Flash cart(ridge)

In the case of SKQGAAE 010, I tried what shape Flash-Cart would look like.

Perhaps some design changes may be necessary for the real Flash-Cart PCB.:thinking:

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Whoa the real thing looks totally awesome :heart_eyes:

I’m sold. I’ve ordered PCBs at Seeed and bought the parts. Looks like a 16Mbyte cart is becoming a real thing now :smiley: Here’s a peek at the final PCB:

flashcart-pcb-top
Top side will be facing down

flashcart-pcb-bottom
bottom side will be facing up

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Would it not be possible to have a recessed cartridge slot so that whenever the game is inserted, it sits flush?

it would be possible at cost of a smaller battery and reducing the width of the cart (removing pins/ use smaller pitch header)

I think you don’t need to have a smaller battery, but you need to have a reduced width of the cart.
The amount of PIN look fine.
The controller in @crait’s photo have a battery cabinet in the lower half.
because the cart is at least 4mm thick while the battery is only 1mm thick, no need to get room from taking the battery.


the screws are for mounting them to the front plate (or the arduboy)
But yeah, then you have something very thick.
It would be best that it have some type of support for the Arduboy’s circuit board, because then you can just have the case be a replacement of the metal backplate, or to connect it to a backplate that will then connect to the back of Arduboy. Since the battery need to be removed, the power should also be given by the case (in the form of a big fat battery)
Least that’s whay I am thinking…

Thanks for your detailed picture

The original one isn’t a problem. But the idea is to use a 604050 battery that’s why the backplate is so thick.

Yes and height too. The carts enclosure is made of two pieces and needs some extra width so it can be kept together (don’t want to glue the cartridge). Currently I’m all in for the latest hat design by @n602 It has some advantages too it has an easy accesible reset(menu) button, the cart can be easily inserted and pulled by adult hands and you can stick a label on it that you can enjoy looking at any time. Also the header is more accessible for tinker projects than when it’s sunken in the back gameboy style.

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In fact, there are SENIOR classmates around that can’t even hold our RC remote, so her hand size is…12cm. Say that is…4.7 inch.
Mine is 15 cm, and that is… 6 inches.
And I am just a junior…

How does one measure hand size?

Thumb tip to pinky tip?
Just the palm?
Thumb to palm?

I measure them from the top middle finger to the bottom of the palm (put your arm on the table, and “raise” up your hand only. Measure height of the middle finger.

After eagerly waiting for all the parts to arrive. I received the PCBs today and couldn’t wait soldering one up to see final result and test it :smiley:


Pretty satisfied with the result :slight_smile:


Test success!

The buttons are still in transit. So I couldn’t solder, show and test it. to be continued

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They look great I love how the vias make it look like the ghost is blushing :blush:

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I intentionally positioned it there for that effect. Well spotted :+1:

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I may have a question that may sound stupid a little… We are limited to the amount of times we can flash a new sketch to the Arduboy right? Does using a flash cart(ridge) like that remove that restriction or it’s basically just using the cartridge to store the sketches to flash?

If so i would love to be able to use that :wink:

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Great job @Mr.Blinky! Looks amazing and I cant wait for everything to be finalized and in the hands of Arduboy enthusiasts.

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Yes the ATMEGA32U4 datasheet speaks of 10000 write/erase cycles. It may be hard to imagine how long that will last. But If you played 3 different games every day it would last for over 9 Years.

No the ristriction is not removed. Sketches are stored in the flashcart chip and programmed into the ATMEGA32U4 when you want to change the game.

Unlike the GameBuino the loader is builtin. So no flash write/erase cycles are lost when you want to change a game. It’s basically the same as if you would upload a sketch using the Arduino IDE. But instead the sketch is ‘uploaded’ from the flashcart.

When you switch power on. the last flashed game starts. no flash writing /erasing is done.

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It basically provide something to flash the chip on-the-move, if I am right.
And I assume was the effect of @Mr.Blinky’s custom bootloader :slight_smile:
Which don’t sound too bad, as he said:

I mean, unless you flash it less than 20 times (during my intense develop stages it is not strange for me to flash it 50 times a day)
That is why I am going to build a Proto-shield “Arduboy” for use with a Arduino Leonardo. When I burned the core out(which sound bad but however, will happen), I can just spend 7$ and get another new Leonardo.

My English teacher (also a geek) say if you have a hot air workstation (required to solder and unsolder the ATmega32U4), you can get that chip (for 2$) and solder it onto the board, but it prove to be quite tedious…

Why not just use ProjectABE for deve / test then you don’t have to flash anything.

I know that. BUT:
I use a 64 bit Windows system, so Icannot use standalone simulation
And, web based version too slow

I use a 64bit Windows system and ProjectABE runs beautifully on it.

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Comparable to @eried’s Arduboy Dock.
(For the readers who haven’t seen that before.)

32bit programs will run on 64bit operating systems/processors.
It is 64bit programs that don’t run on 32bit operating systems.

Personally I prefer @mwm’s approach:

(I’ll give it a go someday *throws it on the ever-growing todo pile*.)