Famicom EEPROM Disk Writer Carts

[nensondubois]

I have been following this topic closely and the first few posts already proved to be interesting.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1829706#post1829706

[Xious]

I sent the owner an email with the hope to acquire, probably purchase, at least one of them so that I can dissect it and find out for it ticks, then document it for everyone. Thanks for the pointer mate!

[Cheaplightning]

That would be me.
Has anyone seen anything like these before?

[Xious]

Seen, and had in my hands are notably different... Yes, Ive seen them in the past, but I've never seen the guts of one or had any opportunity to examine one thoroughly. I've also seen the ROM-packs used in the machines, but again, I don't know much about their internals.

I've been hoping to find a complete DW cabinet one day... That would be quite an amazing system to examine... 

[Cheaplightning]

Seems my curiosities are getting quite popular. I am getting emails and PM's from both sites from people who want to free me from my new children.


Obviously these carts are quite rare and the chances of finding them outside Japan are pretty rare.
However there may not be any data on them at all and there is no way for me to determine that personally.
Im not sure what course of action is best.

[ericj]

Im not sure what course of action is best.

Sell them to me. 

Nah, just kidding.

The best course of action would be to send or sell them to someone who has the equipment to try and read the data on them.

[Cheaplightning]

Yes but to who.....


Round 1 FIGHT!

[ericj]

Tomy from Tototek.com comes to mind. And maybe a few others.

[nensondubois]

Some people have resources for dumping prototypes over at digitpress. Just one of the possible places to try asking as an attempt to excavate the carts.

[Xious]

Well, if you plan to pass me over, make sure the person has the following equipment (as I do):

CopyNES
EEPROM/PROM Dumper
Logic Probe Tools
Proper knowledge of schematic capture and appropriate tools.
Correct experience and contacts to go to for additional assistance.

Chances are about fifty-ffifty  that there is little or nothing on the EEPROM or that it contains the datum to write on disk game; but the questions are how the DW programs the unit and how difficult that would be to replicate in operation. From there, it's a question of how the EEPROM is wired to the 60-pin bus (standard/non-standard) and if the design would work on an off-the-shelf Famicom; also if it contains FDS support hardware to permit this. 

[MasterDisk]

CaH4e3
or
Tomy on tototek.com

[Xious]

There are of course two carts. If I had one in my possession, I would also pass it to Joe/Memblers and Kevin (even if I have to buy it), so we can all examine it. That's a three-for-one kind of proposition.

I''m not sure if this is Tomy's cup of tea, as this is really more of a curiosity. Cache maybe would want a look at it, and if I get one, I will be happy to loan it to any respectable, interested party, though I should have no issues fully documenting it on my own.

There are things to consider beyond the cart itself, and the guys I know could be fantastic aid in discovering some of the truth behind the truth of it. I won.t say more until I can see the guts, at least photos of them. I need to know what's inside before I assume too much. 

[MasterDisk]

Memblers is only working on Homebrew... no ? Could be interesting to see with Kevin but it would be better to send it directly to him, right ?
Post Merge: June 30, 2011, 05:40:08 am
EDIT: I guess either Kevin (KevTris) or CaH4e3.

Kevin: http://kevtris.org/
CaH4e3: http://cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru/

Tomy may do the job to dump them easily but I have no idea if he can find something in the ROM, CaH4e3 is a professional dumper and ROM hacker, same for KevTris.

[jpx72]

Very nice, I'm really curious what these cartridges will turn up to be (is this grammatically correct ? )
I have one PCB that is meant to be programmed directly from the connector - topic here:
http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=7497
but those are UV EPROMS and not EEPROMS.

[Xious]

Memblers is only working on Homebrew... no ? Could be interesting to see with Kevin but it would be better to send it directly to him, right ?
Post Merge: June 30, 2011, 05:40:08 am
EDIT: I guess either Kevin (KevTris) or CaH4e3.

Kevin: http://kevtris.org/
CaH4e3: http://cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru/

Tomy may do the job to dump them easily but I have no idea if he can find something in the ROM, CaH4e3 is a professional dumper and ROM hacker, same for KevTris.

I'm close with Joe though, and we've worked on things together, and he's very close to Kevin. Joe's main thing is the Garage Cart, but he's very versatile, as am I. Kevin would be best involved if this has some kind of FDS mapper support... I rather doubt that it does, but the possibility exists. If it's just a straight EPROM wired tot he 60-pin bus, i can do a schematic capture in a couple hours (max) and publish the results alongside detailed photos and notes. if it has a custom mapper of any kind, I can ensure we document it in full over time.

See, you guys are more curious if there is datum on the EPROMs... They're probably blak, and if there is anything, i can hook them up to one of my test-boards and dump the contents with my CopyNES. Frankly, I'm more interested if the HW can be used to make boards that allow FDS games to be easily converted to cartridge format.

I'm thinking pretty far ahead with this one; likely too far. Any guy with a dumping kit can check the EPROMs, but it takes more work to figure out both how this thing operates and what can be made from its hardware that's of practical use nowadays.