Hi all,
I made the presumption that you'd all been following our progress on this project...
For those who have not, you can view more info on the NESpander Dev and other projects
here.
I have another very good engineer working with me at present, and we're waiting for confirmation of a third to come aboard. Once all our ducks are in a row, we'll talk about it more openly (the final NESpander (TM), that is).
The NESpander Dev (TM) is--as the name implies--a
developer board for the NESpander, which is a NES expansion device, or possible set of devices (EXP port and cartridge bay).
The key features of NESpander DEV ARE:
Easy access to the functions of the 48-pin NES expansion port via modular groupings of Molex, straight lead and right-angle connectors, plus the full DA-15 expansion connector for Famicom peripherals.
The prototype in the above photos is my second one (Rev. 0B). The nest one will be a full PCB and I am already doing some work on this. I'm using KICAD now, but if anybody can suggest something better (that does excellent autorouting for multi-layer PCBs), I'd appreciate it.
The NESpander Dev targets two audiences: People who wish to make deices that utilize the NES expansion port; and of course, people who want to use Famicom devices on their NES or want to use FC extra audio without modifying the NES itself.
That's right... The NESpander Dev will automatically enable extra audio for both the PowerPak and normal Famicom and FDS games with extra audio. The current plan for the final NESpander is much grander, with specialized FM audio and possibly sub-mapper support for expanded memory addressing (using onboard RAM).
I hope to have finished NESpander Dev boards ready to sell by the end of September or Mid-October, but the final NESpander will take a while to design.
I may also make some NESpander Light (TM) units that only add extra audio and the FC port, but none of the other ports, for those with simpler needs, but these will only be available until the final NESpander is ready to manufacture and on an as-ordered basis. (They'll use the NESpander Dev PCB, but without all the ports soldered to it.)
In regards to product naming, I think that NESpander easily identifies the card as an expansion device for the NES. 'NExpander', as suggested, doesn't do the job, and instead conjures memories of the Generation NEX system. It's also catchy and easy to remember.
I will hopefully be able to make a short video of the device in operation soon just to show it in action, but being a hand-made prototype, the less fiddling I have to do with it, the better.
-Xious