============================================= Arcadia 2001: Researcher's glossary of terms Last updated: Dec 26, 2002 Written by: Ward Shrake ============================================= Because we are finding so many consoles that are sort of compatible with one another (and sort of not-compatible at the same time) we needed special terms to explain things both briefly and accurately. The terms below are the ones we agree on so far... more or less. "Slot-compatible" If you can physically insert a given cart into a given console, the two are said to be "slot-compatible". This is ONLY an indication of whether or not the cart can be inserted into a console. It does NOT mean that the cartridge's game program will work after insertion. "Pin-compatible" Does the card edge connector on the game console match up perfectly with the circuit board card edge on a cart? If every "pin" or "edge connector" matches up perfectly with where it is supposed to go, a cart and console are said to be pin-compatible. (This is a technical subject and may seem complicated to some people. Do not blame us; we are just messengers. We do not like it either!) This does NOT mean you can insert a cart into a given game console. A cart can be pin-compatible while NOT being slot-compatible. Size and shape differences in both carts and consoles may prevent cart insertion. If you can easily insert a cartridge into a console, but the game program does not work, you have three possible reasons for this. (1) The cart has been damaged and will not work in any console. (2) The slot is compatible but the pinout is not. (3) The program stored in ROM memory is not compatible with the hardware found in the console. "ROM-compatible" Will the program contained in a cartridge's memory chip actually run on a given console, if you can get past the problems of slot-compatibility and pin-compatibility? If a game cartridge is ROM-compatible with a given game console, then you may be able to make a homebrew adapter to get around problems with incompatible pins and slots. At least in theory... Doing this is highly technical and there is not much of any real demand for such adapters. Consequently, no one makes and sells such adapters for the Arcadia 2001 console group. (But such things were once heard of on the non-ROM-compatible Interton VC-4000 console group; one or more companies did sell adapters.) "Hardware-compatible" This will make more sense as we move on... for now, just know that we're talking about a difference in the internal structure of a game console. If a game program was not written to work with a specific set of hardware parts, the game will not work at all in most cases. In some cases it is possible that there may be some partial compatibility in terms of the program being able to run on hardware it was not meant for... but this is more theoretical trivia than a useful real-life concept. Generally speaking, it does not take much of a change in a console's internal structure, to make a program inoperable on a console that it was not designed to work with. In most real-life cases, a slight change in hardware may cause results that are unpredictable if not harmful. "Cartridge families" In an attempt to classify certain combinations of the characteristics above, we invented the term "family". If two or more consoles made (or sold) by two or more different companies, share all three characteristics they are all said to be part of a "cartridge family". In other words, if you can insert a cartridge easily, and the pin layout on the card edge matches perfecty, and the program stored inside the cart's ROM memory chips will run on that console... that is a family. Any cart in the Emerson family will work on any game console in the Emerson family. Any cart in the MPT-03 family will work on any game console in the MPT-03 family. The same principle applies to the Palladium family, the Ormatu family, and any others we discover at a later time. But you can NOT mix family types; a game made for the MPT-03 family will not work on ANYTHING except a game console within the MPT-03 family. You cannot plug the carts into another family's slot, and the pin layout is usually not compatible, even if you could insert it. Note that games for the Ormatu and MPT-03 families do appear to be compatible, at least at a glance. But the pin layouts internally are NOT similar. These are two different families; without an adapter, they are just as incompatible with each other as any other family. "Console groups" If you thought what was said so far, in the sections above, was complicated... just wait till you hear this! The "Arcadia 2001 console group" contains dozens of game consoles, that at a glance, seem to be unrelated. We know from heavy-duty research efforts that these game consoles and their carts share two common things: (1) On the inside of each game cartridge within this console group, there is an EPROM or a masked ROM chip that contains software that will run on any console in this console group... if you make the proper adapters. (2) On the inside of each game console, the chips and other hardware parts are all the same basic thing. In some cases, within a specific family many consoles may have been manufactured by the same companies; the only real difference in these consoles is what the console's outer plastic casing looks like, and the name on it. We know this is true, because we have opened many of them up, only to find the same few manufacturing names, over and over. The reason this is important is that there are consoles and games that APPEAR to be similar to this console group, that are NOT ACTUALLY in any way compatible with this console group's cartridges or its consoles. There are just as many, if not more consoles that fit into one of these NON-COMPATIBLE consoles groups, as there are legitimately compatible carts and consoles in this group. Hopefully, that made sense? Think of it this way... "All that glitters is not gold". Another good analogy might be to say that if you were to try to categorize "all of the candy in the candy store" on a global basis, that you would find that it really belongs in two different stores, instead of just one. What I'm getting at is this... research efforts on both the "Interton VC-4000 console group" and the "Arcadia 2001 console group" sort of collided with each other, on or about March of 2002. People involved with both of these separate efforts compared notes, did scientific testing, and arrived at the conclusions found here. The "Interton VC-4000" console group has the APPEARANCE of perhaps being related, in some way, to the "Arcadia 2001" console group. This is partially true and just as partially false. Historically, the two groups do have a shared heritage; the Interton was sort of like the baby brother or sister to the Arcadia. Or maybe you'd like to call the Interton a "prequel" to the Arcadia, or to call the Arcadia the "sequel" to the Interton. These would be good ways to describe the actual relationship of them. However, it is important to note that the two things in our little list above, are both INCOMPATIBLE from the point-of-view of "will the games on one console group work on the other console group's hardware?" We found out (March 2002) by scientific testing that the answer to that question is a very firm and final "NO". The Interton VC-4000 and Arcadia 2001 console groups are NOT compatible with one another, in any useful or meaningful way. Some people like to argue that maybe a software conversion would be possible, by manually going into the Interton's software library, and re-programming it. However, what these people fail to realize is that this has ALREADY BEEN DONE, by the companies themselves. Many of the Arcadia's earliest games are Interton ports. Also, some people have argued that the hardware changes made from one console to the next, do not sound like all that big of a deal to non-technical people. The CPU is the same, they argue. The co-processor chip is simply an upgraded model, from the Interton's 2636 chip to the 2637 chip used in the Arcadia console group. What these people fail to realize is that there are really only these two main chips, inside either console. "Just" changing one of the two chips in there results in a statistical 50% difference. It stands to reason that the company making these chips would not waste their time with a minor or trivial chip upgrade. The upgrade is most likely quite extensive inside the chip, even though the part number only changed by one digit. If half of the chip was in any way changed, that means the consoles are still 25% or more incompatible, even with the same CPU in them both. Therefore, because the internal hardware is not the same in either the Interton or the Arcadia, and because it was scientifically proven that Interton game programs will NOT run on the Arcadia in an unmodified form, it is said that these two console groups are categorized as NOT being "hardware-compatible" with one another. Please also be aware that this is NOT the whole of the problem, as far as being able to identify some strange new cart or console that you find in the wild. Not by a longshot, unfortunately! There are also consoles or console groups related to the "RCA Studio II" and the "Fairchild Channel F" and other cart-programmable type video game consoles. There are even cartridge-based Pong clones that at a glance may look suspiciously like they could possibly be related to these consoles. It was a global effort to (bleep) things up this badly in the first place, and it will take a global effort to figure out what belongs to what, and what does not. [End of document]