BennVenn

With the full rewrite of our ECSD cart, I was pretty impressed at how fast I could decode a BMP file from SD, transfer it over to the cart SRAM, tell the lynx the data was ready (via a slow eeprom interface) and have the lynx render it. There is very little lag on completely unoptimized code so what is possible if we try optimise it? I'm thinking I could clock my ARM in my cart from 72mhz up to 120mhz (safe limit), optimise my SD code to extract sectors directly to the cart SRAM without double buffering and use the AUDIN line as a simple handshake to tell the Lynx the image is ready to read from the cart. If the images were pre-prepared (not BMP, and sector aligned) I think we'd push frame rates high enough to be considered video (on an oem screen anyway). If a small CPLD in the Lynx was allowed, we could get direct cart IO access which would remove just about the only bottleneck in the system preventing smooth FMV I might play around with FFMPEG to see what is really possible. A little tighter seek/read function could help too

A short video showing the current features of the best $45 cart on the market!

@UHATEITthe instructions are in the discord - https://discord.gg/F5ckxM2 @karriso EOTB didn't use eeprom at all? just sram over the cart bus?

OK, a Beta version is in our discord in the lynx flash cart channel. Let me know if you try it and what you think! Still a fair bit of work ahead but a lot of the basics are done, LNX, LYX, .O, header or headerless is supported, saves, folders, long file names https://discord.gg/F5ckxM2

It's been a long time coming but I'm just wrapping up the last bit of coding and testing/debugging. The new firmware is a full rewrite and offers: Long file name support - ~50 chrs long. I'll need to add scrolling into my menu to give a full readout of the long file name but its done and working! Last File Loaded - this is coded and works, I'll link it to the option button I think. Unless it should autoboot to last file loaded unless a button is pressed at power on? Folder support - Supports up to 10 folders deep. Enter a folder by pressing A on it, go back on directory by pressing B. Pressing A on a ROM will launch it. Save file support using the onboard EEPROM - but we can now emulate any size eeprom via our microcontroller in the cart. Let us know if a game uses an eeprom other than what is included in hardware and we'll try add support on the next update. API access to read and write files on the SD, navigate folders, create new files (Via a modified version of Karri's EEPROM library) Using this API access we can support loading images in the ROM menu - working out a good way to structure the files but as of right now it is supported, just not implemented in my menu. This same API can be used in game to pull audio,graphics or code from a file on the SD. Not yet tested - the code is in place to modify the ROM using cheat/trainer codes before the game boots - allowing things like infinite lives etc... work to be done on this still. After Atari Gamer tests the code and firmware update functions and we're both confident you won't end up with a bricked cart we'll release the update. We'll also release the lynx side source to improve upon my menu or see how the API calls work and use them in your game code. There's a pretty poorly shot video of the new menu in our discord. Oh and incase AtariGamer didn't announce it earlier, the LynxSD cart is now $45!! We'll be getting limited stock over to VideoGamePerfection.com to make it easier to grab our cart if you reside in the EU.

6.22 is too high, its bordering damage to Mike/Suzy/Dram if it hasn't already. Your CLKA1,2,3, RES signals look good. CL2 looks normal but the amplitude of them doesn't - could be an artifact from your scope though or the higher than normal voltages being clipped somewhere. If that LCD kit of ours has the zener installed, it will definitely be shunting some current which will make a mess of some of the waveforms. I suspect it isn't fitted though if you're seeing 6.5v. I'd look into your 5v issues, or power it from usb during testing. The DRAM is pretty sensitive to over voltage but you wouldn't be getting game audio if that was cooked so probably not that. The white band at the bottom of my lcd indicates my board is getting all its signals, and the timings are OK. Fix the 5v and hope that Suzy is ok

Interesting. I think a recap will be the best first step to diagnosing this. Or else you could be chasing your tail. I'll be following!

Is that just with the SD cart? or all carts? I know our SD cart retains its memory if you don't power it off long enough and it can boot in an undefined state.

No problem, and one more thing comes to mind with the SD cart issue. We have a large zenner on our board across the 5v rail as a last line of defence to your motherboard if your FET fails. If you fet does fail, or the regulator circuit lets peaks of 5.7v or greater into the system, our LCD kit will shunt that current to protect the LCD, Mike and Suzy. As caps age, they can't sustain high peak currents so when the SD cart is accessing the SD card, this uses quite a bit more current than normal operation which would causes the buck converter to work harder, without healthy caps when the load is removed the voltage can spike, triggering our protection. This would likely brownout both our LCD and the CPU in the lynx... I guess we'll know more when you finish up the refurb

Unfortunately that is a dead pixel in the LCD. Both the factory and ourselves test these screens before they ship and I guess they can slip past both of us. We'll get a new panel off to you. Let us know how you go with the re-cap and if that fixes the Flash cart issue or if you want to swap out the LCD PCB too

Hey everyone, just to address the variants in the lynx2 chipsets There are basically two variants, the first using the same bios/init code as the lynx1 (It doesn't set the vblank interval timer so it never generates a vblank and the screen will roll until the game sets the vblank. This results in the splash screen on most games rolling until the game starts and its stable. These systems are identified by the motherboard version C104129-001 and we have a firmware specific for these systems. This is noted on our product page and a unique product page for these systems in on our site if you have this motherboard revision) The second uses the traditional Lynx2 chipset so this is not an issue. Different chipsets will not affect the way a game is loaded, or cart compatiblity or anything like that. It is purely the lack of a vblank signal to the LCD. Why is this problem on an aftermarket LCD and not the original? The FPGA in our kits takes a finite time to boot, a few uS, where the original LCD is ready to go at power up. It counts the lines and will re-sync its self. Ours cannot, and for these systems we use the CPU's vblank signal for synchronisation. I'm sure it has been repeated on this forum but it really is VERY important to recap and replace the regulator components in your Lynx. They are a timebomb and as they age, the 5v line can drop or sag or can introduce ripple which will cause all kinds of issues regardless of the cart or screen used. If the fet or driving circuit fails, your Mike&|Suzy is dead. If adding a 100nf cap (c7) can restore system operation I would definitely suggest you service you console. You're welcome to send the kit back - free return shipping - and we'll repair or replace it when stock is available. If using a SD cart is enough to brown-out your CPU, You really should consider refurbishing your console.

If you select all, and drag them over to the SD, the file you select to drag will be the first file that is copied, then the rest below it, then looping back around from the start until that file.. if that makes sense?

I've been away since mid last week helping family move interstate. I'm back and working on filling orders sitting on my bench. I'll be heading away again on the 23rd. You're welcome to get in touch through email, discord etc if you're concerned about your order. Discord is our primary social channel and we post updates on shipments/pre-orders/delays there.

The ribbons are for the Revision 5 PCB design, as Igor says, they're only for the new PCB design with the flex ribbon connector on board. The reason we have these as an optional extra is our previous order of flex ribbons from PCBWAY arrived with about half of them laser cut off center, resulting them being useless. We listed half the kits without ribbons, half with ribbons until we got hold of them to check for defects. These all turned out OK so we added the other half of the ribbons to the store for those that didn't manage to order one with the ribbon. The ribbons are in the store for those that ordered the soldered version of the Rev5, to convert it to solderless. If your PCB is NOT purple, they won't work on your PCB.

With the older design discontinued, I don't think we'll release a ribbon for it. We can release gerbers if you wanted to get a flex ribbon made up at oshpark (I think they do one off's? Our factory has a large MOQ). Could be trickly installing it with the ribbon hard soldered to the pcb first