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Xenon II - Megablast! (Bitmap Brothers) - Jaguar Port


CyranoJ

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For my own education indulge my questions a little, I heard that you are making a run of 100 with possibly a second run, so 200 carts.

When Jag homebrews are done what are usually the numbers involved?

Is 200 a big number or a small one?

 

I understand that demand may be different depending on projects but you guys may have already an expectation/idea of what kind of user base is willing to back you up .... just interested in understanding the homebrew scene a little better ... needless to say the smaller that paying base the higher the cost for projects like these due to a fixed component + lack of scale to obtain better deals. I understand all that, I promise I won't try to speculate on what you're making out of it, it is not my intention or interest, just trying to gauge if we're talking a "band of brothers" kind of a scene or more like brick and mortar store attendance.

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MAY is better than AUGUST

 

Good to see there is a complete production chain with guys making this happen! Thanks, all of you involved.

it would depends if these damn boards continue to give me issues

 

problem:

new boards

new save chips

 

eproms programmed and verified about 20 times each

solder them in the board

 

= red after a short pause after the jaguar logo

 

 

 

 

de soldered the chips to check again, verified another 20 times each. both chips check out

 

:_(

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it would depends if these damn boards continue to give me issues

 

problem:

new boards

new save chips

 

eproms programmed and verified about 20 times each

solder them in the board

 

= red after a short pause after the jaguar logo

 

 

 

 

de soldered the chips to check again, verified another 20 times each. both chips check out

 

:_(

 

i think it may be to do with eprom speed, im not sure getting 50ns chips was a brilliant idea :/

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i think it may be to do with eprom speed, im not sure getting 50ns chips was a brilliant idea :/

The only issue would be if the setup time is so fast that you end up with a bus contention .... what's the default MASKrom speed for the existing games?

 

Or if some other Jag component would rely on the delay to still access the bus while the cart responds .... possible.

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i think it may be to do with eprom speed, im not sure getting 50ns chips was a brilliant idea :/

Which ones do you have?

 

These have worked fine for me: M27C160-100F1 and M27C160-50F1. The latest I bought is this ebay listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/281664211000?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

I have a socketed board just for testing eproms before soldering onto another board.

 

As to all your boards failing, that's weird. I found about 5% of the boards I got ended up being bad. I just verify all boards by socketing them first.

 

Are you checking by putting bare board into jag? If so, I found that a lot of bare boards that red screened worked ok when in a cart shell.

 

Lastly, is the jag still good?

 

 

@@@@@@ EDIT

 

Just noticed your using new save eeproms. Do you have an original eeprom to try with. I found bad eeproms could cause board not to work. I once got a batch of bad 93c86s which were sold as new.

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Which ones do you have?

 

These have worked fine for me: M27C160-100F1 and M27C160-50F1. The latest I bought is this ebay listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/281664211000?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

I have a socketed board just for testing eproms before soldering onto another board.

 

As to all your boards failing, that's weird. I found about 5% of the boards I got ended up being bad. I just verify all boards by socketing them first.

 

Are you checking by putting bare board into jag? If so, I found that a lot of bare boards that red screened worked ok when in a cart shell.

 

Lastly, is the jag still good?

 

i have m27c160-50F1 here, but i know the jag doesnt really care what speed it is, but i was wondering if 50 was a little bit fast especially if one chip is a little slow

 

the jag is fine as it does play other stuff

 

i even multi metered out the cartridge edge and the pin on the chips, all appears to be fine

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i have m27c160-50F1 here, but i know the jag doesnt really care what speed it is, but i was wondering if 50 was a little bit fast especially if one chip is a little slow

 

the jag is fine as it does play other stuff

 

i even multi metered out the cartridge edge and the pin on the chips, all appears to be fine

I've used 27c160-50F1 with no problem. I'll post a picture of one later when I'm home

 

I'd look at the eeproms. Can you read and write to one it your programmer? What happens if put a stock 93c46 on the board?

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Phoenixdownita - a typical homebrew run these days might run anywhere from 50 to 200 copies, with 100 copies typically being made. There's not much profit to be made: it's strictly an effort by a handful of Jag fans who do it for love of the hobby. The average effort is usually a couple of guys working off a table in the garage or den.

Edited by ls650
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Phoenixdownita - a typical homebrew run these days might run anywhere from 50 to 200 copies, with 100 copies typically being made. There's not much profit to be made: it's strictly an effort by a handful of Jag fans who do it for love of the hobby. The average effort is usually a couple of guys working off a table in the garage or den.

Is the number dictated by practicality or because after 100/200 units the 2 guys could go bonkers? (I can see that happening)

I ask because over at smspower.org a few years ago I was able to buy a gender-adapter for a Jap SMS, turns out the guy was sitting on the first batch of connectors made some 3Y earlier.

I am not sure how many he made but I found it interesting that after 3Y they were still available .... either the interest was misjudged or it was the minimum batch anyway.

 

Anyway thanks for confirming the ballpark numbers.

 

@omf all the best in finding the culprit of all your woes, solder-desolder gets very old very quickly.

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Is the number dictated by practicality or because after 100/200 units the 2 guys could go bonkers? (I can see that happening)

I ask because over at smspower.org a few years ago I was able to buy a gender-adapter for a Jap SMS, turns out the guy was sitting on the first batch of connectors made some 3Y earlier.

I am not sure how many he made but I found it interesting that after 3Y they were still available .... either the interest was misjudged or it was the minimum batch anyway.

 

Anyway thanks for confirming the ballpark numbers.

 

@omf all the best in finding the culprit of all your woes, solder-desolder gets very old very quickly.

 

 

The contract with The Bitmap Brothers is for a set number of units, which I will not disclose, not only because then people will start blabbing it all over ebay listings 6 months down the line to inflate their resale value, but because I can't.

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The contract with The Bitmap Brothers is for a set number of units, which I will not disclose, not only because then people will start blabbing it all over ebay listings 6 months down the line to inflate their resale value, but because I can't.

OK, I didn't see that coming, hopefully the number is generous enough wrt the community and it won't be a problem right away.

....hidden meaning .... there's chance for more than one run .... but as you said you are not at liberty to disclose to avoid scalping ... I really hope the final price would be right also for ass-cheap subjects like me :)

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The contract with The Bitmap Brothers is for a set number of units, which I will not disclose, not only because then people will start blabbing it all over ebay listings 6 months down the line to inflate their resale value, but because I can't.

 

Well hopefully there will be enough to go around ;-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

The version i made for gaz has an issue with the hiscore saving but will be good enough for the have a go format of play expo


I have currently manufactured 112 boards, i have a box thatthey are being put in that can hold probably another 25, i will continue to make boards until gaz comes down for a visit on the 10th of next month to collect them

All boards have been tested and work although some users may get some red screen issues due to flux splashes on the cart connector, not much i can do about that apart from brasso each board which im not going to do. As i say each board has been tested to get to the title screen. These boards use a legit cart header so if it boots it wont crash later on.

See attached picture for amount done

After this box is full i am calling the first batch done as i need a rest after this.

post-18126-0-23052600-1461967900_thumb.jpeg

Edited by omf
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All boards have been tested and work although some users may get some red screen issues due to flux splashes on the cart connector,

Just curious, why are you fluxing the boards. I've make a lot using just flux core solder with no problem with a fine chisel tip about 1/3 the diameter of the stock hakko fx988d tip.

 

Not saying you should do that. Just curious why you are applying flux.

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Do we have a price that can be announced?

[i presume the gaz that will handle the sale is you, here, if not please apologies]

 

All boards have been tested and work although ....

Care to share what was the issue you faced a couple of weeks ago with the EPROM speed? Just as a way to share a lesson learnt if any.

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