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Endurance

Letter of Explanation: For Third Party "SimmStick TM Compatible" Designers.

Pending US Trademark Registration:
Dontronics has a U.S. pending trademark registration on SimmStickTM, with the US Patent and Trademark Office, which is the only legal acknowledgment required at this stage. When the registration is finalized, the "®" will be attached.
The US federal registration symbol may be used once the mark is actually registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Even though an application is pending, the registration symbol may not be used before the mark has actually become registered.
In the interim, SimmStickTM , will be used to signify this pending registration.

The only other consideration is that the bus design functionality be reasonably well followed to allow new designs to be readily interfaced to existing designs. This would then allow any new third party product to be SimmStick TM  compatible.

This means anyone is free to make a SimmStick TM Compatible board as long as it is electrically compatible and they are free to call it such.

If designers are unsure of any design factors, it may be wise to contact Dontronics for advice.
We welcome any third party manufacturers of these products, as we feel it can only strengthen the range.

(BTW Word mark (text) registration is only upper case presented.)

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=75900253

The full registration takes some time. Example:
I think Basic Stamp was about 18 months from start to finish for the full registration. See:
http://trademarks.uspto.gov/access/search-bool.html
Type in basic stamp in term 1

If a company was to manufacturer and sell say a 1" proto board in direct competition to the existing Dontronics one, we would consider this foul play. The same principle applies to any other existing design, so we would hope that new designs are different enough to allow current designers the appropriate financial returns on their original design.

We feel the internet has built-in self control of duplicated designs. It's really a small world in our niche market of Microcontroller board design if sales are done via the web, and any duplicated designs will stand out, which should indicate to customers that a specific board is only a copy of someone else's original work.

http://www.dontronics.com/zip/dtpcb.zip will get you the files in DOS Autotrax format.

Hi Don, attached for free distribution is a copy of SIMMSTIK.LBR for use with CadSoft EAGLE PCB layout software. Included in the ZIP is both ASCII text brief explanation and HTML explanation which also includes links to both CadSoft and Dontronics.

I have taken a small liberty with your spec in that a 2 inch SimmStick is now 2.05 inch high but still has the top holes .175 from the top edge (I really could not understand the logic of a board being 2.025 inches high when there is no 'standard' cabinet to install it in!!) I was influenced by the discrepancy on your page 'SimmStick Overview, Dimensions and Bus Pinout.htm' where 'one inch.gif' shows the board as 1.025 inch and the description says 1.05 inch!

I will also upload this zip to CadSoft's customer download area within a couple of days unless I get an objection first
yours Arthur Clarke

Download simmstik.zip 

Hi Don
attached for free distribution is a copy of SIMMSTIK2.LBR (the updated version of SIMMSTIK.LBR) for use with CadSoft EAGLE PCB layout software. Included in the ZIP is both ASCII text brief explanation and HTML explanation which also includes links to both CadSoft and Dontronics. really only updated for version upgrade of Eagle! yours Art Clarke
Download simmstik2.zip

Hi Don,
My apologies.  Found the layouts under products rather than where I expected under documents. No matter,  I am returning them in a Zip as bare outline without the prototype holes in Protel-98 format.  You might want to post it too.Cheers, John Dammeyer
Download protel-98.zip

Don,

I thought I'd let you have my Pulsonix SimmStick symbol and part files for the web site. PSX is quite new, and there aren't many users yet. I'll also let you have the files for EasyPC, which has many more users. They are both from the same co., but PSX is a full professional product, with a corresponding price. I've included the actual design files, rather than a library. The zip archive contains a readme file with some notes.
Regards, Leon
 

Subject: SimmStick PCB for PSX
   Date:  Fri, 5 Jul 2002 12:35:42 +0100
   From:  "Leon Heller" <leon_heller@
Don,

I've amended the files slightly and included an image of the PCB.
The image, simmstick.gif, includes the dimensions of all the bits and bobs, generated by the software. I think I've got it right, but perhaps you could have a quick look at it and let me know if I've made any boobs.

BTW, I had a look at the Eagle files, to see how they were done, and I think the pads are the wrong size; not that it matters very much. Regards, Leon

psx_simmstick.zip

Don,
I've attached a zip file with the corresponding EasyPC SimmStick PCB design files. I'm not sure if the files will import into the EPC version users will have as the only copy of EPC I've got is a pre-release copy of the new version 6 which I'm beta-testing for Number One Systems. It'll be OK when they upgrade, anyway. Regards, Leon
epc_simmstick.zip

Don,
You should find attached   - a zip file containing an Eagle library with a 1" SimmStick device 
(schematic symbol and PCB outline/package).
- a pdf with a dimensioned outline of a 1" SimmStick

Robert 
simmlbr.zip
simm10.pdf

Note 1 ***
We feel the most misused, abused, and never used pins are the clock lines. Should never have come out at all. The guru did make a mistake here. As we redesign boards, we will remove these tracks, but it could be years now of course before it filters through. Have added the alternative pin designations A4 and A5. Scenix Micros use the clock lines for programming, so these may need to be routed via the "A" lines or perhaps a programming header.

Note 2 ***
For SPI Operation, an additional I/O is required for the Chip Select of each SPI Device.

Don,

I've created this Excel spreadsheet for my own use (it includes my CPLD SimmStick) but you might care to expand it and put it on your web site, unless you've already got something like it.

I often create a spreadsheet like this when I design a PCB for a particular bus system. The next version  of the PCB software I use should be able to import data from spreadsheets, which will save a lot of time and avoid errors.

Regards, Leon
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

simmstick_bus.xls

Thanks Leon, that is a great idea, I'll add it to my info page and invite others to build on it, and hopefully users will get good use out of it.

NOTE **** All SimmSticks use a board thickness of 1.26mm, or .05 inches.

Please Note In the picture above, the words "offset .25" to the right.", should read "offset .025" to the right."

The 30 edge connector Pads are .07" wide by .08" long.
The first set of holes back from this edge are .1" from the edge of the board and offset .025" to the right.

A DT Series .5" SimmStick is .6" high and has no top set of holes.

A DT Series 1" SimmStick is 1.05" high and has no top set of holes.

A proposed DT Series 1.5" SimmStick is 1.55" high and has the top holes .175" from the top edge.
The spacing is the same from each edge, that is .13"

A DT Series 2" SimmStick is 2.025" high and has the top holes .175" from the top edge.
The spacing is the same from each edge, that is .13"

A DT Series 2.5" SimmStick is 2.65" high and has the top holes .175" from the top edge.
The spacing is the same from each edge, that is .13"

A proposed DT Series 3" SimmStick is 3.2" high and has the top holes .175" from the top edge.
The spacing is the same from each edge, that is .13"

Each board must have .1 of an inch distance around the edge to the next board or the border of the panel, to allow for tooling.

The DT003 board measures 3.95 Inches by 2.675 Inches. This will give 20 boards per large panel.
The corner mounting holes are .25 of an inch from the board edge, and have a pad size of .15 and a hole size of .12 of an inch.

Subject:                    Re: simm sockets, etc.
Resent-Date:             Fri, 11 Sep 1998 10:38:34 +1000 (EST)
Resent-From:            sisuser@
Date:                        Fri, 11 Sep 1998 10:32:34 +0900 ("EDT)
From:                       Ron Kreymborg ron@vortex.shm.monash.edu.au
Reply-To:                 sisuser@
To:                           sisuser@

I have used the DT101 and DT001/DT003/004 for a number of projects.  One I remember had a DT003 connected to a number of periherals with a 16F84 on a DT101 SimmStick. I continually modified and expanded on what it could do
and display, and in so doing must have moved the DT101 from the DT003 based product to the DT001 programmer board hundreds of times.

Never a hickup and examination of the sockets/contacts shows no appreciable wear. The advantage of the DT101 socket is that it is pressed together with no sliding (read scraping) motion.
Ron

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