SpritesMind.Net

Hi!

I want to use an Arduino to interact with Sega Genesis cartridge, is it possible?
Arduino will be read only, access 8 or 16bit of information.

I will set a value in game and Arduino will read that and generate a bip or show something in a display.

My idea is a game that will interact with external hardware.

Thank you!

using the modem port it should be possible ?

You can expose pins provided by the arduino in some range of addresses, that works for sure, but you have to provide a decoder in the cartridge.

Also you can use any of the 3 or 2 controller ports as interface.

And perhaps toying with the DTACK signal on the cartridge port you can even exchange the cpu, not sure how the address arbiter will react, not sure if it's possible.

I dont know where start.

Thank you for reply.

It is fairly simple if you only need genesis > arduino communication (not bidirectionnal)

You need two things wired to arduino:
- a decoded write signal. A couple basic logic gates will do that for you, setup depends on the signal/memory range you are looking for.
- data bus. Obvious reason, wire 8 or 16 bits as needed.

On arduino, setup an IRQ on the write signal. When IRQ triggers, simply read the data bus and store the value in some buffer for processing.

You might need a latch chip (74373) inbetween data bus and arduino (latch enable to your decoded write signal), to hold the value for you while IRQ triggers/process.