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Fluffy

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Can I see a show of hands who is interested in my PGM Single Game PCBs? (Registering an interest here does NOT commit you to actually buying anything.)

One "set" is one PROG board and one CHAR board. You will receive bare PCBs only and you'll need to get and burn games yourself.

Make sure you have a programmer for 27c322 EPROMs and 16v8 GAL, and that you're comfortable soldering. (Or that you know someone locally who can do it for you.) This shouldn't be a challenge for anyone who has held a soldering iron before, though.

IMG_20190528_094400.jpg


Features:
- fancy red colour
- ENIG gold plating
- all through-hole components
- fits into existing cartridge shells
- the CHAR board is a 2 layer PCB
- the PROG board is a 4 layer PCB
- most cartridge pins are labelled with their function, which makes troubleshooting easier
- unknown cartridge pins are routed to a pin header for easy access
- the PROG board contains a handy prototype area if you want to experiment with any extra features
- no hot snot to fix flying wires required
- no operation of 3.3V devices out of spec
- no extra voltage regulator required
- no donor PCBs required

Disadvantages:
- 27c322 EPROMs are obsolete, so you get mostly recycled parts
- this is a hobby project, so I can't give all the warranties and support as a commercial product
- only works with unencrypted games that don't use the ASIC
- probably not appropriate if you want to mass produce conversions: The EPROMs take ages to write and all the pins take ages to solder. I don't care if you do, though!
- you'll still need a donor cartridge for the plastic shell

I haven't decided on final cost, but the PCBs are not cheap to make and I need to make the cost of the prototypes back. They will be significantly cheaper than existing conversions, though.

I am happy to send them to wherever in the world Royal Mail Deutsche Post/DHL will deliver to.

Update:
The cost for one set (1 prog board + 1 char board) is 15 GBP + whatever royal mail is quoting me for postage. I'll start contacting people in the order they are in this thread, everyone is welcome to take fewer or none if they changed their mind. If I have any left over at the end we can talk about getting extras.

Update2:
The new cost for one set (1 prog board + 1 char board) is 20 Euro + whatever Deutsche Post or DHL quote me for postage.
 
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Depending on price I'd be in for 6-8. Need a few myself, and a few for a friend.
 
Interested in 1 set.
Could you detail which games are supported/supposed to work and what GAL to use?
 
Also interested in at least 2 sets, but maybe 2 or 3 more depending price for a friend.
 
Interested in 1 set.
Could you detail which games are supported/supposed to work and what GAL to use?
You need two 16V8 GAL, the brand doesn't matter. I bought ATF16V8B-15PU-ND which seem to work fine for me.
The GAL code and a splitting/renaming/conversion script are here:
IGS PGM Custom Graphics PCB testers
It supports the three games that people normally convert from other PCBs.

The tile ROM decoding uses the same GAL for all three games. For the program ROM decoding you've got three choices: a generic one that supports all three games and can be configured with jumpers, and two hardcoded ones for bios and no-bios.
 
It supports the three games that people normally convert from other PCBs.
You're referring to Espgaluda, Ketsui, and DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Black Label correct? Could you also use your boards for Demon Front?
 
In for 3. Thank you sir!

EDIT: Depending on price.
 
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It supports the three games that people normally convert from other PCBs.
You're referring to Espgaluda, Ketsui, and DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Black Label correct? Could you also use your boards for Demon Front?
I tried to avoid naming the actual games in this thread. :) The selectable white/black label DDP works as well. Demon Front doesn't work, as that runs game logic on the ASIC.

Thanks @Fluffy, yeah I was asking what code to put in the GALs. I'm just curious to see if I could port more games.
The ASIC decrypts program code and it has an embedded ARM cpu running something like 16KB of code. Decryption is documented in the MAME driver and no problem, the ASIC code is dumped in a few cases, and I think emulated in MAME for most games. If you re-implement the ASIC code in M68k assembler and patch the program ROM you should be able to port more games. (As long as there is enough memory on the board, of course.)

Newer games offload a larger amount of game logic onto the ASIC and make use of a second program ROM for ARM code. That is not supported, but I specifically added the prototype area if anyone wants to experiment and implement the required hardware. I published a handful of circuit diagrams on the other PGM Conversion thread.

Some games map the M-ROM to a different start address, though that should be relatively easy to patch either in the music driver or on the CHAR board. The A-ROM address decoder should support 4 more EPROMs, the B-ROM decoder should support 2 more EPROMs, so if you piggy-pack additional chips (or use a daughter board) you can expand the memory available for graphics.
 
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I'd absolutely be interested in at least 1, or up to 3 depending on the price.
 
Probably best to group order these too. I'll volunteer for that for the first initial batch in the US once you have the numbers locked in @Fluffy.
 
Do we really have to be cute about what these are for? I mean, you're making a thread for bootlegging games, pretending it's not C-A-V-E games seems silly. Especially when you say you don't care if people mass produce them, so we're not being all "only backup games you already own lol" about it.

Anyways, now that it's clear that's all this is for I already have those, so not really interested any more. The hunt for a Martial Masters that isn't ridiculously priced continues.

Cool project, don't mean to sound critical, it just seems like we should be honest about what this is for. This forum isn't a secret, if there are interested parties they know what's going on here without names.
 
Okay, longer explanation what I mean with "mass production": If you make cartridges for yourself it doesn't matter if you spend an afternoon soldering or programming EPROMs. Or that you need to buy used EPROMs from eBay because you can't get them new.

If you want to produce them for sale then boards like this: https://www.arcade-projects.com/forums/index.php?threads/igs-pgm-espgaluda-ketsui-new-card.9135/ are more appropriate and more efficient. (Though you can get memory that size only as 3.3V device.)

The goal for my PCBs is simply: Make games that are not available as cartridge without sacrificing another cartridge. And maybe tinker a bit with the hardware.And they are available in fancy red colour.
 
Ok am I the only one who wants one of these to put that crappy fighter SVG in a cart?
 
Ok am I the only one who wants one of these to put that crappy fighter SVG in a cart?
No :P

I'm definitely in for a couple of these depending on price. I have a couple of the conversions but this would make it easier to get the last one sorted - and possibly others in the near future
 
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