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SEGA Game Gear 512Kb Flash Cartridge -- Working Prototype!!!

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:27 am
by Gerry_MAN
Hi Folks,

To fill you all in, I have been working on a Flash cartridge for the SEGA Game Gear (a 1Mbyte version) for some time now.
I got temporarily distracted by working on my 512Kb version.

I finally landed a working design for this one and so I compiled together a 5 Part instructional video along with a 26 Page
"Step by Step" guide in PDF format for you all to follow. I have also included a Full schematic design and a PCB layout
of my GIGANTIC Prototype PCB that I used during the development process.

Anyhow, there's a few ways of building this unit and I I'll leave it up to you to choose.
Hopefully the info I've supplied here will help you all to build your own 512kb Flash cart.

I'm going to continue to work on the 1Mbyte version and hopefully we can all get this sucker up and running soon.


You can access all the the documentation and Links from my Website at the link below:

http://www.digital-circuitry.com/GameGear.htm
(Site is under constructions so please excuse the crudity of the current layout)


Talk to you all later,
-Gerry

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:07 am
by KanedaFr
Congrats!
thanks for the time you spent to make the tutorial (PDF & video) !

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:15 am
by TmEE co.(TM)
I'd still like to see too something that uses self built mapper :P

RE: SEGA Game Gear 512Kb Flash Cartridge - Working Prototype

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 3:53 pm
by Gerry_MAN
TmEE co.(TM) wrote:I'd still like to see too something that uses self built mapper :P
Hi TmEE co.(TM),

I like the idea of this also. I'm more of a hardware tech at this point but I'm delving into the programming more and more.
I've been doing a lot of experimenting and research with CPLD's and FPGA's. I have a huge arsenal of the older Altera MAX7000 CPLD's that
I know are screaming to see some logic action. So it will happen time permitting of course as I learn the VHDL code.

Now that I have this circuit design working, I'll be able to properly analyze things with the Logic analyzer.

Ya gota love this stuff..... so much fun. :)

Talk to you later TmEE co.(TM),
-Gerry

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:53 pm
by TmEE co.(TM)
I once built a mapper out of 6 logic chips, but I have not yet tested it... I built it I think 2 years ago...

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/21/ ... rFront.jpg

custom mapper

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:47 pm
by Gerry_MAN
Hey TmEE co.(TM),

This is fantastic!!

Do you have the schematic?

I'd love to see your work behind the design.

Were you emulating a particular SEGA mapper? or was this something completely your own? I guess if it was, the code being used with it would also have to be written specifically for it.

Again very cool.

I hope you have the schematic?

-Gerry

Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:56 pm
by TmEE co.(TM)
This is standard Sega mapper with 2 banks (1 and 2) and no SRAM, it should work with about 80...90% of the games.
I have the schematic somewhere, but it might take a while before I find it... I recently moved and all my papers etc. are still in boxes :/

Finally Did it! 1 MEgaByte Flash interface

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:11 am
by Gerry_MAN
Hey again Folks,

Well, just over the March break I finally figured out the interface required to connect a 1MegaByte Flash Memory chip to the Game Gear. I used the SEGA 315-5912 Mapper IC that is found in Game Gear Games like "Garfield" or "Sonic Blast".

So a 1 MegaByte Flash cartridge for the SEGA Game Gear is now possible.
Time permitting I will put together another instructional video and tutorial for everyone to follow, but this will have to wait until I finish my College exams.

You can check out the details here in my Website:

http://www.digital-circuitry.com/GameGear.htm

You can also see the details on my devoted Flash cart page from the SMSPower website:
http://www.smspower.org/Development/Fla ... erryOBrien

Talk to you all later,
-Gerry