spicyjack Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) Current A8PicoGram status (2023-12-12) I have 10+ of both white and black PCBs, I have envelopes, and I have a little bit of free time. Let’s get these boards out the door and on their way to you! Hello,  I am starting an A8PicoGram service.   I will send you two (2) bare “OG” electrotrains A8PicoCart PCBs, anywhere in the world, shipped direct from California, for one single price.   What is an “A8PicoCart”? The A8PicoCart uses a clone of the Raspberry Pi Pico board to “listen” to the electrical signals on an 8-bit Atari computer’s cartridge slot, then emulate the electrical signals of a “real” ROM cartridge. To your Atari 8-bit computer, it won’t know the difference between an A8PicoCart and a real cartridge.  You can find out more about the A8PicoCart in the thread here on AtariAge:   Currently, the A8PicoGram service will be offering the “electrotrains” variant of the A8PicoCart.  You can find the user manual for the A8PicoCart here:  https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart/blob/main/A8PicoCart%20Manual.pdf  About the PCBs… I have the “electrotrains” A8PicoCart PCB’s in white or black, with a HASL lead-free finish, and with a 45° bevel on the insertion edge of the board. If you decide to order an A8PicoGram, you can choose one of:  Two white PCBs Two black PCBs Or you can be extra daring and/or fashionable, and get one white and one black PCB.  Here's a picture of the 45° bevel compared to the 90° edges.   Shipping I will be using USPS Domestic (USA) or International First Class mail for shipping, which is untracked.  Let me say this again:  I will be using USPS Domestic (USA) or International First Class mail for shipping, which is untracked.  Getting tracking numbers would in most cases raise the cost of shipping between 5 and 10 times, and I’d have to start thinking about customs forms and such. It kind of defeats the purpose of distributing such a low-cost project in my opinion.  The PCBs will be wrapped inside of a piece of paper with your address on it, in case the address on the outside of the envelope gets ripped off during processing/shipping.  The paper-wrapped PCBs will then be inserted inside “photo mailers” (cardboard envelopes used for mailing photographs) and sent out.  What I can do instead of tracking numbers is send you a picture of your envelope dropping into the mailbox, so you know about what time it will leave California on its way to you. If you want the picture, please ask for it, otherwise I won’t shoot one.  How to order? Send me a private message (PM) here on AtariAge (https://forums.atariage.com/profile/30908-spicyjack/), and I’ll send you my PayPal address. I’m accepting PayPal only for now.  When you send me the PM to order, let me know the following info:  Whether you want 2 black PCBs, 2 white PCBs, or the fashionable 1 white/1 black pairing of PCBs Your name, and the address where I should ship the A8PicoGram to Your PayPal email, so I can connect AA people to emails in PayPal; you could also include your AA username in the “Notes” box in PayPal, that would help a lot If you are including extra money as a donation to “electrotrains”, and/or you want me to make your donation "anonymous", let me know that as well If you want me to send you a picture of your envelope being dropped into the mailbox, for “tracking” purposes; if you don’t mention it, I won’t take a picture  When you send me the money via PayPal, make sure you check the box that says:  "Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services"  And send the money in “US dollars” (USD).  I will ship from California on Wednesdays and Saturdays, excluding US holidays (Christmas, New Year’s Day, etc.), when the post office here is closed. If you PayPal me the money before noon California time (that would be 8pm UTC, we are 8 hours behind UTC) on Wednesday or Saturday, I'll ship the same day.  Well, how much does all this cost? Here are the total prices in US dollars (USD) for sending 2 x A8PicoCart PCBs to you in a nice envelope, with all postage and handling included;  If you live in…  USA - $11 (estimated ship time: 2-8 days) Canada - $12 (estimated ship time: 1-2 weeks) Mexico - $14 (estimated ship time: 2-3 weeks) South America - $15 (estimated ship time: 2-4 weeks) Europe (EU Zone)/UK/Australia/New Zealand/Asia - $16 (estimated ship time: 2-4 weeks, depending on where you live and how close you are to a big city)  If your country is not listed here, PM me and ask, so I can go find out and let you know. Most likely, it will end up being the $16 total price.  For the curious, shipping weight is 2oz (55g I think), and the envelope size is 6.5" x 4.5" x 3/16" (16.5cm x 11.5cm x 4cm)  Donations to electrotrains $2.00USD from every A8PicoGram will be donated to “electrotrains”, $1.00USD per board. I will add your AtariAge username to the donation, if you want, so he knows who it is from. I will also make “anonymous” donations if you want, it’s up to you.  If you want to donate more $$$ to “electrotrains”, just let me know beforehand, so I know what to do with the extra money you will be sending.  Those prices are kind of crazy! Yeah, so let’s break the costs down…  The two PCBs, envelopes, tape and labels are about $6 total. $2 for donations for two PCBs, so that’s roughly $8USD just to get it ready to ship.  The rest of the money is for postage and PayPal merchant fees, the cost of which depends on destination. I’m getting more or less about $1 per board (usually less), depending on which country I’m sending this to.  It’s still too much Feel free to download and order your own PCBs, the Gerbers are up in the “OG” electrotrains A8PicoCart repo:  https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart  You’ll see it gets expensive quickly for small amounts of boards.  More about the A8PicoGram Service Everybody who orders an A8PicoGram will be shipped two (2) PCBs… even if you only want one. It’s FAR cheaper to ship two, and it allows for things like solder mistakes, spilled drinks, making new Atari friends, and so on and so forth.  There is a limit of two (2) PCBs per order, so that everyone who wants a pair of PCBs has a chance to get them. If this “service” becomes really popular and I order more PCBs, I may go back and revisit this limit at a later date.  Known A8PicoCart Variants The “electrotrains” variant of the A8PicoCart (https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart) has the PCBs designed so that the USB-C connector on the Purple Pico clone is facing “down” when inserted, i.e. the USB-C port on the Purple Pico is facing the cartridge slot in your Atari.  This is so you can’t plug in USB-C power with your Atari turned off and accidentally “back-power” your Atari, thereby letting out “magick smoke” and causing great sadness to be had.   These are the simplest A8PicoCart boards to buy parts for and solder, you only need to find a Purple Pico Clone, some pin headers (usually included with the Purple Pico), and possibly the optional pushbutton switch.  There’s also an optional 3D printed cartridge shell for the “electrotrains” OG PCB, see the GitHub repo above.  There are older designs by “electrotrains” that have the USB-C port pointing to the side of the cart. These versions are not being offered by me at this time.  There is now (as of December 2023) also the “mozzwald” variant of this PCB, which I am NOT currently offering, this version is still being developed (somewhat) and tested.  If you want some of the “mozzwald” variant A8PicoCart PCBs, you will have to either order them yourself from a PCB fab house, or have patience and wait for someone to order a batch and sell them.  I may sell the “mozzwald” variants of the A8PicoCart at a later date, but no promises.  Also, the “mozzwald” variant will need more parts and more soldering, but it will be more flexible as far as hardware and software development on your Atari.  The “mozzwald” variant PCBs and 3D printed cartridge shells can be found here:  https://github.com/mozzwald/A8PicoCart  Ordering the rest of the required parts I’m not currently selling anything but A8PicoCart PCBs, everything else you will need to source yourself.  For Purple Pico clone boards, I’ve had good luck with this vendor on AliExpress:  https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804090698520.html  I’ve received Purple Picos from this vendor with the "faster" Winbond SPI flash chip, however, both of the known SPI flash chips that have been seen so far “in the wild” are supported in the current A8PicoCart firmware.  Last time I ordered Purple Pico clones from AliExpress in August, it took about 2 weeks to take delivery from China to me here in California.  If you want to save some wear on your Atari’s power switch, you can add the optional pushbutton switch to the A8PicoCart. You will need a “6x6mm thru-hole tactile momentary switch”. If you are going to 3D print a cartridge shell, then 9mm+ pushbutton height is suitable.  But I don’t know how to solder… If you don’t know how to solder at all, you can buy cheap kits on FleaBay/Amazon/AliExpress that are sold for the purpose of helping you teach yourself how to solder. They are probably somewhat more “expendable” than your soon-to-be shiny new A8PicoCart.  Search for “soldering practice kit” or “soldering practice board” if you are interested in this.  A “cheap” soldering iron would also work for this project, but again, I would use it on the practice board first before trying it out on the A8PicoCart, so you can get a feel for how your new soldering iron works.  The “electrotrains” version of the A8PicoCart is (in my opinion) an “okay” first soldering project, in that if you make a mistake soldering, you probably won’t be able to figure it out as easily as you could with a dedicated soldering practice kit.  Don’t be afraid to try it however, and if you run into problems, post pictures of your soldering job on the A8PicoCart thread here on AA, and you’ll get help.   Here’s a list of other suggested places where you could get help with soldering…  Ask around at local computer clubs or user groups; I think all of the VCF’s usually run a soldering table. Ask around at local electronics clubs or at electronics supply stores Look for local computer/electronics groups on Meetup Ask around at community colleges or trade schools Ask on your local Craigslist, maybe in the “gigs” section Find a local makerfair and ask/look around for the soldering area, there will usually be one there  There’s also probably a billion videos on all of the popular video services… this may be a case of “too much is not such a good thing after all”. I definitely trust anything Dave at EEVBlog posts, so you can start there (https://www.eevblog.com/)  How can I trust you with my $$$? No tracking numbers, remember?  Know that I’m not putting this all together to “make money”.  However, I want to do it, because 1) I think it’s a great project that I want to support however I can, and 2) I feel it will help me connect to others in this community who feel the same way.  If you have any questions about A8PicoGrams Ask them below, I'll do my best to answer.  Ordering info again, just in case… Send me a PM here on AA (https://forums.atariage.com/profile/30908-spicyjack/). When you send me the PM to order, let me know the following info:  Whether you want 2 black PCBs, 2 white PCBs, or the fashionable 1 white/1 black pairing of PCBs Your name, and the address where I should ship the A8PicoGram to Your PayPal email, so I can connect AA people to emails in PayPal; you could also include your AA username in the “Notes” box in PayPal, that would help a lot If you are including extra money as a donation to “electrotrains”, and/or you want me to make your donation "anonymous", let me know that as well If you want me to send you a picture of your envelope being dropped into the mailbox, for “tracking” purposes; if you don’t mention it, I won’t take a picture  Edited December 13, 2023 by spicyjack Updated status; added tags 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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