Hi everyone,
I wanted to post a thread about the two current PCB designs that I have for people to make their own carts, if desired. Some people already know I have these but others don’t. Either way this will show up in forum searches for people here on Planet VB.
I currently have a 16Mbit ROM(flash) cart with up to 32k x 8 nvSRAM. This PCB can support 4/8/16 Mbit flash chips as well as a smaller 8k x 8 nvSRAM chip (cheaper). The latest iteration is reprogrammable, but more on that below. This cart is pretty easy to assemble.
I also have a 128Mbit PCB cart which can allow an additional 128Mbit for expansion space (no game currently uses this). It has a 8k x 8 nvSRAM. It will be updated sometime in the future for a 256k x 16 nvSRAM. This is intended for large Homebrew titles. This cart is also reprogrammable.
The nvSRAM on both chips save your progress without a battery. It’s a unique chip that uses a large capacitor to write RAM data to an internally managed flash at power down. No battery ever needed!
Like I mentioned above both carts are reprogrammable. I flash the chips prior to assembly with a Chipmaxx2. However I’m working on a reader/writer which has a VB cart programmer PCB attached to an Arduino R3 mega. See pic attached. This is meant for developers and I’m still working on the firmware. It’s current downside is that it uses a VB motherboard connector. Working on eliminating that which would make it end user friendly instead of a developer kit.
So if people are looking to make their own carts, these are available. The 16Mbit is good for the DIYer. The 128Mbit has lots of surface mount parts and I wouldn’t recommend it for the average Joe. You’ll need to have some serious soldier experience and even then it can be difficult. There have already been some small reproduction runs by other PlanetVB members using these PCBs.
See pics attached. Thanks!
I guess I’ll spill the beans early, then. Sorry in advance if this seems like I’m hijacking the thread, but this will go hand in hand with Kevin’s work:
I’m looking at getting connectors and cartridge shells produced. Devs and reproduction artists alike could purchase them in bulk for production runs of new games and of games that are too rare for most to buy in any reasonable capacity, and the destruction of donor carts would be a thing of the past.
The VB only sold 177k systems worldwide. Many of the games obviously sold less than even that. So even the most common game (Mario’s Tennis) probably only sold about that much (as it was a pack-in in the USA, and most every VB owner probably bought it in Japan).
That’s not a lot, and at the rate that homebrew titles will soon be produced thanks to a certain someone in our community (long live VUEngine!), I feel that relying on the destruction of retail carts will one day become infeasible.
I have contacts that have produced knock off Nintendo and Sega material that is the best quality around and is about as close to honest Nintendo and Sega parts as anyone has ever made (quality wise and when allowed by law, look wise), and at prices that are insanely cheap (systems/2 controllers/power/av as low as 14 bucks while still making a profit). With the connections they have in China, I honestly feel like it’s a huge possibility both cart shells and board connectors could be reproduced at a reasonable cost for everyone in the community.
The reason I’m not having the whole cartridge produced, is because I don’t want to kick Kevin below the belt. He’s worked very hard to produce these boards, and deserves to be able to keep producing them for the community. If the only other two missing pieces can be provided by me, that would be the easiest solution… as far as I can see… unless the whole cart can be produced for peanuts. If that’s the case, I’d contact Kevin directly (as I already have via email about other things), and talk it out with him before making any decision public.
