Lynx eprom-based cart

[lbaeza]

Hi

 

I recently purchased an EPROM burner, and have some EPROMs too.

I want to burn some EPROMs with some Lynx games to play'em on my Lynx 2.

To achieve this, I need some kind of Lynx cart were I can plug the EPROMs.

 

Anybody knows where can I purchase one of these Lynx eprom-based carts?

How much money does one of these carts costs?

 

Regards

 

PS: Take a look to the attachment to figure out what I'm looking for.

[+Mitch]

Hi

 

I recently purchased an EPROM burner, and have some EPROMs too.

I want to burn some EPROMs with some Lynx games to play'em on my Lynx 2.

To achieve this, I need some kind of Lynx cart were I can plug the EPROMs.

 

Anybody knows where can I purchase one of these Lynx eprom-based carts?

How much money does one of these carts costs?

 

Regards

 

PS: Take a look to the attachment to figure out what I'm looking for.

848292[/snapback]

 

Check this thread.

 

Mitch

[Memblers]

I'm going to make a cartridge like that, like I mentioned in the other thread. I don't know how soon though. I'm kinda busy now, so it could be months away.. But if it works, I'd be willing to sell one of the prototypes for maybe $15.

[+karri]

Memblers,

 

In case you make the cart then please note that the Lynx 1 needs to have

the connector part of the cart empty. Place the chip as far from the connector

as possible.

 

I have used normal thickness PCB's and then I glue a small strip of plastic

on the component side to get the desired connector thickness. As glue I use

super epoxy and as plastic I use a transparent cover material of a A4 folder.

 

It is also a good thing to make a small slope on the edge of the cart so that

you don't break the connector when you insert the cart.

 

--

Cheers,

 

Karri

[Memblers]

Good point, as I only have the Lynx 2.

 

I figured I would extend the PCB beyond the lynx by about .75" so the ROM is fully in the clear, or is that a bad idea also with the Lynx 1? Seems like soldering through-hole sockets would be a problem if it needs to be flat on the bottom, wouldn't it?

 

I was hoping to use the right thickness PCB also, I need to find some calipers to see what it is exactly.

Edited May 4, 2005 by Memblers

[lbaeza]

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for the link, Mitch.

 

Making one of these PCBs from scratch is very difficult. Mostly because of the lines on both sides of the board. Memblers, if you have success on this task, I'd be glad to hear from you.

 

Anyway, B&C sells those prototype/demo carts for $39.95, and that's the cheapest EPROM-based cart I found on the net. Anybody knows if these carts have the EPROMs directly soldered onto the board, or there's a socket between the EPROM and the PCB?

 

Regards

[+Mitch]

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for the link, Mitch.

 

Making one of these PCBs from scratch is very difficult. Mostly because of the lines on both sides of the board. Memblers, if you have success on this task, I'd be glad to hear from you.

 

Anyway, B&C sells those prototype/demo carts for $39.95, and that's the cheapest EPROM-based cart I found on the net. Anybody knows if these carts have the EPROMs directly soldered onto the board, or there's a socket between the EPROM and the PCB?

 

Regards

849518[/snapback]

 

B&C will sell you the plain board as well, I forget how much it cost. Email them and get a quote, it's a nice board, it can handle both 128K and 256K games.

 

Mitch

[Memblers]

Making one of these PCBs from scratch is very difficult. Mostly because of the lines on both sides of the board.

 

Yeah, definitely. I didn't clarify it in my post, but my plan is to have a professional PCB fab make it. Gold plated & beveled edge connector, all that nice stuff.

 

I found a picture of the (or a) B&C lynx cart, it does look pretty nice.

Edited May 5, 2005 by Memblers

[+karri]

Good point, as I only have the Lynx 2.

 

I figured I would extend the PCB beyond the lynx by about .75" so the ROM is fully in the clear, or is that a bad idea also with the Lynx 1?  Seems like soldering through-hole sockets would be a problem if it needs to be flat on the bottom, wouldn't it?

 

I was hoping to use the right thickness PCB also, I need to find some calipers to see what it is exactly.

849118[/snapback]

 

Extending the cart is bad for the Lynx 1. It has a small plastic door that encloses

the cart completely. So it is completely inside the Lynx 1.

 

Have a look at my devflash document. It has pictures of how it fits into Lynx 1.

 

DevFlash

 

Through soldered components is no problem really. Just cut the pins so that they

don't come out on the solder side before you solder.

 

--

Karri

[Memblers]

Thanks Karri, I see now. Looks like that DIP switch on yours uses all the space available, heheh.

 

I'm mostly used to soldering NES boards (.047"), I'd forgotten just how massive Lynx ones are, heh. I noticed a socket at Digikey with a lead length of .095", I bet that's just the size for it. But they are relatively expensive.

[sage]

Hi Guys

Anyway, B&C sells those prototype/demo carts for $39.95, and that's the cheapest EPROM-based cart I found on the net. Anybody knows if these carts have the EPROMs directly soldered onto the board, or there's a socket between the EPROM and the PCB?

 

Regards

 

Very expensive if you compare it to priced for COMPLETE games (Alpine Games 40€).

 

BTW: Every Flash/EPROM cart sold will decrease my interest in releasing another cartridge...

[+karri]

BTW: Every Flash/EPROM cart sold will decrease my interest in releasing another cartridge...

852000[/snapback]

 

I was a bit worried about this aspect too. But so far I have only seen 3 flash

carts go to people who have not yet contributed by either publishing a game

or participating in developers forums. So I am not too worried about this

anymore. Some people have even started to learn to program just to be

able to show their friends that they can do a games cart for the Lynx by

themselves.

 

I really hope that the new compiler with cheap carts gives more to the Lynx

community than it takes.

 

The much bigger threat for running images of your software will be on emulated

platforms where you have no choice to use the original cart. If some super-cool

platform like PSP works better than the original Lynx for playing Lynx games

then there is a big demand to get the recent game images copied.

 

Besides the majority of Lynx ethusiasts are collecors by nature. Even I have

bought 2 copies of Championship Rally and one of Alpine Games just to get the real

thing. As a beta tester I had the games all the time.

 

--

Cheers,

 

Karri

[Memblers]

BTW: Every Flash/EPROM cart sold will decrease my interest in releasing another cartridge...

852000[/snapback]

 

Well, I was hoping another Lynx cart would have the opposite effect. Hypothetically, if it was available cheaper than whatever PCB one would use otherwise, that should make it easier for independant developers (or at least be an alternative).

 

When I put my name/logo or something on it, you can be sure I wouldn't be willing to sell it to pirate cart makers or anything like that, heheh.

 

I actually have experienced something like what Karri mentioned. I wrote a couple NES games (not really good ones though, heh), and I found a company that was selling them on pirate GBA carts. It went "out of stock" after I emailed them, though really I told them I was amused and wanted one.

[sage]

Well, I was hoping another Lynx cart would have the opposite effect.  Hypothetically, if it was available cheaper than whatever PCB one would use otherwise, that should make it easier for independant developers (or at least be an alternative).

 

The point is: You can develop 90% of the game without testing it on a lynx. The emulation is really very good nowadays. The only things which are hard to test are sound, special sprite scaling/tilting abilities and comlynx.

PS: as long as EPROM burning or Flashing takes >10 min for one ROM, its really a pain to use it in development.

 

When I put my name/logo or something on it, you can be sure I wouldn't be willing to sell it to pirate cart makers or anything like that, heheh.

I actually have experienced something like what Karri mentioned.  I wrote a couple NES games (not really good ones though, heh), and I found a company that was selling them on pirate GBA carts.  It went "out of stock" after I emailed them, though really I told them I was amused and wanted one. 

 

Well, I only say "PD" Disks / CDROMs.

Some of my software endet up on a PD CDROM. The people who compiled these CDROM, did not even read the manual or looked in the info dialog of the software.

Some of my lynx preview/beta versions ended up on a ROM site, which took money for downloading...

This is really spoiling the fun.

[Memblers]

The point is: You can develop 90% of the game without testing it on a lynx. The emulation is really very good nowadays. The only things which are hard to test are sound, special sprite scaling/tilting abilities and comlynx.

PS: as long as EPROM burning or Flashing takes >10 min for one ROM, its really a pain to use it in development.

 

I use an EPROM emulator (connected to a parallel port), uploading is closer to 10 seconds. It has to always stay connected to the PC though. I actually got one long before getting a chip programmer, it's definitely a recommended tool if you need to do a lot of testing with eproms.

 

Music and sound programming is definitely one of the things I want to try when I get this working. Anyways, I doubt I'd make any more carts beyond the prototypes since I can't expect much beyond doing some experimenting.

 

About the "PD" stuff, yeah I find that very annoying as well. It seems that any rom that's newly released for an old system ends up renamed with "PD" in the filename even though it's almost always not public domain. And even says so on the title screen, heh.

[raydog]

It just so happens I made a few of these.

 

 

I have about 25 left out of about 250 that I had made.

 

Let me know how many you want.

 

--

raydog@gmail.com

 

 

I have no idea if the picture will show up.

email me and I will send the picture

[raydog]

Woops, almost forgot.

 

The current board only uses the 128k and 256k ROMS.

 

I have a board that used the 512k ROMS with battery backup.

(if anyone has seen the Atari battery prototype board, well mine is the same)

 

But I never had them produced.

 

--

raydog@gmail.com