chipmusic.org is an online community in respect and relation to chip music, art and its parallels.
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
ChipMusic.org / Forums / Nintendo Handhelds / Reliable Nanoloop 1.5 backup using audio recording or link port?
Can someone point me to a reliable link cable schematic and recording method for NL 1.5 backup... if it exists? Thank you.
EDIT: Changed title since it looks like either option is equally possible... I'm rooting for link port 
Last edited by egr (Sep 20, 2010 3:55 pm)
You're not supposed to record audio from the link. Rather, there's a special mode that allows Nanoloop to output data as audio through the audio jack. I have no idea how to use that data, though.
Doh! You're correct of course. I only want to have a restore-able backup of my cart (or several different backups). I guess my real question is: How reliable is the restore-ing part of this process? Does anyone do this regularly?
OK, this is what was throwing me off: send the data to the PC via headphone out, restore it via link cable BUT there's no adapter available?
From nanoloop.com: "Memory banks can be exchanged between two nanoloop 1.5 units through a standard link cable. Additionally, it is possible to encode data as audio pulses for backup on a PC. Data are sent through a regular audio cable then and can be archived as audio recordings. To send data back to the nanoloop cart, an adaptor for connecting the PC's audio output to the Game Boy's link port is required. The adaptor is currently not available. However, in case of data loss (by a damaged or lost cartridge for example), backups can be restored to a new cartridge as a service."
I wonder if the schematic is available anywhere?
I emailed Oliver Wittchow inquiring about the cable and whether schematics are available, so I'll see what he says.
Last edited by jefftheworld (Sep 10, 2010 8:39 pm)
I'd guess ground->ground and left audio -> data in.
I'd guess ground->ground and left audio -> data in.
I think he meant for the cable to send data back to the GB.
If you know how to engage the restore mode from inside Nanoloop it should be as simple as trying a bunch of combinations. Since you're splicing from a (presumably) stereo audio cable to the link cable there really are only a limited number of combinations.
Can someone confirm that the audio being sent out is in stereo, though? If it's mono, that makes things even easier.
TmTgr wrote:I'd guess ground->ground and left audio -> data in.
I think he meant for the cable to send data back to the GB.
I meant that also.
And I realised it will probably need the clock as well.
nitro2k01 wrote:I think he meant for the cable to send data back to the GB.
I meant that also.
And I realised it will probably need the clock as well.
Maybe left audio is clock and right is data? It would have to be something like that.
Does anyone have a recording of the output sound that I could look at. the whole mono/stereo question would really answer a bunch of questions.
Edit: Nvm i didn't think it through
Last edited by TmTgr (Sep 12, 2010 2:02 pm)
I'll be out of town until Tuesday night but I'll upload a data recording when I get back.
as far as i know this is still vaporware.
i would guess it's just a standard 1/8" cable, and a piece of software to decode/encode
whatever is coming out of the gameboy. but since i havnt seen any for sale, or even in use,
i cant say for sure... i would post on the NL forums and it a direct answer from oliver.
and as a note. (it's in the manual)
since NL uses a non-standard memory setup, normal GB backup devices will not work,
and actually might mess your cart up (during the checking phase). so dont try and
backup NL w/ a mega memory cart.
Last edited by xero (Sep 13, 2010 6:42 pm)
as far as i know this is still vaporware.
i would guess it's just a standard 1/8" cable, and a piece of software to decode/encode
whatever is coming out of the gameboy. but since i havnt seen any for sale, or even in use,
i cant say for sure... i would post on the NL forums and it a direct answer from oliver.and as a note. (it's in the manual)
since NL uses a non-standard memory setup, normal GB backup devices will not work,
and actually might mess your cart up (during the checking phase). so dont try and
backup NL w/ a mega memory cart.
We know that it's vaporware, we're now trying to figure out how to build our own. Based on the descriptions we've heard the audio that is output is not processed on the receiving end (it is, in fact, just recorded as regular audio), but rather when it is returned via the link port. If that's the case, we simply need to figure out how to build that cable and we won't need any deep understanding of encoding/decoding process.
I just got my Nanoloop 1.5 cart back from a friend who was borrowing it and I'm going to make a recording of the encoded audio to do a little analysis. I really just want to see if there's stereo audio and if there is a relatively obvious clock signal on one of those channels. Once that's done it's as simple as splicing a cable and seeing which link cable pins are used as the inputs.
Update:
The data is in stereo. It looks like the left audio may be a clock while right audio is sending the data.
Here you can hear/download an audio file creating with a NL1.5 data backup:
Open this file in audacity if you want to analyze it. Please post here or PM me if you have any ideas beyond my basic ones.
This weekend I'll attempt to load it back onto the cart by splicing the audio cable with a ink cable and trying different combinations of connections. I feel it may be as simple as that, but only time will tell.
If I have any success I'll obviously post the schematics here.
Last edited by jefftheworld (Sep 15, 2010 8:47 pm)
Interesting. Will voltage not play a role in this? It would change based on the playback volume... unless its only looking at zero crossings I guess.