CASduino
Considering buying an SD tape emulator for your retro computer? Well here is a nice checklist to help you choose:
- Make sure the device has an AMP circuit to boost the volume. Time and time again low powered devices have proven to fail while loading games. You might get away with loading some games but essentially you need an AMP.
- In one scenario an AMP by itself might not be enough if you have a deaf computer. Deaf computers need more than volume on the characteristics of the audio. The Deaf computer issue is not limited to ZX Spectrum. You could experience this with other computers. Make sure the device can accommodate this issue.
- If you are planning to use a device as a wave player running Arduitape or Digiwavuino make sure the audio circuit contains a low-pass filter.
- If you need the device for MSX, Dragon, Acorn/BBC, or Oric make sure the sd device has a remote socket. Without it, it is useless. A lot of games on these computers like to control how the games are loaded by pausing the tape from the game automatically.
- If you need a device for multiple computers at the same time be careful on buying a device based on an Arduino Nano. The Arduino Nano is limited on memory. This is ok when you have a few retro computers. Check out the Maxduino Ultimate which is based on the Atmega 4808 chip and has double the memory and can support 2-3 times computers in one device.
- Check to see if the vendor offers an easy way to update the device. Most of these devices are programmed using the Arduino IDE. If you don’t know what you are doing it can be a bit daunting. That is why we developed an easy flash tool called TZX_Tools which runs on Windows that allows you to flash TZXduino, CASduino, Arduitape, Digiwavuino, and Maxduino without knowing how to code.
- Some TZX player apps claim to be multi-load compatible. Multi-load is where the game loads in stages and if you were loading it from cassette you’d be expected to manually pause the tape. Now the only software that truly supports Multiload TZX files is Maxduino. Maxduino monitors for a “stop tape” block and automatically stops the game load. Nothing on the market can do this in the same way.
I hope you found these tips useful..
Someone gave me an idea to document the firmware feature differences that the TZX_Tools firmware tool supports. TBH It is a good idea so we can dispel the myths and views on the different firmware as they all do something a little different. From this table, you can see why I prefer MaxDuino. Even more than my own firmware Digiwavuino. I’m sure over time I’ll have to update it and I’m sure there will be 1 or 2 incorrect entries but this is my view on the features.
FYI TZX_Tools is a tool that allows for simple updating of devices running the below firmware.
| Feature | MaxDuino | TZXduino | CASDuino | ArduiTape | Digiwavuino |
| OLED | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| LCD | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 8544 SCREEN | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| RGB LCD | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
| ROTATE OLED | Y | N | N | N | N |
| DYNAMIC SCREEN DETECTION | N | N | N | N | Y |
| DYNAMIC SD DETECTION | Y | N | N | N | Y |
| CHANGE SD CARD WITHOUT RESET | N | N | N | N | Y |
| TAP FILE | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| O FILE | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| P FILE | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| TZX FILE | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| TSX FILE | Y | N | N | N | N |
| CDT FILE | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| UEF FILE | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| CAS FILE | Y | N | Y | N | N |
| WAV FILE | N | N | N | Y | Y |
| REMOTE JACK FOR MULTILOAD | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MUTLILOAD GAME SUPPORT FOR ZX SPECTRUM | Y | N | N | N | N |
| ARDUINO NANO | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| ARDUINO UNO | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| ARDUINO MEGA | Y | N | N | N | N |
| ARDUINO NANO EVERY | Y | N | N | N | N |
| THINARY EVERY | Y | N | N | N | N |
| STM32 | Y | N | N | N | N |
| STORE LOGO IN EEPROM | Y | N | N | N | N |
| ENCHANCED SDFAT SUPPORT | Y | N | N | N | N |
This our latest offering. Its called the Dragonuitape and its based on the Maxduino firmware (Thank you Rafaefl) . It’s for sale now in the online store. I hope you love it.
I realized very early on, that people wanting to update their TZXduino, MaxDuino, CASduino, or ArduiTape would struggle if they had no experience with the Arduino programming tool. So I built a FREE tool to do that for you in a way to give back to the Retro Community. Watch the video below and CLICK HERE if you want to download the tool.
This is a nice video by Phil Kruman reviewing the MSXuitape device to load MSX games stored in CAS file format from a microSD card on to an MSX. f you want to buy one head over to our online store CLICK HERE
This is an older video I recorded showing how to use the MSXuitape device to load MSX games stored in CAS file format from a microSD card on to a MSX. Now the unit in this video is a one-off in terms of material as they are normally black plastic and not a wood design. If you want to buy one head over to our online store CLICK HERE