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Looks like my memory was wrong.

The chip on the front is an NXP LPC1857FET256
front.jpg


On the back is Lattice ICE40HX1K

and a DAC3100 for the analog audio out

back.jpg
 
Is there no other product like this available? Its judt ide?
 
Been a while, no updates?
Colin has a System 256 in his hands now and has been working on getting it compatible on that platform. he's made some progress but nothing ready for release yet.


Is there no other product like this available? Its judt ide?
if you know of another ATAPI emulator please post it up. So far no one else that I know of has found one.
 
Will it be one for all? support of hdd, dvd, cd games? talking about namco 256
 
I posted my interst on the "questionaire" but I will do it here for good measure, so one for me

And very nice work @electric_monk
 
Yay! Did the sys256 debugging make it more complete/correct in general or is it specal-case handling?
Definitely more complete/correct in general. Though I'm working from the ATA spec, I've not implemented every little thing, and sometimes I just misread it. The 256 definitely does some weird stuff, but so does the 573, and FreeDOS, and so on, and it's nothing that a 'normal' drive shouldn't be able to handle. I haven't had to do anything like a specific hack for a specific platform so far, just fix errors in my logic/responses/add new commands.
 
Yay! Did the sys256 debugging make it more complete/correct in general or is it specal-case handling?
Definitely more complete/correct in general. Though I'm working from the ATA spec, I've not implemented every little thing, and sometimes I just misread it. The 256 definitely does some weird stuff, but so does the 573, and FreeDOS, and so on, and it's nothing that a 'normal' drive shouldn't be able to handle. I haven't had to do anything like a specific hack for a specific platform so far, just fix errors in my logic/responses/add new commands.
@electric_monk - the game that is more particular tricky than any other is Tekken4 on a system246. Do you have access to one of these once you get the 256 working? If not - I would be more than happy to loan you mine, and Tekken4 so you can get it working.

Having an ODE for this system will vastly enhance the usability of it as the availability of drives that work with especially games like Tekken4 are just hard to find these days - and its getting worse.

Thanks again!
 
I only have a 256 in my possession, but I do 'own' a 246 (bought from Yahoo! Auctions, but it's sitting in Osaka until a relative of mine ships it out, probably after Christmas). Hopefully it works (it was only $20 or something, no game or dongle provided), but I have one of @brizzo's USB dongles so assuming it works I should be good to test it when it arrives.
 
This discussion started in a few other threads but I think it needs it's own.
I got in the prototype ATAPI/IDE drive emulation device in from Colin yesterday and had a chances to do some testing on System 573. It still needs some polishing but so far it's very promising...
atapi_573.jpg



I'll post my findings in this thread as I do more testing...


EDIT:
For those of you who don't know this device is designed to replace an IDE based Disc Drive in hardware platforms like Konami System 573 and Namco System 2x6. It was developed by Colin David Munro primarily for use with the System 573 to replacing the annoying disc drive in DDR machines, but I'm hoping I can beta test and make sure the System 246 and 256 are supported by the time it's ready for sale.

Estimated release price will be about $200, If you're interested in getting on the waiting list for this you can do so here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemrKI0FdVBRP4EdmYS2DTLtiGd5YKQ6WFq3kC6nKY36a4Otw/viewform

I'm not involved in the production or sales of this device. I learned about it myself on a facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1955403444733336/permalink/2129610337312645/ and simply pestered the poor guy to let me be a beta tester give him feedback for improving it for use on system 2x6 :D


If you know of other hardware platforms that could benefit from this please let me know it'd be great to get this proven out on as many platforms as possible.
i cant open the facebook group
 
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