Yeah, I apologize to the community for not continuing with the project at the time, but spending all that money and then realizing I should have made a prototype was a very expensive mistake. I tried to see if the PCBA vendor could desolder and fix the switches, but they said it would cost quite a bit, new switches would be needed, and it would not fix all the issues (the two additional lines would still be connected. At that point, I just shut down.in another thread, tokra wrote:As I remember Jim made 100 of these, but noticed the dip-switches were to close to the cartridge slots, so you could not plug in a standard cartrdige fully. You can still buy this for $22 a piece and I got one some years ago:
https://store.go4retro.com/non-functional-goodies/
See the notes at the bottom. If you re-locate the dip-switches (or just use the cartridges without shells) and cut some traces they work fine:
I need to redeem myself for the two issues (fitment and IO lines), so I did modify the design a bit to address the issue and I am willing to make a new run, but I probably need someone I can send a prototype to that can run it through the paces.
As well, I need to determine the minimal spacing of the slots. Before, I just laid it out with the switches being in a row dictating the distance, but I think I have a better idea now on how to manage switches and now I can squeeze the design to be shorter. But, I don't want to be too short.
For instance, i think my min distance should be the height of the VIC-MIDI connectors, but maybe there are other carts that need more than normal spacing. I assume some space is needed to get your fingers in to pull or push a cart.
Thoughts welcome.
(mod: thread continuation of WTB: Cardco Cardboard 6)