	 =======================================
	 Rough beginnings of a glossary of terms
	       Last updated: April 10, 2002
	 =======================================


	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.
	It appears we'll be tweaking this listing for
	some time. (Group input invited.)  -- Ward S.




"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]
