Quaze wrote:
Quick heads-up: Kevin’s email address link in the OP includes a period at the end, which will be included in the address and prevent the email from sending. If you want to successfully email Kevin after clicking the link in the OP, delete that period! 😀

That was interesting. Something with the auto formatting. Fixed! Thanks.

The USB example has the exact info you’re asking for. Look at the code. It’s decoding and putting into another format.

Received my quotes and have selected a board house for the initial prototype run. I’ll be building 10 initial units. Order should go in within the next two weeks. Waiting for some funding to come through to cover the cost on this small initial run.

JoePassive wrote:
I have 3 questions:

1.Can It load Any ROM? which means Hyper Fighting is playable.
2.Can It save?
3.Do I need to convert it to 2mb like with the Flashboy?

email sent though, i need it asap.

1. It’s 32Mbit slots for the largest current game which is Hyper Fighting.
2. There’s a 8k x 16 SRAM slot associated with every ROM slot. If you over write it you’ll lose your data but you can always download it and save it.
3. Yes, every game will need padded although I plan to add automatic padding to the firmware of the cart to make it less painful for people.

nmalinoski wrote:
So excited.

I emailed as well, and also asked for clarification about what he means by the USB link support being a “stretch goal”, as well as what kind of cabling we’d need (Micro-B to Micro-B? Micro-B to A and a hub?), whether we’d be able to use a hub for >2 players, and if there are any port strain concerns having the MicroUSB port mounted horizontally. (Micro-B is notoriously fragile compared to Mini-B.)

A USB link cable is a VB to PC connection, not VB to VB. There’s still the link port for that functionality. The USB port on the cart is micro B. It will be as rugged/fragile as every other micro B connector on the market. You won’t want to hang on it but it should hold up if its not abused.

Splain wrote:
Forgive my ignorance, but do those specs allow this to potentially play every commercial release? Meaning, is there any game that is “too big” to be able to run on this?

Email sent either way. 😀

Every current game yes. Even homebrews. It was sized at 32Mbit per slot to fit the largest homebrew game which is Hyper Fighting, although the full game ROM isn’t easily obtainable. Maybe that will change one day.

There’s been more than enough interest to move this forward. Very excited to get these in peoples hands. Like I mentioned, I’ll be doing a small pilot/prototype run first, and then the bulk assembly. Working out details now. I’ll reply to individual questions this weekend, as well as email out confirmations that I have received your emails. Until then another teaser image below. Thanks!

Attachments:

1. 

   3f364c5b-a87c-4565-b091-687fa993166e.jpeg
   

Wow cool. RetroDan is back! Nice job on the flex cable.

Nice work as always Thunderstruck!

I found a few more parts for 3 more programmers if anyone is interested. PM me.

VmprHntrD wrote:
See now if someone made an affordable adapter for another existing controller I’d be on board with that. It could be a bit weird but I do think you’re onto something with the SNES style jack except it’s 2 buttons short.

With the d-pad, B, A, L, R and Select with Start that adds up to 10. Maybe a wired Nintendo Wii Classic controller or as annoying as it could be a non-analog original Playstation Controller. The PS1 controller you use the face buttons for d-pad #2, top buttons would be your BALR. The Wii Pro Controller that’s wired also has the same array.

There are adapters for SNES controllers.

TiredKorok wrote:
Out of curiosity do you still have any plans on developing a multi-cart?

These look so awesome, really great work 🙂

It’s on hold. I’ve completed all my other planned VB projects and this one is the last on the list. I even have the tools and dev kits to get started. However the multicart is also the largest project in terms of development effort and time. Currently I don’t have any spare time to devote to this at the moment.

Quaze wrote:
Uh oh. Those things the light is projecting from are fingertips, complete with fingerprints. Please God, don’t let this announcement have anything to do with mobile phones + Virtual Boy.

Fingertips? Looks like fresnel lenses to me. Still probably mobile phone based.

There’s a firmware update now available for the batch 1 VB cart programmers. I’ve emailed the people who purchased a programmer.
This update adds:

1. General bug fixes
2. Update menu with commands that were missing
3. command which is a short erase/program command for faster development
4. User file name selection when saving ROMs or RAM files
5. GSN/SSN commands for setting/getting serial numbers of VB cart programmers.
6. SD ROM file to serial dump command.

The last command on the upgrade list is a serial to SD ROM file write that is still being worked on.

Batch 2 programmers will already have all these updates. The #4 update above is a work around for the Japanese file ROM saves.

Kevin

retronintendonerd wrote:
I just wanted to reiterate what everyone else has said. This is a great little product and I recommend you get one if you can. I did a video on how to set it up and use it in a basic form. https://youtu.be/nchMOo3Gm2k

Nice video Candice. Laughed when you mentioned the Do-Do story. My son calls anything that looks like a VB Do-Do now. Or he says “Daddy made it”.

I’ll have a firmware update soon to fix the Japanese character issue when saving Japanese ROMs. A few other updates will be in there for devs as well. Code is nearly complete and I should be able to test this week.

Picture below of latest programmers I’ve built. They’ll go out in the next few weeks to people who ordered. They’re waiting for the 128Mbit carts.

Attachments:

1. 

   vb-programmer-batch-2-scaled.jpg
   

All the design files are also located here for anyone who wants to build it themselves:

VB Controller USB Adapter

The 3D models are also here on PlanetVB for the housings:
https://www.planetvb.com/modules/tech/?sec=models

arithmaldor wrote:
I’m going to do a small run of extension cables (7ft) and should have 3 left over, send me an email at sales@tinkerplunk.com if anyone is interested in one, I’m thinking $20-25 but not sure yet.

Thanks mellott124 for the design and hard work!

Cool! Glad they’ll be available for people.

I’ve decided to pause this project for now.

All the pieces are there to make a console to play VB games in 3D via Raspberry PI, but I think the support and setup for the average user is going to be too much. The cost is also a bit too high with all the bells and whistles I had planned.

Here are the extension cable models. They’ll be updated in the model section here on PlanetVB as well.

They fit well into the Nintendo parts. They fit very tight into each other when printed in FDM. I’m guessing if printed in SLA they’ll not be as tight. I’ll let other people experiment.

These are the DB pins the models were designed for as well. Both male and female. You’ll want to trim the pins a bit. And be careful they can be very very sharp after being cut.

Female: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDG0KI4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Male: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDFJFD6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And designed for this diameter DB9 cable.

Have fun!

Attachments:

1. vb-ext-center-female-bot-rev7.stl
2. vb-ext-center-female-rev7.stl
3. vb-ext-center-female-top-rev7.stl
4. vb-ext-center-male-bot-rev7.stl
5. vb-ext-center-male-rev7.stl
6. vb-ext-center-male-top-rev7.stl

I’m doing a small cable run if people are interested.