#26030 - emumanXM - Sat Sep 04, 2004 5:44 am
Has anyone done a PCB layout of ampz flash cart? PCB layout is a royal pain, especially when most CAD programs take forever to learn how to use. Having a PCB layout, one can send the files to a PCB shop and get a few produced. Olimex has a minimum of 1, and is pretty cheap. I've tried to play around with eagle, but I've just been frustrated. Has anyone else done anything like this?
Thanks.
#26810 - Discofish - Sun Sep 26, 2004 3:45 pm
You can burn your own PCBs if you have the time.
You can use any drawing package you want (I used Adobe Illustrator to design my first PCB). I had it printed on a transparency, and then I exposed it on a photosenstivie PCB. You then "etch" the board with an etching solution.
The drawback is you have to still drill all the holes yourself and the etching solution is really nasy. You can buy stuff here if you are interested www.elexp.com
#26819 - gb_feedback - Sun Sep 26, 2004 8:57 pm
If they're the people I'm thinking of (they may not be) I've heard good reports. The main problem here is that carts need a non-standard board thickness. (Standard is 1.6mm). You'll pay extra for the right thickness, even if they'll do it. I made a GBC cart once using 1.6mm and it worked fine but was pretty useless as you couldn't put it in the plastic box as it was too thick. As a general pcb industry guide my company reckons on a pcb job costing ?400 no matter how many sub-boards are on it, and up to a volume of 25 boards. This includes plated through holes.
By sub-boards I mean that you can specify routing between parts of a layout and the manufacturer doesn't seem to notice that you're getting 6 boards for the price of 1.
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#36325 - TheBartman - Thu Feb 17, 2005 9:55 am
Hi,
yes, i did. Just last week i revised Timmy's schematic (using StrataFlash, single-gate logic...) and did a 2-layer layout with Eagle (an excellent software for me ;-) ). The board is 31mmx51mm and should fit into an original cart-housing (tested with "Monster Inc. & Finding Nemo" cart).
The only thing is, that my board will have a thicknes of 1,5mm and not 1mm like the original board (pcb-pool doesn't offer 1mm base material). So for a perfect fit, the housing has to be modified by milling down the 0,5mm.
I'll get the pcbs in about 2 weeks. Then i will test it, if i get all parts until then.
If someone is interested in the schematic and the layout, let me know.
The files can be viewed and edited with the freeware-version of Eagle.
But beware. It?s a Flash-only cart (NO SRAM, NO EEPROM) and for me a "just-for-fun-and-development"-project (and a starting point for further gba hardware devs). So if you just want a Flash-cart, buy such a F2A or equivalent thing for about ?70. You'll never be cheaper or better with this homebrew stuff...
Regards, Thorsten
#36328 - ampz - Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:19 pm
Actually, the proper thickness of GBA cart PCBs is 0.8mm, not 1mm.
#38172 - jmorken - Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:03 pm
Hi Thorsten,
Please send me your eagle files! I am laying out a homebrew flash cart right now in eagle too. Do you have the pin dimensions too?
cheers,
Jamie
#38191 - ampz - Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:27 pm
GBA connector pin pitch is 1.5mm.
Suitable pin width is 1.2mm, pin "length" something like 8mm.
#38227 - jmorken - Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:08 am
Hi,
Thanks for the dimensions. On your site you mention that the cards are 0.5mm thick, but I also read they are 0.8mm thick, can either thickness work?
Thanks,
Jamie
#38265 - ampz - Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:03 am
You should use 0.8mm.
#38337 - jmorken - Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:37 pm
Hi,
Ok Olimex does 0.8mm for an extra $5. I am thinking of using the GBA cartridge mainly for the nintendo DS with the passme they are making. Will I still need to use the updown counters (or a CPLD) for sequential memory addressing? Also does this depend on the code or do I have to assume sequential addressing will always be occuring? I am thinking it would be a snap to make a cart if only a flash chip was needed instead of requiring extra sequential logic chips (up/down counters or CPLD). I think Ampz did a pretty good job to get his design on two layers :) I am also looking at some new flash chips from Intel (28F128L30) that may be able to do the sequential addressing themselves, but I am not sure about this.
cheers,
Jamie
#40826 - John at J&S - Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:04 am
This site has cheap PCB's:
http://www.sparkfun.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cart=215124&cat=1&
I think they group several customers' designs together until they fill up a panel, then send the files to China.
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#76431 - tepples - Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:26 pm
| jmorken wrote: |
| Will I still need to use the updown counters (or a CPLD) for sequential memory addressing? Also does this depend on the code or do I have to assume sequential addressing will always be occuring? |
Most code execution and DMAs out of ROM space, including those during the .nds loader, will be sequential accesses.
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#139374 - pmhunt - Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:48 pm
| Quote: |
Has anyone done a PCB layout of ampz flash cart? PCB layout is a royal pain, especially when most CAD programs take forever to learn how to use. Having a PCB layout, one can send the files to a PCB shop and get a few produced. Olimex has a minimum of 1, and is pretty cheap. I've tried to play around with eagle, but I've just been frustrated. Has anyone else done anything like this?
Thanks. |
Try this website http://www.dl9sec.de/gbacart/gbacart.htm
#139378 - Lynx - Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:20 pm
That's who I used in the beginning, but you might have the PCB thickness limit with them, or they don't offer any other thicknesses because they put them all on one PCB order.
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#144518 - HyperHacker - Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:49 am
| gb_feedback wrote: |
| I made a GBC cart once using 1.6mm and it worked fine but was pretty useless as you couldn't put it in the plastic box as it was too thick. |
Could you cut holes in the box to allow the tops of the chips to poke through?
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#146029 - pmhunt - Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:04 pm
Has anybody built the original AmpZ cartridge using AMD 29LV008 flash memory ?
I have used a AMD29LV320 with a CPLD using a MBV2 to program the cartridge.
Would anybody be interested in a AMD or SPANSION version of the Ampz cartridge that fits in an original GBA cartridge case.
The circuit would cost about $5-$10 to build excluding case.
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
#152522 - jrobot - Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:20 am
has anyone made a slot 1 cart?
#153736 - bluesceada - Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:51 pm
Hmm, is that schematic freely available somewhere, or could you send it to my email: bluedragoATwebDOTde -Thanks!
and what was the problem in adding a sram?
![[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]](http://brolinembedded.se/projects/flashcart/GBA_cart_1.0.jpg){kind=link}