Hey guys,
I've been working on a project lately that's similar to the PowerPak. Basically I love the idea of the PowerPak but really want to make my own for fun and as a learning experience. I would also like to make a portable NES at some point and then incorporate my hardware so I don't need to carry NES carts around in my pocket, which I hear doesn't work so well...
The main differences between my setup and the PowerPak is I'm using an Atmega664 and Xilinx CPLD vice a FPGA. I basically chose this because of I have experience with the two and none with FPGAs and NES programming. I almost went with a FPGA but I didn't want to figure out the configuration issues. Plus since I'm starting off with the actual MMC3 and MMC1 original chips really all I need my logic to do is MUX up the correct mapper's signal and recreate some of the basic CNROM/UNROM mappers etc. So my CPLD should suffice with nearly every pin spoken for, and I can always upgrade down the road.
I'm also going with SD micro vice CF, and programming my RAM chips with the atmega vice the NES like the powerpak does. Because of this I'm starting off with a external user interface to select the desired rom instead of an onscreen selection. I recognize on screen would be better but I don't have any NES programming experience yet. So that may be something I play with down the road.
To start off, I'm going to set my goal to allow all standard logic mappers (ie CN/UN/ANROM) and MMC1 and MMC3. This covers most of the games I own. Something I'd like to add is Tengen rambo1 for Rolling Thunder and MMC5 for StarTropics. But that wouldn't be until I have better idea what I'm working with and get a multilayer PCB made up so I can go surface mount for everything allowing more room to play with.
My IC lineup:
Atmega644 (may go the atmega1284)
Xlinix XCC-9572 CPLD
WRAM- 32K SRAM (thinner dip version)
PRG/CHR ROM/RAM- alliance 512KB SRAM as6c4008 (not pictured)
MMC3 (on SMB3 board)
MMC1 (to add on the right socket)
MUXs, counters, etc for programming the ROMs (not pictured to be added beneath the SMB3 board)
Anyways, Just thought I'd share my project with everyone. And open it up to comments, questions, and suggestions.
-Paul
Big image: MasterCart.jpg
I don't really expect anyone to be able to read it but I've got my block diagram up too, if you're curious.
Big image: MasterCartBD.jpg
I've been working on a project lately that's similar to the PowerPak. Basically I love the idea of the PowerPak but really want to make my own for fun and as a learning experience. I would also like to make a portable NES at some point and then incorporate my hardware so I don't need to carry NES carts around in my pocket, which I hear doesn't work so well...
The main differences between my setup and the PowerPak is I'm using an Atmega664 and Xilinx CPLD vice a FPGA. I basically chose this because of I have experience with the two and none with FPGAs and NES programming. I almost went with a FPGA but I didn't want to figure out the configuration issues. Plus since I'm starting off with the actual MMC3 and MMC1 original chips really all I need my logic to do is MUX up the correct mapper's signal and recreate some of the basic CNROM/UNROM mappers etc. So my CPLD should suffice with nearly every pin spoken for, and I can always upgrade down the road.
I'm also going with SD micro vice CF, and programming my RAM chips with the atmega vice the NES like the powerpak does. Because of this I'm starting off with a external user interface to select the desired rom instead of an onscreen selection. I recognize on screen would be better but I don't have any NES programming experience yet. So that may be something I play with down the road.
To start off, I'm going to set my goal to allow all standard logic mappers (ie CN/UN/ANROM) and MMC1 and MMC3. This covers most of the games I own. Something I'd like to add is Tengen rambo1 for Rolling Thunder and MMC5 for StarTropics. But that wouldn't be until I have better idea what I'm working with and get a multilayer PCB made up so I can go surface mount for everything allowing more room to play with.
My IC lineup:
Atmega644 (may go the atmega1284)
Xlinix XCC-9572 CPLD
WRAM- 32K SRAM (thinner dip version)
PRG/CHR ROM/RAM- alliance 512KB SRAM as6c4008 (not pictured)
MMC3 (on SMB3 board)
MMC1 (to add on the right socket)
MUXs, counters, etc for programming the ROMs (not pictured to be added beneath the SMB3 board)
Anyways, Just thought I'd share my project with everyone. And open it up to comments, questions, and suggestions.
-Paul
Big image: MasterCart.jpg
I don't really expect anyone to be able to read it but I've got my block diagram up too, if you're curious.
Big image: MasterCartBD.jpg