Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart And Linker Developments

Archive for August, 2011

Hey guys. Tomorrow is my birthday, and my wish is that you guys would like me.

No, I’m not suffering from low self-esteem. I’m hoping that you will go to YouTube and check out my latest video. If you like it, please LIKE it with a Thumbs Up on YouTube. If you think there’s anyone else that might like it, please spread the link. I’d like as many people as possible to see it and like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkt11HlMa0

EDIT: Yeah, my birthday has come and gone, but I still need YouTube Thumbs Up (LIKE button) votes on my video. It’s for a competition, and they extended the deadline to mid September. Get your friends to vote, if they’d be interested.

Thanks! Ed (aka Flavor)

Alrighty! It seems like things are picking up. More people are getting interested in the project, and that’s great. Some people are wondering when there will be new bundles available. Some are wondering if they can get part of the bundle without the other parts. Some people want to know how they can help. All of these are positive, and I really appreciate the enthusiasm.

One guy that has already been helping is Mr. Spiv. You may know him from the old days of NGPC, GP32, GP2X, etc. Spiv has been helping with some of the software portability, and today he has sent me a Mac binary for those of you that use OSX. I believe that a Linux version may be close at hand, also. Check out the Download area if you have a Mac and a Linkmasta. Try it out and leave a comment about how it works. Spiv also said that he wouldn’t mind if I mentioned that, “an eyecandy GUI is on the way!” Thanks, Spiv!

Some people have asked if it would be possible to get the Flashmasta/Linkmasta bundle without me cutting the plastic case. Of course, I promptly went to my room and cried my eyes out. How could they not want my hand cut case? Each one is uniquely crafted with love for you. Okay, enough with the fake story. I’m losing no tears or sweat over this request. I would like to gauge interest on this one, and I already have 3 bundles that are entirely ready (with 7-8 ready in the next few days). I’m listing them on the Purchase Page with some new options. I will offer a full bundle and a bare bundle, and both will be available “uncut”. With only 3 currently available, I probably won’t see a “trend”, but I think that this is the best way to see which options people prefer.

Keep the feedback coming. I’ve already seen people posting impressions and reviews elsewhere. If you have written anything, please leave a comment and link to it. Maybe I’ll get a page of those sorts of links made up at some point.

After the initial run of red PCBs, the Flashmasta has now gone green. I had previously been assembling a few Flashmasta, building a few Linkmasta, testing them, shipping them, etc. as time permitted. Right now, though, I’m waiting on some Linkmasta parts, and these new green PCBs showed up. I decided to build up a bunch of them so I’m ready when the Linkmasta parts are ready.

This may mean that there will be maybe 8-10 bundles available all at once when the Linkmastas are ready. Previously a few were available and sold out, and that happened a few times. I don’t know that it matters, but you needed something to waste a few minutes of your day reading about, right?

I also got some cartridges that may become part of the bundle. I’m not exactly sure how to do this. If you have an opinion, please comment. I enjoy getting feedback, as it doesn’t happen all that much. I have some cartridges that can become Flashmasta carts. Each bundle could come with a cartridge, or I could make it an option. If I can easily do it, I’m thinking of making it optional at checkout. This way, if you wanted to “sac” your own cartridge for the Flashmasta PCB, you could. If you wanted the Flashmasta to come in a game cartridge case, then that would be an option. Any thoughts?

On the software downloads page, you can now find Firmware v0.12 and the PC-side software to go with it. I am considering this a TEST release at the moment. If you would like to try it and report any problems, please do.

This software has some significant improvements, but it may also bring new issues. For example, one nice thing about the old version was that it did not require any Operating System drivers. You just plugged it in, and you were able to run the PocketLinker.exe. The new version uses a completely new technique for accessing the USB functions, and it now requires a driver under Windows. That driver can also be found on the software downloads page.

The main upside is speed. Writing a full 32mbit now takes about 8 minutes. Reading the full 32mbit is about 45 seconds. Try it out and see if it works well for you. Leave some feedback.

Well, our friend Ponrev received his unit in Japan already. That was fast! I don’t have much to report about this, but he did! Check out his blog post. Even if you can’t read Japanese, you can still look at all the pictures.

http://ponrevival.blogspot.com/2011/08/ngp-linkmasta.html

If you want to see what Google Translate makes of it, try this.

He seems to be putting it through a bunch of tests. That’s great. Keep messing with it, and keep us updated. Just don’t find any bugs.

Anyway, of these Flashmasta+Linkmasta bundles, we’ve now sent 2 units to Japan, 1 to Canada, 1 to the US, and 1 to Taiwan. That’s on top of the early version linkers that were almost all sent to Europe. It seems like this has pretty good worldwide appeal.

I just built 3 NGPC Linkmasta + Flashmasta bundles. To test the waters, I am making these available for purchase. Please keep in mind that there is a lot that has been going into developing and building these. I am not a professional producer of electronics or hardware. This is something that, for years, I’ve tried to get other people to do. Ultimately, I took it upon myself, and we are now starting to see the fruits of this effort. If you are interested in one of these bundles, head over to the Purchase Page and check it out. If you try to purchase one, and they’re out of stock, PayPal will inform you. When I notice that they are out of stock (which would be very exciting to me), I’ll edit the Purchase Page to reflect that. I’ll do the same when I get some more built.

If you’re not prepared to be an early adopter (and maybe even a bit of a testing guinea pig), consider waiting. There will be more of these available. I’m trying to focus on making my process more efficient, and we’re still developing software.

I really appreciate you guys that have been following this project. I know that some of you have been waiting for the chance to get one of these units. Here’s your first opportunity. If you miss it, though, I expect that there will be other chances soon.

UPDATE: I finished 3 more Flashmasta. When I listed the first 3 bundles, I had 6 Linkmastas ready. That means that I now have 3 more Flashmasta+Linkmasta bundles available on the Purchase Page. The first set of 3 out in less than 48 hours. That’s quite encouraging, and it’s why I was so quick to assemble these next 3 Flashmastas. After this, it will probably be a while before I have more bundles ready, because I don’t currently have any Linkmasta or Flashmasta assembled/tested.

On Friday, I received some new Flashmasta PCBs. I was out on Sat/Sun, but on Sunday evening, I soldered one up. Take a look. Oh, by the way, it works great.