Arcade Protos

heh.. what a dumbfuck I'd be if I did damage the board.

 

http://www.answers.com/topic/eprom

"EPROM
(Erasable Programmable ROM) A rewritable memory chip that holds its content without power. EPROM chips are written on an external programming device before being placed on the circuit board. The chip requires an expensive ceramic package with a small quartz window that is covered with opaque, sticky tape.

******In order to reprogram an EPROM, the chip is extracted from the circuit board, the tape is removed, and it is placed under an intense ultraviolet (UV) light for approximately 20 minutes.******

Although still used, EPROMS evolved into EEPROMs and flash memory, both of which can be electrically erased while remaining on the circuit board. See EPROM programmer, EEPROM and memory types.


The Floating Gate Holds the Charge

EPROMs use a transistor with a floating gate underneath the control gate. To program the bit, a high voltage is applied to the control gate. This causes electrons to tunnel through the insulating oxide layer into the floating gate, which subsequently impedes the normal operation of the control gate (the 0 or 1 is determined by whether the actions of the control gate are blocked or not). The floating gate can hold the charge for more than a decade or until the device is erased; however, EPROMs only support a few hundred erase-write cycles."


so I guess all's ok. I wasn't too concerned at the time, but I must be more careful in the future.

god.. I'm such a newbie. lol..

 

so anyone have extensive knowlege of arcades and their history - if so I'd like to pick your brains about the mystery boards I picked up.

 

if you need something to read the chips..
people seem to recommend this for PROM/EPROM/EEPROM/Flash reading/programming, mostly b\c it's price and it's support of different chips:
http://www.willem.org/
http://www.willem.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=1_17 (direct link to shop)

 

mmmh... so would something like the eprom programmer 4.5 kit (60 euros) be something I'm looking for?

as I've said its a behemoth of a machine and I can't see myself shipping it anywhere for the time being. I just hope the dumping process is doable for an idiot like me.

 

Why are you against dumping arcade ROMS?

 

Oh yeah, that was the thing I didn't want to talk about...

I didn't mean for personal use, I meant getting the ROM and then dumping it for download by others.
I strongly dislike Mame, for ths same reason I dislike PSP homebrew (I'm happy playing sengoku cannon, star solidier and GGXX I don't need to play games I have on the proper consoles), oh and any cd image files off p2p.
No offence to anyone who does, I just like playing originals. Copies for yourself to prevent wear and tear are fine though.

I would also rather play my saturn waku waku 7 over the mame version any day. (till I get the board or the cart)

Lets not get into some silly moral debate. I just like originals, and If I will never play the original, I will live with that. Mame is great for historical purposes, however I think it would be difficult to deny that the majority of users, are playing the games you could buy and not the rare.

Only when I walk into a SuperPotato in Japan and have obtained everything for sale will I start worrying about what I could grab for free = supporting the industry.

As for this case, this guy has got a very rare game that lots of people probably want a ROM off. It is utterly his decision and I will say no more on the subject.

 

I'm almost certainly not going dump it for wider use, but I do think it be important to dump them nontheless. if anyone can help me, tell me the safest, cheapest, easiest way of getting it done, I'd very much appreciate it.

 

Warakia - That's cool, but that same type of thinking has let many, many, games die and forever be lost. Arcade PCB's die quite often.

devilredeemed - I suggest you send you board to the GURU for dumping. He will not only guaranteed send it back, if you wish for the ROM not to be release he won't.

Guru's site:

http://www.mameworld.net/gurudumps/

 

Thanks for understanding what I was trying to say, I wasn't morally censoring. I think Mame will stand as a monument to arcade history, its important to make these type of records. (just not quite so publically) - oh and I'm aware of the irony of saying more on this subject - I just can't help myself.

devilredeemed - have you played much more of it yet? Anything particularly good come out of it?

 

I haven't. I will probably be getting a cab this coming week or the next, and then I'll play it and will let you know.

Mr.Rare, thanks for the suggestion. its just that the board will surely cost 100 dollars to have shipped to the US, and another 100 to have shipped back. I'll look into having it done locally or will see about doing it myself. I wish it where simpler, but that's life.
* I'd be willing to trade for other proto/unreleased/unmamed arcade software - in particular SNK material, but other material considered.

 

If you've never dumped ROMs from an arcade board, a super rare board is DEFINITELY not the place to start. It requires special hardware, and you can indeed damage the board taking the ROMS off. If you're serious about getting it done, Guru would definitely do it for you, but it would probably be made public.

 

yeah actually after I rashly proclaimed my intent I started reading up on the process and erm... yeah.. no thanks. I don't however know if I want it made public. so it's a hard one.. as I said I'd rather use it as trade bait but chances of anyone actually biting are slight I think, moreso because I wouldn't know where to advertise this.

 

You'd get more people interested in it here more than anywhere. Probably depends on what you're wanting? I'd like to take a look at it, but that's about it. Irem isn't my favorite company, and proto arcade hardware doesn't get me as hyped up as console stuff.

 

no worries. I'd be basically looking for unreleased and possibly unmamed arcade boards, in particular neo geo ones. long shot isn't even a term that can be applied here though.

as soon as I have it up and running I'll compile a series of pictures of it so you can have a better look, maybe get a little footage of it too.
personally I love Irem (SNK, Capcom, Sega probably being my favourite companies arcade-wise), and arcade protos are where its at with me, though console ones fascinate me just as much.

 

Yeah you still havent caught onto the idea of the edit button instead of making 3 posts.... ;-)

 

maybe.but all you seem to do since you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx no biggie. I won't make that mistake again.

 

Ever used a MAME romset to repair a dead arcade board with a damaged ROM? Every board saved from the landfill by the MAME sets is worth tens of freeloaders playing games they don't own, IMHO

Stone

 

Well, I very much doubt that damaged copies of this particular game exist to be repaired from Mame.

Anyhoo I have back ups of all my stuff that I will not be able to buy again. I will use those copies for trade, with people I know, so I'm not playing the more moral than thou card. In the particular case of arcade ROMS it is vital to make backups, this can be done on a personal basis. Therefore if the board gets damaged, you can repair it. It does not need to be put on Mame, you can repair your games from your backups. Thats just good collecting/common sense, essential in the process of collecting rare arcade games/protos.

I would prefer to leave this point as it really is just a matter of preference. I happen to dislike seeing rare games cheapened by a big folder on a harddrive called "roms". Of course I am not going to dispute the usefulness of MAME, I just don't like what it has done to collecting.

 

Fair enough, I guess. Each to their own

Stone