Hey,

As you know, we don’t have a link cable, or a suitable connector available for the VB. There’s several ways to make a cable that works, but in the end, it’s mostly ugly hacks for development/prototyping. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to make a quality cable that would just plug in… but so far have been unsuccessful.

So… it got me thinking… how about just making a proper cable? I contacted a custom part manufacturer (who I’ve used parts from in the past), and they said they could do it, but of course wouldn’t be “cheap”. I sort of based my design thoughts on the SNES A/V connector, which includes a plastic shell with crimp pins. So, I found some crimp pins which should work, but I didn’t have any way to make a 3D model of the plastic shell.

Well, of course I asked Hedgetrimmer (our resident 3D modeling expert), and he created a GREAT model of a plastic shell to house the pins. With that, I was able to verify with the MFG that it could be made, as well as get an estimate for price.

So, now here’s the question. They were right… it’s not cheap. A complete link cable would cost about $40, since the quantity would be so low. At this price, how many would be interested (and how many)? Would anyone want just the connector/pins?

There’d probably only be about 50 cables made, and this would probably be the only run, since I’m assuming the demand would be low. I don’t mind investing the money (and probably losing quite a bit on this project), since I think it’s a very worthwhile project… but, if I’m the only one that has any interest in it, there’s no point in even considering it further.

But, IMO this seems like a good time to pursue this, since homebrew is continually advancing, and I think linked homebrew has been held down by lack of link cable. Also, I assume some will be buying the new Flashboy, even though they already have an old Flashboy… so with two flash carts, why not have a cable to link the systems?

Of course, if there’s an unanticipated large interest in this, the price would come down… but we’re a pretty small community, and the homebrew crowd is really the only market for this.

Thanks,
DogP

I’ll try to find out about colors… I was just told that they could do different colors, no idea on cost. If it makes no difference to do half of them red, half of them black, I may just do that.

DogP

I’m interested too . Could you produce a link cable with box and instructions like the Flashboy?. If you do this , more VB collectors join to this project .

Antoine BCN wrote:
I’m interested too . Could you produce a link cable with box and instructions like the Flashboy?. If you do this , more VB collectors join to this project .

I could probably do a box/instructions, though the price is already more expensive than I’d like… I’d hate to make it out of reach for something superficial like that. Heh, and I’m not sure what “instructions” are needed for a link cable 😉 .

I would also like to sell individual connectors in case anyone wants them for custom projects as well… no need to hack up a perfectly good cable just for the connector 😉 .

DogP

DogP wrote:
Heh, and I’m not sure what “instructions” are needed for a link cable 😉 .

Nintendo would probably throw in a safety & precautions booklet and Nintendo Power propaganda 🙂

True 🙂 .

DogP

Yeah , safety booklet !! . Sorry , but in Spain all inside the box game are “instructions” XD . With or without box , I want a link cable anyway.

Any news on this project in the past few weeks?

No news, except that we’re making really good progress on getting the model just right. The MFG seems ready to take on the project whenever we send him the file 🙂 .

DogP

Oh… I guess I never mentioned this… but the MFG did say they could do part of the run in red and the other in black. So, I think I could do both if some of you prefer red.

I don’t know the manufacturing time on these, but I’m under the impression that it’s not extremely long. Hopefully we’ll get a final model soon, then the MFG said they’d send me a connector to verify that I’m happy with it, then mfg the rest.

Also, any if artistic people would like to design a box for it, I’d certainly consider creating a box (and anyone that has made a box *ahem KR155E* 😉 feel free to chime in on problems, etc). I’ve always wanted to try vacuum forming as well… that’d be pretty cool to make a clear plastic retail package, though a box is probably easier, and probably looks cooler in a VB collection.

DogP

[VBSAM]

I’ve always wanted to try vacuum forming as well…

That would be cool, but it wouldn’t be able to close again once its been opened (assuming you’re speaking of blister packaging), correct? Though it would be awesome to have a cardboard box with a vacuum formed window in the front like the Pokemon Mini or Gameboy Micro packaging.

• This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by VBSAM.

VBSAM wrote:

I’ve always wanted to try vacuum forming as well…

That would be cool, but it wouldn’t be able to close again once its been opened (assuming you’re speaking of blister packaging), correct? Though it would be awesome to have a cardboard box with a vacuum formed window in the front like the Pokemon Mini or Gameboy Micro packaging.

I was thinking like the blister packaging, but the resealable kind, where it’s just pops open and closed. I also thought about a tray insert for inside the box w/ a clear window, but that seems too complicated (then I’m vacuum forming, making a box, AND putting in a clear window).

I have no experience with vacuum forming (except the Vac-U-Former – like the Toymax version: http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/Vac-U-Form.html ), so this probably isn’t something I can just pick up and do perfectly on my first attempt.

DogP

I don’t want to spend $10 just on packaging! A simple box would be fine.

But anyway, if you are keeping track, I would want black, one complete cable, and then 1 connector by itself. I foresee debugging with the link port becoming a reality in the future…

And actually, I would probably want my single connector to have a cable on it now that I think about it… it would make my life slightly easier.

You should talk to Chris about maybe setting up a special “limited edition” combo pack that had a flash boy plus and a link cable… Make fancy packing for that and charge a bit extra to cover the NRE costs.

I don’t want to spend $10 just on packaging! A simple box would be fine.

Heh, don’t worry… if packaging adds any significant cost, it won’t be done.

You should talk to Chris about maybe setting up a special “limited edition” combo pack that had a flash boy plus and a link cable… Make fancy packing for that and charge a bit extra to cover the NRE costs.

That’d be pretty cool, though I hope these will be done before Q2 2011 🙂 .

DogP

A box would be nice, and I’d like to help with my experience of building FlashBoy boxes and by designing (part of?) the box, if I can find the time.

For the raw printed sheets, a box should only cost a few dollars. It’s the time needed to assemble the boxes which plays a much higher role. What are you people willing to pay extra for a FlashBoy-style box? I’ll check out if it’s doable at that price.

I think the link cable box should follow the artwork and measurements of the official headphone box, at least this is how I’d imagine the offcial PlayLink box:

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/hardware/?type=accessories&sec=images&id=9&page=19

I need to do high res scans of the headphones box anyway, so I could use those as a template.

A FB Plus/link cable bundle would be nice, probably a bit hard to coordinate. If it sells well, maybe there will be a second batch of link cables coming out at about the same time as the second FlashBoy Plus batch? 🙂

If Link cable box looks like the headphone box it would be nice!! I will pay an extra for Link cable box

Yeah, I like the style of the headphone box, though I think that’d be a little small. The current design of the link connector is just a little bit smaller than the VB controller connector. The cable will likely be thicker, as well as longer. I’m expecting the cable will be similar to (if not actually) CAT5 cable. So, you could check the size of a ~6ft Ethernet cable, plus extra room for larger connectors, to get an idea for box size.

I was figuring on looping the cable and putting it in a square box, though there’s no reason it couldn’t be tied in a bundle and put in a rectangular box (probably more space efficient).

But yes, if you (or anyone) would like to design a box, or even just graphics for the box, that’d be really cool!

For costs, I don’t think a box should add more than a buck or two to the cost. It’s already expensive, and I really don’t want to raise the price, just for packaging. I’m willing to eat a minor cost, just for the “coolness” factor that comes with having a box. I wouldn’t have expected it to be too difficult to assemble though… and I wrong?

And I have a color laser printer… I dunno if they make “box” sheets or something, that you can print directly on, with perforated cut-outs for standard box sizes.

BTW, if you’d prefer to talk via PM about box mfg costs/etc, feel free to drop me a note.

And yeah… a FB/Link combo would be cool… and could be pre-loaded with a cool demo or something, though I’m not sure whether it really makes sense to bundle a 2P cable with just one flash cart 😉 .

Along those lines though… I have designed a USB adapter that’d fit completely inside the shell (so you’d plug the USB cable directly into the link plug), to allow debugging, PC link, etc. I’ll probably hold off on making them right now, but once these connectors are made, I may run a few of them and see how it works. If we can get GDB or something going, that’d probably be a good combination… Flash cart + PC link. That’d be a great VB dev tool.

DogP

No, assembling is not difficult, just takes a bit of time. I get the FlashBoy Boxes on raw printed sheets from an online printing service, cut them out with a knife, cut the round corners out with scissors, mark out where they will be folded, then glue them together. The link cable boxes would not need the cartridge holder and therefore require less time to assemble, though.

I just took a 2.5m ethernet cable and tied it together. Needed approx. 18x6x6 cm of space. Do you think that’d be sufficient?

Heh, depending on how many FlashBoys will be build in the future, we could offer a very limited premium development package featuring two FlashBoys, a link cable and the USB adapter. 😉

I just took a quick look… yeah, it looks like 18mm x 6mm x 6mm would be fine, though I can’t say 100% for sure until I actually get one built.

I looked around online for custom box printing… it seems like there’s quite a few places, though I don’t know about prices for most (most have RFQ). This place seems reasonable: http://www.actualprint.com/ , though their site absolutely sucks! Here’s an example: http://www.actualprint.com/flapboxes.htm , $1.65ea for 250 of them… $0.99ea for 500. I assume a place like that comes pre-cut, and just need to fold and maybe glue.

DogP

DogP wrote:
it looks like 18mm x 6mm x 6mm would be fine, though I can’t say 100% for sure until I actually get one built.

Ah i didn’t think we were doing a micro size cable for your 1:10 scaled VB, just having a dig, its cm not mm I hope you mean…….

I vote for sealing the link cables in a can. 😛

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