Anybody getting a "Penultimate Cartridge"?

[fuzzybad]

What do you guys think of the VIC-20 Penultimate Cartridge? Apparently it's now available:
https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/c ... vic20.html

If I didn't already have a FE3 cart that I'm currently assembling, I'd consider getting this, although to be honest the price is a bit steep. It's like a very barebones FE3 cart without the built-in SD2IEC and no Flash storage for about the same price.

[orion70]

It holds up to 30 programs in ROM though... I'd buy one too, if only it was cheaper

[eslapion]

The Behr-Bonz doesn't have RAM but it offers 127 games for 32.50 Euros.

[orion70]

Each offer has its pros and cons

[fuzzybad]

It holds up to 30 programs in ROM though... I'd buy one too, if only it was cheaper

Yeah but it seems the 30 programs are predefined and not changeable (unless I'm missing something).
If they were programmable that would be a plus...

[eslapion]

... it seems the 30 programs are predefined and not changeable (unless I'm missing something).
If they were programmable that would be a plus...

I do sell customized Behr-Bonz if the 127 built-in software aren't enough.

[CanadaPhil]

I do sell customized Behr-Bonz if the 127 built-in software aren't enough.

Thats great!

I will wait to play around with the first one I ordered from you just around New Year. Hopefully it arrives soon. But....

My idea for my next one would be a custom version that would act as a "Companion Piece" to to my hopefully soon to arrive VIC: A Visual History Book!

You basically have all of the original Commodore carts featured in this book with the exception of the following:

Super Alien
Menagerie
Home Babysitter
Personal Finance
Speed/ Bingo Math
Commodore Artist
Number Nabber/ Shape Grabber
-
Super Expander (early version without 3K Ram)
Programmers Aid
VicMon

While these may seem like weird substitutes to some of you, my point is that it act as a companion piece to the book. (Any of you who have received the initial pdf version will know exactly what I am getting at)

Maybe this alternate version loosely tied to the Visual History book would open up additional Sale possibilities for you as I believe somewhere between 500 and 1,000 books are to be printed!

Hmmmmm.... maybe I should have posted that ramble in the Visual History Kickstarter topic?

[eslapion]

My idea for my next one would be a custom version that would act as a "Companion Piece" to to my hopefully soon to arrive VIC: A Visual History Book!

You basically have all of the original Commodore carts featured in this book with the exception of the following:

Super Alien
Menagerie
Home Babysitter
Personal Finance
Speed/ Bingo Math
Commodore Artist
Number Nabber/ Shape Grabber
-
Super Expander (early version without 3K Ram)
Programmers Aid
VicMon

It's not possible to implement the last 3 pieces of software you have listed in the Behr-Bonz because of the way they use memory.

Programmer's Aid and VICMON use BLK3 and are often used along with memory expansions which will cause conflict with the BLK 1,2,3 and 5 which the Behr-Bonz use up completely.

The Super Expander normally requires a 3k RAM expansion but if you have a version with no RAM expansion then adding RAM in the BLK1 area becomes almost unavoidable and this too will cause a bus conflict.

[CanadaPhil]

My idea for my next one would be a custom version that would act as a "Companion Piece" to to my hopefully soon to arrive VIC: A Visual History Book!

You basically have all of the original Commodore carts featured in this book with the exception of the following:

Super Alien
Menagerie
Home Babysitter
Personal Finance
Speed/ Bingo Math
Commodore Artist
Number Nabber/ Shape Grabber
-
Super Expander (early version without 3K Ram)
Programmers Aid
VicMon

It's not possible to implement the last 3 pieces of software you have listed in the Behr-Bonz because of the way they use memory.

Programmer's Aid and VICMON use BLK3 and are often used along with memory expansions which will cause conflict with the BLK 1,2,3 and 5 which the Behr-Bonz use up completely.

The Super Expander normally requires a 3k RAM expansion but if you have a version with no RAM expansion then adding RAM in the BLK1 area becomes almost unavoidable and this too will cause a bus conflict.

Thanks for the reply!

I had a feeling those 3 were a longshot.

Anyway, how about the first 7 original Commodore selections for maybe an alternate edition of the cart that might appeal to the History Book buyers?

Perhaps even altering the top line of the screen menu to say something like...

VIC20 V. History Cart
or
VIC History Multicart

or something else that fits within 22 characters instead if the "Behr Bonz" first line?

[eslapion]

Anyway, how about the first 7 original Commodore selections for maybe an alternate edition of the cart that might appeal to the History Book buyers?

Perhaps even altering the top line of the screen menu to say something like...

VIC20 V. History Cart
or
VIC History Multicart

or something else that fits within 22 characters instead if the "Behr Bonz" first line?

I charge a certain amount per changed game to create a different ROM image. Changing the text line is no problem but I will leave the credit to the menu programmers.

Once the image has been altered, whether you order 1 or 50, is irrelevant. The hardware is the same as a Behr-Bonz so it's the price of a Behr-Bonz. On top of that, if you order 5 or more carts, you get a 25% discount.

If you want to have 7 games replaced then creating the altered image is 35$US. If you then order 5 "VIC History Multicart", you'll pay them 135$US (170$US if you include the cost of the altered image) instead of 180$US so the rebate more than pays the cost of getting a different ROM.

If you buy 10 then the savings gets even more significant because you'll pay your carts 270$US (305$US if you include the cost of the altered image) instead of 360$US.

[CanadaPhil]

Hi again,

OK, I get the idea of the fee for creating the alternate new eprom image... and I would take one or two of these... but I would not want to buy in quantity as I am not looking to be any kind of reseller.

What I am getting at is maybe taking this discussion over to the other topic and gauge if there is any interest from other buyers of the Book?... Maybe Giacomo/oldcomputr may like the idea himself and spread the word around?

Perhaps the approach would be to try to get some reasonable consensus for those interested (if possible?.. haha) and decide on what current 7 titles to be removed and replaced with the Original Commodore titles noted and you just need to create 1 new master image and then you would have two versions of the cart to offer...

the current Behr Bonz
OR....
the "Vic Visual History" version

Make sense?

Well, I have to run now cuz I have early meetings tommorrow morning. I will check back later tomm. to see if anyone else has any thoughts about this?

[eslapion]

Perhaps the approach would be to try to get some reasonable consensus for those interested (if possible?.. haha) and decide on what current 7 titles to be removed and replaced with the Original Commodore titles noted and you just need to create 1 new master image and then you would have two versions of the cart to offer...

the current Behr Bonz
OR....
the "Vic Visual History" version

Make sense?

I thought you might have wanted to sell the VIC History Multicart as an optional addition to the book. If you buy them in numbers then you can fetch a profit from them.

[CanadaPhil]

I thought you might have wanted to sell the VIC History Multicart as an optional addition to the book. If you buy them in numbers then you can fetch a profit from them.

Well, no I am not looking to be a reseller of anything. And I didn't create the book!

YOU produce the carts... I meant that YOU could fetch more revenue by offering an alternate version of the cart to book buyer's who might be interested in purchasing such a thing. Once you create the alternate version of the Eprom you can burn it as often as you need to!

[craftsman1234]

I ordered this back in August and have been waiting for this for some time. I had gotten world that it would be shipping in November (from their web page) but it did not. I got word that mine shipped on Dec 19th. The shipping info that was provided show that it arrived here in the us and has already been delivered on Dec 23rd. I can't see how that would have been possible to the US.

During this process I have e-mail them several times but not once have they ever responded to me.

So has anyone in the USA ordered this and have they received it yet? Even things on the slow boat from China don't normally take a month.

[RodHull]

Are you talking about a Penultimate cart order?

Due to customs, post to the USA can take forever. Anything from 5-25 working days is normal for standard packet post.

I get 100's of emails some but I do reply to every 'Contact Form', but you can catch me here and via twitter.. @futurewas8bit