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AMSTRAD KITS,CABLES AND ADAPTERS!

Started by ikonsgr, 13:49, 08 December 11

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ikonsgr

Quote from: beaker on 15:12, 28 December 12
Any plans to make the pause/reset unit with some sort of pass through so we can attach other things to the CPC like multiface II/LowerROM/Megaflash/Symbiface II etc?

That would be a nice idea, the only problem is that there is no male edge connector to make this kind of pass through rather easily and cheap.
In order to do something like that, you must obtain a special pcb board coated on both sides, attach a 50pin ribbon cable on the edge connector and then solder every cable on the board! To get an idea, take a look here: Expansion Converter - CPCWiki . Imagine something like this but instead of the centronics you'll have the adapter with the edge connector! As you can understand this kind of adapter would require much more effort (and cost) so price would be much higher.
In the end, how many amstrad users today, have something on their expansion ports,anyway (besides you, who surely have your amstrad's expansion port occupied!  :) )?

beaker

Ah, no worries if there's a cost issue.

I was just thinking with Bryce making the LowerROM (which has a reset switch so can probably be discounted) and MegaFlash recently, as well as Prodatron selling a new batch of the Symbiface II card this month, all using the expansion slot, that you may be limiting your market. But I am not sure what sort of numbers they sold in and if it's cost prohibitive then no worries  :D It still looks very nice as it is. Good luck with it.

Bryce

The easiest male edge connector is to use a PCB like the one in the link Ikonsgr posted, ie: 50x 2,54mm strips, but instead of soldering all the connections to the flat cable, you just connect a female edge connector to the cable and push this board into it.

Bryce.

ikonsgr

Nice idea bryce, and you save all the trouble of soldering so many pins! ;)
Now, i will see if i can find a ready made pcb we need for this, with strips on both sides. That way, only little extra work needed, and  the hole project will not be so cost effective.

My friend beaker, i think the pause/freeze switch is way more useful of the reset button, this mainly gives value to this adapter and i don't know any other  hardware that offers this functionality! I've tested it with a couple of games and it's amazing! You can freeze the game at any time for as long as you want,, or you can have a "frame by frame" effect by continuously pause/unpause, it's really funny!  :D   I even noticed that free pausing, helps very much at "tough moments" in a game, or when you want to think for a second what to do, without having the stress of playing and not loose at the same time! As there are many,many games that don't offer a pause button, this is truly something very useful for any amstrad retro gamer!  ;)

Anyway, i firstly made this adapter for my personal use and i just think it might be handy to others too.And  as you can see, i offer it at a very low price, i never had any "mass market production" or "big profit" intentions at all!   :)

db6128

You're making me tempted to buy it now! :D Perhaps I'd wait for the pass-through version – just in case I ever need it, which is unlikely, but why not.

After spending so much time on software, I'm now looking forward to collecting a few hardware bits and bobs – starting with your 3.5" drive set, which will arrive soon...very exciting. :)
Quote from: Devilmarkus on 13:04, 27 February 12
Quote from: ukmarkh on 11:38, 27 February 12[The owner of one of the few existing cartridges of Chase HQ 2] mentioned to me that unless someone could find a way to guarantee the code wouldn't be duplicated to anyone else, he wouldn't be interested.
Did he also say things like "My treasureeeeee" and is he a little grey guy?

ikonsgr

I made a little search and i managed to find something very "close" to what we need:Card Edge 34 Position Male to Male Board
Unfortunately, i couldn't find any ready made 50pin version of this, but even so, if you just look at the price you will find out that this board alone is more expensive than the hole adapter i make!So even if this was a 50pin board, price of a pass through version of the adapter would be more than double!
Anyway, good thing is, that i try some pieces of ready made boards i had spare and they seem to match the step of the edge connector just fine.Only problem is
they are printed only in one side. If i could find a dual side version of these, at a relative low price, then it might be possible to make a pass through version of this adapter for less than 10pounds....
But i don't know if any of you would buy such an adapter even at this relative low price...   ::)

beaker


buzby

Quote from: ikonsgr on 22:48, 28 December 12
Nice idea bryce, and you save all the trouble of soldering so many pins! ;)
Now, i will see if i can find a ready made pcb we need for this, with strips on both sides. That way, only little extra work needed, and  the hole project will not be so cost effective.

My friend beaker, i think the pause/freeze switch is way more useful of the reset button, this mainly gives value to this adapter and i don't know any other  hardware that offers this functionality! I've tested it with a couple of games and it's amazing! You can freeze the game at any time for as long as you want,, or you can have a "frame by frame" effect by continuously pause/unpause, it's really funny!  :D   I even noticed that free pausing, helps very much at "tough moments" in a game, or when you want to think for a second what to do, without having the stress of playing and not loose at the same time! As there are many,many games that don't offer a pause button, this is truly something very useful for any amstrad retro gamer!  ;)

Anyway, i firstly made this adapter for my personal use and i just think it might be handy to others too.And  as you can see, i offer it at a very low price, i never had any "mass market production" or "big profit" intentions at all!   :)


nice piece of kit,mine has arrived and works perfect............... whats next on the drawing board

ikonsgr

What's next you ask?
Well, i'm in completion of an amiga mouse adapter for amstrad!  ;)


TFM

Quote from: ikonsgr on 10:57, 10 January 13
What's next you ask?

Using the Amiga-mouse adaptor of the CPC to remote control the Amiga, using it as slave for the CPC.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

ikonsgr

List updated  with 2 new items: amiga mouse adapter and auto fire switch adapter!  ;)

beaker

Just tried out the Amiga mouse adapter that arrived today and works well with Operation Wolf and Arkanoid :) It seems to fit around the machine nicely and works is using the same power supply used for the HxC and the 6128.

[attach=2]

[attach=3]

Does anyone know if it's possible to "fix" Lemmings to have a constant mouse pointer rate rather than it starting off slow then speeding up (if it's not already been done)? It's really ruining the experience of trying to play it with a mouse when compared to Operation Wolf...

[attach=4]

beaker

Hi Ikonsgr,

Would it be possible to make a one off AMSTRAD 464/664/6128 PAUSE SWITCH AND RESET BUTTON ADAPTER with a second edge socket on the end of the cable similar to the one in the attached picture (this one is from an a RAM box I bought which coverts from a centronics to an edge connector whereas I would want an edge connector on both sides)? I am hoping to use the PCB in the picture to connect stuff to the 6128 like the SSA-1 which doesn't normally fit because of the power cable.

Thanks in advance,

Beaker

ikonsgr

Unfortunately my friend, i couldn't find any ready made edge adapters!
As i see it, the alternatives to make these are:

- Make it yourself e.g. design the pcb, print it on a transparent sheet and then use it to "print" the strip board on a real pcb board! Imo, the hole procedure is rather costly and time consuming for making just this edge connector.Personally i never involved with pcb making procedure, and to tell you the truth i don't want to mess with all the chemicals required for this!  ::)

- Ask someone else to do it. Unfortunately were i live, it's very unlikely to find anyone to make these boards,at least in small number and  small prices at the same time. 

- Find a cheap chinese pcb maker, give him the pcb layout and ask him to make these boards! This way you might get a rather cheap price/item, but this also comes with drawbacks:
1) The hole procedure might take months to complete
2) Most probably pcb maker would require a rather big batch (at least  50 or even 100 items) of these boards in order to make them.

The third option is probably the one that gives a rather small price (so the total price for the reset+pause adapter would be reasonable enough) but since we don't know how many people might be interested in this, it's a rather big risk to get along with it, don't you think?

Anyway, if anyone can find this kind of edge connector, i can perfectly make the adapter with 2 CF-50 edge connectors in order to use it along with other hardware too!  ;)


ikonsgr

I will open a thread to a special forum about electronics we have here in Greece and ask if anyone knows were i could find these adapters.

Btw, i updated the list of items: Now, the mouse adapter can be used also for connecting atari st mouses too!
I made a small adapter for this and give it along with the mouse adapter.
Note also that this adapter ca be used to connect amiga mouse to atari st or atari st mouse to amiga too!  ;)

I also make a Y power cable to offer as an option to anyone who already has amstrad monitor or power supply for amstrad, and want to use it for powering HcX emu or a 3.5" floppy drive, instead of a separate psu!

ikonsgr

I found some guy which lives in the same city with me and told me he got exactly what we want for!  :)
I'm waiting to tell me how much they cost and how many he can provide!
Maybe i can satisfy Beaker and all heavy "pimp my amstrad cpc" guys after all!  :D ;)

Gryzor

Got a reset switch, but a pause one would be great as well...

ikonsgr

I finally got the strip boards, but unfortunately the pitch doesn't fit with amstrad's edge connector  :(

Gryzor


Bryce

?? You mean they're no 2.54mm? Wouldn't it be easier just to have a strip of board made professionally and cut it to the lengths needed?

Bryce.

ikonsgr

Yes, they are ~4mm, and the guy gave me these boards for free.
The problem with these boards is that they need to be double sided. Until now, i cant find any cheap ready made double side pcb's. Everything is single side only.
The only double strip boards i found was 36pin, and they are sold at very high price anyway.
So Bryce, if you ask for "professionally made" boards, because batch would be rather small, price/piece would be ridiculously high!
The other option is to make them yourself, but then again, the time and cost for this (if you don't have already the required equipment/chemicals/tools) would be also very high,especially for just making 1-2dozens of small strip boards!



Bryce

I have all the equipment to make PCBs, I just don't get to do it that often at the moment. The next time I'm doing something I'll cover the spare PCB space in double-sided 2.54mm pitch stripes. They'll need to be tinned (lightly covered in solder) though because bare copper oxidises way too fast.

Bryce.

ikonsgr

Οk then, if anyone would be interested, he could take the pause+reset bridge adapter with the two cf50  edge connectors from me, and  the required strip board from you!  :)

beaker

[attachimg=1]


I am interested :D How much will your unit cost?

abraXXIous

Gear looks nice and is well priced!
Payment made for Amstrad 3.5" floppy drive cable kit with power supplies, black face floppy drive, 1.1m scart cable and pause/reset switch.
Now I have to play the waiting game...... which sux, so I'm off to play some Hungry Hungry Hippo... :)

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