Cartridges with so-called TURBO, together with a small hardware modification to the cassette recorder, were used to speed up the loading of programs and games. Everyone wanted one for their ATARI, and anyone who did not have one suffered. Many different variations were produced by various ATARI clubs. The original creator was Jiří Richter (JRC).
Mr Jindřich Kubec covers cartridges in great detail on his website. Unfortunately, he sold his collection years ago and donated part of it to the Atari Club Prostějov.
My cartridge collection
TURBO cartridge manufacturers – the 1990s
In addition to home-made modifications, I have found these notable manufacturers:
- ATARI Club Prague (JRC)
- JZD Český ráj Podůlší
- FLOP – Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (ATARI club ???)
- Jiří Král – K-soft
Plastic cases were supplied to some ATARI clubs by Chirana Modřany.
Note: It would be worth finding out whether they still have any records in their archives, or even the original injection mould.
As I became interested in cartridges and their production in the 1990s, I decided to collect more information about the individual manufacturers, try to obtain EPROM contents, photographs and statements from the makers, and document the whole subject. If you have a historic cartridge made by an official organization (JRC, ATARI club, JZD, etc.), you are not particularly attached to it and can spare it, I would be happy to exchange it for a new TOOLBOX III (JRC), which includes VisiCopy III and can load games in all the different TURBO modes. I will also be grateful for any historical information about how the cartridge was obtained and about its manufacturers.
Cartridge manufacturers – today
Today’s cartridge development makes use of the technical possibilities offered by modern technology.
- Lotharek
- Atarimax (I have not looked into it in detail yet)
- Ultimate Cart (open-source project), SD card (I would like to make several units; we’ll see. Someone from the Czech Republic sells one on eBay for CZK 2,660, while my calculation comes to around CZK 1,000)
- AVG Cart (Slovak ATARI developer), SD card, firmware upgrade option