Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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zzo38
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Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by zzo38 »

Very good. Possibly it could be modified to work for direct emulation (no mapper detection required) as well, but I am unsure if low speed is fast enough.
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qbradq
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Post by qbradq »

If there is a good way to make a programmable Flash or SRAM cart to be used with this thing I'd pay $50 for this kit. If it's just a dumper then I wouldn't, but I know a few folks outside of this community that would. The kind of folks that refuse to download an NES ROM, but still want to play on emulators :D
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infiniteneslives
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Post by infiniteneslives »

qbradq wrote:If there is a good way to make a programmable Flash or SRAM cart to be used with this thing I'd pay $50 for this kit. If it's just a dumper then I wouldn't, but I know a few folks outside of this community that would. The kind of folks that refuse to download an NES ROM, but still want to play on emulators :D
My next step is to take my dev/multicart prototype and program the SRAM I'm using as PRG and CHR ROMS with it. I figure I'll just battery back it then test it out on the NES.

I think it's basically already set up for this I just need to sit down with it again.
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qbradq
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Post by qbradq »

Well if you get that working I'll buy a dumper / burner kit and a dev cart kit if you'll make 'em :D

On a side note, this setup would satisfy my requirements for the NESDEV development cart I've been on about (assuming it supported at least an MMC1 SRAM cart). It's a USB cable that lets you write a dev cart. That's really all I'm after :D
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OldNESJunkie
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Post by OldNESJunkie »

Count me in as well if you make a Kit or even preassembled especially. since my soldering skills are horrible even on a great day.
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qbradq
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Post by qbradq »

Oh yea, I forgot to mention through-hole only components would be preferable. I recently soldered a MOD chip onto a PSOne and I nearly pulled my hair out, and that was only like 4 fine pitch legs :D
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Post by SkinnyV »

There's a difference between soldering smd component to an unpopulated board and solderimg wire to the legs of an already installed smd ic. It's really not as bad as some people thing but then again the part he
used for the prototype are all dip anyway.
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infiniteneslives
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Post by infiniteneslives »

Yeah if I do the kit it'll all end up being all through hole.

I could do assembled kits, but I wouldn't really be able to do it for a protoboard for a reasonable price I spent around 8 hours working on this over the weekend.

If there were enough requests for assembled boards I would more seriously consider drawing up the PCB layout and ordering some PCBs. I would be able to assemble those a lot quicker and could ship everything for $50-60 I'm guessing.

It appears there is a lot more benefit to drawing up the PCB and making an order. Theres a local place that makes PCBs for a good price but they only fulfill orders every month or so. I'll ask them when they estimate the next round of boards and see when I would have to get in by. It's possible we could to a preorder for those interested including assembled kits.

In the mean time if anyone has any ideas on how to upgrade the current circuit post it up. I'll add options to the PCB if possible like providing access to the unused pins on the AVR and EXP pins on the cart, perhaps tying them together. For possible future mods or personal hacking. It would be easy, free, and no effect those not planning to make use of the added options on the board.

Now I know this has been a topic of debate lately with the lack of availability of 2.50mm female connectors. The only real option I see for this is using the 2.54mm connectors I've tested out and had success with. So if this is a deal breaker for you be warned now. If anyone has a better idea I'm all ears. I've had good success with Nintendo's boards but I would like to try out Retrozone boards and some unlicensed games I have to see if we can try and come up with a list of tested carts. I don't have any retrozone carts but I was thinking about picking up Battle kid so now might be a good time to buy. The only other real option I see is buying some 36 pin connectors to remove some of the error from the cart edges with the ben heck approach. But theres a bit more work involved with that approach to get the seam to work like my prototype. My only other ideas involve toploader sacrifice and I'm going to go out of my way to support that.
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infiniteneslives
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Post by infiniteneslives »

Alright well I was able to gain more info from the website than last time I visited.

Looks like to get in on the next PCB board run I have to submit the order by July 8th (next Friday). It looks like the I would receive the boards around the end of July.

I sent the owner an email to confirm everything but ASSUMING everything goes as planned on the website the following should apply:

The cost of the PCB is around $15 compared to the $3 protoboard. Here's what we'd be looking at for pricing including shipping:

Kit with protoboard: $30 (earlier quote)
Kit with printed circuit board: $42
Fully assembled on a printed circuit board: $55

I'll take orders for all three versions. If you're undecided on whether or not you'd like me to assemble the board you could wait to make that decision for a couple more weeks.

I think it should be entirely possible to ship the kits by the end of July, and very possibly assembled kits as well. I would keep everyone posted if there were known delays.

So here's what's going to need to happen to make this a reality.

I would need all printed circuit board orders placed by the end of next week including at least a $20 deposit as payment via paypal. For those unaware I do have a reputation to uphold with my somewhat related business and have a high ebay feedback. If you don't trust me with your money for some reason let me know your concerns.

I think the best way for me to officially keep track of orders is for people to send me an email with a request for their order, and I can send paypal bills appropriately. I'll keep a list of people who've expressed interest (no obligation but good for me to know) and people with orders placed including full/partial payment.

There will be a minimum order of only 3 PCBs, but it looks like there are already a few interested so this doesn't sound like much of a problem.

People Interested:
SkinnyV
qbradq (pending devcart testing)
OldNESJunkie

Orders placed including payment:
None

Other notes:

I will accept email orders as of now but I won't bill anyone until I have confirmation on this with an email back from the PCB supplier. Hopefully early next week.

I've only tested this out on Windows XP 32bit thus far. I've got a windows 7 64 bit machine and I plugged it in but was unable to get the driver installed. There is one provided but I couldn't get it running with the 2-3 minutes I spent playing with it. I'll make more of an effort on this if it's a deal breaker for anyone.

If you're seriously interested but pending on one thing or don't have funds until after next week let me know. We may very possibly have to wait until next their next board order in a month if everyone's not ready to jump in by the end of the week.

I promise to but a detailed assembly instructions together providing steps along the way to check things with a DMM to ensure things are working properly before you plug it into your PC or put a cart in.

I'm open to any comments or suggestions. This is happening because people have asked me to and I have a lot of fun with projects like this.

One last note I'll be camping from Thurs till Saturday without the internets obviously. So I'll catch up with all the emails and everything Sunday. I just don't want anyone getting concerned when I vanish for a couple days.
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Post by SkinnyV »

Your homemade connector seem to me like a nice compromise. And if I hear anyone even me thinking of cannibalizing top loader for the connector I'll go berserk lol. Seriously, I have enough trouble accepting when we need to butcher cart to make repro or devcart (I did it twice,and still feel bad about it lol) so a top loader would be ludacris. There's always game genie connector but the same principle apply to that and plus I don't think those connector are that much better if I recall. Personally, I would be comfortable with your hacked Frankenstein connector even if it mean adjusting the cart position every once in a while.

As for ordering PCB, if you do not want any bad surprise I would suggest making a quote before sending it in because some people might change idea if the price turn up more expensive than they thought

Edit: Look like you replied while I was writing my reply:) I would be ordering a PCB for sure and have no problem pre-paying to avoid you the stress of ordering a batch and having people change their mind. As long as you don't mind selling a PCB alone. But I was thinking, don't you need a few days to design a PCB and check for error? It would be cool to have a quick peek at it so that the other guru on the forum can take a look at it.
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infiniteneslives
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Post by infiniteneslives »

SkinnyV wrote:Your homemade connector seem to me like a nice compromise. And if I hear anyone even me thinking of cannibalizing top loader for the connector I'll go berserk lol. Seriously, I have enough trouble accepting when we need to butcher cart to make repro or devcart (I did it twice,and still feel bad about it lol) so a top loader would be ludacris. There's always game genie connector but the same principle apply to that and plus I don't think those connector are that much better if I recall. Personally, I would be comfortable with your hacked Frankenstein connector even if it mean adjusting the cart position every once in a while.

As for ordering PCB, if you do not want any bad surprise I would suggest making a quote before sending it in because some people might change idea if the price turn up more expensive than they thought

Edit: Look like you replied while I was writing my reply:) I would be ordering a PCB for sure and have no problem pre-paying to avoid you the stress of ordering a batch and having people change their mind. As long as you don't mind selling a PCB alone. But I was thinking, don't you need a few days to design a PCB and check for error? It would be cool to have a quick peek at it so that the other guru on the forum can take a look at it.

I'd be willing to supply smaller connectors or a bigger 76 pin or something that could be cut in half and sand them on your own. It's kinda a pain to do, it is a nice option though. If enough people asked I'd think about it, but would have to charge to make it worth my time IDK $5-$10 more and I would want to solder it in the board for you too. If someone didn't care keeping the exp connectors it would make it easier but I really don't recommend this option.

Now that I think about it I would much rather just offer the 72 pin connector I tested out with the other project. If you want to do something else I can take the $4.50 off your bill. Not saying I can't be convinced otherwise but I feel more comfortable with this. The only thing I'm genuinely concerned about is retrozone's boards working with it. I'd like to ensure that people have options to not use donors as dev carts.

If that's really a HUGE problem we could order up some of our own simple devboards with wider tolerances to both connector sizes.

I wouldn't have to order any connectors until around mid July though so that would give more time for testing of retrozone carts.

Who's the board guru? I am placing some stress on myself to make up this board on Sunday/Monday when I'd rather be drinking and shooting off fireworks. But I'm okay with it. The circuit really isn't that bad and should be pretty easy with 2-4 layers. I'd be happy to post up the files though for someone else to lay eyes on it. If someone's interested in writing the board file that'd be cool too, I'll cut you a deal or something let me know.

I don't expect the price to change much, as I know a couple people who've worked with them before. The thing I see more likely is a delay and placing orders next month or something if there isn't enough serious interest.
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Post by SkinnyV »

infiniteneslives wrote: Who's the board guru? I am placing some stress on myself to make up this board on Sunday/Monday when I'd rather be drinking and shooting off fireworks. But I'm okay with it. The circuit really isn't that bad and should be pretty easy with 2-4 layers. I'd be happy to post up the files though for someone else to lay eyes on it. If someone's interested in writing the board file that'd be cool too, I'll cut you a deal or something let me know.
I'm not implying you can't do it by yourself, you certainly are what I consider one of the board gurus! Personally, I don't have the knowledge to offer any suggestions at all but I was just thinking that sometime it's nice to have others offer their insight when it's something within their field of knowledge, specially when you are on a dead line and try to finish something quick. Certainly don't feel offended or insulted at my comment, personally I am just curious to see the design and I thought some peoples like Memblers, Kevtris and all the other might get idea or suggestion while looking at the board design.
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infiniteneslives
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Post by infiniteneslives »

SkinnyV wrote:
infiniteneslives wrote: Who's the board guru? I am placing some stress on myself to make up this board on Sunday/Monday when I'd rather be drinking and shooting off fireworks. But I'm okay with it. The circuit really isn't that bad and should be pretty easy with 2-4 layers. I'd be happy to post up the files though for someone else to lay eyes on it. If someone's interested in writing the board file that'd be cool too, I'll cut you a deal or something let me know.
I'm not implying you can't do it by yourself, you certainly are what I consider one of the board gurus! Personally, I don't have the knowledge to offer any suggestions at all but I was just thinking that sometime it's nice to have others offer their insight when it's something within their field of knowledge, specially when you are on a dead line and try to finish something quick. Certainly don't feel offended or insulted at my comment, personally I am just curious to see the design and I thought some peoples like Memblers, Kevtris and all the other might get idea or suggestion while looking at the board design.
No offense taken, I'd be more than happy to share my layout with anyone who'd like to see it when I'm done.
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infiniteneslives
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Post by infiniteneslives »

Got an answer back already on the boards, wow email response at 10pm on a Tuesday...

Good news! We can get a better deal on an order of at least 6 boards for $10 each.

I'll lower the official quotes above if we get that many orders. Savings of $5 on PCB orders.
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Post by SkinnyV »

That's good news. Let's try to get an official headcount guys, so if you are interested (and willing to pay soon), let Infinitesneslive know as this kind of project is hard to start with people saying they're interested but then change their mind. Count me in for the PCB and will be paying with paypal as soon as we're ready.
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