A ROM cartridge , sometimes called just as cartridge or cart , is a removable enclosure containing ROMs designed to be connected to electronic devices consumer. such as home computers, video game consoles and to a lesser extent, electronic musical instruments. ROM cartridges can be used to load software such as video games or other application programs.
Cartridge slots can also be used for hardware additions, such as speech synthesis. Some cartridges have a static random access memory supported, allowing users to store data such as game progress or scores between usages.
ROM cartridges allow users to load and access programs and data quickly without sacrificing floppy drives, which are costly devices during the era of home computers, and without the use of compact, slow, and often unreliable cassette tapes. The advantage to the manufacturer is the relative security of the software in the form of a cartridge, which is difficult for end users to replicate. However, cartridges are expensive to produce compared to making a floppy disk or CD-ROM. Because disk drives are becoming more common and software extends beyond the practical limits of ROM size, the cartridge slots disappear from game consoles and personal computers in the future. Cartridges are still in use today with handheld game consoles like Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, and a hybrid console similar to a Nintendo Switch tablet.
Due to their extensive use for video games, ROM cartridges are often referred to as game cartridges .
Video ROM cartridge
History
The ROM cartridge is popularized by an early home computer that features a dedicated bus port for insertion of cartridges that contain software in ROM. In many cases, the design is quite rough, with all addresses and data buses exposed by ports and attached via edge connectors; A cartridge is a memory that is mapped directly to the system's address space.
Texas Instruments TI's family of 50 programmable scientific calculators using replaceable ROM cartridges that can be mounted in the slots on the back of the calculator. The calculator comes with a module that provides some standard mathematical functions including simultaneous equation solutions. Other modules are devoted to financial calculations, or other subject areas, and even the "game" module. The module can not be user programmed. HP Hewlett-Packard-41C has an expansion slot that can store ROM memory as well as an I/O expansion port.
Leading computers using cartridges other than magnetic media are Commodore VIC-20 and 64, MSX standards, Atari 8-bit (400/800/XL/XE) families, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (where they are called Command Modules Solid State and not directly mapped to the system bus) and IBM PCjr (where the cartridges are mapped into the BIOS space). Some arcade board systems, such as CP Capcom Systems and SNK Neo Geo, also use ROM cartridges.
Modern takes on a game cartridge created by Jerry Lawson as part of the Fren Channel F home console in 1976. The increasingly popular cartridge approach with the Atari 2600 was released the following year. From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, the majority of cartridge home video game systems were based. Since compact disc technology is becoming widely used for data storage, most hardware companies move from cartridges to CD-based game systems. Nintendo remains the only one, using cartridges for their Nintendo 64 systems; the company did not transition into optical media until GameCube 2001. SNK is still releasing games on Neo Geo-based cartridges until 2004, with the last official release being Samurai Shodown V Special. Nintendo's handheld console, meanwhile, continues to use the cartridge because of faster loading times and minimal equipment to read useful data for playing video games in short intervals, minutes.
Maps ROM cartridge
Design
The ROM cartridge can not only carry the software, but the expansion of additional hardware as well. Examples include super FX coprocessor chips in some Super NES game paks, and voice and chess modules at Magnavox OdysseyÃ,².
Micro Machines 2 on Genesis/Mega Drive using a special "J-Cart" cartridge design by Codemasters that incorporates two additional gamepad ports. This allows players to have up to four gamepads connected to the console without requiring additional multi-controller adapters.
The principle of ROM cartridge slots continues across various mobile devices, thanks to the development of high-density high capacity flash memory. For example, a GPS navigation device allows users to update maps by inserting a flash memory chip into an expansion slot. The E-book reader can store thousands of text texts on the flash chip. Personal computers allow users to boot and install operating systems from a USB flash drive instead of a CD ROM or floppy disk. Digital cameras with flash drive slots allow users to swap cards when fast, and allow quick transfer of images to a computer or printer.
Advantages and disadvantages
Storing software on ROM cartridges has a number of advantages over other storage methods such as floppy disks and optical media. Because ROM memory is mapped into the system's normal address space, software stored in ROM can be read as normal memory; because the system does not need to transfer data from slower media, it allows for instant load time and code execution. Software that runs directly from ROM typically uses less RAM, leaving free memory for other processes. While the standard size of optical media determines the minimum size for devices that can read disks, ROM cartridges can be produced in a variety of sizes, allowing for smaller devices such as handheld gaming systems. ROM cartridges can be damaged, but generally stronger and resistant to damage than optical media; The accumulation of dirt and dust on cartridge contact can cause problems, but cleaning the contact with an isopropyl alcohol solution usually solves the problem without corrosion risk.
ROM cartridges usually have a smaller capacity than other media. Lotus 1-2-3 versions compatible with PCjr are present on two cartridges and a floppy disk. ROM cartridges are usually more expensive to produce than disks, and the available storage space on the cartridges is smaller than optical disks such as DVD-ROM or CD-ROM. Techniques such as bank transfers are used to add capacity to the cartridge. As video games become more complex (and their code size increases), software manufacturers are starting to sacrifice fast ROM cartridge load time for larger capacity and lower optical media costs. Another pressure source in this direction is that optical media can be produced in much smaller quantities than the cartridges; releasing video game cartridges definitely comes with the risk of generating thousands of unsold cartridges.
Use of electronic music instruments
In addition to their main use of video game consoles, ROM cartridges have also been used on a small number of electronic musical instruments, especially electronic keyboards.
Yamaha has made several models with such features, with their PSR keyboard arrangement in the mid-1990s, ie PSR-320, PSR-420, PSR-520, PSR-620, PSR-330, PSR-530 and PSR-6000 . This keyboard uses a special card known as Music Cartridges , a ROM cartridge that contains only MIDI data to play on the keyboard as a MIDI sequence or song data. This technology, however, is quickly becoming obsolete and very rare after the advent of floppy disk drives in later models.
Casio is also known to use a similar cartridge known as ROM Pack in the 1980s, before Yamaha Music Cartridge was introduced. Some examples are some models in the Casiotone portable electronic keyboard.
Cartridge-based video game console
Amstrad
- Amstrad GX4000
Atari
- Atari 2600
- Atari 5200
- Atari 7800
- Atari XEGS
- Atari Lynx
- Atari Jaguar
Bandai
- WonderSwan
- WonderSwan Color
- SwanCrystal
Coleco
- Colecovision
Fairchild Semiconductor
- Saluran Fairchild F
Magnavox/Philips
- Magnavox Odyssey²/Philips Videopac G7000
Mattel
- Intellivision
Milton Bradley
- Vectrex
NEC
- TurboGrafx-16/PC Mesin
- TurboExpress
Nintendo
- NES/Famicom (with clones like Terminator)
- SNES/Super Famicom
- Nintendo 64
- Game Boy
- Boy Color Game
- Game Boy Advance
- Virtual Boy
- PokÃÆ' Â © mon mini
- Nintendo DS
- Nintendo 3DS
- Nintendo Switch
Sega
- SG-1000 Mark II/SG-1000 Mark II
- Sega Master System/Sega Mark III
- Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
- Sega Game Gear
- Sega 32X
SNK
- Neo Geo
- Neo Geo Pocket
- Neo Geo Pocket Color
- Neo Geo X
Sony
- PS Vita/PlayStation TV
Nikko eropa
- digiBLAST
Nokia
- N-Gage
LeapFrog
- Leapster
- LeapPad
- LeapTV
Fisher Price
- Pixter
- Smart Cycle
See also
- ROM image
- Dongle
- Port collector
- The RAM package
- Currah
References
External links
- Video Game History at Home on Wayback Machine (archived April 8, 2005)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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