Memblers

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.

Try this pinout: http://nesworld.com/gxjoypad.htm

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I guess this must be the B&C you mentioned: http://www.myatari.com/bclynx.txt Cool, yeah I see those Atari test carts now. For what it costs though, I might as well spend just a bit more to make a few of my own. Thanks for the info.

Hi Karri, I've seen the PDF doc describing your cart, it looks great. The info was actually a little helpful for me when I was learning how to make an NES flashcart. I have an EPROM emulator, so assuming the restart button on the front touches the CPU (I don't know for sure), a plain ROM cart should work nicely for me. I have Eagle too. I think I won't have any trouble drawing the edge connector, but it wouldn't be bad to have something to compare it to. You can send that component lib to [email protected] if you'd like.

So is noone making Lynx dev carts these days? ROM-based, I mean. I want one, so I might make a PCB. It'd be nice to know if I'd be reinventing the wheel. Or even better, if it'd be useful to others also.

I've designed an NES cart with a PIC microcontroller used as a coprocessor. It works great for what I've done with it so far (lots of 8-bit multiplication and other things). I'm not sure how a 2600 interface to it would look, the communication is already kinda tricky on NES. But PICs are cheap and common.