[Coco] MPIs & Cartridges With Solder/Tin Contacts Can Now Be fixed With A Gold Contact Plug Upgrade!

[Kip Koon]

Hi Guys!

After a long search on the internet, I have finally found a very interesting
male connector with Gold contacts on the male plug side that fits the Coco's
Slot receptacle nicely and has stiff curly gold wires on the back of the
connector.  The top wires are spaced 0.62" from the bottom wires which is
perfect for soldering to the solder/tin contacts of all those MPIs' and
cartridges' card edge contacts that don't work correctly anymore!  I have
acquired a collection of items myself as I'm sure all of you have that
desperately need fixing.  I'm going to try one on an original Radio Shack
floppy controller I have with very poor contact ability due to the
oxidization problem we are so familiar with and see how much better it
performs.  I am also going to try one on a Gray MPI I upgraded to be
compatible with the Coco 3 to see how that goes as well.  The Coco 3 will
not boot up at all in the MPI's current state.  I have to check with the
manufacturer, but I believe I can order these connectors with most any
number of even numbered contacts, so I may be able to get a 4 contact or 6
contact version of the connector that would make it possible to extend the
ground contacts that fit into the grounding receptacle as well as the 40
card edge contacts for the Coco Slot receptacle.  

There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel for all these old MPIs
and Cartridges that many of us can't get working reliably anymore!  I
ordered 5 samples with the idea that there may be several hundred people
that might want these connectors.  The company obviously sounds interested
since they did send me the 5 samples!  I have no price yet as I have just
the samples, but I figure that if I order them for everybody from the
factory myself, then we may be able to get a quantity discount.  I will post
a picture in my dropbox as soon as I can get a good picture taken and post a
follow up email to all you guys as soon as possible.  No color photo is
available, so I will be taking a picture myself of one of the connectors for
you to see what they look like.  My hands shake a little and all I have is a
cell phone, so I will do the best I can.  Stay tuned for this exciting
development for our beloved Cocos!  The Saga Continues! Take care my
friends!

Kip