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ChipMusic.org / Forums / Posts by ne7
i say alive. its almost alive :P -testing atm-
currently on the slab;
1x normal bog standard SNROM famicom cart which I've replaced the S-RAM on, and connected it up to the carts MMC chip and enabled the SRAM write thru a hex-inverter - which in effect has converted it to SXROM (I've converted got it upto 32kb) - PR8 is booting just fine and saving, however its not saving patterns (only the instruments) - cue head scratching :) but almost there!! might be a case of trying a diff inverter ... :)
also a lovely batch of sacrificial famicom carts have arrived from Japan (only took over a month gotta love surface mail sometimes!) so stay tuned for more on PR8/Pulsar 
phew! finally got some time + the postman delivered me a NES open golf cartridge today (not Famicom) so I spent a few mins getting inside and checking out what was causing the problem for RG --- check out the following picture after I snipped off the PRG rom:
It seems just to make life harder good ole' NIN decided to solder each and every pin on both sides of the board on the N.E.S - so if you are following my Famicom guide religiously - this is what is causing you problems getting NTRQ working on one of these boards.
Simply solder each and every pin that connects to the board on both sides... and use a 27c020 eprom :) as that is the drop in replacement for the board in question just to be on the safe side.
Quick update on the SXROM research; been doing some testing - sourced some 62256 sram, traced out the connections between the chips (MMC1 + SRAM + logic) and will be putting some test boards together next week :O) fingers crossed we can Frankenstein really really common boards into SXROM boards to run Pulstar and PR8 this way \o_
Hey RG - I'll take a look at this here - just grabbing a NES Open Golf nes cartridge for testing! will keep u posted - once its working I'll pop you the cart and update the guide...
hey all just a quick update on PR8 on h/w here: http://soundcloud.com/andy_l/ne7-pr8-demo-famicom + some sounds from the thing running off one of my famicom's that I modded for dual audio output (split chans) ... the issue we hit apon is that the Famicom (or real carts) seems to behave differently than the NES (or powerpack) on initialisation which was causing random startup probs. It seems that Neil's latest update he sent me has cured this tho :) so once I am thru this period of testing on the hardware I'll pop up a guide on how to put this together, cheers! \o_
re the vol pot static >
volume pot dirt / crackle can be fixed a lot of the time with an application of isopropyl alcohol:
with whatever you are applying it to off (with batteries removed etc) apply a little to the spin wheel or pot underside groove with a q-tip and give it a turn working it into the wheel and unit, keep doing this for a while then leave it for an hour or so to 100% dry out, you should have a much better volume wheel/pot now (works on most things :)
the noise usually comes from pots / wheels picking up lots of dust and grease from continual use, and the isopropyl helps to shift that + as it is such pure alcohol you dont have to worry about it damaging the internals of your dmg's etc - it is commonly used as electrical contact cleaner. just make sure you give whatever you are cleaning enuff time to dry out properly before plugging it in... (it drys SUPER fast in the air - for example on cart connectors, but will take longer if it is doing so inside/on gears etc)
hope that helps \o_
hey RG - I've used 27c010 chips on most of the -famicom- carts I've built with NTRQ on... I think the issue is you are using a nin' board ... I remember reading that some of those are funny about smaller chips than the original game used (open golf = 256kb in size) if it does work out I'll deffo update the guide + if you get horribly stuck even after trying the 27c020 I'll just make you a Famicom cart with it on for being ace and trying out all this stuff :-)
\o_
hey RG - try using 27c020 or 27c040 eproms and doubling up or quadding up the PRG rom data for the prg rom with the following commands on your commandline:
copy /b ntrq_ntsc.prg+ntrq_ntsc.prg ntrq256.prg
^ gives u a 256kb image for 27c020
or for a 27c040 eprom:
copy /b ntrq256.prg+ntrq256.prg ntrq512.prg
Hope that helps! (it could be to do with higher address lines and possibly some nes board layouts being funny about small 128k eproms, I saw this behaviour once before when I was putting my first NTRQ cart together...)
Can you let me know if that cures the issue?
Cheers! \o_
PS as long as you use the ucon64 command -s and take the .prg file it spits out you are okay re; ines headers etc...
quick update, I think i've found a lickle bug 
bear with me... dont build anything in regards to PR8 + Pulsar yet (NTRQ is fine and dandy tho
PS - there is also yet another way to get PR8 and Pulsar running on h/w as a stand alone cart; with Retro USB's Repropack MMC1 dev board, I'll pop up a guide on that soon too (as soon as they get em back in stock + i can order some... )
hey Kreese, unfortunately there's no h/w on the FF I+II board to auto swap out PRG rom pages (thats built into the FF I+II romfile itself, tho you can fit a PRG upto 512kb on the board) someone could code up a menu perhaps tho to allow you to choose what you want to run when it boots both progs would have to share half the save slot storage they normally do and be relocated tho is the only thing (which is how square did the FF I+II cart as far as i'm aware)...
Right, awesome news, you can follow the exact same guide I did for NTRQ at the start of this thread, but substitute the sacrifice cart for Famicom Final Fantasy I & II (note thats One + Two - together on one cart) - see here: http://www.ffmusic.info/images/ff1_2fam.jpg ... in order to get Pulstar + PR8 running on real H/W.
Note: to get into a FF I+II cartridge you need to have a NES security bit screwdriver as the cart case is different from normal Famicom cases (on the plus side you dont have to force/snap the thing open *grin*)
I have just built a fully working Famicom Pr8 cartridge out of one > the only downside is that the carts that confirm to this board type only came out in Japan which is a bit more troublesome. Tho you could easily get them running thru a Famicom to NES adaptor...
^ Do post piccies if you build one btw
Famicom carts you can use are: Best Play Pro Yakyuu Special + Final Fantasy I + II
>>> However
... I've been doing quite a lot of reading up on the layout of these cart boards and it should be possible to customise existing NES boards into the SxRom type (which is what Pulstar and PR8 use) – I’m just waiting for various different chips and bits and bobs to arrive but more news soon \o_
hey analog - board type/layout is the same for pulsar so the findings/guide will hold true for that too
btw I'm just waiting for some bits to arrive so I can bung the ace PR8 on a Famicom cart - will keep u all posted how it goes - :)
ChipMusic.org / Forums / Posts by ne7
