Cart emulator progress thread
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this is very interesting I'm gonna be cheering for you guys
- Lady Eklipse
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
a new revision? Great! But how long would it take to make a first party of 64drives for sell?
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Patience will get you far in life... patience. I say this while I do my daily check of the 64drive page, with a straight face... even though I subscribed to the newsletterLady Eklipse wrote:a new revision? Great! But how long would it take to make a first party of 64drives for sell?
Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Wow, you managed to combine the sub-board with the Altera MAX II onto the main PCB!
Out of curiosity, why did you decide to use two 256Mb SDRAM chips, instead of one 512Mb SDRAM chip?
Out of curiosity, why did you decide to use two 256Mb SDRAM chips, instead of one 512Mb SDRAM chip?
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
I think it was that 2x256Mb SDRAM is cheaper to get over 1x512Mb SDRAM.Link83 wrote:Out of curiosity, why did you decide to use two 256Mb SDRAM chips, instead of one 512Mb SDRAM chip?
Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Hmm, but is the price difference that great? Using one SDRAM chip would help save board space...arbingordon wrote:I think it was that 2x256Mb SDRAM is cheaper to get over 1x512Mb SDRAM.Link83 wrote:Out of curiosity, why did you decide to use two 256Mb SDRAM chips, instead of one 512Mb SDRAM chip?
...and whoa I think I just noticed something major!...marshallh, are my eyes deceiving me or is that a microSD slot behind the CompactFlash slot?!?
Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Wow Link, you really pay attention to detail
I didn't notice it at first but there are even 8 pins and traces from that micro sd slot to the fpga
This cart gets better and better
Some questions, to update the code on the fpga do you need such an usb blaster cable like with the everdrive64 or can your USB chip handle that on his own without needing to buy extra cables?
Also can you give us some feedback you got from your betatesters? Does everything work? All savetypes and stuff?
Did you implement a cap somewhere to hold the savedata until the N64 gets turned on again or does it get written to the sd/cf card instantly or after a reset?
If you would own such an old cartridge T-connector and would plug that between the 64drive and the N64, could the 64drive then dump the savedata of a cartridge that is plugged in the back of the T-connector?
I didn't notice it at first but there are even 8 pins and traces from that micro sd slot to the fpga
This cart gets better and better
Some questions, to update the code on the fpga do you need such an usb blaster cable like with the everdrive64 or can your USB chip handle that on his own without needing to buy extra cables?
Also can you give us some feedback you got from your betatesters? Does everything work? All savetypes and stuff?
Did you implement a cap somewhere to hold the savedata until the N64 gets turned on again or does it get written to the sd/cf card instantly or after a reset?
If you would own such an old cartridge T-connector and would plug that between the 64drive and the N64, could the 64drive then dump the savedata of a cartridge that is plugged in the back of the T-connector?
- marshallh
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
The FPGA firmware and bootloader update through USB. Menu is even easier, just drop new file onto the memory card.
Right now the save contents are flushed back to the memory card upon reset.
Right now the save contents are flushed back to the memory card upon reset.
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Is it wise to post the EAGLE schematics? I dunno. I wouldn't want people to replicate my hard effort and work.
- eagle5953
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
He didn't post the actual file itself, so someone would have to replicate it by following the traces, which they also could do when they are for sale.Haunted360 wrote:Is it wise to post the EAGLE schematics? I dunno. I wouldn't want people to replicate my hard effort and work.
The real work is probably in the software, anyway.
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
obviouslyeagle5953 wrote:He didn't post the actual file itselfHaunted360 wrote:Is it wise to post the EAGLE schematics? I dunno. I wouldn't want people to replicate my hard effort and work.
The schematic is much easier to follow then the board itself as some traces go under chips, etc...
But true. All the hard work is in the programing / logic.
Said it before; GOOD WORK MARSHALL!
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Hey just a question Marshall (if you want to answer that is)...
What FPGA are you using?
Did you get your PCB's made at a factory by sending them the EAGLE file?
How did you order and flash your Altera Cyclone II chip with your data? (or is the Cyclone II like the 'cpu' by default and one of the other chips is your data?)
Did you flash the chips once on the board with a USB / JTAG cable soldered on?
Very interested.
(if you don't want to answer here for reproduction purposes, PM me)
Thanks.
What FPGA are you using?
Did you get your PCB's made at a factory by sending them the EAGLE file?
How did you order and flash your Altera Cyclone II chip with your data? (or is the Cyclone II like the 'cpu' by default and one of the other chips is your data?)
Did you flash the chips once on the board with a USB / JTAG cable soldered on?
Very interested.
(if you don't want to answer here for reproduction purposes, PM me)
Thanks.
Re: Cart emulator progress thread
> What FPGA are you using?
> Altera Cyclone II chip
I think you answered your own question. As for the rest of your questions, marhallh didn't use eagle iirc, as it couldn't handle something as complex and dense as the 64drive. marshallh said which program he used in the other thread. I believe that he initially flashes the USB with JTAG, and I now that from there both the bootloader and the firmware can be flashed from a PC over USB.
> Altera Cyclone II chip
I think you answered your own question. As for the rest of your questions, marhallh didn't use eagle iirc, as it couldn't handle something as complex and dense as the 64drive. marshallh said which program he used in the other thread. I believe that he initially flashes the USB with JTAG, and I now that from there both the bootloader and the firmware can be flashed from a PC over USB.
~spinout
spinout182.com
spinout182.com
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Re: Cart emulator progress thread
Oh ok. Thanks for that
I meant FPGA in the development board. The prototyping board or whatever. Like there is the Altera DEII which I was going to get...
*EDIT* Searched Marshall's thread posts and he did not mention anything about the schematic builder (EG: EAGLE) he used...
I meant FPGA in the development board. The prototyping board or whatever. Like there is the Altera DEII which I was going to get...
*EDIT* Searched Marshall's thread posts and he did not mention anything about the schematic builder (EG: EAGLE) he used...