Virtual Boy Multicart?

[Video]

I'd definately still want one. Heh, new revision alreayd, and it's not out yet.

 

How would you flash this anyways? Is it just a standard flash card I'd stick in a card reader, or use a parallel port type attachement?

 

Time to start looking for roms now

[Richard H.]

How would you flash this anyways?

Via PC's USB port, the mini version as used with phones, PDA's etc

[chadtower]

Good point on the roms... I don't have any. I have every US game but that won't help me get them onto a flash cart.

[Video]

How would you flash this anyways?

Via PC's USB port, the mini version as used with phones, PDA's etc

 

Sweet, so that'll be easy and streightforward.

 

Good point on the roms... I don't have any. I have every US game but that won't help me get them onto a flash cart.

 

Yeah, I only have 4 or 5 that I can get legaly (I should really expand my VB library) but still, there's a few games that I'll probably never have physical copys of like Space Invaders and the few proto's and homebrews.

[svevin]

any update's?

[Richard H.]

any update's?

Had to catch up on building VecFlash's over the weekend, but I will be back on it this week.

[chadtower]

It has only been a few days since his last update, too... I'm sure the guy has a life outside of building flash carts for old game consoles.

[svevin]

It has only been a few days since his last update, too... I'm sure the guy has a life outside of building flash carts for old game consoles.

 

let's hope it for him

 

already an idea of production costs?

[Richard H.]

already an idea of production costs?

Not yet

[Richard H.]

Here is a picture of the second revision. I'm using a smaller 1MByte chip to test, as the 2MByte doesn't have a bulk erase option and it's faster that way.

 

It's currently corrupting the write for some reason, I think it's the chip I'm using to clock the address bus (one on the left), I need to get a SSOP adaptor for my chip programmer to see what it's doing wrong.

 

I'm getting there slowly

Edited March 21, 2007 by Richard H.

[Richard H.]

Here's the picture -

Edited March 21, 2007 by Richard H.

[chadtower]

Even the chip layout is a smile. Cool.

[Richard H.]

Even the chip layout is a smile

It's WIP name is FlashBoy, but I might put some eye and mouth stickers on the chips and call it 'happy smiley sunshine cart' instead

Edited March 21, 2007 by Richard H.

[Video]

:lol: That would be funny. Hey, I like Flashboy myself And it's so clean and simple looking (except the about a billion wires to hook up to the cart end, but no way around that )

[KR155E]

 

[Richard H.]

 

 

[Video]

 

 

 

Awesome (I'd buy it)

[Richard H.]

It's currently corrupting the write for some reason

Turned out to be the power tracks aren't wide enough on the PCB. This is limiting the supply to the USB chip and making it drop the connection to the PC at random intervals.

 

I'm going to have to get another proto made. It only takes one week to get them here.

[Video]

Wow, that sucks. Maybe you could put a piece of wire between the power and the cards power, but if the traces are to small, there mayb e other problems.

 

Nother revision already, how much does it cost to get a custom cart printed anyways?

[Richard H.]

Wow, that sucks. Maybe you could put a piece of wire between the power and the cards power

Yes, I'm hacking one so I can work on it while the others get here.

 

 

how much does it cost to get a custom cart printed anyways?

About $100 for 5 boards on a 4 day + 2 day shipping turn-a-round.

 

$45 of it is shipping to the UK, but it's still a lot cheaper than getting them made here.

[Bruce Tomlin]

About $100 for 5 boards on a 4 day + 2 day shipping turn-a-round.

 

$45 of it is shipping to the UK, but it's still a lot cheaper than getting them made here.

That's pretty expensive compared to pcbpool.com, which makes their boards in Ireland. VB carts are about 4 sq inches like my 7800 cart, and three or four of them would be a minimum order for about $45 US with "slow boat" shipping.

 

And now I'm glad that I''ve been treating the power traces with respect when making my own boards. Even the jumpered trace for power to a 28-pin (vs 32-pin) EPROM gets extra thickness. And I recently learned how to use polygon fill in Eagle for making a big-ass ground plane on one side of the board, which is even better.

Edited March 30, 2007 by Bruce Tomlin

[Richard H.]

That's pretty expensive compared to pcbpool.com

It's not, the cart uses a 0.8mm board (regular is 1.6mm) which they don't do as standard, it's an expensive 'special order'. Also, pcbpool's 4 day service is 1.5 times their normal price + courier shipping from Ireland to the UK is about $40.

[Video]

Sweet! Well, hope your nest on eworks out for you. Best of luck.

[Richard H.]

Well, I replaced the power to the USB chip with links and it is now loading files reliably. Still doesn't run on the actual VB but it must be very close to working now (could be lack of power to the FLASH / other uC). Still need the new PCB's and an adaptor for my programmer to make sure it's writing 100% correctly.

 

Downloading is not super fast, minutes for the commercial stuff and seconds for the (obviously smaller) homebrew games.

 

I adapted the loader I made for the USB VecFlash to work with the FlashBoy (see pic)

Edited April 1, 2007 by Richard H.

[bones]

Way cool, can't wait!