Mid March Update

It's been a fortnight since the last update, and I'm pleased to say that there has been more progress again since then. I can't say how much longer it will take at this stage, but from appearances I'd estimate that approximately 70% of the layout is complete now. I'm secretly hoping that the closer it nears completion, the more David will be eager to complete it... and that this will be the last blog update before it is done.

Once layout is done I'll post a 3D rendering of the PCBA.

Feb Update

I'm pleased to be able to say that my learned colleague is progressing well with layout of the flash cartridge prototype. Most of the component & connector placement has been finalised with routing for traces not connected to FPGA I/O pins nearing completion. Reportedly there's still a few weeks work remaining, based on his current time allocated to the project.

Aside from the above, there's not a lot else happening on the project. I've taken the FPGA HDL and software about as far as practical without actual hardware, so that's on hold, though it will probably be cracked open again when it's time to review the final flash cartridge schematic before production.

I've taken the opportunity to snap up a few cheap AES cartridges - for testing the main project of course. My latest acquisition was Art Of Fighting (1), which I was particularly interested in because the source code was found for it on a former developer's hard drive and is freely available for download on the net.

More when it happens...