arfink
Offline
Minneapolis

OK, time for some preorders. Those who have been following this thread will know most of the details, but for those who do not, here's how it goes:

Custom hand-built NTRQ cartridge, with the newest version at time of completion loaded, including:

- socketed 27C020 EPROMs for storage (upgradeable to newer versions of NTRQ)
- 256kilobit battery-less NVSRAM for song saving, divided into 4 banks. 100 year lifetime according to manufacturer.
- Internal component mounting means no open holes in the cartridge

Final cost per cartridge= $80 plus shipping.

If you desire a kit or just programmed EPROMs please follow the preorder procedure below but specify you want a kit. We can negotiate.

If you can send in a donor cartridge you will receive $10 off, and regardless of whether you send a donor or not your $5 preorder fee is included in the total price. If you are getting a kit you can't send in a donor, sorry.

Preordering costs $5, and your preorder fee is not refundable unless I should somehow cancel the project. If I cancel the project from lack of interest or some other crazy circumstance your preorder fee will be refunded. When I'm ready to begin building you will then pay for the rest of the cartridge.

All payments to be made via Paypal.

NOTE: Preordering is limited to 20 units for now, and you may not claim more than two for yourself. If you preorder two, you pay $10.

If you want to preorder, you MUST do the following in order:

1- send an email to arfink [att] sdf.lonestar.org with the subject line "NTRQ Preorder (chipmusic.org username)" and a message saying whether you want to preorder one or two cartridges or if you want just the EPROMs. Be sure and include your real name and your username here so I can easily identify you later and avoid confusion.

2- Put a post in this thread saying you want to preorder

3- Wait for me to email you and say whether you made the list and where to send monies

4- Send monies via Paypal

EDIT: People who are on the preorder list

Koatl

Last edited by arfink (May 25, 2010 7:50 pm)

Esopus-dragon
Offline
New York, New York

I would be using a standard front-loading NES, I don't expect having sockets poking out. Does that rule out a non-upgradeable EPROM, fully-loaded and switchable SRAM chip cartridge? I apologize if I'm not technically savvy enough to understand what the options are.

neilbaldwin
Offline
WOW MAN!

As a general comment I'd strongly suggest that making the cart updatable is absolutely essential.

NTRQ is still in it's infancy and as such will probably get updated fairly frequently in the short-term as issues are exposed through use.

Analog
Offline
Ciudad de méxico, MX

i would love a cart. which games can fit for donor cart?

updateable and the more saving slots possible is the way to go, i think.


i STILL have that gyromite with the famicom converter inside that i can send to you if you still want it along with the donor cart to save costs.

nordloef
Offline
sweden

Sockets would be the best! Holes in the cart doesn't matter that much to me.

SRAM switcher circuit would be very awesome!


Hows does all of this work for people in PAL countries?


The possibilities to send in your own donor cart, just buy the eproms, order the cart without the eproms, making your own holes in the case etc all sound good to me.

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis

One of the big reasons for people sending their own donors is that as a US resident I don't have easy access to PAL cartridges, so overseas users would be able to have matching lockout chips.

Esopus: the upgradable eproms are the kind which are installed in sockets, which means that they will protrude a bit from the front of the cartridge. This will make insertion into a toploader a bit more difficult, depending on the model. Toaster units can sometimes work without modification, if the metal bar on the deck is already bent a bit. With a toaster it's pretty easy to make the cartridge fit, you just reach in and push the metal top bar out a bit so the cart can slide past. The SRAM switcher, on the other hand, will be fully contained in the cartridge casing, and thus will not be an issue.

Last edited by arfink (Apr 8, 2010 12:59 pm)

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis
neilbaldwin wrote:

As a general comment I'd strongly suggest that making the cart updatable is absolutely essential.

NTRQ is still in it's infancy and as such will probably get updated fairly frequently in the short-term as issues are exposed through use.

I agree, this is very important to me too. I suspect that by the time I'll have some of these done (assuming I do some, which is looking increasingly likely) they can be loaded with updated software before they even leave my hands. Just don't change mappers on us, unless it's really soon, 'cuz upgrading to a different mapper would be a pain. smile haha

Analog: You know I'd still love the gyromyte cart! smile And, I'm working on a list of donors now, but a less comprehensive list can be found here: http://www.thenesdump.com/Mappers/SKROM.htm

Last edited by arfink (Apr 8, 2010 1:02 pm)

PixyJunket
Offline
Plano, TX

I am very interested but the single song save is a real sticking point to me.

So I would be willing to pony up for the fully loaded version if you go up for it. I can also send my own donor cart(s).

neilbaldwin
Offline
WOW MAN!

Can I just add:

You can have 8 songs in an NTRQ save file.

Granted, the space is still small and is not as flexible as LSDJ but I wanted to just quash this "single song" rumour.

Eight. Eight songs.

smile

PixyJunket
Offline
Plano, TX

Neil, thanks for clearing that up. I haven't had a chance to mess with it yet (as I've been waiting to play on real hardware).

In that case, I could probably deal with a cheaper solution just to get my feet wet.

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis

Ah well. More is always better. I seemed to recall in one of your earlier beta discussions you said it could handle one... guess it's time to actually read the manual. *embarrassed*

I still think that 256K is alot better than 8K, you could hold so many more songs. (256, I should think) Hehehe. Anyways, the non-expanded SRAM seems far more viable knowing this, but now it makes the expanded SRAM seem even more cool!

NO CARRIER
Offline
GNV / FL / USA
arfink wrote:

One of the big reasons for people sending their own donors is that as a US resident I don't have easy access to PAL cartridges, so overseas users would be able to have matching lockout chips.

What about retrousb.com? They sell MMC1 boards and all region lockout chips.

neilbaldwin
Offline
WOW MAN!
arfink wrote:

Ah well. More is always better. I seemed to recall in one of your earlier beta discussions you said it could handle one... guess it's time to actually read the manual. *embarrassed*

I still think that 256K is alot better than 8K, you could hold so many more songs. (256, I should think) Hehehe. Anyways, the non-expanded SRAM seems far more viable knowing this, but now it makes the expanded SRAM seem even more cool!

Don't get me wrong, 8 banks of switchable battery RAM would be just ace! Even I'd buy one. big_smile

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis
neilbaldwin wrote:
arfink wrote:

Ah well. More is always better. I seemed to recall in one of your earlier beta discussions you said it could handle one... guess it's time to actually read the manual. *embarrassed*

I still think that 256K is alot better than 8K, you could hold so many more songs. (256, I should think) Hehehe. Anyways, the non-expanded SRAM seems far more viable knowing this, but now it makes the expanded SRAM seem even more cool!

Don't get me wrong, 8 banks of switchable battery RAM would be just ace! Even I'd buy one. big_smile

Lucky for me, 256K SRAM chips are much cheaper than 8K ones, and smaller too. Too bad I don't have the cash to do proper prototyping now... Oh well, it'll be at least 2 weeks before I kick off preorders, and by that point I hope to have my hack-job cart done and work the kinks out of the design. Probably Mute City will beat me to release first, but his probably won't have the cool features. I hope. smile

Esopus-dragon
Offline
New York, New York

Oh now with 256 songs this gets so sick.

artfink: is the front-loader really more of a case of the cart being a just mite tight and may need jiggling with the loader to make it fit?

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis
NO CARRIER wrote:

What about retrousb.com? They sell MMC1 boards and all region lockout chips.

Well, for a few reasons-
-Because I'm not doing this to make lots of money, I'm doing it for the fun of hacking.
-Because the CIClone chips sometimes freak out
-Because using a donor cartridge will actually be less expensive than a custom PCB, custom case plastics, CIC, and discreets for the MMC1 board, plus my special modifications.
-Because NTRQ is technically only NTSC only right now anyways, and so at best using a PAL CIC chip is a hack.
-Because my current SRAM mod work is designed with the standard SKROM board in mind already.

Plus I like grey cartridge cases.

Esopus-dragon wrote:

Oh now with 256 songs this gets so sick.
artfink: is the front-loader really more of a case of the cart being a just mite tight and may need jiggling with the loader to make it fit?

More or less this is right, but if you actually open a toaster-NES and look at the cart caddy part you'll see a metal strap which runs over the top. This gets in the way, and sometimes it's flexible enough (depending on year of manufacture) to just wedge the cartridge past, but usually not. This bar can be removed or bent upwards. However, I think I'll be doing my EPROM daughterboard design so the sockets and chips can be entirely internal, so this would not be a real concern.

Last edited by arfink (Apr 8, 2010 5:51 pm)