Announcing the 64drive nearing completion

[marshallh]

Well things are going along and the end is in sight. Before I send off gerbers to get the final board design done, I need some feedback.

I started making this because I'm tired of half-assed N64 backup crap. They all suck in their own ways, this is my attempt to fix that.

Basic features:
- 64mbytes SDRAM (this will hold any image ever made)
- Full save emulation (EEPROM 4k, 16k, SRAM, FlashRam)
- Load images FAST (9 mbyte/second)
- NO software needed. Loads off plain FAT32 formatted card.
- USB for homebrewers


What you are seeing is my prototype board. The final board looks similar.




As you can see it uses CompactFlash and not SD. No matter how much people bitch I am not going to use SD. Believe me, it's for a good reason.


This is a video I made a while ago, the only things changing are what's under the hood now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdWsFpVall0


Coder support:
Full documentation on how to use the cart. Use USB to debug your code and printf to console on the PC.




Here are a few details for the techs:
CIC handling: You (or I) will solder in either a 6102 or 6105 (or PAL equivalents). The menu will handle every CIC with this one. You don't have to patch images, just use a clean dump. There is a jumper to solder to allow the 6105 bootloader to run.

Saves handling: Save files are autocreated by the menu. They're stored on CF and work just like an emulatro does. For some reason PJ64 and some others use little endian byte ordering on SRAM and flashram saves, after swapping they load fine on the real thing.

Bootloader: Finds the menu image on CF and complains if it doesn't exist.

Both Z64 and V64 images are supported. The byteswapping is performed in hardware by the FPGA so there's no speed penalty at all.



Bottom line: No cheaping out, no design flaws.


TODO: finish up FlashRAM support and get USB going (goofed FTDI footprint on my prototype)

[alphagamer]

This is great!

How long were you working on this?

[ASSEMbler]

That's one expensive fpga

[alphagamer]

That's one expensive fpga

No cheaping out, no kidding.

[MasterOfPuppets]

Wow, good work! Do we have an ETA or price point? As long as it's less expensive then NeoTeam's I'll be happy.

[ASSEMbler]

Neoteam's it seriously overpriced.

[BM-Viper]

Looks awesome! Like everyone else, any idea on price? :P

[rso]

You (or I) will solder in either a 6102 or 6105 (or PAL equivalents). (...) There is a jumper to solder to allow the 6105 bootloader to run.

So if one shorts that jumper, will there be no autopatching going on? (What'd that be useful for?) Or is it just to select between 6102 and 6105 CICs?

Anyways, sounds great. I'll think about replacing my aging Z64 with this if it isn't too expensive.

[arbingordon]

Looks awesome! Like everyone else, any idea on price? :P

"$150-170" ~ marshall @ benheck.

[marshallh]

So if one shorts that jumper, will there be no autopatching going on? (What'd that be useful for?) Or is it just to select between 6102 and 6105 CICs?

Anyways, sounds great. I'll think about replacing my aging Z64 with this if it isn't too expensive.

There is no patching going on anywhere. The only one needing a patch is Jet Force Gemini (if you are using 6102). 6105 lets you run Banjo Tooie.

All games run via bootemu.

[ASSEMbler]

Anything from $99 up is unsellable imho

[Moiboi]

Really looking forward to getting one of these :)

No cheaping out, no design flaws

Just the way everything should be! (In an ideal dreamworld).

[n64coder]

What kind of feedback are you looking for? It seems that it has the features that people would like in a flash cart. It would be nice if it was lower.

Looks like a nice looking cart.

[Dyouji]

That looks really slick!

[supermariovb64]

epic! thats a very nice looking cart;)

[Piratero]

I'd buy one.

[chalmo]

Great stuff, marshallh. I'm looking forward to buying a couple.

[Alchy]

Regardless of how much it ends up costing, that's some sharp engineering.

[sanni]

I've been following your progress ever since I first heard that you are developing a N64 flash cart. Great work. :love2:
Can't wait to see it finished. :drool:

Can you estimate how many hours you've been working on this until now?
How many do you plan to get produced/sold?

[mdmx]

TODO: finish up FlashRAM support and get USB going (goofed FTDI footprint on my prototype)

Hi Marshallh, does your cart support saving in Dezaemon 3D? As far as I know it has a different SRAM chip.
Furthermore do you support emulated FlashRAM? It was used by a few cracked roms to save inside the DS1 adapter.