EPROM Burners....what to buy? What can they do?

[maxlords]

Ok, I'm looking for information on EPROM burners. I'm currently looking at a Needham's EMP-10: http://www.needhams.com/e10.html

What I'm wondering is this. I know I can burn arcade EPROMs to repair stuff like CPS1 games, but can I burn EPROMs of MASK ROMs from SNES/SFC carts? Or EPROMs of the ROMs from Genesis/MD carts? I want to take the translated ROMs from games like Langrisser 2 and then burn them to an EPROM and insert it back into the carts so I can play the translated ROMs on my Genesis or SNES system. Are there lockouts on the boards for the carts to prevent this? Would I have to get the exact same carts or could I use any Genesis cart?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone can point me to a basics of soldering page...I need to practice if I'm gonna start fiddling with arcade boards and ROMs.

Oh yeah, and will this EPROM burner be sufficient for my needs?

Thanks!

[rbudrick]

I too have been looking into getting an eeprom burner, but I have no idea what to look for, what features to want, what limitations they have, what kind of chips they work with, where to get chips.....ugh...the list goes on.

I'd love to hear some of your input on this also.

-Rob

[Bratwurst]

I have an EMP-20 and I have yet to run into anything it couldn't program with all of the included device adaptors. Though the EMP-10 is a lower level model I am confident it will suit your needs and may even be a little overkill. The software and interface for programming is a dream and works under WinXP flawlessly.

No cartridge out there has any lockouts for using eproms on them, they're just circuit boards. As opposed to removing the original mask roms from your games however I suggest you find boards from games you don't care about and have a similar architecture, so if you mess up there won't be incentive to cry in your milk so to speak. It also keeps your games in a state that could easily be returned to their original condition as repeated desoldering and removal of chips can be stressful to the delicate traces of the circuit boards.

Finding the right eproms for SNES and Genny carts will also be a necessity and something for you to research before you jump in; hopefully someone here already knows this sort of stuff and can provided that information. I'm more comfortable with SMS and NES stuff, personally.

Here's a page that documents some SNES conversions:

snesdev (http://snesdev.romhack.de/game_select.htm)

Note that it may not be so simple as taking one chip out and putting another in. You will likely have to rewire pins, bend pins up, etc.

If you're going to be removing a lot of DIP chips (the kind that mount through the board) then I highly recommend that you get one of these:

Vacuum desoldering station (http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/968.html)

It may seem pricey initially but it will save you a lot of pain and suffering. I'm not exaggerating- the alternative is to use a manual hand pump. I believe arcade boards have sockets though so it ultimately depends on how many cartridges you intend to do.

[maxlords]

Wowza. I think I need to find out how often I'll be doing this stuff before I spend THAT kind of bread. The burner will cost me enough as it is :) Nice to know it's a very good unit that should cover my needs. Now I need to practice soldering and unsoldering. How hard are handheld solder suckers to use? I've seen a pro use one and he was REALLY good with it...never bothered with a station. I hadn't planned on using nice carts...had figured I'd start with trashy carts and if I got really good, more to actually removing the maskROMs. I was worried about the architecure of the boards for using different games however. Will most games mostly support different ROMsets in the same cart board? A little rewiring and bending is fine once I get the hang of soldering.

[Bratwurst]

Well, I shouldn't have made it out to sound so scary but it does take practice. Try to get a handheld sucker with a metal tip if you can find one and just practice. You'll also be using solder braid which is a spool of flat, braided ribbon of threaded copper. Heat it over a spot of solder and it draws it out. Time consuming though.


I was worried about the architecure of the boards for using different games however. Will most games mostly support different ROMsets in the same cart board? A little rewiring and bending is fine once I get the hang of soldering.

My experience with NES games wants me to say no, you will have to find the same board types. I don't think it will be such a problem with Genesis games though? I -could- be wrong but there weren't very many board variations like there were with NES carts and different mappers. Most early Genesis games for sure were just straightfoward chip pin to contact traces.

[maxlords]

Sounds pretty promising to me. I just wish you could overwrite the ROM chips instead of havng to buy EPROMS! The cost is a bit prohibitive being as I'm broke, but it isn't too bad it looks like. Now I have to find the right EPROMs! :D And of course snag the burner....and pay my credit card bills...and and and! I'll let you know how I am with it. I don't mind painstaking if it's not super difficult. It's more of an "I want this for me" thing than me wanting to make a side business selling em.

[rbudrick]

I've never used a vaccum pump or a solder braid. The hand pumps have always been great to me. Just remember to repump it right after you use it so it's ready when you want it.

Soldering isn't that hard, really. Just practice for a while and don't breath the fumes.

-Rob

[DogP]

I've used a few EPROM burners, and I've gotta say the best one for the money is the Willem ( www.willem.org ). It does pretty much everything, and it's REALLY cheap compared to others, and everything is really well documented, along with open source software. The support is great, and with adapters, it can do pretty much everything. The only thing I don't like about it is the speed, it takes a few minutes to burn a full chip, but unless you're burning tons of chips at a time, it doesn't really matter.

About getting EPROMs, I usually buy a large lot of them on ebay, and almost never pay more than $1/chip. And yeah, usually to burn a new version of a game you will need at least a compatible donor game, whether that's the same game, or another that uses the same board. You'll also need to bend a few mins and jumper a few others, but nothing very tough. And I use a desoldering pump all the time, I find it to be very fast once you get used to it.

DogP