This is a simple dumper/writer for Famicom cartridges and Famicom Disc System cards. This version is much faster compared to the old one. It's using a very accurate M2 cycle simulation and FSMC (Flexible Static Memory Controller) to access PRG and CHR memory. FSMC is precisely synchronized with the M2 clock signal using a CPLD chip. The new version is also using a fast on-chip USB controller instead of a slow FT232 USB-UART converter.
You can use it to:
- Dump cartridges, so you can play copy of your cartridge on emulator.
- Read/write battery backed saves, so that you can continue your saved game on emulator/console.
- Write special cartridges like COOLGIRL.
- Rewrite ultracheap chinese COOLBOY cartridges. Soldering is required to work with old versions but it's very simple. New versions can be rewritten without soldering.
- Test your cartridges.
- Read and write Famicom Disk System cards using FDS drive with the RAM adapter.
- Some reverse engineering.
- Anything else that requires Famicom bus simulation.
Bill of Materials:
You need to write firmware to two chips: the STM32 chip using ST-Link programmer and the EPM1270 CPLD chip using USB Blaster programmer.
Under Windows the driver is usually installed automatically. If it doesn't, you can get the driver here: https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stsw-stm32102.html - registration required but it's free.
https://github.com/ClusterM/famicom-dumper-client