N64 cart dumper/writer
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- marshallh
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Since this doesn't have a whole lot to do with GTP (although it will allow me to play gtp on a portable n64) I'm posting my progress with the project here.
The project is a device that dumps (reads) N64 cartridges and writes to a custom flash cart I have yet to produce.
It's based around a PIC16LF877a, a small microcontroller which has enough I/O pins to interface directly to the cart slot without any glue logic.
So far it communicates with a PC via serial, using a MAX3233 level converter chip. I can tell the PIC to do things over a HyperTerminal window, and control the I/O directly.
The whole thing runs off 3.3v via an adjustable linear regulator I snagged off an old video card. I had to use a low-voltage pic because of this. The n64 bus is 3.3v
You may notice it has two serial ports: one for programming the PIC via a 3-resistor programmer , and the other is for communication with the PC.
Again, it's not yet done, but I'm close
The project is a device that dumps (reads) N64 cartridges and writes to a custom flash cart I have yet to produce.
It's based around a PIC16LF877a, a small microcontroller which has enough I/O pins to interface directly to the cart slot without any glue logic.
So far it communicates with a PC via serial, using a MAX3233 level converter chip. I can tell the PIC to do things over a HyperTerminal window, and control the I/O directly.
The whole thing runs off 3.3v via an adjustable linear regulator I snagged off an old video card. I had to use a low-voltage pic because of this. The n64 bus is 3.3v
You may notice it has two serial ports: one for programming the PIC via a 3-resistor programmer , and the other is for communication with the PC.
Again, it's not yet done, but I'm close
- Unidentified Assilant
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- ShockSlayer
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So, when you finish this, you'll be able to download gtp to n64 carts?
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- gamemasterAS
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To use gtp on the n64, he'd have to desolder/cut out the rom from a n64 game and solder in the gtp one (after programming the chip). Or at least, I'm fairly sure that's how he'd have to do it without flash carts/etcShockSlayer wrote:So, when you finish this, you'll be able to download gtp to n64 carts?
- marshallh
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Yes, that's a 3rd party PSone power supply. It goes into a 3v regulator.
The dumps were mostly identical, except that were numerous chnuks of the ROM read as blocks of 0xff's. These were persistent, and made the roms unplayable.
In any case, I'm ditching the PIC entirely (too slow, limited I/O, programming issues etc)
I have sampled a few Cypress UZ-USB FX2 chips which are basically 8051 microcontrollers with built-in USB support, and go up to 48MHz at 3.3v. These will be much faster and easier to code for (open-source C compiler).
The dumps were mostly identical, except that were numerous chnuks of the ROM read as blocks of 0xff's. These were persistent, and made the roms unplayable.
In any case, I'm ditching the PIC entirely (too slow, limited I/O, programming issues etc)
I have sampled a few Cypress UZ-USB FX2 chips which are basically 8051 microcontrollers with built-in USB support, and go up to 48MHz at 3.3v. These will be much faster and easier to code for (open-source C compiler).