The Project

Welcome to the official webpage for the Atari 8-bit ethernet project. Our hope is that Atari 8-bit users will be able to connect to the internet via an Atari 8-bit Ethernet Cartridge. Much of the work has already been done thanks to some very talented people in the Atari community. The hardware and software was originally developed by Chris Martin and tested by Mark Dusko. The software is based on the work already done in the Commodore 64 community, this adapter will allow you to take advantage of telnet, e-mail, web browsing and a web server via the Contiki Operating System and a Ciris Logic CS8900A ethernet controller chip. The project is now open source and any help with the project is welcome and greatly appreciated. We are hoping with some help from the awesome Atari 8-bit community, we can make the 8-bit ethernet interface a reality! Read more about the project on Atariage

Current Status


  Update February 7th 2012:

It's time for another update. We now have all the parts to assemble the first batch, and We were hoping to start selling the carts in fall, but I just haven't been able to put enough time aside to get the carts built. The fault is mine alone, and I appologize to everyone who has been waiting for the ethernet cartridge to become available. I now understand why many of theses projects take so long, and some never get completed. I am in the process of securing some help with the machining of the cart shells and all the soldering. Omce I have a better handle on the production process, I will post another update.

Now some good news, We have a label! The label design is finished thanks to a great design by chrislynn5, and I am very pleased with the results. Check out the pictures page for some cool pics of the finished cartridge as well as some pictures of the completed boards.



  Update August 9th 2011:

Testing is complete on the changeable address version of the Atari Ethernet cartridge. The cartridge was tested on 15 different Atari computers, many hours each, and there have not been any problems.

Parts and PC boards have been ordered for a run of cartridges. We are on schedule to start taking orders early Autumn. I will be adding a link to this site to purchase the cartridge and payment will be via PayPal. I think that is the best way to go to be able to process orders efficiently. If someone is really dead set against PayPal, they can send me an e-mail and we can try to work out a different payment method, but you will have to be patient, as this is a small operation. The final price has not been set yet, but it should be under $75.00 including shipping.

I have added instructions, schematic and PCB files for the changeable address version of the Ethernet cartridge in a ZIP archive and added it to the download section. I have also added instructions for the static version of the cartridge and combined it with the schematic and PCB files and that is now a ZIP archive as well. I have also added a couple of new pictures showing a static address cart and prototype cartridge shell.

Finally, we decided the official cartridge name is now the Dragon Cart. It seemed fitting as the main component is called the IP Dragon II. Now, we just need to create a really cool label. There is a new thread on AtariAge asking for label designs. I hope to get enough designs so we can have a design contest and the Atari community can choose best one. The creator of the winning label will get a FREE Dragon Cart! You can find out more on Atariage HERE.



  June 28th 2011:

I know it's been a while since an update but progress is being made. After some debate we decided to add an address change circuit to the ethernet cartridge. This will give the cartridge much more flexability and allow it to be used with other interfaces and cartridges like SpartaDOS X. there are so many cartridge projects out there and it's hard to decide on a single adddress that will suite everybody, so being able to set the address seems to be the best solution and worth the delay. The address can be set by four dip switches that set the high nibble of the D5 x0 base address, so it could be anywhere from D500 to D5F0. This was acheived with some great help from one of the best Atari hardware guys I know! This change has added only 1 additonal logic chip, four dip switches, four resisters and a capacitor to the design. Eventhough the design change is minimal, the schematic and board design now have to be updated. I have added the PCB template for the current design to the downloads section in case anyone wants to make their own. The current cartridge schematic and PCB design are still valid, but it has a set address of D500. Much of the software should continue to use D500 address, so I am going to keep these files in the downloads section and add the new design files as soon as I have them ready which should be in a few days.

The current design uses a SO16 version of the LS138 decoder to keep the size of the cartridge small in order for it to fit an a standard cartridge shell (MaxFlash type) with the top notched out for the RJ45 connector. This part can be a bit difficult to solder but can certainly be done with a fine tip iron. However, the new design with it's added components will require more room no matter what, so I will be switching to through hole components. This should also make assembly a little easier for DIY carts.

One last thing about the new design. After MUCH testing, It is very important to use 74HCT series chips in the cartridge instead of the standard 74LS variety. As many Atari users already know, The timing of 02 (phase two) clock signal that comes from the CPU can vary from one Atari computer to another. This timing is critical to the ethernet cartridge R/W signals and the 74HCT chips are high speed low current devices which sures up the timing for the databus and compensates for the differences in 02 timing for different Atari computers.

I am also adding an alternate schematic and PCB design to the Download section. An Atariage user known as Candle designed a single board ethernet cartridge. It does not require the IP Dragon board and uses the CS8900A chip directly, and It uses all surface mount parts. It is a very professinal looking design. If anyone wants to get this board made, Candle would like a board to code the VHDL chip which is needed to make the cartridge operational.



  Update January 24th 2011:

I added a video page and linked a series of videos showing the prototype cartridge in action! You can also see the videos via my YouTube channelI also reworked the pictures on the website and added higer resolution images to nearly all the pictures. Just click on a picture and it will bring up the larger image. On the hardware side of things, the PC board design has passed design testing, so we are currently getting manufacturing pricing for the boards. I will be posting the PCB patterns in the downloads section very soon in case anyone wants to try to make their own.



  Update January 5th 2011:

It has been a while since I last updated the site, but progress has been moving forward and there is some very exciting news. The board design is almost finished and I will be testing the design in the next few weeks. There is even better news on the development side. There's a source code base being developed in C. It was originally partially based off of uIP, and as such its been named AIP. Currently it handles ARP, ICMP, UDP, and DHCP, with TCP in progress. It's being designed so that it is modular and easily include-able into other C programs. A separately loadable driver is also being planned for use with other languages. AIP will be open-sourced, and we will post it on our sourceforge as soon as the basic TCP mechanism is in, which should be in around 2 months.

Also, be aware that there is now actually a version of Contiki that functions out-of-the-box with this adapter! The features include a web browser, simple e-mail client, FTP upload client, and even a twitter client! It has been compiled for the Atari by the very talented Oliver Schmidt and is available as source on the Contiki CVS. Disk images in ATR format can now be downloaded from Here or Here. I will update the site as more information becomes available about the source code base and Contiki. Also, I have added a couple of pictures of the working prototypes to the pictures section. Finally, I am working on some video clips to demonstrate the prototype cartridge with the available software, so check back in a few days for those.



  Update August 23rd 2010:

Great news everyone! We have a working prototype using the IP Dragon II cartridge! I have also received a few additional IP Dragon II boards and I am in the process of wiring them up. I should have the additional prototype cartridges in the hands of the programmers in the next couple of weeks. I have posted the schematic of the prototype cart under downloads. It shows how to connect the IP Dragon II board to the Atari cartridge port in case anyone wants to make their own cart. Finally, I have re-arranged the download section a bit. Since we are going to use the IP Dragon II board for the cartridge, I want to make sure people ar not confused by the Olimex info, so I moved to the "Other downloadsand links" section. It may still be possible to use the Olimex board, so I think it's a good idea to keep the info on the site. Once I get the prototypes sent off to the programmers, My next task will be designing A printed circuit board based on the schematic I just posted.



  Update May 20th 2010:

We have found a new CS8900A board! It is called the IP Dragon II and it is virtually the same size as the Olimex board but it uses the 5v CS8900A...WIN! WIN! It is made by Invector Embedded Technologies. They made a very similar CS8900A board that was used in the Apple II ethernet cartridge so they have been involved in a similar project before. I have been in contact with the owner and he has been a pleasure to deal with. the CS8900A boards will be $32 USD and more information on the IP Dragon II can be found on their website: The schematic and datasheet for the IP Dragon II has been posted under Downloads on this site.

Cartridge "header" boards that plug into a larger prototyping PC board are complete...Yea! The prototyping board is from Radio Shack (part # 276-149). Some images of the completed header and prototyping board have been posted under pictures and the pc board patterns for the header boards are available under downloads in case anyone wants to try making their own cartridge this way. These boards will be used to build a few prototypes and get the ethernet cartridge in the hands of some talented programmers so development of the software can continue. I will post picture of the prototypes as soon as they are built. A professional printed circuit board that will accept the IP Dragon II board will be designed next. I am not sure of the cost yet, but I think they will be reasonable as long as we get enough interest for a decent amount of boards.



  April 10th 2010:

So far, there is a schematic to interface the Atari cartridge port to a CS8900A development board. There have been several CS8900A development boards available over recent years and most of them should work as long as they put the chip in 8-bit mode. There is a compact board made by Olimex that would easily fit on a cartridge board. However, this board and some others use the 3.3v version of the CS8900A and this could be a problem because the Atari uses 5V logic. The Chip's absolute max voltage rating is 6v, so it might work but it will run hot and quite possible shorten the life of the CS8900A. This can be solved by using special logic chips designed to "glue" 3.3v and 5v systems together but it's more work than purchasing a 5v CS8900A board. I will keep The schematic and information on the Olimex board in the Download section in case someone wants to try this.

The circuit has been built and a telnet application has been written. The hardware and the telnet app has been tested on a 130XE, and we can now successfully telnet to several BBSes over the internet!



To Do List