I didn't actually manage to show every single feature of the firmware/PC side software in this last video because I was running short on time, so I am thinking of making another short one, maybe 1-2 mins, showing the recovery menu and a few more features of the PC side software that are rather cool, like remote game startup and SRAM backup/loading.
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Given how the menu is currently running, SRAM features would be hard to demo 
The remote run feture is quite useful. You can load a new program in and have it start running immediately, without having to select it with the controller.
Also, the "hold A when power up to run last selected game" is mainly meant for if you're at a show or whatever and don't want the jarring menu to appear. For example if you've got litewall selected. I mayb expand this to allow direct access to any slot, for example hold A+Up to run slot 1, A+Down to run slot 2, etc. so you can avoid the menu appearing. I may also add a toggle so you can have it always run the last selected item if you're not pressing anything on the controller. Then you'd hold A to SHOW the menu. Anyway, that's down the line...
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birmingham
"I may also add a toggle so you can have it always run the last selected item if you're not pressing anything on the controller. Then you'd hold A to SHOW the menu." This is what I thought when I watched the video, apart from the obvious OMG CAN'T WAIT TO GET MY BETA CARTRIDGE thing 
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rochester, ny
that video looks amazing. i am so excited to get my cartridge.
how would one play an nsf file on this?
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USA
I think you would have to use this to play nsf files on the cartridge.
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One obvious way would be to convert the NSF into a ROM. Not sure what all tools there are that do this. Some NSFs might be able to be played. The main problem is that NSFs use a non-standard bankswitching method. I've never acrually run NSFs on my NES before, so I'll have to research this to know more. I will at some point be releasing an NSF player that does the emulation on the PC and sends the sound data to the NES in real-time to be played over the 2A03, though DMC samples won't be supported, due to technical limitations.
There's still quite a bit of work to do, and I don't want to attempt more than I can handle, so I'm trying to stick to a core functionality for the first release, with software updates adding more features.
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rochester, ny
SurfaceDragon wrote:
I think you would have to use this to play nsf files on the cartridge.
that's a great option but it doesn't support vrc6. and a lot of my songs use the vrc6 expansion.
blargg wrote:
One obvious way would be to convert the NSF into a ROM. Not sure what all tools there are that do this. Some NSFs might be able to be played. The main problem is that NSFs use a non-standard bankswitching method. I've never acrually run NSFs on my NES before, so I'll have to research this to know more. I will at some point be releasing an NSF player that does the emulation on the PC and sends the sound data to the NES in real-time to be played over the 2A03, though DMC samples won't be supported, due to technical limitations.
There's still quite a bit of work to do, and I don't want to attempt more than I can handle, so I'm trying to stick to a core functionality for the first release, with software updates adding more features.
that sounds amazing. i really couldn't be more excited about this stuff.
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Only 2A03 sound can be supported by the NSF player, unless you can hotswap a VRC6 cartridge into the NES. arfink hasn't had luck with hotswapping on his NES, and I haven't either with my Munchausen prototype. Apparently it depends on some aspect of the cartridge PCB, because some of my others hotswap just fine.
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Minneapolis
blargg wrote:
Only 2A03 sound can be supported by the NSF player, unless you can hotswap a VRC6 cartridge into the NES. arfink hasn't had luck with hotswapping on his NES, and I haven't either with my Munchausen prototype. Apparently it depends on some aspect of the cartridge PCB, because some of my others hotswap just fine.
Ii suddenly occurs to me that on some carts the PCB pins are staggered a bit on the ends, IE, some stick out farther. If the ground and/or power were made to do this then that would allow those pins to be disconnected last when pulling the cart, preventing odd data states which would occur with address lines floating, which would presumably crash the NES during hot-swapping. I will need to check if my memory is correct, and if so, whether it would then be possible to make the Munchausen do something similar, perhaps with an alligator jumper.
Last edited by arfink (Sep 6, 2010 2:43 pm)
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Budapest
I originally saw this over at the famicomworld forums. And i have to say this is a dream come true! A famicom flash cart is a thing i longed for a long time now 
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Minneapolis
Blargg and I were on IRC today and have hashed out all the details and made them into a roadmap for the beta release. The hardware design is essentially locked in, barring any catastrophic issues. Blargg has begun what amounts to a core-rewrite to help get things more stable and properly modularized. The parts for the beta run have been ordered. Once the parts have arrived and the code has reached our benchmark the beta production run will roll out. I expect that the next few days will be fairly intense, but things are finally starting to come together a bit more.
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA
check your PM's Tony. Sorry i've been MIA... I believe the term is... Whipped.. lol
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clovis CA
hey arfink, would you still be down to program me those IC's for me? =]
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Minneapolis
OK, it's been a while since the last update. However, the project is not dead so fear not. Blargg is working on getting the beta code cleaned up still, and I have begun to have a steady stream of packages coming to my house. Packages of parts for the Munchausen beta. I should really take some pictures of the pile building up on my desk of donor carts, cables, chips, and other bits and bobs. The labels which Pixls designed for the beta carts should arrive any day now.
Also, work on the Famicom version of the carts has finally begun too. Thanks to some very generous contributions from Lazerbeat (who provided donor carts), Facundo (who sold me his Famicom for a really nice price), and Analog (who sent me a Gyromite converter) I have nearly all the hardware I need to get to prototyping that part of the project as well. Pictures of that will hopefully be online soon as well.
Stay tuned everyone!
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Minneapolis
Big picture update:
The cartridge case prep setup. I got chemicals and cases and all kinds of crazyness going on.
Another view. And yes, that's an old HDD shell used to hold screws.
A cleaned case, label removed, and ready for painting.
More chemicals, more carts. That Goo Gone works really well, but not quite as well as I'd like. I eventually tried a different method which worked better.
Here are some case backs, with blue masking tape to preserve the original gold warning label on the back during cleaning and painting.
Large piles of USB and NES controller cabling, waiting to get hacked.
The beta labels.
I set a beta label on top of my failed painted cart from before, so you can get an idea of the colors. The betas will probably not have gold after all, since it doesn't look so good. I don't have a picture of it, but the labels look much better on a plain white cart.
For those who would like to know how I managed getting the labels off, here is the method I settled on. It seems to do the least amount of damage to the plastic while removing the label in the easiest fashion possible.
I fill a glass baking dish with water, and place the cart shells inside to soak for a good long while. Then I come back, peel off as much wet label as possible, and soak again. That gets all the pesky laminate and paper off. Then, douse the carts with rubbing alcohol, which will dissolve the remaining layer of glue, and rub all the glue off while still wet. Reapply alcohol as needed to dissolve and remove all glue. You then need to rinse in water to remove all the alcohol. Avoid keeping the carts wet with alcohol too much, as it "crazes" the plastic.
The reason I did it this way is because the Goo Gone wasn't working well enough unless I used a ton of it, and I would wait as long as I would have to soaking in water. Plus, water is cheaper than Goo Gone. Also, soaking in rubbing alcohol is very effective, but also really destroys the plastic, so don't do it.
Last edited by arfink (Sep 21, 2010 2:25 am)