Replace N64 cartridges by another system

[blaze3927]

As stupid as your comment sounds it is a bit more realistic than previously thought
the z64 would probably be impractical as i think the z64 was the one that used zip disks (yes/maybe/no?), however I do remember an older work log (think it was on 64dd.net) where A guy successfully managed to get the n64 to read a game off a fat(cant remember, maybe 16) hard drive. I cant remember which backup unit he used to achieve this but I'll try and find some links after some digging tonight

[64M320N3]

Sounds incredibly interesting!
I am awaiting your next post!

[Knocks]

You had me at "As stupid as your comment..." Here's my fully equipped N64. 2GB limit per SD card since the BIOS requires a FAT drive, but beats the heck out of zip disks and more convenient than a hard drive. The entire romset is 10GB anyway (much smaller without clones).

[64M320N3]

Where the hell did you get that thing?
*Drool*
However, I believe it would be smaller just to use the original cart.

[blaze3927]

well congrats on that nice piece of equipment, apologies for my last comment, I seemed to assume noobishness these days. I dug around 64dd.net and nothing found so far, I know his existed but im having trouble finding it. So I've started looking through dextrose forums (all the way back to 2005 )

[marshallh]

Ozone rewrote the bios for a Doc V64 to boot off a IDE drive instead of a CD drive. It was just a proof of concept though.

I'll have some news to post about mine soon

[Knocks]

That's what happened to the Z64: a guy from dextrose hacked the BIOS and people started experimenting with flash memory. I pulled the trigger and ordered an SD/IDE adapter (those things were expensive at the time!) and got it to work fine.

By "cloning" the Z64 I meant that it's probably made of fairly common parts, and people can perhaps assemble their own. Because it was designed back in the 90s, we can do a much better job today as far as compactness goes. I would be willing to rip mine apart (again ) if people need to look at the internals.

[palmertech]

I might be wrong, but I thought the Z64 was a 386 based computer, essentially. Seems like it would be hard to get much smaller, and the power use would probably be off the charts...


Anyhow, I am waiting for that N64 cart Neoflash is making, they have already shipped out some prototype units to some N64 devs, and they are hoping to ship the first preorders in late August.

[stuntpenguin007]

I'm pretty sure those neo carts are going to be in the $150 range. Look at the 2 other things he just released, both $150.

I was / still am hoping they're only going to cost about $75, but I guess he did put a lot of work into it...

[evilteddy]

I wouldn't really go for the Neoflash product. For one I don't really want to use another cartridge to boot a game and I also don't want to get stuck using the neoflash GBA cart as storage.

On the other hand if Marshall's cart worked then I'd try getting one of those. I think it would work better in a portable as well. Using a CF card instead of a neoflash GBA cart and unlocking set of cartridges.

Best of luck Marshall

evilteddy

[jleemero]

It's things like what Knocks posted that make me want a Z64...

Regardless, I'd just like to see Marshallh finish up his design
The way things are nowadays, it'd probably be cheaper to make Marshall's than buy near any other existing backup system.
Not to mention funner

[64M320N3]

Not to mention funner

Building is definitely the best part of modding.

[palmertech]

I wouldn't really go for the Neoflash product. For one I don't really want to use another cartridge to boot a game and I also don't want to get stuck using the neoflash GBA cart as storage.

On the other hand if Marshall's cart worked then I'd try getting one of those. I think it would work better in a portable as well. Using a CF card instead of a neoflash GBA cart and unlocking set of cartridges.

Best of luck Marshall

evilteddy

Actually, they decided to not go with GBA flash carts, it comes with internal 128 or 256 megabytes of internal memory, and a built in USB flasher. Using carts for the authentication does suck, though.

[marshallh]

Actually, they decided to not go with GBA flash carts, it comes with internal 128 or 256 megabytes of internal memory, and a built in USB flasher. Using carts for the authentication does suck, though.

???

my neoflash cartridge wants a word with you.

[palmertech]

Wait, I was wrong? I was 99% sure of myself...

Thanks for correcting me, though. Any chance you would enlighten us with some pictures/demonstrations of your cart? It would be pretty awesome, the Neoflash board is very lacking in detail, and has a lot of hampered English on it, so your view, especially with your tech expertise, would be fantastic, and keep people who are out of the loop like me from spreading mis-information.