You were on the right track Catskull, the menu itself is compiled into the ROM and without it, the cart becomes a 'dumb' standard cartridge but as Nitro said, the ROM mapping/swapping is all done in hardware and most flash carts use their own unique method of selecting ROM's. I believe Nitro has documented the magic in one of his blogs.

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(38 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Thanks Apeshit, looks like they both (16/32) use 64K sectors and the same Intel protocol as the EMS64. Should be only a few lines of code to change to support it.

Next firmware update I'll add CFI interrogation to get sector size automatically from the Flash IC.

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(38 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

There is/was/is a hardware mod (which enables active cart voltage control) This is useful in flashing the bennvenn carts as you currently need to pull out the cart and re-insert for each block. Its not a big issue having to cycle the cart in and out, but to produce the best product I can, I've ordered the parts and need to solder them in once they arrive. So not essential, but nice to have.

on the BV1.00 firmware the cart shows up as 4 ROM's and 4 save files on a disk drive. On the official there is only 1 ROM and 1 Save (the file size is automatically adjusted depending on the ROM on the cart) If you have a 64M bennvenn cart, you'll use only 1.GB and 1.Sav on the BV1.00 ROM. I'll make that video to clear up any confusion.

As far as the fightercart goes, It will read and write the save file without any problems. It is just the flashing that is not yet implemented.

I'm happy to swap cart for joey-squinson as you suggest, I'll need to wait on the arrival for my next batch of components though. I have enough for 10 Joey-squinsons and 5 were ordered this morning.

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(38 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Hi Catskull,

Oh wow, I didn't know. Cool!

I will eventually roll my BennVenn support into the latest firmware release but for now there are two 'forks' in my firmware development. The latest official release is v1.01 (1.02 will be out very soon with updates to the flash writing algo to gain 20% increase in flashing the EMS cart)

The second beta release is for flashing BennVenn carts (BV1.00). To change firmwares you drag the firmware file to the BennVenn drive, and 3 seconds later you are running the new firmware. Likewise for reverting to v1.01.

The biggest difference with BV1.00 is that it presents 4 ROM files and 4 Save files as the BennVenn cart is divided this way. You write to the cart the same way, drag the ROM to the cart (Filenames are structured 1.GB 1.SAV 2.GB 2.SAV etc...)

The enclosure was designed with internal 'posts and sockets' and when connected they cant be separated without snapping the posts. I also use a couple of drops of glue just to be sure.

If I can get hold of a fightercart I can write support for it too. I imagine it is electrically identical to the EMS but with a different flash protocol.

I'll make a video of the firmware update and BennVenn flashing process today

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(38 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

I've just uploaded a video on the operation of the Joey-Squinson. Check it out!

The video shows the compatibility dumping ROM's, Save files, GB Camera images and EMS flash cart writing.

Current firmware is 1.02

BennVenn Cart Writing support is finished but not yet included in 1.02 - BV1.00 is available for download which will enable BennVenn cart flashing, and you can revert to 1.02 when you're done.

https://youtu.be/oVLqxel_jMY

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(39 replies, posted in General Discussion)

a buyer can say he/she did not receive this/that and BAM! Paypal holds your money until you can prove this/that. It is what has driven postage rates up (the necessity for tracking/registered/insured). I think most sellers have had this happen at least once...

Flux in the form of pens, pastes or liquids all depend on the flux type used. Where I work, I have found halide based fluxes more than 20 years old still work far better than modern equivalents. They are very corrosive and require thorough cleaning to prevent rapid deterioration of PCB & components. I'm unsure if these are still available, and require ventilation when in use.

I find in general, RMA fluxes give best results with hot air soldering as a certain amount of time needs to elapse while the flux is in its 'activated' temperature range. The slow temperature/time ramp hot air provides is ideal.

Organic based fluxes typically work at room temperatures so they are both effective and require cleaning (a lot are alcohol based and de-min water can be used to post-clean. A lot cheaper and safer than Iso)

Another thing to consider is the source of your components. If your IC's for example have been stored for years without desiccants, oxides will form on the pins requiring a more aggressive flux to get a reliable solder joint. You'll know when you get a bad batch of IC's as they don't wet as easily as they should when soldering.

All fluxes have a shelf life, and should be stored in a refrigerator. I personally don't bother as I'll use a 50ml bottle in a few months.

Flux cored solder is just about the standard these days. They are said to have a shelf life too, though I have a 10yr old 1kg roll that I use day to day and can't say it works any better/worse than a roll a few months old. One thing I would recommend on an old roll of solder is to give it a wipe over to remove the lead oxide that forms on it. It doesn't effect the soldered joint but dirties your tip a lot quicker.

bit 9,

If you are hand assembling I'd go with 1206, if you are outsourcing, go with whatever is cheapest. Smaller than 1206 can be done with a fine tip iron / hot air though why make things harder than they need to be? (unless you need very high density)

And as Apeshit says, go with your design houses' design rules and maybe increase track width just a touch to be safe. If you find a fault in your PCB, it's a lot easier to jumper when you're dealing with reasonable track widths.

Oh, and if you are going to be soldering fine pitch SMD IC's, get yourself some quality flux (not necessarily rosin based). It may require extra cleaning when you're done, but there is nothing worse than a dry joint on a 128pin IC. The difference between 2yr old chinese flux and in-date RS flux is amazing.

Update:

BennVenn flashing is supported. It may take some time to roll this firmware into v1.01 as it uses a new file system however I'll make the standalone BennVenn firmware available. Changing between the two takes only a few seconds - Drag the firmware file to the drive, it'll un-mount, relflash and re-mount with the new firmware running. Time ~3 seconds.

Flash write speed of an 8mbyte ROM is ~2min.

Edit: Improved my flash algorithm - now @ 55seconds for a 64mbit ROM.

Sounds like a deal. Headers really mean nothing, more so with a pirate cart. Is it a multi-cart?

Just reading through that datasheet, That's a slow chip! 32second chip erase, 15second flash write time (excluding protocol overhead) and no bulk write mode. And only 2mbytes. Averaging 30seconds for an LSDJ transfer. Same protocol as the Bung carts, though bung tie /WE to SND.

Would anyone be interested in loaning me one?

Jazz - Yes, found a $5 webcam at my local supermarket. 320x240 - Might as well use my GBcamera :-)

Haha, yeah just going from memory. Gnd, Snd, Rst?

Datasheet says 64Kbyte 'blocks' so that is easy enough to change, and the flash commands are different to the EMS but similar to the BennVenn. Looks easy enough

Thanks Jazz

Hmmm pin3 as in Snd or /WE? (depends which end you count from)

In either case, it can be supported. My BennVenn carts operate with Flash WE tied to cart-bus WE. If that is the case then two birds with one stone.

I'll be detecting cart types via the Flash IC's CFI information. This will allow almost complete compatibility with any cart (assuming there is no /WE trickery or boot sectors need unlocking [nanoloop] in which case firmware updates will be necessary)

I'll post updates soon

Electrically its compatible with the EMS, do you have the flash IC part number handy? Worst case its a different protocol with different erase/buffer block size and that'll only be a few hours to add compatibility.

I'll work on the bennvenn support this weekend. Should have a release by end of easter break.

I'd have to get my hands on one to add support for it, unless it uses a similar chipset to the EMS cart. Do you have a photo of its internals?

Thanks xx_6581_xx, I'll update the firmware to accept any file you drag onto it. It seems logical to do it that way.