Well... Now what?

[Chris]

With production of the Retrode and it's adaptors halted indefinitely what are we to do? Are there others out there willing to or perhaps already producing Retrodes or Plug-in adaptors for sale? I fortunately already got my hands on a Retrode 2, Gameboy Plug-in, Nintendo 64 Plug-in, and Sega Master System Plugin so I am set on all of that. I know Matthias has posted schematics for other Plug-ins on the official site, but I know not everyone is up to the challenge of building their own. I would personally love to get my hands on Atari 2600, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Sega Game Gear, and other Plug-ins. I had hoped to just wait for them to come up for sale on Stoneagegamer.com, where I got the ones I presently have, but I guess that won't be happening now. I don't suppose anyone who knows a bit more than I do about printing and assembling circuit boards would be willing to build them for me?

[Matthias_H]

Even if that's not going to help you - those plug-ins were never going to be mass-produced to begin with. Only such products can be made for which the parts exist - and there is no place on earth that sells Game Gear, Virtual Boy, or Wonderswan connectors by the hundreds.

[Chris]

Honestly it is printing the board that is a pain in my ass. I don't mind salvaging connectors from dead consoles and accessories. I just can't etch a board worth shit and wouldn't know how to place an order for a custom printed board.

[Khaz]

Hi.  I just recently got a Retrode 2 and what must be close to the last N64/SMS plugins.  I wanted the gameboy one badly, very badly, but it was already gone by the time I heard about this thing.

I am absolutely perfectly fine with wasting lots of time putting one together myself.  I can scavenge parts no problem, I can follow instructions and solder.  Hell, if I get up the ambition I might just try building my own adapter for Intellivision games - that would be awesome!  But I also have absolutely no clue how to get a board printed or anything like that.  Can you offer some advice maybe on the most practical way to go about it?

It is an absolute shame that business could not continue.  This device is the best thing since these consoles were built in the first place, I've wanted to own it since a decade before you made it and I know I can't be the only one that just hadn't heard about it till now.

[emuDrache]

Getting the boards made up isn't hard... Especially if Matthias send someone the eaglecad files.

Even if Matthias sent me the files and I added it to my next pcb order, we probably wouldn't be able to source the connectors..

As Matthias said, it's the connectors that are the pain.

[Khaz]

I'm fine with pains.  For an individual though, I'm assuming for a gameboy plugin like I wanted it'd be just the cartridge connector ripped out of a gameboy?  That doesn't sound too hard, there's always like a dozen on ebay not working for like $20.  For other systems not so easy I'm sure but it can't be that hard to secure just one for my own personal work.  The only part I'm certain I can't do myself is the boards.

How hard would it be to fabricate a new connector?  We know the exact specifications, all someone would have to do is reproduce it well enough to be functional.  Forgive my my being naive but how hard can it be?  There must be a way to just make new ones.  Orrrr is that a legal problem?

One way or the other, I am determined to have my own set of some of these plugin connectors.  I'm not stopping when I'm this close...

[Matthias_H]

Producing a connector is not "hard" but you have one-off setup costs (making injection molding and stamping tools) that are at least $5-10K and obviously only pay off for large volumes. Hence, unless you find a manufacturer who has already made this type of connector before, you are out of luck.

[Khaz]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate the answer to that. 

That still leaves me with the same initial problem though - are the schematic files for the formerly-sold plugins available?

(Edit:  You know, I bet 3D printing could get around that fabrication issue someday soon.  Here's hoping.)