all, tried both on my C52 model G7000 and on a friends C53.
The burner-addon-hardware works, it appears in Windows and I can copy files to the different slots, but then when I disconnect the burner and put the cart in my G7000, it just does the same thing as if I had no cart at all, ie. some random grid/sprite data appears.

Unfortunately I am getting no responses on my emails to the guys who builds and sells these, so I am grasping at straws now trying to find out if I am doing something wrong, or just had bad luck and got a non-working device.

[VideopacBelgium]

Great ! but this system doesn't work on my new Windows ! Too bad.
I don't know why? My laptop don't find the file...
The Mateos Cart works fine.

[Rene_G7400]

I've got a copy of this cart too, and I haven't had problems with it. My copy already contained some games, have you tried to play them?

[Sdw]

I've got a copy of this cart too, and I haven't had problems with it. My copy already contained some games, have you tried to play them?

Yep, I tried the default slot (0) right when I got it (before trying to reprogram it) and it didn't do anything.
Yesterday I finally got some games working, and actually my own coded stuff as well - but *only* things that are 2kb ROMs work!
Since the cart should work up to 16kb, there must be some problem with the one I got I guess.

[VideopacBelgium]

Great ! but this system doesn't work on my new Windows ! Too bad.
I don't know why? My laptop don't find the file...
The Mateos Cart works fine.

The problem is Windows 10.
The Mateos cart doesn't work on Windows 10.

[Rene_G7400]

According to this website it should work with Windows 10, but I can't get it working on my new laptop either.
http://www.vectrex.hackermesh.org/index.php/en/mvbd-mvmc-3/faq-2
I don't want to mess with my computer to try to get this cart working.

[John]

Dear All,

I finally received my Mateos rewriteble cart , but..... !

I knew there were Windows 10 issues which i also have:
- drive is visible
- Only 4Kbyte free
- In DOS mode i can remove the "System Volume Information" folder that contains WPSettings.dat file but then have a max. of 12Kbyte free of the total (16kbyte).
- I can burn a 4/8Kbyte rom file to it, but as soon as the cart is detached from USB slot (thus no power) it seems to loose the data.

Even under linux (GalliuomOS) and MacOS I am not able to copy any game to it.
I have no clue how to copy any rom on it that will stick after i cleanly detach it form usb.

On Juan's FAQ page i couldn't find the answer while his suggested changes to Windows 10 and Mac OS didn't work for me.

Any tips and trick on how to use it?

thanks in advance!

[gertk]

I do not use Windows but you could try and install  a virtual machine with Windows 7 or such? (VMware or Virtualbox)

[John]

Dear All,

I finally made it ... after some intensive testing/try-outs as explained below.
But, first:
1) Big thanks to Rene (PM) and gertk for their responses!
2) Good that we have this forum since Juan Mateos (creator/seller) doesn't respond on a email regarding this issue.
3) Nice to see the project of VectrexRoli to implement the rewritable Mateos multicart in a Videopac cartridge. I will certainly follow this good idea!

Okay, here we go.
After several failed tests (as described below) I decided to install Windows Vista and Windows 7 on spare SSD's.
They both worked nicely and had no issues with the Mateo cart dropping the ROM files on it!

Way of programming:
After picking a slot with the rotation switch i connected the USB device and pasted the rom file.
Then i needed to eject the USB device (ignore error and unplug), turn the switch 1 position and reconnect USB again to "program" another slot.
I did expect to see the copied file once the USB device was connected again after programming, but the file is not visible although it does work on the Videopac (FYI: tested with programmer removed!).
Strange behavior and not like you would expect.



What did not work (for me):
FYI: The following did not work during my test but that might also be due to my expectation to see programmed rom file again after reconnecting the USB device (not the case as mentioned above)!!

Virtual Machine on Windows 10
I tested with Virtual Box on my Windows 10 host running Windows 7 and Windows Vista in a VM.
From the host system you can appoint the USB device to the VM environment.
For me this didn't work since Windows 10 already corrupted the USB device before i could appoint it to the VM.

Linux and MacOS
I also didn't have success with Ubuntu (GalliumOS) nor MacOS.

[Janzl]

Thanks for the info !