As the topic says, they are all gone. Thanks everyone that bought one. I won't be making any more because PC's no longer come with usable parallel ports, and the chips that make it up are getting difficult to come by (the 6522 in particular).
Maybe it's time for a FTDI USB/CPLD version? Or do you not have anymore interest?
kyuusaku wrote:
Maybe it's time for a FTDI USB/CPLD version? Or do you not have anymore interest?
would be very interested in this if it was ever done
Me too. I don't want this thing to go away completely, if at all possible.
I was just curious if people will still be able to buy kits from you to build this or if you aren't making those either.
greyranger wrote:
I was just curious if people will still be able to buy kits from you to build this or if you aren't making those either.
Covered in a
recent post:
kevtris wrote:
However, I'm done with production and kits. (the kits were actually a pain in the ass, even though there wasn't very many parts in it, I still occasionally screwed up and put in the wrong parts or whatnot, even triple checking. It's much easier to sell a completely assembled and tested board- I know it works, and it has all the parts on it).
greyranger wrote:
I was just curious if people will still be able to buy kits from you to build this or if you aren't making those either.
I have no more PCBs, so no more kits either. The lack of usable parallel ports is a real drag, too. coupled with the lack of windows based software from me didn't help either. Q's program worked in windows, but he kinda quit the skene(tm) so apparently no more updates on that front either.
Eh, well at least CopyNES wasn't the only NES development solution available when it died...
Just out of curiosity, why is the CopyNES so picky about what parallel ports it can use? I've had a grand total of two computers that could communicate with the thing, one of which is now dead. -_-
(The dead one was a rather nice Athlon system, too. An Athlon with a non-buggered LPT port, what a rarity...)
I believe it has to do with timing and voltage logic levels. Some systems 'underdrive' the parallel port pins, resulting in an inability for the copynes to read the command data sent, and causing it to get stuck in a state where its waiting for acknowledgement. I think.
A hysteresis circuit placed on all the directional wires, and a dual-direction hysteresis circuit (tricky to make) placed on the bidirectional data lines, would fix the problem.
It could be built into a parallel dongle fairly easily.
LN
Would the parallel port cards you can buy be useful? They sell for a few dollars at the local computer store.
so far it has worked on all computers I have tryed, although I have to change the BIOS settings for the port to bi-directional sence none of them were set like that by default
And to think I wanted a copy NES!
Lloyd Gordon wrote:
Would the parallel port cards you can buy be useful? They sell for a few dollars at the local computer store.
I bought one from CompUSA that contained a "MOSCHIP" controller, and it didn't work. Not surprising, since it wouldn't even show (let alone allow me to change) the port's address or IRQ or anything. "Full function parallel port" my @ss. I'm guessing most PCI add-in cards are designed only to work with modern printers, ZIP drives, and the like.
Windows either doesn't allow or just doesn't want to map PCI devices to legacy ports and the cards don't have much of a say in the matter. Drivers should be able to override Windows' decision though.
I can't even use my CopyNES. I bought a PCI LPT card that worked when I used win98, but there are no XP drivers and the company making it got bought out. I guess I have the black sheep of their chipset family since it's not even listed on their site now.
And with my newer mainboard's LPT, it works half-assedly. Usually dies halfway through any operation.
That sucks.
yes he did, he refused to sell me a CopyNES, down to the last stuffed board.
I haven't gotten my copynes to work on ANY computer, except Madman's when I sent it to him to test. Worked perfectly for him. I guess parallel ports just hate me, because I tried a buttload of machines. I found an old piece of shit P100 or something in my house, so I'll try that out sometime.
-Rob
The only way I was able to get my copynes to work (for windows xp) was to buy a PCI parallel card. A NetMos 9805, I believe. None of my machines on board parallel ports work with copynes.
Its because most motherboards don't drive the parallel port output lines to the correct voltage (4.5v?) needed by the NMOS 6522 inside the copynes, I think. most drive them to 3.3vish.
A unidirectional signal booster, if such a thing exists, would instantly solve all problems.
Anyone care to design one? it basically applies hysteresis to the voltages applied to the 'outgoing' signal from the computer to boost it to 5v.
so:
computer -> 3.3v -> booster -> 5v -> copynes
copynes -> 5v -> booster (ignores this signal) -> 5v -> computer
the ignoring signal part is especially important for the data pins, which can be inputs or outputs on either end.
A CMOS 65C22 *might* have slightly better tolerance of low voltages than an NMOS one does, but is much harder to obtain.
LN
My pentium 60 under Windows 98/DOS works perfectly.
Yes, because its old enough that the motherboard manufacturer didn't cut corners.
LN
lynxsolaris wrote:
The only way I was able to get my copynes to work (for windows xp) was to buy a PCI parallel card. A NetMos 9805, I believe. None of my machines on board parallel ports work with copynes.
Mind telling me how you got it to work? The PCI card I bought used the same chip, and I couldn't get it to do anything.
BMF54123 wrote:
Mind telling me how you got it to work? The PCI card I bought used the same chip, and I couldn't get it to do anything.
I used the Win32 client (Q's) and assigned parallel Port to LPT1 and Address to DC80(in client->options). Worked like a charm.
Lord Nightmare wrote:
Its because most motherboards don't drive the parallel port output lines to the correct voltage (4.5v?) needed by the NMOS 6522 inside the copynes, I think. most drive them to 3.3vish.
A unidirectional signal booster, if such a thing exists, would instantly solve all problems.
Anyone care to design one? it basically applies hysteresis to the voltages applied to the 'outgoing' signal from the computer to boost it to 5v.
so:
computer -> 3.3v -> booster -> 5v -> copynes
copynes -> 5v -> booster (ignores this signal) -> 5v -> computer
the ignoring signal part is especially important for the data pins, which can be inputs or outputs on either end.
A CMOS 65C22 *might* have slightly better tolerance of low voltages than an NMOS one does, but is much harder to obtain.
LN
lynxsolaris wrote:
BMF54123 wrote:
Mind telling me how you got it to work? The PCI card I bought used the same chip, and I couldn't get it to do anything.
I used the Win32 client (Q's) and assigned parallel Port to LPT1 and Address to DC80(in client->options). Worked like a charm.this is my source of information in my reply,
Davr.org :: SNES :: joystick.txt, since my only past experience involved using GwBasic with the Fischer-Technique front-loadable TSR module for using LPT1/LPT2 for robotics implementations. However, the 8086 i used for the project had a fried LPT1 port with no LPT2 so my project tho the code was flawless and the robot i built was connected and constructed within specifications to the Fischer-Technique module, failed to operate. If i ever find my copy i made of that TSR again, i will gladly shared it with those that are interested. Wiring an LPT1 or LPT2 port incorrectly will likely fry the port from what I have read. You may already have a damaged port from past use or incompatible devices, especially for second hand hardware.
Davr.org :: SNES :: joystick.txt wrote:
The main problem with PC parallel ports is that they don't have +5V power
source on any of their pins. So, if you want a reliable source of power
for your pads, use either keyboard or joystick port, and make a pass-through
cable. You can also pull the power directly from the power supply (the red
wire is +5V).
oldskool parallel ports for rarer commodore/apple systems used either +5v or +5.5v supply i think on multiple pins 8 thru 11. however, i haven't been able to verify this difference via online document yet. so don't even attempt to draw power from those pins on such a system without verifying such info firsthand from a respectable and proven source of hardware documentation.
my second paragraph in this reply, prolly isn't applicable to CopyNES. However, i decided to include it in my response anyhow.
What do Commodore and Apple parallel ports have to do with anything?
In most cases parallel ports don't have to output 5V in order to interface with "5V" devices since a logical high in TTL is 2-5V.
Lord Nightmare wrote:
A unidirectional signal booster, if such a thing exists, would instantly solve all problems.
Anyone care to design one? it basically applies hysteresis to the voltages applied to the 'outgoing' signal from the computer to boost it to 5v.
so:
I can see two options here:
- Use a 74lc244 to buffer the signals coming from the PC (3.3v will register a '1')
- Use funkier and newer logic level translation solutions. If you go this route you get bidirectional conversion without having to mess with a Direction pin. Check out maxim, texas instrument or analog devices site for this.
edit: jargon, why must you always post bullshit?
edit2: Nice document about all that stuff:
Selecting the Right Level-Translation Solution
http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/scea035a/scea035a.pdf
Why not just scrounge an old PC? They're all over the place here.