Burn 5200 rom to cart HOWTO ?

[NoahsMyBro]

I'm interested in burning a few 5200 carts, strictly for personal use.

I am not interested in anything requiring a menu - I have no idea how to go about that. I'm also completely ignorant of anything involving bank-switching.

Essentially, I'd like to take a handful of ROMs and turn them into individual physical cartridges I'd use myself.

And for anybody that cares, I've bought MANY homebrews, and have no plans to try and avoid buying items by doing this. By the time I purchase the EPROM burner and components, I assume I wouldn't save money anyway.

Now, back to the point:

Am I correct in thinking that the basic process is:
1) Get an EEPROM burner, cartridge shell, cartridge circuit board, and EEPROM chip.
2) Use my PC to write the ROM to the EEPROM chip.
3) Plug the EEPROM in to the socket (or solder it) on the circuit board.
4) Assemble and play.

?

Even if the above is correct, I assume there are many details I'm ignorant of.

Can anybody here shine light on the details, or at least point me to a good webpage or Usenet discussion describing this? I've tried searching the 'net tonight, and found little detailed info.

======================================

Actually, I just did one last look before posting this, and found what looks like exactly what I'm looking for over at Deathskull Labs. Any of you actually done this before ? It looks very easy.

[Goblin]

Am I correct in thinking that the basic process is:
1) Get an EEPROM burner, cartridge shell, cartridge circuit board, and EEPROM chip.
2) Use my PC to write the ROM to the EEPROM chip.
3) Plug the EEPROM in to the socket (or solder it) on the circuit board.
4) Assemble and play.


Steve:

The page you found over at death skull labs is the one I would have pointed you to myself. While I have never made a 5200 cartridge, I've done quite a few for other systems (2600, NES, BJL modified Jag, Coleco BIOS) and it really is that simple.

Chances are you would use an EPROM, not an EEPROM. EEPROM are newer (and more expensive) and can be rewritten electrically. Older EPROMS have quartz windows and must be exposed to UV light before rewriting. Considering 5200 titles aren't too big, use the cheaper smaller EPROMS. You can buy them cheap off ebay, or else I've a bunch I could sell/trade you.

I don't recall the exact 5200 procedure without looking it up, but usually the EPROMS are not 100% pin compatible. There is usually one or two pins that differ such as a write enable pin that needs to be lifted and wired to either an inverter or some other logic device. In the case of the 5200 I think it was an 'AND' gate, that you needed to convert the signals. I could be wrong on that, but I thought it was something I didn't have when I went to build one myself and then just never got around to buying.

I've got a burner and can give you a hand if you need it.

[FABombjoy]

It may also be worth considering the new PCBs available from Pixel's Past:

http://www.pixelspast.com/homebrew/

No rewiring required.