Sunday 7 December 2014

GB EPROM cart finally built, after about 10 years of never getting around to it!

Everyone's done one of these so I won't add much other than some photos. I already had the stuff... except the PLCC socket - I was still using UV EPROMS (DIP!) when I first got the rest of the stuff.



See kids, this is how you *actually* do a real ROM dump... none of that nandroid(etc) cheating! No virus-filled rapidshare downloads and a poorly written msword doc for this either!





Yeah, this was totally not worth the effort that went in to making it :P
























11 comments:

  1. Thats awesome! I'm making a gameboy game for a school project, but I have no clue how to do the hardware end, do you think you could help me? I would like to do it like this (http://chunkout.com/?page_id=3) which looks really similar to your project here. I just have no clue how I would get my rom on the chip and the pinouts to everything.

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    1. Have a read through this page, it details the pinouts fi you are using a cart with an MBC in it: http://reinerziegler.de/readplus.htm
      "Universal" IC programmers are quite cheap on ebay - 30 GBP / 45 USD sort of price will get you a USB up-to-date model with a bunch of DIP to PLCC, QFN & TQFP ZIF adapters which will make it a bit easier.

      Is your project a completely self-written game? If it will fit in under 32KB then you can skip the MBC requirement as there's enough address bus width to directly connect a "27C256" type device without needing any controller. This will make a difference to the donor game you need to buy.

      The final difference is in your link they design and etch a custom PCB (including the edge connector). I avoided that because I didn't have any 0.8mm double sided FR4 handy; though it would look a lot nicer!

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    2. *QFN should not have been in that list... haha

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    3. The game is completely self writen, and there is only one bank and no ram so it should be under 32kb. Will I still need a donor game? I would rather build new without needing to use old games if that is possible. Also I have only ever worked with a few logic gates, and I have no clue what I should be buying chip-wise, could you get me a link for the right 27C256, and programmer for it?

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    4. Hmm then the only reason you'd need a donor is for the plastics, and the board(well, connector at least) if you don't have PCB production equipment.

      Parts... if you're going for easy-to-solder then this in DIP28 would do the job:
      http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331417053042
      and http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331330500821 will program it (and most other things)

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    5. Im getting the plastics from here (http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/clear-plastic-circuit-cases) Im not sure how well a dip would fit into a gameboy cart though

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    6. You may have to flatten the legs... but soldering anything smaller as a first project might just be asking for trouble. What about the PCB - buying or making? If you're buying that too then you might be alright with SMD, as the solder mask will do most of the work.

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    7. Not really sure, I would like to do it like that chunkout one, but his contact us button seems to be broken. Also I think he designed that board himself.

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    8. After looking into it a little more I think I am going to use the laser printer transfer thing to make my board, I just need to know one more thing, is there any difference between the 27c256 and the 28c256 other than that one is eprom and one is eeprom?

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    9. No, that's the only difference - you'll need a UV box if you make a mistake on the 27c256

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