The Dangers of using 3.3V Flash Carts in Retro Consoles

[esteban]

Bernie just emailed me on Facelink—sadly, his THIRD DUO just melted while he was using ver. 1 TED!

Also, he was using a hair dryer...

[Black Tiger]

I guess it needs to be pointed out again what Sam said about Krikzz's videos that were posted in this thread: they were put on youtube months ago or longer. They aren't in reaction to that recent article, so of course he wasn't being deceptive in how he framed his shots.

[SamIAm]

I guess it needs to be pointed out again what Sam said about Krikzz's videos that were posted in this thread: they were put on youtube months ago or longer. They aren't in reaction to that recent article, so of course he wasn't being deceptive in how he framed his shots.

It looks to me that the dates on those videos are from this week?

Anyway, Rene posted a video where he took oscilloscope readings of the voltage levels before and after a resistor on one data bus line on a Mega Everdrive. The readings were taken simultaneously during a single logic high. The result seems to indicate that the diode clamps are activating, so the effect is real. Rene's revised estimate is 6mA per pin per logic high.

What he has not done yet is take actual measurements of total current going through the bus. These would be the figures at the heart of whether Everdrives really are dangerous to old hardware. We'll see some results sooner or later from someone, I suppose.

[Black Tiger]

My youtube app doesn't show the dates while watching the video, but clicking on the uploader's name and viewing all uploads shows his newest video as being 6 months old.

[sirhcman]

My youtube app doesn't show the dates while watching the video, but clicking on the uploader's name and viewing all uploads shows his newest video as being 6 months old.

He has the videos marked as unlisted so they won't show up in his video feed. The videos were uploaded/published July 11th 2017

[xelement5x]

Saw this elsewhere and had to repost:

[ClodBuster]

With the SFII re-release on the SNES, the discussion regarding improper designed repro and flash cartridges is continuing:
http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/1748/new-limited-edition-street-fighter-ii-cartridge-could-literally-burst-into-flames-or-just-ruin-your-snes

[turboswimbz]

With the SFII re-release on the SNES, the discussion regarding improper designed repro and flash cartridges is continuing:
http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/1748/new-limited-edition-street-fighter-ii-cartridge-could-literally-burst-into-flames-or-just-ruin-your-snes

I'm guessing that a large reason that warning was there and prominent had a lot to do with the Legal department at Capcom.  I think the actual possibility of fires OR damage from these things is low. However, as the wonderful Turbo Loving expert in that article points out translation could and often is a huge problem.   

[crazydean]

I'm interested to see a tear down of the carts. I hope it's just old SFII with a new shell.

[Winniez]

I have never seen the big appeal of these Everdrives and similar devices, if you are not going to buy the original game the emulation for these systems from the 8- and 16bit era is so good these days. And there are adapters that lets you use the original controllers.
And a flash cart sort of defeats the purpose on playing real games on a real hardware anyway. if you have the whole library at your fingertip its hard to get excited about any particular game.

[Black Tiger]

I don't understand when people try to dismiss flashcarts in favor of "real games" yet promote emulation. The argument that paying for real games and hardware is a waste when you can play everything for free makes much more sense.

To me, "crappy game I don't want to play" on an original cart will never be more real than the actual great games I care about. If the packaging is the main draw, then the games are not.

And if someone puts your favorite game on using real hardware, but the console is hidden from your view and you honestly can't tell while playing whether it's an original cart or a flashcart, that's because there literally is no difference.

If not having confirmation of an authentic ruins the experience for you, even if you really were playing a real cart the whole time, then your true interests are far removed from gaming.

[Winniez]

I would say the same goes for emulation, not being able to detect when playing on a proper setup. Besides I don't think its a fair comparision between a free solution and a $100 solution.

[crazydean]

I would say the same goes for emulation, not being able to detect when playing on a proper setup. Besides I don't think its a fair comparision between a free solution and a $100 solution.

A hundred dollars is nothing on the turbo. That same $100 will hardly get you anything with today's prices. Playing on real hardware with a genuine NEC controller is where it's at for me. I don't need a bunch of games cluttering up my house like some jackass on youtube. I'm about playing games on real hardware, not collecting plastic cards or boxes.

Emulation still has problems like lag, wrong colors, glitches, poor sound, etc. A raspberry pi might be the final solution one day, but right now, it still has problems. The Wii does a good job because you can at least output 240p to a CRT over YUV, but I want to turn the damn thing on and just play with the original controller which the Wii won't let me do. The Wii makes you use that stupid Wiimote and go through several menus to get to the games. And, at the end of the day, it's still not perfect.

Bottom line: Whether you use an everdrive or the original card, the game plays exactly the same. The same cannot be said for emulation.

[Winniez]

You can use a Gamecube controller with a modded Wii for emulation and as you said hook it up to a CRT with RGB.
Ofcourse I would rather have the real system with Everdrive than that but it costs money. And when carefully spent $100 buys you a lot of japanese Hucards. Atleast for me part of the experience is having the actual game in a case and pulling it from the shelf to play. I'm not entirily sure about the state of PC-Engine emulation but Mednafen feels very accurate to me. For SNES Higan is pretty much perfect. With a PC there is the lag chain though.

[crazydean]

Do you want to play turbo games with a turbo controller or a GameCube controller? There is definitely something missing from that gaming experience.

Really, it's all about how you define the "gaming experience." For me, real hardware is important but original software is not. Some people think that CIB is worth significantly more than CIC because that's what they enjoy.

I don't understand why everyone in the gaming community has to hate anyone who does it differently than themselves.