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Programming the Lynx for a living - blank carts


karri

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I looked in the directory and found Makefile.deb then googled how 'make' functions. My limited knowledge of Linux meant I wasn't going to get anywhere without your help Just to let you know it has compiled ok as far as I can tell. I even transferred a Megadrive game over wifi and tested it out in retropie. Just wish I could find my usb joystick :(

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You can get a Linux shell by pressing F4.

 

It is also important to put the lynxboot.img in the correct folder (something like /home/pi/..../bios...) and the games go into a similar place with the word rom in it. The games will automatically be added to the graphical user interface.

 

I also have a yellow wireless usb ps-style stick in the cupboard. No time to have it configured yet.

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Hi I finally managed to set everything up and glue the cart. The Lynx tools compiled fine but going to /opt/lynx/contrib/blankcart/programmer and writing sudo ./readcart gives an error:

Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")")

 

when trying run make it says: Makefile:1: *** recipe commences before first target. Stop.

 

I googled both but wasn't able to really undestand what's wrong. Any help appreciated.

 

But wow, the programming of the cart is working, yay! That's the important thing anyways, wohoo!

 

Attached an image of the awesome looking setup :)

post-2915-0-32690400-1441548052_thumb.jpg

Edited by Turbo Laser Lynx
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Here's my first cart programmed with Conquistador, this is so exciting being able to produce Lynx carts yourself! Can't almost believe it until you see it with your own eyes \o/ You're a wizard Karri, thanks for another amazing lynx project! Next Lynx world domination with all the possibilities this gives the Lynx community ;) :)

post-2915-0-04637300-1441550405_thumb.jpg

post-2915-0-75130600-1441550417_thumb.jpg

Edited by Turbo Laser Lynx
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  • 2 months later...

I have lost count of how many attempts it took to get the mechanics to work on the programmer. But finally I got it right.

 

post-2099-0-76434800-1447965615_thumb.png

 

So, time to start posting stuff - at last. I have also re-designed the cart a bit to make it easier to manufacture it. And found a cheaper source for PCBs and manufacturing.

 

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Great Karri, really good news. This will seem like Xmas has come early! Woohoo! I cannot wait to try this out

 

Do I need to buy a cable to connect the board to raspberry pi?

 

Nope. The cable, programmer, a cart + 3d cover should be in the mail shortly. Oh, the Finnish post office is on strike today...

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I also fine tuned the carts a bit before the first order.

 

post-2099-0-89298300-1448136373_thumb.png post-2099-0-73750800-1448136391_thumb.png

 

I would like to try out my new web shop. So when I get the programmers or carts ready I would be happy if you could place your order at http://discohat.com/shop. They are not there yet because I need some 3D printouts for the rest of the programmers.

 

There is a long story of why I am involved is theater light and sound control. In any case I am there now with my new and shiny DiscoHAT.

Edited by karri
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Karri,

As I am not technically minded, have you made a device that when I put one of yor blank carts in it I will be able to burn a Lynx ROM to it?

What is the cost for the device and how much will the blank carts be.

Awesome work as always.

This community never ceases to amaze me with what it can do.

Cheers

Russell

Edited by saffron1
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Yep. Homebrew releases need some kind of base cart for a decent price.

 

I only have the prototypes so far. The bulk order of carts will probably happen soon. I had to re-design the cart a bit in order to get it manufactured properly. The text LYNX on the 3D cart is difficult to print well so I may have to get rid of it and print a blank cover instead.

 

The cost of chips, pcb and soldering are shared with people interested in this project. Testing, 3D printing, manuals, box etc. is not part of this project. My guess is 5€ for the electronics.

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I am planning to split up the cost for the cart in a few categories:

 

Assemby:

- soldered (default)

- parts only (pcb and 512k flash)

 

Eeprom:

- none

- 2k 93LC86

- 64k (default)

 

3D cover

- none (default)

- black printed 3D PLA

 

In this way you can decide how much work you will do locally.

 

You could order in multiples of 10 carts only. Or should it be multiples of 20 carts? In order to get them delivered as large letters I could go with 23 x 16 x 2 cm A5 size.

 

In a way I would prefer 10 carts as the monetary value does not get so high in case the box is lost in the mail. The box is too large for getting a letter insurance for it. On the other hand I could send 20 carts for the same post cost as 10. Couriers are really expensive compared to mail. Inside EU there is no customs. In the US and others I have to study the regulations a bit. Comments?

 

You can have a look at http://discohat.com/shop

 

Click on Lynx and have a look at the options and how they work. The prices are pretty good guesses. I hope to make them smaller still.

 

Oh, and I am slowly falling for a black solder mask PCB with white silk screen. Gold submersion to get a good contact with the Lynx. Hard black PLA cover.

 

Supergreen! (as said in 5th element)

Edited by karri
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Hi Karri,

Your link doesn't work. I found your website through Google though.

My kit has arrived in the post ?. It looks great. I can see what you mean about the LYNX printed logo, it's not perfect but a great effort. Good idea to drop that on future carts. The connector looks really solid I just need to try it out now.

Rgds

Mark

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It is good that you got it. I am still a little worried about reliability. When I was working on the next card it developed some reliability symptoms again. Not mechanical this time.

 

I am just checking out the details while I write this.

 

It is really quite hard to estimate the exact cost of the chips. There is always the problem with delivery of chips, VAT, import tax, service fees and so on. So I just have to change all prices after I get the batch ordered and get the components here.

 

The component prices are fixed. Amount has no influence on price really. The variation between RS, Farnell, DigiKey, Mouser, Newark is small.

 

If I do the run in this year I could legally skip the VAT as the "business" is small. That would reduce the price by 24%. For next year I don't know how much DiscoHATs I sell and therefore the VAT is there also.

 

Have a look at my "shop" and give your thoughts.

 

Oh, 3D printing is available when I get the printer. Perhaps in February.

Edited by karri
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Cool, big congrats for finishing the cart programmer design!

 

About the shop: I like it, it's looks nice and it's also fast. I also like that there's so many options to customize the carts. Actually I'm wondering a bit about how complicated it is to program save games for the eeprom? I might order my first batch without it.

 

About the ordering you said:

 

I would like to try out my new web shop. So when I get the programmers or carts ready I would be happy if you could place your order at http://discohat.com/shop.

 

So I was just unsure if we're supposed to place the order now, soon or at a later point?

 

Ii you ask me I agree that ten seems like a reasonable amount for the batches of carts taking into account the price range. :)

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Ok this is where the stupid questions start. Sorry Karri . I have connected the kit to my pi and tried to read a cart. Nothing happens or if it does nothing appears to happen. I'm not sure if you shipped the cart blank but I did a program cart and have a Lynx Reloaded cart now. I have this image.
post-40486-0-29476900-1448571726_thumb.jpg

 

Update: Something is happening. I'm currently writing to the cart, theres 2048 blocks to write. Its on 250 :)

Edited by BadPricey
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You just hit my lazyness. The readcart just reads the cart into cart.lnx in the current directory. You may want to give it a parameter in some cases. Like

 

readcart 1024

 

reads 1024 bytes/block stuff

 

Usually it finds out automatically the size of the carts.

 

The software will hopefully improve (a lot) in the days to come. Just now I believe that programcart is better.

 

Perhaps you need to have a look at the readcart.c and run

 

make readcart

 

...

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I will make more investigation/ tinkering tomorrow. I have managed to copy centipede.lnx from the Lynx roms directory to the programmer directory and it has written to the cart. I have tried it on my Lynx and it works :music: . Thanks for your hard work karri. I'll update if I get read to work :) Where can I find the rom that I guess you wrote to the cart?

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About orders - later please. I just try to get the stuff bought as cheap as possible to get the price down.

 

The 1st batch will be 100 carts. I just sent in the PCBs to a new shop that is slightly cheaper and faster. The price should be PCB $116, DHL $38, PayPal $8, import tax, 24% sales tax. So around 2€/cart.

 

Then I will shop for the flashes and eeproms.

 

BadPricey, the image was just a left over from my tests. Pay no attention to it.

 

Turbo Laser Lynx, About eeprom programming. The 93S86 (2k) chip is directly supported by cc65. You can read and write 16 bit ints to it like:

unsigned int __fastcall__ lynx_eeread_93c86(unsigned int addr)
void __fastcall__ lynx_eewrite_93c86(unsigned int addr, unsigned int val)

As the chip can hold 1024 ints the addr can be between 0..1023. and the val can be between 0..65535

 

For the 64k there is no Lynx library yet. I have written tools to read/write it from Raspberry Pi to test that it works.

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I just ordered the chips also. The prices were not so bad. The most expensive chip is actually the 64k eeprom. The 512k flash was found for a bulk price of €1.05 + delivery etc. The 2k eeprom may actually be just 40 cents. Once I get all parts here it is time for you guys to deliver some cash. I will tell when the shop is open and the real price is known.

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