CPC Plus cartridge replacement : one more

[jbaudrand]

If it's not too late I want to order one.

[MaV]

Crap, how did I miss this thread!


I'd like two cartridges, please!

[jrodriguezv]

I am also interested in ordering one :-)

[radu14m]

Depending of the final price, you can count me in for one, too .

[robcfg]

I'd be interested in one too.  You can send it along with cpcmaniaco's.

[pinace]

One for me too.  You can send it along with cpcmaniaco's.

[dragon]

Depending of the final price, you can count me in for one, too .

+1

[MacDeath]

I'll be interested in at least one.

[Bryce]

It seems we reached the 20 pieces bar.
The next step for me are :
   - Confirm with selected people that the cartridge is working fine and reliably (HW  and SW)
   - Set the selling price
   - Get formal orders
   - Start a batch of PCB, assemble them and hopfully give them to santa for distribution 

Thanks for your support

Ha ha, welcome to the CPC hardware world. One minute it's a scribble on a page, next thing you know 50 people want one and you're building a batch that you never planned doing

Bryce.

[Ast]

Good News for Gerald, isn't it ?

[Bryce]

If he wants to build them, yes. Some people prefer just to develop stuff and let others build it.

Bryce.

[TFM]

Well, prefer or the question about how much time one has. In this case, with all the small parts if't probably worth to be an expert solderer. I really hope that this project will be finally be available to buy one. 

[gerald]

Well, prefer or the question about how much time one has. In this case, with all the small parts if't probably worth to be an expert solderer. I really hope that this project will be finally be available to buy one. 

Well soldering is not the tricky part, it's more the positioning of the small pitch IC (PLD) which requires a bit of precision.
It takes about 1h to assemble one card using a soldering iron. And the current PCB has some errors that take time to fix.
I'll test how reflow will reduce the soldering time with the fixed PCB.

[Bryce]

I've done a couple of projects with similar pitchs. If you use a stencil to spread the solder paste the ICs self align when the hot air hits them from directly above.

Bryce.

[fatbob]

I am interested in a couple of these please.

[dcdrac]

To recap what is coming with these carts

[TotO]

That will open GX4000 piraty and falling prices on ebay orriginal cartridges. 

[Gryzor]

...and to the demise of the GX as a viable market platform. Damn!

[arnoldemu]

...and to the demise of the GX as a viable market platform. Damn!

Yes it could lead to piracy.

Perhaps the cart prices would go down (good if chase hq 2 re-appeared??), but for a genuine collector they may not.

For some having an actual cart with box and manual may be more preferable to a multi cart which you can install stuff on.

But it should lead to more cart games!

[steve]

We need not be limited to 512KB, there could be multiload games.

[gerald]

Yes it could lead to piracy.

More than with eprom/flash and socket on regular cart ? not sure 

Perhaps the cart prices would go down (good if chase hq 2 re-appeared??), but for a genuine collector they may not.

We may see a temporary price fall, but collectors will always prefer the official one (and use the SD based cart to play them  )

But it should lead to more cart games!

That's the purpose of the cart replacement. 
But I can understand that it also reduce the selling possibility of new games.

We need not be limited to 512KB, there could be multiload games.

Yes, this is possible (actually the cartridge selector is itself a cartridge)

[Bryce]

More than with eprom/flash and socket on regular cart ? not sure 
We may see a temporary price fall, but collectors will always prefer the official one (and use the SD based cart to play them  )
That's the purpose of the cart replacement. 
But I can understand that it also reduce the selling possibility of new games.
Yes, this is possible (actually the cartridge selector is itself a cartridge)

That's why I think we also need a minimalist cart replacement: 512K EPROM and a CPLD ACID. These could be made very cheaply and new Cart games could be sold like that too for those who like to own the physical version.

Bryce.

[steve]

The limited access to cartridge shells makes producing new cartridges difficult, a cartridge that can load from SD card makes the need for many cartridges unnecessary.

[McKlain]

Are we talking about piracy on a platform that has been commercially dead for more than 20 years?

[TotO]

Now he his dead, can I freely download Michael Jackson's tunes for free? 

Piraty is the fact to copy things w/o a legal autorisation of the owners.
Most of those games are always the property of existing videogames studios like Activision, EA or UbiSoft.
You should do it, but don't expect to be protected behind the fact they are old games, because retrogaming always make them profits today.
Finaly, is the good excuse after using Discology/Hercule during 25 years? 

Today, if you legaly want to play GX4000 games, you have to own the orriginal cartridge. No more, no less.
Using a programmable cartridge is a great step to develop new games for the GX/PLUS range.