jesus just thought I'd pop in on this thread...total shitstorm since I left. Usually I start the shitstorms so I'm confused.

Now, we just have to wait and see if they are 100% good product or counterfeit or rejects.......

I remember when I posted on RGP, the day PDIP RAMTRON's came out (a 6264 NVRAM in a 28 pin DIP package):

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/the$20new$20ramtron$20is$20here/rec.games.pinball/Df1iQNf0kNs/cpAT2T3JkTkJ

I was so happy...until about 20 minutes later, when Ed from GPE posted that Ramtron decided not to mass produce the PDIP version (FM1608B-PG was the PDIP version).

Turns out they made a few hundred, then discontinued them. They were <$4 each, and onlinecomponents had about 300 in stock--they sold out fast, like in a few weeks. I bought a few, and I see a few here and there (like on ace's page), but such a shame they didn't make a few thousand more for us pinball lovers.

ebay.com link: 5pcs SO28 SOP28 SSOP28 TSSOP28 SOIC28 to DIP28 Adapter Converter PCB Board YG

ebay.com link: 5PCS FM16W08 Manu RAMTRON Encapsulation SOP28

ebay.com link: 10PCS 40Pin 2 54mm Single Row Straight Male Pin Header Strip PBC Ardunio

With a steady hand and a sharp pointed Soldering pencil, this style surface mount package is pretty easy to solder. Some of our older eyes can benefit from a good Bench mount lit magnifier too.

That's a great post. The only thing I'd change--the square pin headers don't work very well for inserting in chip sockets. Millmax makes an interconnect, with round pins that works really nice for anything you want to insert in chip sockets.

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mill-Max/350-10-164-00-006000/?qs=2fvWSw3gTH9Ls1b0TXtYDg%3d%3d

Ed/GPE sells these at a much better price than Mouser, but I don't know if he still stocks them.

Edit: I'd also recommend the soic version chip over the other smd types, as it's bigger.

Also, agree with Ace, about buying from an electronic place other than EBay--although I've had good luck with EBay--I know it's always risky.

Just watch some of those generic SOIP/TSSOP to DIP boards... some of them come shorted *or* the smaller TSSOP footprint can easily short with any fleck of conductive material getting between the pads. Better if someone made just a straight SOIP to DIP board and didn't have that extra TSSOP footprint on there. Boards are of inconsistent quality.. probably best to continuity test traces/through-holes before you go soldering nvram to it.

Building from generic parts can be worth the effort for your own machines. As I've cautioned before though, I'm not exactly trusting of relatively expensive ICs that are being sold for a fraction of the price on eBay and Aliexpress... not after receiving some 300-mil parts marked as the 600-mil part (SIMTEK nvram).. not after reading up on all the counterfeiting and "reselling of factory rejects pulled from trash" that goes on. Much of the time it'll probably work fine.. but to use it in a product you're selling, you're then gambling on more than just your own machines and the official distributor route should really be taken. Which means more expensive chips, but at least you know what you're selling.

I had one installed an a customer's machine CFTBL and it's holding up just fine!

Definitely use machine pin headers and not standard headers if you're going to make your own adapter. The standard header pins are way too big.

Something like this:
ebay.com link: 12x Machined Pin Header male 40 round gold machine pins

Interesting about the DIP RAMTRON parts. I started making RAM adpaters using these when they came out and didn't realize they made so few.

They're probably going to come in somewhere closer to $8 than $5 if you're buying parts straight from Cypress. Personally, I wouldn't buy from the eBay link posted. Looks shady and they don't even have a picture of the right package, let alone the right part. But it's up to you and the risk is pretty low in such small quantities. I use only genuine parts from the manufacturer in my adapters.

Like I said, there's no monopoly on FRAM and none of us invented address decoding. If people want to do stuff on their own I'm happy to share my experience having built hundreds of these and given 100+ away free at shows I've spoken at and to pinball museums.

Wow!! Someone already makes the adapter PCB!! Nice find

I got some tinkering to do.

Last time I looked you could still get 6264-compatible Simtek(Cypruss) NVRAM in a 28-pin DIP package....

Any new news on gottlieb system3?

This is old news you can read up on.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nvram-gottlieb-system-3-success#post-2460370

Nothing new in relation to anyPin, but as CactusJack points out, NVRAM is possible in Gottlieb System 3 games. I just find it unnecessary when the original button cells can last more than 20 years, and don't have the leak risk that AAs have.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Thanks Rob, hope all is well with you and Taro!

If you are desperate about using an NVRAM in your Gottlieb system 3 game I can sell you a Simtek based adapter. Shipment from Europe will cost as much as the adapter I am affraid.

And removing the original SRAM and the Dallas battery supervisor chip from Gottlieb system 3 boards is not easy....tiny traces easy to ruin....

Marco