KR155E wrote:
There’s two ways:

A) Using the older version as Vaughanabe13 described
B) Using newer version like the precompiled 2.95 NVC version

You should definitely go for the second option, because the newer gccVB version are much more advanced. The old one doesn’t support interrupts or bitstring instructions for example.

You only have to:
1) Install Cygwin
2) Download gccVB 2.95 prec., unpack it and copy the files to /c/cygwin/usr/

Then to build Mario VB, you only have to execute the following in Cygwin to trigger the make script included in the Mario VB source (for this example, the Mario VB source lies in C:/marioVB/):

cd /cygdrive/c/marioVB/ && make

(Everything from memory, might’ve missed a detail)

Chris, how do you compile code without a makefile using the newest 2.95 compiler in cygwin, such as the demo.c program from the dev wiki?

[Vaughanabe13]

*EDIT* Nevermind I figured out the answer to my question

• This reply was modified 14 years, 11 months ago by Vaughanabe13.

So what is supposedly so special about Dragon Hopper? I haven’t heard much about it before…

If you check my project page at http://brennanthl.wordpress.com/project-vboot/

you will notice I did not mention anything about price. I am not very concerned with that right now, because there are many other things I need to figure out at the moment. My guess is that the final design would [unfortunately] not be much cheaper than the Flashboy, and here is why:

1) Board cost. Can’t get around this. If I make a huge order of boards than the per-board cost goes down but this requires that there is enough interest/demand such that I can unload all/most of them
2) Memory costs. A 32M SRAM costs about $36 for a single part, and a 16M SRAM costs $22 for a single part, for the parts I’m currently looking at. These will go down if I order in bulk of course, but again, I’m just a college student and I don’t really have the resources to order parts in large quantities in the near future.
3) Processor and other component costs. SD card will probably cost about $5-10 depending on the size
4) VB connector, which will probably end up costing about $8 each
5) VB cart case, which is up in the air as far as cost goes

Now, as for additional charges on top of the above, I wouldn’t do that. I would sell the cart for what it cost me to build, plus a little more to cover packaging, shipping, extraneous build costs, time spent assembling, etc. I’m not looking to make much money on this thing, I have a day job for that. 😀 Unfortunately for us, the hardware required in such a device is fairly rare and by no means inexpensive. There are just certain price restrictions I can’t get around.

What link are you using for GCC 2.95? I can only find links for 8.10 or something like that.

Does anyone have the dimensions for a (original) gameboy cartridge off hand? I know it’s not the same as a VB cart but they are plentiful and I could potentially hack it and try to make it work. I personally don’t care about having a case for the cart, but I understand it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.

Are you saying you don’t have the vbjae.h file, or that the compiler can’t find it?

Also, did you make sure to use “%d %n” in the Parameters field of the gccvb and reality_boy tools in programmer’s notepad?

I’m not very sure about the difference in using this compiler vs. the cygwin + 2.95 approach. If someone else could chime in and explain I would appreciate that as well.

The easiest way to get your dev environment up and running is like this (I’m assuming you are running windows):

1. Download GCCVB compiler
2. Extract all folders/files in the zip to C:\gccvb
3. Download reality boy
4. Extract all folders/files to a directory of your choosing. For easy access I just chose C:\RealityBoy
5. Download programmer’s notepad and install it.
6. Now follow the instructions on this page to setup programmer’s notepad with the commands for gccvb and realityboy. Make sure to use the same directories you installed them in.
7. Now open up some VB_GAME.c file in programmer’s notepad and hit F1 to compile and F2 to run it in reality boy. I’m not sure if it matters, but I keep all of my code inside the C:\gccvb\ folder somewhere.

That should be it! No cygwin, no compiling from source, easy. Now, I’m sure there are some shortcomings to using this version of gccvb, but for me it works fine.

I’m up for suggestions on that one. I know some members here have 3D models of the case but it would be expensive to have them made and I don’t know much about case design. For now I’m more worried about functionality and getting the right connector. I was toying with the idea of not using a case at all and putting a conformal coat over the PCB to protect against ESD and sharp edges. And then I would put spacers on the board so it fits correctly against the VB, and add a hand grip at the end for removing the cart from the system. The VB community is pretty sophisticated anyway so I don’t really have to “childproof” the cartridge.

First progress update is up. All future progress update will be posted directly to this page:

http://brennanthl.wordpress.com/

DogP wrote:
The GC uses the same screws as the VB. I also came across this one: http://www.chollogame.es/epages/61488288.sf//en_GB/http/www.etracker.de/es_ES/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61488288/Products/ngc_screwdriver , but that’s not in the US, so it’s not particularly helpful to me.

There’s others as well, but not for sale, like: http://gamechn.com/productsview.php?id=201&proid=827 . If you look harder, you can probably find them. Just hopefully they’re not made of cheap metal like a lot of the bits.

DogP

Hehe, I stand corrected. I was looking at several Gamecube drivers that said tri-wing in the description. Guess they are wrong, but that’s pretty typical of those Chinese knockoffs. *Edit* From what I remember, I’m almost positive the GC controllers use tri-wing screws. So that’s probably what I was thinking of.

Sorry about that. I had changed everything to “Public” in the privacy settings but somehow the changes didn’t get saved.

The link should be working now.

I’m pretty sure the Gamecube uses tri-wing screws like all the other modern Nintendo consoles. So that screwdriver wouldn’t work for VB.

I can’t open the datasheet for that connector because the link is old/broken. Does anyone know what the pitch of the VB header is? Is it 2MM?

You clearly don’t understand why the VB has the glitchy display problem… Anyway I’m glad it worked out for you, just don’t spread this “fix” to anyone else.

DogP wrote:

I do have something pretty cool that I’ve been playing with on and off for a long time… maybe I’ll post some pics one of these days. I doubt it’ll ever go to production, but it’s cool anyway.

DogP

Please do! 😀

MineStorm wrote:

The old/clunky/expensive chips will still have to be used for ROM

How much does a 16MByte x 16 5V SRAM cost ?

Do they exist ?

You must mean 16 megabit, not megabyte. Yes they exist, but the numbers are dwindling and most manufacturers have stopped producing them. Generally they cost between $20-40 each, depending on the make and model and where you get them from.

e5frog wrote:

Vaughanabe13 wrote:
I’m only going by what DogP says on this one, and he says 128 megabits.

http://www.projectvb.com/tech/cartpinout.html

The VB would most likely ruin a chip that runs at 3.3V. The only possibility would be a chip that runs at 3.3V but has 5V tolerant inputs. But those are just as rare as the 5V chips so it doesn’t help.

The only way to get around using some kind of flash/RAM would be to right a routine in my micro that interprets the VB address requests, fetches the corresponding word from the SD card, and places it on the address bus. But I haven’t figured out yet if my micro will be fast enough to do that.

Yes as DogP writes the pin 4 is selection pin for expansion area /ES – and there’s the magic pin to use another 128Mbits – apparently.

You can use 3.3V chips (and those of other voltages) if you use level converters – you will actually have to when the 5V chips become increasingly harder to find.

A solution with an SD-card would be the ultimate solution. It will have it’s limitations of course. If it has a limited SRAM that holds the whole ROM for normal parallel usage the size of this will limit the maximum size of the cart – however, as has been mentioned before, none of the commercial games are more than 16Mbit (2MByte).

If we want to open up for larger homebrews perhaps it would be nice to be able to use the extreme capacities of the VB. Running directly towards the SD card sounds like an interesting method…

Looking at the title of the thread I’m a little surprised it ended up here. 😉

Due to the speed limitations of SD I will be unable to interface the VB directly SD memory. The old/clunky/expensive chips will still have to be used for ROM. I’m working on a solution that won’t require level translators.

DogP wrote:
LOL! I hope you’re kidding. I mean… seriously? There’s lots of “intermittent” problems, and being patient isn’t the solution. When your car only starts every now and then, do you just wait until tomorrow, when the temperature/moisture will be different, which may fix whatever problem exists? And if not, maybe the next day? What happens when it finally does start, then you get to where you’re going and it doesn’t start again?

Or… when the TV only works when you smack the side of it… is the solution to just smack the side of it, or get a mechanical hand with remote control to smack it (so you can do it from the couch 😛 )?

These displays don’t “fix” themselves (and they’re definitely not “sick” or self-healing)… they intermittently work, which means they also intermittently don’t work. If you’re fine with having a VB that works only when it feels like it, and will progressively get worse, then feel free to be “patient”. For everyone else, I recommend actually repairing the displays.

DogP

gunpeiyokoifan, have you ever touched the two terminals of a 9V battery to your tongue?