What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.

You make it. You get to name it.

Good choice, BTW. It clearly conveys what it is/what it does and is much easier to say than Super Duper Happy Terrific Excellent Network Go-Fast Thingamabob for the 64 (which I was going to suggest.)

_________________
Call me Golan; my parents did.

OMG! Now you've done it. I might just have to rename the card. I wonder if there is enough surface area to fit that on the silkscreen. . .

Well, it sounds like C64NIC is a big hit. So be it.

Oh, something I didn't mention before, but might be a pleasant surprise: Since I've designed it to fit well in a cartridge case, I ended up using a full size Solakian cartridge PCB. Because of that, there was more than enough room to place a second footprint for an alternate RJ45 jack location. So, for those that want, you can easily move the RJ45 jack from the default location (protruding from the right) to the alternate location (protruding from the back) with a simple solder job.

An other idea is that if the hand soldering test works out, then I could potentially offer a choice as to where you want it soldered. Another idea is I could offer an option to solder two jacks in for a few extra dollars. Understand that this doesn't mean there is hub or switch functionality. These are the same port and you can only use one at a time. But, with both jacks present, you could relocate your cable quite easily.

hey! that's THE name! yeeeeaaah!
but seriously: c64nic is perfect. i love it.

C64NIC is a perfect choice for the name. And, congrats on passing the exam.

Golan: your suggestion becomes SDHTENGFT, not much of an acronym

The choice of RJ45 connection locations is quite neat. If someone were to get one C64NIC but have multiple uses for it (C64 one day, SX64 another day) then I'm sure they'll appreciate having the option.

You're right, and yet it seems oddly rude. Go figure.

_________________
Call me Golan; my parents did.

Well, crap. One thing I didn't do was measure for SX-64 clearances because I don't have one. Since I have the reset push button mounted on the right side of the cartridge, it may not fit. Can anyone tell me the clearances needed to make sure this thing at least fits in the C64 expansion port. To be quite honest, I'm not hell bent on making sure the reset button is accessible in the SX-64 as much as I would like to make sure the cartridge will fit into the slot and not be obstructed by the body of the computer.

I can say that I measured the clearances required to make this thing fit in a CMD RAMLink which has a pretty tall body. The reset button should be useable while this thing is plugged into the RAMLink. Of course, I'll test that to be sure.

Eric

I believe the SX slot is not quite as tall as the C64, so if it fits in c64, it should fit in SX. I will double check this once I get home

Hmm.. since the chip select stuff here is pretty much passive, there's a chance that it will actually work on the SX too!

Hi guys,

I've been watching this thread for a few months now and have been waiting for the cartridge eagerly. I was almost pleased when someone said that it's pretty much impossible to produce these things at a better price than I do, and now here's someone without experience at all who has "found funding".

I don't know who is behind this funding, but I'm suggesting to put the prototype to a good burn-in test over a wide temperature range, lots of power cycles on lots of different C64/SX64 and C128 (including D/CR models).

Since requests for RR-Net have been increasing in the past weeks, I jumped on some free machine-time at my assembly house last week and produced a few hundred RR-Net of "the new kind". I have rotated the RJ45 jack so it fits nicely with MMC64. Unfortunately, I also made the thing a lot smaller, so there's a mechanical conflict with the RR buttons. I shouldn't have done the re-design that quick...


however, it fits nicely with MMC64:


The good news is that the price has come down a bit: The price I'm charging from resellers is now low enough to have a retail price of 49,- EUR in countries with 19% VAT (Europe requires to advertise VAT included). For those of you who don't follow the political developments of Germany: We've had an increase of VAT in january of this year: From 16% to 19%. All you Americans don't know how lucky you are

For non-European customers, the lower dealer-price means a real price reduction by a little over 9%.

C= greetings,
Jens Schönfeld

And to follow up: SX and C64 are about the same, so if you place whatever connecters and switches at least 40mm from the edge you should be on the safe side.

D'oh!



Not a total loss then :) I don't suppose there'll be a MMC+RR-Net bundle at a reduced price?

@eightbit: Awaiting your news on the prototyping progress with great anticipation!

@paradroid: Oops!

If you made the RRNet as small as possible then instead of soldering the RJ45 socket to the card added a set of 8 header pins to the RRNet board the RJ45 socket could then be mounted on a short ribbon cable allowing it to be mounted on the other side of the cartridge yes a small portion of the RRNet card would be outside the cartridge but most of it could fit within a standard cartridge or mounted to the top of a cartridge.

I own one of your RRNet cards and will be buying another and i thank you for manufacturing more.

This is how i managed to stop the RRNet card coming away from the Retro/Replay board for the web server i run on http://www.c64web.com 24/7.

The ribbon cable is a short extension lead for the cartridge port i used a cartridge edge connector out of a broken c64 board and cut the connector off a international soccer cartridge to make the extension lead.

This picture is with the lid off.

http://www.c64web.com:6510/c64webnic1.jpg

The c64 socket is simply double sided taped and rubber feet stop the retro/replay from touching the metal case.

All switch's and jumpers are on the rear of case so there is no need to ever open

Sorry if this is off topic but would be a great idea for the C64NIC card being Designed.

_________________
Have Fun!!

Hey, Paradroid! Good to hear from ya. I was worried I had offended you when I didn't see you posting in this thread. I'm glad to see your post!

I do intend to do a burn in. I will be using a C64 and C64c in multiple configurations including RAMLink, SuperCPU, Aprospand, etc..... I do have 128 and 128D models I will be testing as well. I will also have a second person doing testing for me for completeness. Alas, I have no SX64, but there's a good chance my second tester will have one. If not, I know someone here who probably has one and I can ask him to test for me as well. Thanks for the advice!

I'm sorry to see the issue with the RR-Net with the RR cart. If I can help you with that, please let me know. I'm always game to work on C64 anything and I'm not out to get rich on C64 stuff, so my services will typically come at the price of a 5-fingered discount. I just have a weak spot for the C64.

Current status of the prototypes: PCBs and parts are transit and I am tracking them. One of the packages has an ETA of Monday next week, but I'm still quite hopeful it will be here Friday/Saturday instead so I can get to soldering this weekend. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Hey, zap. You're a case modding gawd! I'd love to sit down with you and do some old-school case mods sometime. If I can afford it, I'm going to try to go to World of Commodore in Toronto this year. If you intend to go, it would be very cool to throw a case mod party. We'll bring out the dremels and hack saws and see what we can do.

I would love to goto World of Commodore but i live here in OZ so most of the great stuff is beyond my reach.
I enjoy making things fit and don't like untidy unfinished item's on my computer bench.
That's why i like buying item's that cry out for finishing or mods i find its a great way to
learn a little about how it work's..

If you goto http://www.c64web.com:6510/c64mods there are a few more anyone can email me other's

The real pimped out picture is not mine ... i wish.

Will add a link on http://www.c64web.com to it.

looking forward to your finished board well looking forward to finishing it. .

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Have Fun!!

(Why was an unrelated RR-Net announcement posted in this thread? Maybe it should be split into a new thread in the RR-Net section?)

Anyway, I would be concerned about the mechanical stress these new RR-Nets will put on the Retro Replay etc. Not only will there be the usual annoying bending, but now there will be a twisting action and all the stresses that go with it on the clock port pins, if the cable gets pulled on.

That said - it looks like it will work well on the new IDE64 V4, since the RJ45 port will point out the back, similar to the MMC64.