PI/Arduino Processor Emulator

[silverfox0786]

I have used a GPIO pin on the pi to reset the arduino as when using the internal serial link, a reset is not done unlike when you use the USB port. Spent lots of time on the reset side of things so the tester will boot reliably ever time.

The mame files are taken from a typical mame/roms directory on a PC. Store all files in the mame folder on the pi and run a separate program which will create a txt file with names etc in plus CRC32 values. The tester refers to this for checking. If you want to add an unknown rom then new ones are appended to the file. If a newer mame/rom list is used than what I supply, then the process needs done again. Think theres currently about 2000 plus files it will check. Does it in less than 1 sec

sorry i think you mis read my post i meant the 2 pins when you said about shutdown and then having to remove power cable to reboot

the internal reset allows the power to stay plugged in and then reset the pi once you have that white screen

as for the MAME CRC check what i meant was you have 2000 files and counting, you dont need that with just 1 file, The actual MAME.exe file which has all known correct CRC for every dumped game

example

if you run your id and it loads say eg starforce rom 1 witrh a CRC of eg 23f467e4 and you dont have that loaded in your files it will say not found do you wish to add but say for example

23f467e4 is a bad or overdump or corrupt dump adn it gets added to your list them its problematic

where as MAME.exe has the correct CRC for it so with MAME it will say 23f467e4 unknown so we know thats not right because MAME has a proven correct CRC to compare with

the only thing user has to do is add the latest MAME.exe every last wednesday of the month

lastly, will you be showing how to display on a TV via HDMI
silverfox07862016-09-04 12:33:45

 

[andrewsm]

OK sort of get what your saying mate. Does mame use CRC32? As far as mame is concerned im not that fluent with it and probably got an early version. Maybe you can point me in right direction to get the correct level? The reset is fine. Shutting down the tester is only needed if you want to turn off the whole machine. When the test program is selected, it will automatically reboot the arduino.

Thanks for the info and theres another video showing it reading ROMS now. I have switched it to HDMI so you can see it on external monitor this time. There are two simply commands that get typed in to switch the displays which I will show in a video.

 

[silverfox0786]

basically MAME.exe stores all CRC2 for each and every game rom chip dumped into MAME, working or not. if its dumped and submitted to MAME it will be in the EXE file

having MAME and the bin, hex or what ever mame file in the same folder the command is

mame.exe -romident /rom.bin

if mame is in a folder called mame and roms are in a folder called roms then

navigate to MAME folder and execute command like this

mame.exe -romident /roms/rom.bin

mame has a linux version which im sure can be used for Pi purposes

 

[andrewsm]

Cheers mate will take a look later today. Stuff i wasnt aware of actually. Learn something new..

 

[porchy]

Only drawback really is its quite slow

 

[tin]

+1 for the videos, watched the first 3 this morning and will watch the rest as time allows and they come in!

 

[silverfox0786]

Only drawback really is its quite slow

slow but accurate and no possibility of incorrect crc2 file being added

 

[porchy]

True but the idea was to be able to add new dumps should someone find them. There is also the scenario of someone not working on arcade/computer equipment at all so would need to be able to add.
What i ended up doing for my rom ident program was using the .dat file that gets released. Its quick to search, stays up to date and can be easily converted to different simpler formats and have the ability to add new entries.

Of course YMMV but i found it works best for my needs

 

[silverfox0786]

True but the idea was to be able to add new dumps should someone find them. There is also the scenario of someone not working on arcade/computer equipment at all so would need to be able to add.
What i ended up doing for my rom ident program was using the .dat file that gets released. Its quick to search, stays up to date and can be easily converted to different simpler formats and have the ability to add new entries.

Of course YMMV but i found it works best for my needs

im not saying completely loose the add function, just going by what Mark said about ARcade8bit1st Version

its life has started as an arcade repair system with other stuff that can be added in future

so i was putting my suggestions forwards towards arcade repairs

 

[porchy]

Thats primarily what everyone here will be using it for really but my point is if you use the mame executable you sacrifice speed. If you use something like the .dat file you still keep accuracy but gain the speed.
Im not saying the mame search is slow by any means but its slower than other methods available.

Again, this is my personal preference and in no way putting down other ideas. There are probably other advantages to using mame. I think mame might search against the sha1 rather than crc32 but im not 100% on thatporchy2016-09-04 14:25:23

 

[porchy]

Mark did mention his current method does it in less than a second

 

[silverfox0786]

i think your right in saying every ones mileage may vary

for me being a repair noob i need something i can trust and not mess up and i just fear i might accidentally add a CRC for an incorrect dump

where as i have used MAME to quite success even with its brute force method of searching though files to find a match

my personal opinion which i appreciate is not the same as everyone else is

accuracy over speed

being a hobby and not having to turn around repairs fast like you might do in industry but rather turn around repairs correctly for personal collection sacrificing a few extra seconds to make sure i have made sure the file im checking is correctly checked would be a big deal for me

silverfox07862016-09-04 14:29:04

 

[porchy]

Fair enough.
For the record, using the .dat file from the correct source is also accurate

 

[Hurray Banana]

Moved to tech, maintenance and repairs and sticked folks
Hurray Banana2016-09-04 15:34:17

 

[andrewsm]

Another video getting uploaded chaps. This time its the ADT (Chip Tester function) Be live in about 35mins

 

[Hurray Banana]

Great

 

[radfoo]

Another video getting uploaded chaps. This time its the ADT (Chip Tester function) Be live in about 35mins

Thanks, will have a look tonight.

 

[Nes4life]

These videos are great. Very useful as an overview of the tool and its capabilities.
I'm mightily impressed with it and very tempted to put my name down for one in the future.
Looking forward to seeing some repairs from those that have one.

 

[funhouse]

So glad you made the Youtube videos Mark - they're great!

As Nes4life says above, when you've finished showing off its abilities, a few videos of in-the-field fixes would be the icing on the cake.

I may well be in touch for one of these after I've moved house. Cheers!

 

[radfoo]

Just watched the last video, looks really good, so simple and quick to use. Was just wondering what is in the black box before the clip?

Looking forward to receiving mine!
radfoo2016-09-08 22:07:26