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PlusCart (an inexpensive DIY WiFi multicart)


Al_Nafuur

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Hi Al_Nafuur. Yes, I have tried 

http://192.168.4.1

from the top address bar of the browser. Tried with Opera, Edge and Chrome both Windows and MacOSX but no luck. I just get a "this site is unavailable" page. It is weird because the SSID Plucart+ is visible and I am connected to it.

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1 hour ago, repetto74 said:

Hi Al_Nafuur. Yes, I have tried 


http://192.168.4.1

from the top address bar of the browser. Tried with Opera, Edge and Chrome both Windows and MacOSX but no luck. I just get a "this site is unavailable" page. It is weird because the SSID Plucart+ is visible and I am connected to it.

Do you have a PlusCart (or DIY Kit) from the PlusCart webshop? Or did you get the parts yourself?

 

If the second is true, are you sure that the firmware version is v.1.6.2 or newer on the ESP8266?

Edited by Al_Nafuur
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7 hours ago, Al_Nafuur said:

Do you have a PlusCart (or DIY Kit) from the PlusCart webshop? Or did you get the parts yourself?

 

If the second is true, are you sure that the firmware version is v.1.6.2 or newer on the ESP8266?

I got the DIY kit from the Webshop. I will recheck the firmware version from the menu for the Wifi module. It should be at least 1.6.2 right?

I cannot even say it is a bad soldering as I checked all my solder joints under microscope and looks fine. Anyway the cart seems to work fine and gives access to menu functions. I have tried to scan for "wifi in range" and no results are showing. Also weird as there are at least two good wifi signal in range here and used by the PC. 

I will try to flash a TAR archive to memory and check if the board is working.

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1 hour ago, repetto74 said:

I got the DIY kit from the Webshop. I will recheck the firmware version from the menu for the Wifi module. It should be at least 1.6.2 right?

 

You can check the firmware version of the WiFi module at the "Setup" -> "System Info" menu.

 

1 hour ago, repetto74 said:

I cannot even say it is a bad soldering as I checked all my solder joints under microscope and looks fine. Anyway the cart seems to work fine and gives access to menu functions.

 

If the PlusCart boots with your Atari and you can see and navigate the menus, then the soldering for the STM board should be fine.

 

1 hour ago, repetto74 said:

I have tried to scan for "wifi in range" and no results are showing. Also weird as there are at least two good wifi signal in range here and used by the PC.

That's not a good sign if a WiFi scan has no result. Have you connected a ESP8266 with the AT-Command firmware to your network before?

 

1 hour ago, repetto74 said:

I will try to flash a TAR archive to memory and check if the board is working.

This should work, because it does not include the WiFi module.

To flash the tar archive with the STM32CubeProgrammer you have to change the extension to ".bin". After manually flashing the TAR archive you have to use the "Setup" -> "Search for Offline ROMs" function.

 

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50 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said:

You can check the firmware version of the WiFi module at the "Setup" -> "System Info" menu.

 

If the PlusCart boots with your Atari and you can see and navigate the menus, then the soldering for the STM board should be fine.

 

That's not a good sign if a WiFi scan has no result. Have you connected a ESP8266 with the AT-Command firmware to your network before?

 

This should work, because it does not include the WiFi module.

To flash the tar archive with the STM32CubeProgrammer you have to change the extension to ".bin". After manually flashing the TAR archive you have to use the "Setup" -> "Search for Offline ROMs" function.

 

I have never used those ESP8266 Wifi modules before. I do not know what is their range but normally in the room where I am the Wifi network range should be sufficient. Let me check for the firmware version and let you know. What I can try is to hook up a Wifi booster I have and increase the Wifi signal which may helps. What is weird is that the module is showing the SSID but no access to the router from any device connected to it.

I will also build a TAR archive with some games binaries and check but I am pretty confident that will work. 

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Ok back with some more infos.

The offline roms works perfectly so the board is ok. 

Firmware version of the wifi does not show a version number.

Last try will be to connect via WPS but I am really wondering if this module is working at this stage. 

Any guide on how to check compatibility of this module with my wifi network?

pluscart_screenshot.jpg

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Ok back with some more infos.

The offline roms works perfectly so the board is ok. 

Firmware version of the wifi does not show a version number.

Last try will be to connect via WPS but I am really wondering if this module is working at this stage. 

Any guide on how to check compatibility of this module with my wifi network?

 

PS : starting maybe to understand. Do I need to flash the ESP8266 with a firmware or is it already programmed? 

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Hi firends,

I'm a bit confused about downloading the Offline roms to the cart. I tried 2 methods without success.

First of all, the card is well connected and online roms working great. Plustore Account is ok and well recognized by the card (Icon is full on upright side of the screen.

I place a rom file in the Offline directory on the plustore app, in the card menu went to Download offline roms and the screen turn to blue with the (+) icon rolling.

But after 30 minutes, still rolling...

reset, then tried with a TAR file in the offline directory, no success too.

 

What am I doing wrong ? is there anything more to check/do ?

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1 hour ago, repetto74 said:

Ok back with some more infos.

The offline roms works perfectly so the board is ok. 

Firmware version of the wifi does not show a version number.

Last try will be to connect via WPS but I am really wondering if this module is working at this stage. 

Any guide on how to check compatibility of this module with my wifi network?

 

PS : starting maybe to understand. Do I need to flash the ESP8266 with a firmware or is it already programmed? 

You do not need to flash the ESP8266. It comes pre-flashed.

It sounds highly suspect to me. I'd be checking the soldering on that module, and perhaps thinking about replacing it.

Also, as an aside, my carts work fine with v1.0.0 of the module sourced from China, but they do not firmware-update correctly.

But, seeing no version at all suggests to me that your ESP8266 is non-functional.

Let's see what @Al_Nafuur says.

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5 minutes ago, Andrew Davie said:

You do not need to flash the ESP8266. It comes pre-flashed.

It sounds highly suspect to me. I'd be checking the soldering on that module, and perhaps thinking about replacing it.

Also, as an aside, my carts work fine with v1.0.0 of the module sourced from China, but they do not firmware-update correctly.

But, seeing no version at all suggests to me that your ESP8266 is non-functional.

Let's see what @Al_Nafuur says.

I would like to check the continuity of each of the 8 pins of the module. Some are easy to spot with the visible traces on the board and some I do not really know where to check.

I will check also for any bad soldering on the module components. Luckily I have a microscope and some tooling for smd components.

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Just now, repetto74 said:

I would like to check the continuity of each of the 8 pins of the module. Some are easy to spot with the visible traces on the board and some I do not really know where to check.

I will check also for any bad soldering on the module components. Luckily I have a microscope and some tooling for smd components.

The board layout is available in the github respository for the PlusCart in the directory 'pcbs'. (Eagle format, and gerbers too)

That may help you with tracing the ... traces.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, repetto74 said:

I would like to check the continuity of each of the 8 pins of the module. Some are easy to spot with the visible traces on the board and some I do not really know where to check.

I will check also for any bad soldering on the module components. Luckily I have a microscope and some tooling for smd components.

I thought these might help you...  top (red) and bottom(blue) traces.

 

1561578911_ScreenShot2021-03-19at7_17_13am.thumb.png.475a16719796823885f281376d1cad1d.png

 

1205240718_ScreenShot2021-03-19at7_16_39am.thumb.png.fdbf2ecc868a096fb02100a2365c8ff5.png

 

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Just because the new "unified board" layout is so much prettier... I had to share... top/bottom combined....

Same connections, except the data lines are now doubled to support the differences between UnoCart and PlusCart firmware.

And, of course, a SD-card added....

 

1992334753_ScreenShot2021-03-19at7_21_28am.thumb.png.27a107c8b96e1c92f6297f54f2c41747.png

 



 

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5 hours ago, repetto74 said:

Ok back with some more infos.

The offline roms works perfectly so the board is ok. 

Firmware version of the wifi does not show a version number.

Last try will be to connect via WPS but I am really wondering if this module is working at this stage. 

Any guide on how to check compatibility of this module with my wifi network?

The colours suggest you have not setup the TV mode to be correct for your region.

 

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Just now, repetto74 said:

It is a PAL 2600 with a composite mod. How do I change the TV mode? The 2600 is connected via an HDMI upscaler to my PC LCD screen.

It's a menu option on the PlusCart itself.

Setup/Display Preferences/TV Mode

Also, you might like to checkout the available fonts, also under Display Preferences

 

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1 minute ago, Andrew Davie said:

It's a menu option on the PlusCart itself.

Setup/Display Preferences/TV Mode

Also, you might like to checkout the available fonts, also under Display Preferences

 

Ok thanks good to know :-). I will give a try. Need to play a little bit with the menu and options. I am focusing on this non working wifi module at the moment.

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55 minutes ago, repetto74 said:

I checked the continuity of the module pins and all is fine. Mmmmmmmm think really something is wrong on the module itself.

Is the "Pluscart+" SSID always visible even when the "Start WiFi Manager Portal" is Not active?

 

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2 hours ago, philgood1351fr said:

Hi firends,

I'm a bit confused about downloading the Offline roms to the cart. I tried 2 methods without success.

First of all, the card is well connected and online roms working great. Plustore Account is ok and well recognized by the card (Icon is full on upright side of the screen.

I place a rom file in the Offline directory on the plustore app, in the card menu went to Download offline roms and the screen turn to blue with the (+) icon rolling.

But after 30 minutes, still rolling...

reset, then tried with a TAR file in the offline directory, no success too.

 

What am I doing wrong ? is there anything more to check/do ?

Your tar File ist too small for downloading via the internet. Because of a bug in v1.1.0 it needs to be 32 KiB min.

.

 

For manually flashing you need to use "Setup -> Detect Offline ROMs" afterwards

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57 minutes ago, Andrew Davie said:

... and @Al_Nafuur would surely advise you to blank/mask that unique serial number of your STM to avoid fraud/impersonation.

 

43 minutes ago, repetto74 said:

I cannot edit my posts but he can feel free to remove pics.

Unfortunately I can not delete these screenshots. I think only @Albert can do this.

 

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