Creating a custom C64 cartridge

One of the original goals of this project was to create my own custom C64 cartridge.   After some trial and error with the first Ebay vendor with poor communication,  I tossed the board aside and started shopping for alternatives.

I've noticed that there are a lot of sellers who simply reproduce available PCB designs without offering support or knowledge about the product.  Worse yet, some who seem to be knowledgeable but don't want to directly interact with the Ebay buyers.  Read the descriptions carefully, "SOLD AS-IS, NO REFUND" is a sign of possible bad support.  Don't be afraid to ask pre-sale questions. 

After some searching I finally hit on a winner.

Ebay seller, DAVID-S-72 sells the 16K X2 Cartridge, a cart which supports a single 16K program using the 27C128, or two 16K programs using the 27C256 eproms.   His instructions are simple enough and has good communication.

He includes the following instructions for 16K images as part of his listing:

1. Download VICE emulator and copy cartconv.exe to a new folder.
2. Copy your .CRT files to that folder.
3. Rename the .CRT files using only 8 characters and no spaces.
4. Hold shift and right-click and select 'open command window here'
5. Type cartconv -i name.crt -o name.bin
6. This will create a .BIN file for burning to an eprom

I added a step 5-1/2 to this.

• To create a 32K .BIN file using two converted 16K .BIN files, do the following:
• copy /B game1.bin+game2.bin output.bin

Burn output.bin to an eprom and use the switch to switch between games while the Commodore 64 is turned off.  My own cart has Gateway to Apshai and Moon Patrol.   Both are 16k games.

Note: Each converted file must be 16,384 bytes after conversion.  The combined file: 32,768.

David's product ships from Australia, so expect about two weeks if you are importing them to the United States.   Personally looking forward to trying some of his other projects.