WS Flash Masta v4.4 (early adopter version)

[Flavor]

Hey there everyone. Digmac from AG checking in to say how much the WS Flashmasta rocks! Just had a question on my second day using the cart.

1. I saw in your YT video Flavor, that you had a MicroSD inserted into your adopter WS Flashmasta. My question is, do you have some sort of software in testing that is able to use this function, or were you just showing off the slot on the cart?

This depends on your view of "software in testing" I guess. I have a USB "linker" that I use to act like a WonderSwan so I can test code running on the computer and how I can interact with the cartridge. Is is fairly easy to debug things this way. Through this interface, I can read and write the SD card. So, this proves that the SD card is usable from the WonderSwan cartridge socket.

The problem is that we have yet to get this working on the actual WonderSwan. I do not yet know why it works in one place and not the other.

2. This is more of a suggestion. I would make the MicroSD function of the cart limited to simply save data handling. We have an easy enough time loading the games through USB, and I would say that MicroSD save management with customizable save names for the files would be much better. This would give us a save state sort of function if you will, and I think would be a more efficient use of the slot than actual game loading. 15 slots is quite a bit and stores games that would take days to beat anyway.

This is very likely what we will focus on first. I feel like if users could use 15 slots and backup/restore savegame data for each of those, then most features after that are icing in a way. I don't mean to say that we want to stop there, but savegame is a priority.

I am trying to see if I could cut up a casing for a WS game and actually get the top cover to fit on the flashmasta for protection while gaming. Sometimes my fingers rest where the cart will go, and I don't feel like resting my fingers on this bare PCB. Right now I'll have to punch a hole large enough to fit the battery and cut away the plastic for the USB, but I think it might just work with those mods in place and perhaps some more general cutting of the internal supports that hold the PCB in place.

Anyway, thanks Flavor for all the work and time you put into this thing. You deserve every last cent you get, man.

I have also wondered if there would be a way to "wrap" the PCB to protect it. Tape would be ugly and sticky, but I wonder if there's another way to cover it.

Yeah, I'd love to get a proper plastic shell for this. I've said it before, but my expertise is not in 3D modeling or creating parts like that.