Simple one-time cartridge dumping...

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Bisqwit
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Simple one-time cartridge dumping...

Post by Bisqwit »

I have got this NTDec cartridge. Famicom compatible.*

Image Image
Image Image

It has been bugging me for a long time, that there is no dump of this cartridge in the Internet yet.
If I were to do it myself, what would be the most inexpensive way to do so?

The cartridge contains five NES games: Legend of Kage, Goonies, Urban Champion, Arkanoid and Galaxian, and a main menu which contains music ripped from a game I have never heard of, Ninja Hattori Kun. (I found it with my music search engine.)

*) And the game console. NTDec brand Famicom clone. The console appears like a Famicom, but it makes PAL video signal. They were popular in Finland when NES was popular.

EDIT: Changes in image URLs due to network issues.
Last edited by Bisqwit on Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
Drag
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Re: Simple one-time cartridge dumping...

Post by Drag »

Sorry, I can't answer your question or anything, but:
Bisqwit wrote:music search engine
...this is extremely interesting to play with. :P

Edit: Now that I think of it, if you have access to a powerpak or something, you could give Chris Covell's tape dump program a whirl.
Bisqwit
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Re: Simple one-time cartridge dumping...

Post by Bisqwit »

Drag wrote:Edit: Now that I think of it, if you have access to a powerpak or something, you could give Chris Covell's tape dump program a whirl.
Reference to "inexpensive", though not obviously, implied that I don't have any fancy NES hackdom related hardware such as PowerPak.
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TmEE
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Post by TmEE »

if you got a EPROM burner and soldering skill then you could get the chips off and dump them. It is probably what I would be doing.
...but you don't seem to have such an option.
Last edited by TmEE on Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
Bisqwit
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Post by Bisqwit »

TmEE wrote:if you got a EPROM burner
Nor something like that. But I can solder.
I also have a small stock of some generic 74-class ICs, some resistors and some capacitors and stuff like that. No circuit boards though.
Would it be possible to e.g. somehow wire a portion of the cartridge to a parallel port in a PC and access the data through the parallel port by sending proper signals, using a customized program in DOS?
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Dwedit
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Post by Dwedit »

There are lots of other multicarts that use music ripped from Ninja Hattori Kun.
Here come the fortune cookies! Here come the fortune cookies! They're wearing paper hats!
Bisqwit
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Post by Bisqwit »

Dwedit wrote:There are lots of other multicarts that use music ripped from Ninja Hattori Kun.
No doubt.
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TmEE
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Post by TmEE »

It would not be hard to build a small LPT expander to read back those EPROMs.
You would need some 574 for address lines and perhaps 139 for address decode and there you go.
Bisqwit
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Post by Bisqwit »

Hmm. Some day I should make an inventory of which ones I actually have. I have got these from a friend who used to work in a company that produces telephones, in the early 1990s. I don't entirely even know whether these all work. :-)
Haven't had a lot of use for them. Therefore, not much experience about using them, either.
Image
EDIT: At least I found a few 74HC139Ns..
Doesn't look like I have a 574 here. I've got plenty of 139s and 138s, many 238s, 393s and 373s, a few 245s and 244s, a random 245, 266, 125, 204, 374 and a few 00s, 04s, 74s and 32s.
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TmEE
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Post by TmEE »

374 will do too, its pinout is less convenient though
Bisqwit
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Post by Bisqwit »

TmEE wrote:374 will do too, its pinout is less convenient though
That's great.
I have to admit though, I have no idea how that chip would be any helpful :-/
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kyuusaku
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Post by kyuusaku »

Forget using parallel registers to dump a simple ROM, just use a counter...

You can either set the LPT to input mode, which you must take precaution with (either series resistors or connect only after safely initializing the control register), or use old-fashioned "nibble mode".

For input mode: you need two 74HC4040, a '4040 and '393, or three '393 (or use a spare control bit or two).

For nibble mode: a '4040 and '157/257 will do, use the data bits as extra address lines.

Use either LS/HCT parts or the inputs will possibly require supplemental pullups. Most LPT today output 3.3V CMOS which is LVTTL compatible, but will not swing high enough for a 5V CMOS input.

If you don't have any suitable counters go with shift registers (you can feed it a LFSR sequence to still dump fast), if you don't have shift registers make them out of parallel registers, do anything to minimize the wiring.
Last edited by kyuusaku on Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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TmEE
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Post by TmEE »

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/21/ ... pander.jpg

That is pretty much waht my EPROM dumper/burner is, except I got a PPI there for more control and 16bits support.

EDIT: Parallel registers also allow programming of flash chips as you got to juggle between different addresses, which you cannot with counters.
Bisqwit
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Post by Bisqwit »

TmEE wrote:http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/21/ ... pander.jpg

That is pretty much waht my EPROM dumper/burner is, except I got a PPI there for more control and 16bits support.
So you're using the D0..7 lines in the LPT port as both input and output? Does that really work? Hmm...

As I don't want to try soldering off the ROM chips from the board (I don't have a solder sucker or whatever the name of that device is, and without such thing it's quite difficult to remove such multilegged components), I should need to interface with the cartridge as whole. (Which also means going through the mapper circuit.)
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HardWareMan
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Post by HardWareMan »

CaH4e3 used a long time Pasofami. Simple shematic, suitable for most cartridges. In addition, all software are ready.
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