Disclaimer: The Atari 7800 design has been done, but it has not been tested. The Rev0 cartridge is schematic- and layout-complete and the firmware and software run in emulation, but no board has been built and nothing has run on a real Atari 7800 yet. We could use some help validating and testing the design: reviewing the schematic and layout, building Rev0 boards, and trying the firmware and software on real consoles. If you can help, please get in touch on the FujiNet Discord.
Status
The firmware and software for the Atari 7800 bring-up are now working in emulation (FujiNet Go Atari 7800 Desktop, built on MAME, and a patched MAME, against FujiNet-PC). CONFIG boots and browses host slots and directories, and cartridge images load over the network: all 126 cartridge images in the No-Intro Atari 7800 set boot in MAME. The Rev0 cartridge is fully designed but has not yet been built, so nothing has run on a real console yet.
Firmware
Current firmware can be pulled from https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-firmware
The cartridge is a new design: an RP2354B (an RP2350B with 2 MB of flash in the package) with 512K of external SRAM, which serves the 7800’s 48K cartridge window and the High Score Cart straight from the SRAM, so no software sits in a game’s data path. It takes .a78 and headerless images up to 448K, and emulates the flat (up to 48K), SuperGame (plain, with RAM, with POKEY and 9-bank), Absolute, Activision and High Score Cart bank-switching schemes, with a POKEY at $4000 or $0450 synthesised in the firmware.
The RP2354B section of the firmware is in pico/atari-7800/firmware. Build instructions in pico/atari-7800/README.md
The ESP32S3 version of the firmware can be built with:
./build.sh -s fujiversal-atari7800
./build.sh -cbufmThe ESP32S3 build does not yet embed the RP2354B firmware; build the cartridge firmware separately in pico/atari-7800 with ./build-cart.sh. The ESP32S3 pin map is still provisional and has not yet been matched to the Rev0 board.
Hardware
Current PCB has been laid out by Thomas Cherryhomes in KiCad: https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-hardware/tree/master/ATARI-7800/FujiNet-7800-Rev0
Rev0 is an all-in-one board for the 32-pin Atari 7800 cartridge slot (RP2354B, 512K SRAM, ESP32-S3, USB-C and microSD). It is schematic- and layout-complete and packaged for JLCPCB and PCBWay, but has not yet been built. The AS6C4008 SRAM is not stocked at JLCPCB, so it has to be consigned there; PCBWay turnkey assembly can source it. A 3D-printable shell is in the case/ folder.
There is no DIY option yet; until boards are built, the Atari 7800 side can be tried in emulation with FujiNet Go Atari 7800 Desktop (below).
Software
Current FujiNet Software Ported:
| Program | GitHub |
|---|---|
| Config | https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-config in atari7800/ |
| 5 Card Stud Poker | https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-5cardstud in src/atari7800/ |
| Texas Hold’em | https://github.com/tschak909/fujinet-texasHoldEm/tree/add-atari7800 in src/atari7800/ |
| Battleship | https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-battleship/tree/add-atari7800 in src/atari7800/ |
| Fujitzee | https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-fujitzee/tree/add-atari7800 in src/atari7800/ |
| Fujirkle | https://github.com/tschak909/fujinet-fujirkle/tree/add-atari7800 in src/atari7800/ |
The games build against the atari7800 target of fujinet-lib-experimental: https://github.com/tschak909/fujinet-lib-experimental/tree/add-atari7800. Config and 5 Card Stud Poker have been merged; the other branches have not been merged yet.