nesdev.org

https://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/quickdev16

Needless to say, I'm impressed. This is the exact kind of quality + design that's needed for _NES_ console development. :-)

So why not get a copynes?

It's just an EPROM emulator. Software debugging could be linked to NES homebrew with CopyNES providing the PC interface. (Or maybe there are a couple free PowerPak pins for a serial port.)

Jeroen wrote:So why not get a copynes?

1) Because I don't do parallel ports any more. The year is (nearly) 2010, not 1991. I'm not going to deal with direct I/O "passthrough" drivers/SYS/DLLs on Windows either. USB or nothing -- and yes, I've worked with it (USB stacks, that is).

2) It's difficult to discern if the software is really up to snuff. If I remember right, a large portion of it is based on QBasic... come on.

Sorry, that's just how I feel about it.

If those are your only concerns, have some blatant advertising: USB CopyNES

USB interface, Windows software written in C, other people working on Linux/MacOS apps.

so I guess that would make those of us still using EPROMS stone-agers, huh?

koitsu wrote:

Jeroen wrote:So why not get a copynes?

1) Because I don't do parallel ports any more. The year is (nearly) 2010, not 1991. I'm not going to deal with direct I/O "passthrough" drivers/SYS/DLLs on Windows either. USB or nothing -- and yes, I've worked with it (USB stacks, that is).

2) It's difficult to discern if the software is really up to snuff. If I remember right, a large portion of it is based on QBasic... come on.

Sorry, that's just how I feel about it.

Like bunny said...theres a usb version now even a premade ram cart

bunnyboy wrote:If those are your only concerns, have some blatant advertising: USB CopyNES :)

USB interface, Windows software written in C, other people working on Linux/MacOS apps.

Hmm... I'm a little confused at how this actually works. Well, that is to say, I understand what the device *does*, but I'm confused as to how one would, say, use it to develop an MMC3 game for example.

Roni wrote:so I guess that would make those of us still using EPROMS stone-agers, huh?

Nah -- I have no real problem with EPROMs, just that I've been down that road when it comes to development and it's tedious; a lot of wasted time, especially when debugging is required.

My point is that it's 2010 and overall development tools/processes should have improved. Just because we're working on a device from 1986 doesn't mean we have to do development like back then. :-)

koitsu wrote:Hmm... I'm a little confused at how this actually works. Well, that is to say, I understand what the device *does*, but I'm confused as to how one would, say, use it to develop an MMC3 game for example.

For MMC3 you would have to make a RAM cart (easy) and uploader plug in (easy). For many simple mappers and MMC1 I have the PowerPak Lite. Then just like the Quickdev16 you just upload your game over USB and play within seconds.

A separate USB RAM cart would be a benefit for easy installation, but then the mappers problem hits.

bunnyboy wrote:
For MMC3 you would have to make a RAM cart (easy) and uploader plug in (easy).

Has anyone implemented this successfully? I always assumed the powerpak lite was the only cart compatible. Then again, I haven't done a whole lot of research on the project. All I've seen is what is on the product page.

I probably would have considered a copynes sooner if I knew you could make other mappers supported.

bunnyboy wrote:For many simple mappers and MMC1 I have the PowerPak Lite. Then just like the Quickdev16 you just upload your game over USB and play within seconds.

Provided you can find someone to build your CopyNES.

A separate USB RAM cart would be a benefit for easy installation, but then the mappers problem hits.

In that case, would it be possible to add a built-in USB CF reader to another version of the PowerPak, in much the same way that the EFA flash card for GBA has a USB port on it?

I'd think for MMC3 you'd need to modify the board with a chip to decode writes to the mapper or RAM/Flash and connect PRG and CHR /WE to the cartridge edge.

WhatULive4 wrote: Has anyone implemented this successfully? I always assumed the powerpak lite was the only cart compatible. Then again, I haven't done a whole lot of research on the project. All I've seen is what is on the product page.

Several years ago I made a cart that supports UNROM, for 256kB FlashROM that works with CopyNES. kevtris wrote a plugin for it. I imagine that plugin should work with the USB version as well, but I haven't tried it yet. I have the parts for those, so I could always supply those as kits or built ones if there was enough interest. But the PowerPak Lite would be better for development, writing Flash is much slower than SRAM.

I had a ROM emulator before I had a CopyNES, so I never really used it for development. What really bugged me was the idea of having to navigate through a GUI to program the cartridge, I'd rather have a command-line program.

Back to the original topic though, that Quickdev16 looks awesome. That is the best approach for a devcart, on the NES though everyone gets tripped up by the mappers. So I think a seperate ROM emulator makes good sense for NES, since there are some many different boards.