I have found this auction for a "GS Vic Cartridge simulator", whatever this means. Seems to be battery powered, and has empty chip sockets. Someone knows more?
Auctioneer says
If you need one of these you will know what it is...
It's the same VCS VIC Cartridge Simulator as has been discussed a few years ago. This time, without cartridge shell and with a variant assembly of edge connectors.
If you look closely in the *bay photos, the "V" hides under the left (mostly) open socket, and the "G" of "GS" is actually a C.
Vic20-Ian wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 3:17 am
Once you get it working please can you post a guide on how to use it?
Will do, I need to check the documentation that came with my 16K RAM cartridge in case there's any details in that. I've got some RAM chips on order for it.
OK, so I've found my original documentation and this is what it says about the VCS
The cartridge simulator fulfills the needs for back plane expansion
for the intensive user who wishes to add more peripheral devices to
the Vic, with the possibility of more memory.
First of all, the VCS offers either just three 22 way slots, or three
slots in addition to 8K of Ram. The Ram used are identical to those
used in the VCR cartridge. The VCS can therefore be added to the basic
Vic, providing 11775 bytes free if you have the 8K version. You can
also use it in conjunction with the VCR. If it is used in conjunction
with the VCR 20, for example, you would obtain 28158 bytes free for
basic or in cartridge mode, where the program stored in its 8K of Ram
will automatically run when the machine is powered on.
You can purchase the VCS as a motherboard, without Ram, or already
fitted with 8K of Ram. In both cases, the battery neceassry for
back up is not provided. (An ordinary 4.5V battery is perfectly
adequate).
The paper is quite fragile after 38 years, I'll try and work out how to scan it safely.
Investigations were delayed by glacial delivery of RAM chips from China plus hunting down a dry joint.
As expected the jumper block allows selecting the 8K between BLK1 and BLK5 plus making it read-only. I haven't been brave enough to connect a battery, I'm not sure what voltage is expected (there's a 1K2 resistor in series).
Last edited by srowe on Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:35 am, edited 1 time in total.