New Prototyping Board / Cart

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k3ys
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New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

Hello all. I'm Sam. I've been lurking this board for a long time. I've even had a chance to hang out with Jeff D. in Chicago a couple of times.

I love fiddling with my Vic playing around with hardware. A few months back I made this prototyping board so I could more easily access the cartridge port for hardware projects. It has a breakout of all the pins, a reset button, and an auxiliary button. The prototyping area is laid out like a breadboard, so it's easy to transfer your breadboard projects to it. It also fits nicely into a cartridge, if that's what you want to do.

I have some extra copies I'm selling on eBay for $16 (USD), free shipping, if you're interested.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331515053617

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about it.

Cheers!

Sam
(Keys/Atlantis)

Image
Last edited by k3ys on Sun Mar 29, 2015 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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srowe
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by srowe »

That's a nice tidy board, shame you're in the US, the postage makes them a bit pricey for us Europeans.
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k3ys
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

It's charging for shipping internationally? I'll try to fix that.

Ok, how about now. Is it free shipping now?

EDIT: I've confirmed that it's free shipping for everyone now. Thanks for catching that srowe.
yogi
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by yogi »

Looks nice, I put in a bid :)
Yogi
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eslapion
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by eslapion »

Its a nice board and I really like the fact that it fits in a standard Commodore cart case.

However, once more, the edge connector is not gold plated which, in the long run, is damaging to the VIC-20's cart port connector.

I'd feel safer with one of these, even if the cost is considerably higher.

http://www.digikey.ca/product-search/en ... ageSize=25
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Jeff-20
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by Jeff-20 »

Hi, Sam! Welcome!


Sent from my phizzone
High Scores, Links, and Jeff's Basic Games page.
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k3ys
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

Thanks Jeff! It's nice to be here. Hope you're doing well.
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k3ys
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

eslapion wrote:Its a nice board and I really like the fact that it fits in a standard Commodore cart case.

However, once more, the edge connector is not gold plated which, in the long run, is damaging to the VIC-20's cart port connector.

I'd feel safer with one of these, even if the cost is considerably higher.

http://www.digikey.ca/product-search/en ... ageSize=25
Looks like I can get gold plated ones made for double the cost. Would anyone be interested?

Though personally, I've used the regular non-gold stuff in my rig for years and things are still working fine. If I ever had a problem with the port, I imagine I'd just replace it, but I'm handy with a soldering iron.
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eslapion
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by eslapion »

k3ys wrote:Looks like I can get gold plated ones made for double the cost. Would anyone be interested?
I would be. Double 10$ is 20$ and that's still considerably cheaper than Vector's boards.

Altough I must say I am surprised. When I made my PCBs for the Behr-Bonz multicart, having gold on the edge connector only increased the price by 4$.
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k3ys
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

eslapion wrote:
k3ys wrote:Looks like I can get gold plated ones made for double the cost. Would anyone be interested?
I would be. Double 10$ is 20$ and that's still considerably cheaper than Vector's boards.

Altough I must say I am surprised. When I made my PCBs for the Behr-Bonz multicart, having gold on the edge connector only increased the price by 4$.
Where do you have your boards done? Did you order a lot?
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eslapion
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by eslapion »

I had the PCBs for the Behr-Bonz done at Multifor Ltd. in Dorval.

I had them done in batches of 50. That was back in 2008.
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k3ys
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

yogi wrote:Looks nice, I put in a bid :)
Yogi
Cool! I hope you like it.
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eslapion
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by eslapion »

PM'd you for gold plated boards.
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eslapion
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by eslapion »

I just got the 5 dev boards with gold plating in the mail and I must say I am very pleased with what I got.

The boards are truly good quality with solder mask and white silk screen clearly indicating all the functions of the special solder points.

I didn't realise these were exactly sized to fit in a Commodore VIC cart case including the screw hole in the center. These things will be so much more pleasant to use than the Vector boards as everything is in its proper place to develop things specifically for the VIC.

Just one thing I find might be improved: there is no bevel on the edge connector but that's no big deal as I had to do this kind of bevels by hand hundreds of times for the Behr-Bonz and the Ultimate Expander connectors in the past.

You should make similar boards for the C64/C128.
Last edited by eslapion on Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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k3ys
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Re: New Prototyping Board / Cart

Post by k3ys »

Thanks eslapion!

If anyone else is interested, PM me and let me know. Standard boards are $10, gold plated are $20. I'll ship worldwide.

k3ys
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