I like this idea. Basically that way we can have our cake and eat it too.
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I read somewhere those huge Multicard memories are from old/trashed Pachinko machines.
One problem I see with this, is keeping track of where things are in memory. There would have to be an update to an address table every time something changed, and what would be responsible for updating said table?
I guess during the flashing process, it could cataloge where each games respective roms are being stored and what roms get loaded for what games.
I guess during the flashing process, it could cataloge where each games respective roms are being stored and what roms get loaded for what games.
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Eh, it's not bad enough to delete anything yet, drama-wise. Plus there isn't much of anything in this thread as far as solid information. It's all just suggestions for now. Trust me, I've been keeping my eye on it. I read every post on the forum.
Well we will not be dumpster diving for used flash memories. lol
which tpye NAND? NOR? Tell me part number if you know of any. Problem here is that it must be ALWAYS fast enough to be able to answer to any read request. Easier said than done. That discards NANDs and some other types as their setup time is too long.
Is 25ns fast enough? Just a quick look at these NAND chips. There about ~$2 a piece but can be had for alot cheaper if your buying in bulk.
S34ML01G200TFI000
I think the standard NeoGeo mask roms are 85ns at the fastest. But you would still have to calculate time in for address lookup and return.
that's a NAND and I believe you read wrong. It says:
Random access: 25 μs (Max)
You need to send the command, then the address, then read, with all the setup times, hold times, etc the first bytes of each random read will need about 500ns to read.
That's why chinese used memories with full available data and address bus, to shorten reading times.
Random access: 25 μs (Max)
You need to send the command, then the address, then read, with all the setup times, hold times, etc the first bytes of each random read will need about 500ns to read.
That's why chinese used memories with full available data and address bus, to shorten reading times.
Ahh my bad.
This is a great idea! Bravo!
To be honest, I don't think we'll ever play more than, say, 8 games. At least, I enjoy picking 3-4 games at a time and play them to death.
So a solution could be like the one PSICODROMO suggested, a way in between my idea and his:
SD Card where you can dump an entire rom set.
Enough memory to store up to 8 games (considering the biggest game is KOF2003 at 716Mb) which would be 716MB which is WAY more doable than having 20GB+ of memory chips and would bring the costs down a lot.
This way you choose 8 games you want to play and flash them from the SD Card so you have them instantly accessible.
When you grow tired you can flash 8 different games or, if you want to try another, you can load one directly from the SD Card (but you have to wait for it to be loaded).
This is an in-between solution I could live with.
The definitive solution is still the one where you could dump from the SD Card all the games into the ROMs so you can play any of them at any moment without waiting (other than the initial wait to flash them) but if sourcing those memory chips is a problem, then the solution proposed before could be acceptable (at least to me).
In the end you still retain the possibility of loading directly through SD Card and waiting for it to load, so nothing to lose here really.
EDIT: the chips which are on my 161-in-1 are:
FUJITSU DEVICES MSP55LV100S
EDIT 2: found some info on this chip - http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=2670076&postcount=68
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Was a good idea actually.
Those chips in the chinese carts are basically OTP ROMS, that is one time programable ROMS, that's it. If you screwed writing the wrong content there you can trash the chip.
The Spansion suggested meet the specifications but If I have to add chips to support 8 games, that would mean increasing the cost 50%...
I'll run some numbers. Keep throwing ideas, but remember that the more games, the higher cost. I'd be happy to add 40 of these MSP55LV100S and have a full collection. They don't seem to be easily available though....
What about the S34ML08G201TFI000?
8 Gbit, 25ns access time...it looks like a pretty good match, and it's not super expensive.
S34ML08G201TFI000
Data Sheet
8 Gbit, 25ns access time...it looks like a pretty good match, and it's not super expensive.
S34ML08G201TFI000
Data Sheet
Same problem as my suggestion.
Crap. I didn't read the datasheet properly. Random access is in microseconds. Only sequential read is in nanoseconds.
What about using volitale ram? Like DDR, would that be any faster as far as access times?
Like when a rom is selected it can get loaded into the memory and interfaced with like normal. A battery could be put on the board to retain memory while the unit is off to still allow direct booting to previous game.
Like when a rom is selected it can get loaded into the memory and interfaced with like normal. A battery could be put on the board to retain memory while the unit is off to still allow direct booting to previous game.
Wow, thread is good again and all is well.
Here's an idea: Would it be possible to add a button that makes the cart act like a multi-slot mobo (I dont imagine people would want to use other than 1-slot with this cart?) to cycle between the chosen games with a wired button on your control panel?
Here's an idea: Would it be possible to add a button that makes the cart act like a multi-slot mobo (I dont imagine people would want to use other than 1-slot with this cart?) to cycle between the chosen games with a wired button on your control panel?
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