Atarimax Ultimate SD [Colecovision]

A multi-cart has also been available for the *CBS ColecoVision* console for some time. This cartridge is based on SRAM memory; it was developed in the USA by *Atarimax* (Steven Tucker), who also manufactures and distributes it. It currently costs $129.95 plus $6 shipping and can be ordered directly from atarimax.com.

Overview
The cartridge features an on-screen menu for browsing the content on the SD card, including support for sorting long filenames. The menu software also supports displaying screenshots and reading manuals directly on the ColecoVision. Thanks to the built-in reset button, there is no need to turn off the console to return to the menu.
It supports MMC, SD, and SDHC cards formatted with FAT or FAT32, including support for long filenames.
No PC software is required, making the cartridge compatible with any device or operating system capable of reading from and writing to a standard FAT-formatted SD card.
All currently used bank-switching methods are supported, including “Mega-Cart” (up to 512KB) and Lord of the Dungeon NVRAM. Lord of the Dungeon NVRAM is automatically saved to the SD card in a format compatible with emulators.

Technical Specifications
– 50 MIPS CPU
– High-speed SD interface
– 512 KB SRAM
– 128 KB flash memory
– Status LED

Each of the four main components of the Ultimate SD can be updated immediately by placing the new firmware files on the SD card and turning on the ColecoVision.

In addition to the cartridge itself, the package includes:
– CollectorVision BONUS Digital Edition game pack – *Mario Brothers* and *Mr. Chin*!
– Pre-prepared SD card (32MB or larger, formatted as FAT32) – menu software (pre-installed on the SD card)
– Lifetime support and free firmware upgrades
– Lifetime warranty

Preparing the SD card
The Ultimate SD-Cartridge expects the menu software and game ROM files to be located in the COLECO folder in the SD card's root directory. The latest version of the software can be found in the firmware update thread on the forum—though finding truly up-to-date firmware is not exactly easy. The newest version that could be tracked down dates back to 2019:

Extract the archive to access the file CVSDOS.STO and copy it to the COLECO folder on the SD card.
You can now insert the SD card into the Ultimate SD Cartridge and turn on the system to boot the menu software.
The system always boots into the COLECO directory, but you can navigate the entire SD card. To keep things organized, it is recommended to create subfolders—such as Coleco/ROM Images (A-F)—and store the corresponding ROM images there.
Once the images are on the card, simply select the directory via the menu and press the fire button to view its contents.
Directories of any depth and with a total path length of up to 512 characters are supported. There are no special “menu files,” and no manual menu creation is required, as the Ultimate SD Cartridge dynamically reads the file system contents and displays them using the on-screen menu.

Since sorting long FAT32 filenames places a huge burden on an embedded CPU, it is recommended to limit the number of ROM files per directory to 100, even though the menu software supports up to 512 files per directory.

If a directory containing a large number of files is required, the display speed can be significantly increased by disabling directory sorting in the menu.

The cartridge options can always be accessed by pressing “*” on the keypad.

When sorting is disabled, reading a full directory containing 512 files (with long FAT32 filenames) takes less than a second. Enabling sorting noticeably slows down the display of directories containing 100 or more files.

On-Screen Menu Basics
The main menu screen consists of four parts: the title bar, the SD card directory area, the status bar, and the selection bar.

The Title Bar
This bar appears at the top of the SD directory display. The default title is “Atarimax Colecovision Ultimate” and can be customized by specifying a new title in the menu INI file.

SD Card Directory Display
The contents of the current directory are displayed here.

The selection bar always highlights the currently selected object and can be moved up or down using the ColecoVision game controller.

Directories on the SD card are preceded by the path character ‘/’. Files are displayed without a preceding character.

Twenty lines are displayed. You can navigate through the list using the display bar: pressing up or down on the controller moves one line in the corresponding direction, while pressing left or right moves forward or backward by a full page.

Current Path and Error Messages
The SD card directory currently in use is displayed on the last line of the menu software.
If an error related to the menu software occurs—for example, if you attempt to load an invalid ROM image—the path shown on the bottom line is replaced by text describing the error in detail.

Changing directories
To change directories, simply highlight the desired directory using the selection bar (controlled by your game controller) and press the fire button. To move to the previous directory, select the entry labeled ‘\..’. If this entry is not present, you are already at the root directory of the SD card.

Loading a ROM image
To load a ROM image, select it using the selection bar and press Fire on the controller. ROM images can also have other extensions, such as .ROM. Some other possibilities include ‘.COL’, ‘.BIN’, ‘.STO’, and ‘.HYB’.

Wenn die Anzeige der Dateierweiterungen im Optionen-Menü abgeschaltet ist, werden keinerlei Erweiterungen angezeigt.

If errors occur, they are displayed in detail in the bottom line.

Loading a screenshot
The Ultimate SD menu software also supports displaying ColecoVision screenshots in the Coleco Paint PATCOL format (file extension .PC). Suitable images can be created using tools such as Tursi’s Convert9918, which can convert TMS9918 graphics into this format.

To load a screenshot directly, select the screenshot file and press "Fire" on the controller. To exit the display, simply press "Fire" again.

Loading a manual
The menu software supports the display of ASCII text files and game manuals.

To load a manual directly, select the text file (it should have the .TXT file extension) and press the fire button on the controller. Once loaded, simply follow the on-screen instructions to navigate the display. The files can be up to 256 KB in size. Lines within the file can be up to 32 characters long; the text looks best when formatted accordingly.

Automatic loading of linked material

The Ultimate SD menu software supports the automatic display of screenshots, game manuals, and box art without leaving the directory view.
To achieve this, the manual, screenshot, and box art must have the exact same filename as the corresponding ROM image, except for the file extension.
Example: If you have a ROM image named “Zenji.ROM”, the screenshot should be named “Zenji.PC”, the box art should also be named “Zenji.PC” (in the appropriate folder), and the manual should be named “Zenji.TXT”.

To enable the automatic display of this linked material, place it in the appropriate subdirectories within the “\COLECO” folder on the SD card.
Game manuals: *.TXT file in “\COLECO\Manuals”
Screenshots: *.PC file in “\COLECO\Images”
Box art: *.PC file in “\COLECO\Boxes”

If these directories do not yet exist, simply create them within the COLECO directory.

Automatic loading of screenshots, manuals, and box art
Once everything is organized as described above, the Ultimate SD menu software can automatically locate and display the data associated with the ROM images. Pressing 1 on the controller displays the screenshot for the highlighted game, while 3 shows the manual and 7 displays the box art.

Options Settings
The corresponding screen can be accessed at any time by pressing *. These settings are stored internally in the cartridge's flash memory and apply to all maps, unless overridden by a configuration file (*.ini) on the current map.

The current hardware, boot, menu, and firmware revisions are displayed at the bottom of this screen. While using the menu, you can press * at any time to save the settings and exit the screen.

Sounds
Schaltet alle Sounds der Navigation ab, wenn auf “Off” gestellt.

Colors
Turns all dynamic color effects on or off.

Sorting
Alphabetically sorting "long filenames" on the SD card can take a noticeable amount of time if the directories containing ROM images are very large.
The default setting for this is "Quick," which should allow for a large number of ROM images in the directories without causing significant navigation delays.
This option can also be set to "Off." This disables the alphabetical pre-sorting of directories during loading, meaning files are displayed in the order they exist on the SD card—which may appear completely random.
If you absolutely require very large directories of ROM images and wish to keep this setting at "Off," you can handle the pre-sorting on your PC using a tool like DriveSort.
Setting this option to "Complete" takes the longest but results in the most accurate sorting of filenames. This setting is not recommended unless you notice that files are not being sorted correctly with the "Quick" setting, as it can take significantly longer for the files to appear.

Navigation speed
This option controls how quickly the display bar in the directories responds to the controller.

Documents
When a screenshot or manual is selected for a highlighted ROM image, the firmware checks the “Manuals” and “Screenshots” directories within the “\Coleco\” system root directory.
You can change this option to “Subdirectories” to force the firmware to look for these directories within the currently selected subdirectory.

Deactivating CPU Services
Changing this option to “On” causes the Ultimate SD Cartridge to disable all extended services once a ROM image has been loaded. It is recommended to keep this setting “Off” unless problems arise.

Hide .ROM extensions
The setting “On” hides the file name extensions.

Text Color
Change the text color in the directory navigation

Text Background
Change the background color of the text in the directory navigation.

Bar Color
Change the background color of the selection bar in the directory navigation.

Bar Text
Change the text color of the selection bar in the directory navigation.

BIOS Bypass
When this setting is set to “On,” the firmware attempts to skip the long game title intro when starting a game published by Coleco.
This is a beta setting, so simply set it to “Off” should any issues arise.