Lynx Multi Card Preorders

[SainT]

If peoples are still updating the os software for the lynx software,well i was thinking how about a cheat option for games? Yes i know the lynx ram bus is NOT straight connected to the cart rom BUT what if the microcontroller chip does have over an whopping 4MB of space inside it, it can just load the whole entire rom in it's own ram be decrypting it, then it can manipulate that ram with your invulved code,then re-encrypt it again and then load into into the lynx ram,why would i think it's in theory possible,that's because a lynx emulator for the first xbox allows you to put cheat codes in lynx games.

But even if it becomes possible,let's just first focus us on getting our lynx sd card adaptor some day and then we can alway's focus on this idea.

Lol, yeah, the microcontroller has 1KB of RAM. Getting it working at all with this little RAM was relatively challenging.

 

The best way to handle any cheat stuff would be to have multiple rom images pre-patched.

[SainT]

SainT, are you happy for me to release updates on this thread, or would you rather I separated it out into another thread?

I'm happy either way, to be honest! Although it might be nice to have a separate thread just so your posts don't get buried in here? They are valuable information in their own right.

 

I'm extremely grateful for the help, btw! I'm quite surprised how much time is being taken up with just admin type stuff for me at the moment.

[Guitari]

One more Question... It's not possible to have the previously written rom ready for play on the next turn on of the machine or must it have a fresh rom written each time?

[SainT]

One more Question... It's not possible to have the previously written rom ready for play on the next turn on of the machine or must it have a fresh rom written each time?

No, the ROM is actually loaded into an SRAM chip before it is run, so there is no persistant state. In theory you could do this with an additional battery backup and a button to erase or something, but then it all starts getting complicated.

 

It should however return your selection to the last game you played in the menu, so at worst you're only one button press (and about 10-15 seconds) away from the last game you were playing.

 

It would be possible to auto run the last ROM you selected if you turn the menu on with the option button pressed or something? That sounds like it might be a handy feature...

[GadgetUK]

Very very nice as ever, Gadget!

 

To get around the 8.3 file format issue it is possible to take the name of the ROM from the LNX header, although you have to make sure they are correct. It would be handy if there was just a utility to replace this info in the header with the long filename (minus extension) to be honest. Again something I want to get onto.

 

Annoyingly long filename support requires quite a lot more additional RAM on the microcontroller, and just wasn't feasible with the other chip features I wanted.

 

Edit: speed wise reading from the cartridge (and hence SD card) there is actually a fair bit of scope for improving this. At the moment I am extremely careful to check if data is ready before reading each byte. For fast reads where you know the length of the data you should be able to get away with constant nop based delay to maximise throughput. The may be some caveats about delays when moving across sector boundaries, but there's definitely room for improvement.

Yes, I was thinking the same earlier! I've got all the images tonight for all commercial games and many homebrew games (boy it took ages lol). I will think about the best way to mod it to use the name in the file rather than the filename. It might just be a case of the way evedrives handle it - lose 1 line of the file list there and have (in a different colour) the text from the .LSD file, so the name can be larger and allow it to scroll or something. I guess v1.4 will contain all the .LSD files I've created so far, so anyone wanting to update their menu might want to stick with the 1.2 version until I've got 1.4 out.

 

EDIT: I might need to check the 'last run' code as well, I might have broken it, or it might not like folders or something. I will check that out tomorrow when I update for game name stuff.

Edited May 26, 2016 by GadgetUK

[fred]

I'd like to be added to the list if it's not too late.

[Andromeda Stardust]

All this talk of LSD... I'd love to buy one of these but between a rescent splurge on Turbo / PC Engine games and saving up for the RetroUSB AVS (720p FPGA NES), my wallet is broke...

[deadspace4]

Hi i would like to be added to the list. Thank you.

[UberArcade]

I would like to order one. Thanks!

[Guitari]

I'm experiencing issues since putting roms in alphabetical folders.

1. the display returns to the Z folder each time even after previously loading a D game.

2. Some roms go to programming then just display a colour screen such as orange or green.

3. A lot of homebrew roms are returning to the menu rather than be programmed.

4. The homebrew tetris buzzes and the machine switches off.

 

I think the problems started since no. 4. I think I may have to delete the content of the SD and copy it back again.

[SainT]

On 5/27/2016 at 9:37 PM, Guitari said:

I'm experiencing issues since putting roms in alphabetical folders.

1. the display returns to the Z folder each time even after previously loading a D game.

2. Some roms go to programming then just display a colour screen such as orange or green.

3. A lot of homebrew roms are returning to the menu rather than be programmed.

4. The homebrew tetris buzzes and the machine switches off.

 

I think the problems started since no. 4. I think I may have to delete the content of the SD and copy it back again.

 

1) Ok, sounds like there are some issues returning to the previously selected game from the menu as Gadget mentioned.

2) If you post up which ROM's are having issues, I can have a look. I've had no issues with the commercial catalog, but as has been mentioned before, there could be any number of issues with homebrew.

3) Yes. As I say, there could be any number of issues with the homebrew ROMs.

4) Again, homebrew I can't really vouch for ever actually working on real hardware. If it works in handy that's one thing, but if its never been run on real hardware then it may not actually work.

 

But essentially, if you have any particular ROM with an issue, please let me know and I can investigate.

 

Also I wouldn't think crashing the Lynx could cause any corruption of the memory card as once the ROM has been loaded into SRAM, the memory card is powered down.

 

Actually, what would be very useful for me is if we could get a list of all homebrew people have tested and whether it works or not. As far as I am aware, all commercial titles run fine. I'm happy to investigate and see if the issue is dodgy headers or something else and fix the ROM image if possible.

Edited October 23, 2019 by SainT

[SainT]

To keep any ROM related issues in one place I've created this thread here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/253119-lynx-sd-rom-problems/

 

Any ROM issues, please post! Or even if you just want to say certain homebrew works, that would also be good to know, too!

[SainT]

Oh! And one more thing... one trick I use to determine if it's the menu at fault is to rename the ROM you want to test to menu.bin and copy to a memory card.

 

The menu.bin is actually just a ROM image, so the microcontroller will copy any LNX ROM image you give it to the SRAM and pass it to the Lynx. If the menu is causing an issue (which I have experienced before) then the ROM will boot in this way but not when run from the menu.

 

As Guitari mentioned seeing a coloured screen, etc, this is one symptom I have seen before with Toki (for one) which was caused by the hardware being incompletely reset to power on state before the game boots form the menu. In this case it will work fine when run directly as menu.bin.

Edited October 25, 2019 by SainT

[GadgetUK]

I'm experiencing issues since putting roms in alphabetical folders.

1. the display returns to the Z folder each time even after previously loading a D game.

2. Some roms go to programming then just display a colour screen such as orange or green.

3. A lot of homebrew roms are returning to the menu rather than be programmed.

4. The homebrew tetris buzzes and the machine switches off.

 

I think the problems started since no. 4. I think I may have to delete the content of the SD and copy it back again.

Which ROMs are you having problems with? If its a homebrew, it might be useful if you could post a link to the file you are using? There are some issues with ROMs that aren't the standard 128K, 256K, 512K etc, and I think that should just be a quick update to the code to pad out the ROM and correctly load it with respect to block size etc, or maybe to correct the ROM itself. There are a lot of dodgy ROMs I notice though - my collection for example, some of the ones with B1 or B2 etc in the code are bad, and I think thats what the B is for. All the commercial and proper homebrews I've tried have worked, excepting for roms where it needs padding out.

[Guitari]

Thanks guys, sorry I didn't read through all the posts before during the testing phases just didn't have time. Commercial games seem fine but not tried them all. One of the two toki roms goes to green screen. Will you be looking at a fix for returning to the previous game problem? There's a lot of home brews, I'll post up screen shots of my file / folder structure and try to indicate which have problems on the other new rom thread. I haven't unzipped them all yet.

[SainT]

Thanks guys, sorry I didn't read through all the posts before during the testing phases just didn't have time. Commercial games seem fine but not tried them all. One of the two toki roms goes to green screen. Will you be looking at a fix for returning to the previous game problem? There's a lot of home brews, I'll post up screen shots of my file / folder structure and try to indicate which have problems on the other new rom thread. I haven't unzipped them all yet.

Yep, I'll get on and sort bugs out (if Gadget doesn't beat me to it ) next week, starting with the menu game selection thing and going on to specific ROMs.

[Guitari]

Ok, this sucker needs a sticker. Who's good at art?

[108 Stars]

I bet SainT has both his Retro HQ logo (is there a website?), and the Lynx SD logo that is cut out on the card as graphic files. You could make a label out of those.

[SainT]

Ok, this sucker needs a sticker. Who's good at art?

Hmmm, labels you say...

 

I'm gradually looking at ways to make the cart even nicer, so I'll have a think about an optional sticker for the back there. I like it black myself.

 

I'm trying to track down some hard cases also as I don't like just packing with foam / bubble wrap. I'd prefer it had a proper box.

[Guitari]

It's interesting as I was suggesting on the recent thread about a 3d printed lynx display stand that we really ought to be able to 3d print a proper lynx logoed case like game gear or game boy had and someone said better to 3d print the mould for it. But if it's just for shipping I reckon these would fit really well in a game boy case.I'll try it tomorrow.

[djugel]

I didn't see my name on the list... I'm in no rush.. but I'd like to get one cased

 

thanks!

[Andromeda Stardust]

I'm a bit concerned about the fact that the version with the cover doesn't fit in the Lynx I. There should be a way to have a single model that fits both Lynx versions. Could potentially be an issue for people with both models.

[Mattman007]

I'm a bit concerned about the fact that the version with the cover doesn't fit in the Lynx I. There should be a way to have a single model that fits both Lynx versions. Could potentially be an issue for people with both models.

Maybe with another revision if traces on the pcb are not in the way there could be some holes in the board like the turbo everdrive that a printed cover could press fit into and be removed if needed.

[manic23]

I've updated the menu again!

 

 

The next update will probably to try and support some of the oddly formatted .lnx files out there.

 

Hi G-UK, just wondered where the download is for 1.3?

 

Edit: Sorry I found it in the YT video description.

Edited May 29, 2016 by manic23

[manic23]

By the way, not sure if this helps, but you can download screenshots of all commercial games here, http://no-intro.dlgsoftware.net/main.php?modulo=juegos&sistema=2&lang=1&filtro=1

 

Might be easier than capturing with Handy?

 

I have them all zipped up if you would like me to share here let me know. Will save people having to manually download each one. I have screenshots of in game play and also titles.

Edited May 29, 2016 by manic23