Posted By
MIK
on 2013-04-03
08:15:35
 |  Cartridge Contact Cleaning.
Just a little something for the Plus/4 Encyclopedia.
Cleaning the cartridge contacts where the cartridge connects to your 264 system is fairly easy and can also be done without taking things apart. All you need is a Pencil Rubber/Eraser and rub the contacts until clean. With some gentle but firm rubbing the Pencil Eraser will remove all the dirt, grease, grime and bring the contacts back to look like new. Make sure to remove any excess rubber left behind before using your cartridge again and that's all there is to it. A simple pencil rubber is all you need.
If you can find a thin enough pencil rubber you can use this to clean the contacts without taking the cartridge apart which is the easiest option.
If you feel brave enough to take a genuine Commodore cartridge apart then we have provided two pictures below to help as a guide. Undo the screw on the back of the cartridge first of all and remove it. Next up is the tricky part and be warned as you may damage the clips that hold the cartridge together because the aging plastic has become a little weak.
In the second image you can see we have marked with numbers 3 of the clips found on the inside of one side on the cartridge, there are 6 in total. Using a flat screw driver and starting from the contact end of the cartridge insert the flat screw driver into the gap on the outside of the cart located around the points where the clips are and twist it gently. With a bit of pressure you should be able to force the clip out. Undo the two closet to the contact end of the cartridge, then the next two up and the top two on the back-end of the cartridge will come free with no use of the screw drive at all.
After you have finished cleaning it's time put the top back on to the base. This is not easy because the clips are hard to push back in but I would advise putting the back-end on first simply by sliding them in and then work down trying to push the others closed. Just keep a close eye on the cartridge board as you close it shut in case it moves out of it's holding position inside else you may damage the cartridge board from pressure being applied trying to close it. Don't forget to put the screw back in to the back. Enjoy.
Picture 1:
Picture 2:
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Posted By
George
on 2013-04-05
08:58:52
 | Re: Cartridge Contact Cleaning.
Nice entry.
I love Cartridges.
Plug and Play and very durable. Are empty carts sold for our system any more?
If someone wanted to make a Cart-Game, which steps are necessary?
In my opinion, a good game shoud be delivered in a cartrige with a proper case.
A questions: How many different, official Cartridges were made for our system?
There should be a flag in the database for filtering this information out.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2013-04-05
13:03:42
| Re: Cartridge Contact Cleaning.
I took it apart because I was wondering if the board could be used to make a 64k memory cart for a Commodore 16. On the plus side these official carts from Commodore look really nice any way.
In the case of Pirate Adventure it's a waste of a case any way and would gladly give it up for 64k of memory. A shame Fire Ant or something was not put on it. 
I think Commodore made 4 carts in total.
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Posted By
George
on 2013-04-05
14:59:35
| Re: Cartridge Contact Cleaning.
There are some more i know of, but i would like to know to exact known releases.
The three Scott Adams adventures
The "Calc" Programm
The "Word" Programm
Logo
the Tutor Cart
Some Financial Carts...
Diagnostic Cart..
Jack Attack
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Posted By
Litwr
on 2013-04-06
09:36:01
| Re: Cartridge Contact Cleaning.
Viduzzles
Octasoft BASIC 7.0
Script/Plus
[EDIT] There is also undocumented p4fileio *cartridge* with plus4emu distribution. What is it for? BTW Octosoft BASIC looks like very powerful tool with PLAY music and sprites emulator but there is only documentation in Hungarian. I (only?) want to see it translated to English.
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