8bitcollective

Yes, this is truly a great initiative. I'm very impressed with people who are skilled enough to do this kind of stuff, since I'm not very into electronics or programming myself.
Would the cart itself have a usb-port, or is it planned to be used with an external transferer?

Anyway, great project! I wish you luck, and I'll follow this project closely, too.

I think you'd transfer data using a SD card.  Those memory chips he was talking about are purely volatile memory, as far as I can tell...the actual storage would be on the card.

Which is badass as all hell, when you think about it.  This means all you'd ever need is two carts.  You could just swap out sd cards whenever you wanted to switch what was on your cart.

This would be great if cartridges can be produced and sold cheap enough. Would the USB cartridge be recognisable as a removable drive by a PC? I'd prefer this personally over dedicated transfer software, though I don't know how this would affect OSX/Linux compatibility.

I'm holding out for this seeing as i have no job and no money and this may be the cheap solution i need to get started with LSDJ. I have two job interviews this week tho and about 10 pending applications so I will be willing to put my first ever paycheck of all time toward this cause/the $200 8bc rent for the year.

I just made a donation as befits my stature as a pillar of this community. If you think you are better than me, I challenge you to do the same.

(this is not a negative rant, and i'm not trying to start a flame war)

I think this is a great idea. If you want any help in the design area i've been wanting to start developing carts/programmers so that i dont have to import.

I understand in a way peoples complaints about prices on carts but
what some have to understand is that, money isn't exactly being made
on them.

Being the only distributer in the US allows me to sort of set a decent price
where the consumer can easily and quite cheaply might i add, get started
doing chip tunes... After all the small expenses that are involved
in selling them it barely pays for my gas. and quite literally thats all
the "profits" go to.. i have a full time job.

At the moment, i have carts set at $40 (for ordering only 1-2).
+shipping (an average of $5-6).

Thats a good price.. and if you start looking at how much you save if you order more than 2....my price jumps are pretty huge..

I guess i get confused when people complain about prices being so high for this stuff when to make music on any other platform will cost you more than $800 just to get started. So to be able to get
a full music making set up for  less than $200 is a deal to me no matter what way you slice it...

But i'm getting off subject.. and i dont want to come off lke i'm complaining. because 'm not. I'm happy to supply people with the tools needed to make such amazing music. and i will continue doing it so long as sales keep coming in.

This project shouldnt be really difficult to design. the part where it gets
tricky is the cost of production... circuitboards ain't cheap, i know this because
i work in a production company. I build mic preamps and equalizers..

Once circuitboards are made... you have to think about whether or not you want to have the board made in house or out.. if out.. where? your cheapest bet is to
have a company in China do it but then you find yourself dealing with ...
well lets put it this way... in my opinion.. china is out of the question, you get sh#t product with rohs solder which never makes for solid joints...
So lets think about the packaging.. i'm not sure
where Oliver is getting his nanoloops carts done, but the injection mold cart case is very nice, an exact replica of the original cart enclosure.. it's gotta be pricey stuff...
So many things play into it.. and if you dont go overseas for production that means your cost will go up because lets face it... built in the USA means... $$$.
so you are stuck with a moral issue ... send over seas to save money to
sell for less, and have the carts give out after x numbers of months/years?
or do you pay a little more. do them "locally". but charge more because it costs
you more to do so. but you get a longer lasting, stable product.

the business is a tricky one and I am a firm believer of supplying to the masses
for less. but in a non money hungery business thought... you gotta eat too.


I dont know.. i'm way off topic and rambling but the project is a good one and
just having a product that can hook up via usb would be easier.
I get questions all the time if the db25 -> usb adapters will work...
i have no clue. and hope to test this theory out soon..

Perhaps a solution would be to design an adapter that would allow
say the GB Transferer to work with "new" computers...
they already do work but it's a hard process for some to undertake.


I am working on pdf and video how-to's for flashing carts and such...
but as i said earlier, i have a full time job and a million projects of my
own going on so i can't seem to get them done fast enough.


just thought i'd give my two bits... Sorry for the grammar issues.. When you
work 40-60hrs a week in solder fumes they eventually start to take a tole.

take care everyone and good luck with this project! I look forward to
seeing the progress in the coming months.


_LameBoy

not to continue a flamewar, but If we bought a cart order of 50 plus from ems, it would be about $16 a cart. So if people complain about high prices they can pony up the $800 bucks and help the community. Otherwise just order direct from hk ems and pay $20 bucks a cart plus the programmer.

This project is great simply because it doesnt require fucktarded winxp paralell port support, or for you to keep an win98 system around. Mac and linux users can easily get on the fun. If I have work USB carts, Id probably sell my standard hk carts.

I would like to clarify what I meant by "overpriced LSDJ" and try to steer this discussion into a different direction.

I've seen cartridges offered on Ebay, Livejournal's gameboy music community, lsdj & buy/sell mailing lists, as well as robbwebb and lameboy's site. I would definitely agree that lameboy is the only supplier that has placed cartridges at a reasonable price compared to the rest.

However, it wasn't always like this. I learned about this scene a little more than 3 years ago. I wanted to get into making music with my girlfriend at the time but robwebb was the only web store offering rewritable cartridges. The only other alternatives was to jump on an opportunity where someone was selling one of their own for prices that would range from $150-300. As a highschool student, there was no way I could afford two cartridges and transferrers.

In anycase, I should have an update on this project in a week or so. I'll try my best. : )

lameboy wrote:

$70!?!?!?! dang... i am undercharging .lol. suddenly i dont feel as bad anymore. hehehe..

Yeah $800 ... try $970 or so... with a few transferers at full price + $90
_LameBoy

I was trying to be outrageous and shock the kids in the learning the real costs of running a business, not trivilize the amount. There are kid here who think paying $20 for a gameboy is outside their budget!

When I price the cost of a cart with everything, your prices arent bad. Rob webb seems high just because the dollar is shit.

ONWARD TO SD CARDS FOR FREEDOM

dotdUmmy wrote:

Yeah, I can't tell you how much of a hassle it is to write a cart with my Transferer.  Like sometimes it takes me 2 days of trying before I get a successful write!  Drag & drop USB will make patching custom kits and switching versions a snap!

its quite bizarre, because i find that my transferer works first time every time! but never the less, the technology is out of date, so somthing more modern would be very welcome.

i also found, when writing onto a brand new cart, nothing would ever work and i couldnt get it to load the game. the transferer said it was written to the cart, but it wouldnt play on the gameboy. i found out of frustration that by pressing some buttons, the game would pop up!

anger does have its benefits!

call it jebus, our chiptune messiah.

Holy Spirit
Sp(i)rit(es) Rejoice

Last edited by Cuddly Dominion (July 21, 2007 12:55 pm)

this could open doors in the way of even more extensive program development, allowing for more customization, features and kits since sd cards have so much mem. i just realized that but for real once this happens, it will evolve the use of pre-gba gameboys down the line. it will take a while but we will see it. i feel special because i had this thought.

I see the future and it is Nintendo of the past.

woooooo
Development board on its way!!
microcontrollershop.com

------------------------------------------------------
Order Number: 7629
Detailed Invoice: ------------
Date Ordered: Wednesday 25 July, 2007

Products
------------------------------------------------------
1 x ARM JTAG, I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO tool, USB (Signalyzer) = US$89.99
1 x Philips LPC2148 (ARM) Prototype Board, USB, Dual RS232 (LPC-P2148) = US$74.95
------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: US$164.94
Tax: US$13.61
Economy Shipping (5...7 business days): US$4.90
Total: US$183.45

Damn I need to donate to this, it's such an excellent idea.

I'll buy a few for sure

my penis is at half mast.

And why the decline in donations?

Cuddly Dominion wrote:

BleepBloop, sum my total donations, it was my message to go on the list of donations.

$6.66
$59.94 +
$66.60 =

Why the drop in blood sacrifices for Jose's Howl666Santa cart?

Cuddly Dominion, you Psycho. I love it!

how about "Soil Deposits"

i just like anything to do with dusts and/or dirts.

I will personally go to Rochester and buy you a big mac!

I love people who can do this.
I admire you, son.

If this works, i will mail you one dorito, of each flavor, in a special bone casket.

my nipples!

BTW happy belated birthday!

holy shit, I can't believe its actually happening now! How many will be in your first batch?