exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Maeke wrote: 16 Nov 2018 08:30 Will you have another batch of the cartridge adapter? i'd like to install mine externally. (i'm more or less back to atari stuff and am currently working on modding my gotek btw).

I don't think so no.. was a thread about it, wasn't enough interest to invest in making them. I only made 3 prototypes, I think RJ was the only taker.

Maeke wrote: 16 Nov 2018 08:30 Will you have another batch of the cartridge adapter? i'd like to install mine externally. (i'm more or less back to atari stuff and am currently working on modding my gotek btw).

I did pick them all up from exxos, let me have a dig around, see what I have.

I think the PCB ended up a expensive 4 layer to route how I wanted. The original was 2 layers, but I also had the problem of stocking the same RTC twice, so I was trying to reduce some costs, but it made the PCB expensive instead, so didn't really help. I wanted to keep a solid gnd and 5V layer to help stop voltage drops across the board to other "in series" carts as well. The RTC module itself I discontinued already, again just wasn't any interest in it.

Incidentally, I do plan to fit the Falcon RTC modules to the STF remake at some point.

Maeke wrote: 16 Nov 2018 08:30 Will you have another batch of the cartridge adapter? i'd like to install mine externally. (i'm more or less back to atari stuff and am currently working on modding my gotek btw).

Ok, so I have 3 complete modern RTC cartridges (They are uncased), If you want one of them, drop me a PM, and we can agree a price. They were quite expensive to bulid, the RTC chips were £10 each, so total cost to build each one was upwards of £30-£40 for me including the PCBs, however, I'm sure we could agree a price that is good for us both, and I will cover postage costs.

Well i wanted only the cartridge pcb, since i already have a completed rtc. but since i have two ataris i'll think it over.

I'm not sure how this topic came about today (but I am just going to blame RJ for this one :) )

But I have re-worked the design from 4 layers using the internal RTC board (see first post) to a 2 layer integrated board (like the original FMC). So was a lot of re-routing to get it to all fit.. but its done..

I think the main killer of this project, aside from the cost of the RTC IC (~£12), is the PCB prices were stupid.. like £20+ each I think they were from OSH.. But now we have discovered JLC, prices are more like 20x less now making the parts cost (aside from the IC) almost nothing. So I will get some boards made and once tested put a small number of kits for this in my store.

exxos wrote: 13 Mar 2019 21:09 I'm not sure how this topic came about today (but I am just going to blame RJ for this one :) )

What so it's my fault now.....

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Mar 2019 00:10

exxos wrote: 13 Mar 2019 21:09 I'm not sure how this topic came about today (but I am just going to blame RJ for this one :) )

What so it's my fault now.....

Isn't it always?

Forgottenmyname wrote: 14 Mar 2019 16:40

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Mar 2019 00:10

What so it's my fault now.....

Isn't it always?

Apparently it is. I'm not sure how that came about, but suddenly I'm the global scapegoat!

:lol:

I was chatting to RJ about RTC's thats all. I was saying the price of the PCB's and chips just priced the thing to high and nobody would want one. However, it was a 4 layer board and low qty was very expensive. A bulk lot of 100 would have been way cheaper, but I didn't want to invest in it as there wasn't any interest.

However, we both kinda had the idea to move back to 2 layers as the original FMC was done on 2. So as I had a bit of "spare time" last night I re-designed the board back to 2 layers. Thing is, now we know about JLC, PCB prices on low volume runs are so low its literally peanuts. The PCB worked out at like 20x cheaper, so it opens the door to actually stocking a few. The most expensive part is the RTC chip around £12, stocking 10 of those ramps up £120 alone. But its a shame to ditch a project after the works which everyone's put into it. So with the price being lower this time, will see if there is enough interest to keep them as a stock item or not this time...