Providing power
There are two USB ports on the assembled Cart Reader, one on the Arduino Mega and another one on the Cart Reader shield.
At no time must there be two USB cables attached to the Cart Reader.
If you power the Cart Reader with the USB cable plugged directly into the Arduino Mega you have to set the voltage jumper to 5V. Both the Arduino and the cartridge plugged into the Cart Reader will be supplied with 5V and therefore this is not suitable for N64 nor 3.3V flashroms like the 29L3211. In this configuration you can both upload new code to the Arduino and use the serial monitor.
If you power the Cart Reader with the USB cable plugged into the Cart Reader shield you can decide what voltage both the Arduino Mega and the plugged in cartridge will be supplied with by setting the voltage jumper accordingly. In this configuration you can't upload new code nor use the serial monitor.
In both cases the USB cable must provide approximately 5V/1A for ideal operation. Some computer USB ports might not be powerful enough and you will see errors when dumping SA1 cartridges.
The power switch on the left disconnects the USB port on the Cartridge Reader shield from the rest and therefore only works if you power the Cart Reader from this USB port and does not work when the Cart Reader is powered over the Arduino.
Cartridge Slots
Never plug in multiple cartridges at the same time. Never select a mode that does not correspond with the cartridge you have currently plugged in. Never insert or remove a cartridge while the Cart Reader is turned on.
Configuration Switches
There are four switches on the right side of the Cart Reader shield:
- CLK1 switches SNES pin 57 (CPU Clock) between the Adafruit Clock Generator(switch set towards the back of the reader) and Arduino Pin 16(switch set towards the front of the reader). This switch needs to be set to it's lower position for writing flashroms and in it's upper position to enable the Adafruit Clock Generator for cartridges that need it.
- CLK0 switches SNES pin 1 (Expansion Clock) between the Adafruit Clock Generator(towards the back) and Arduino Pin 5(towards the front). If you have an Adafruit Clock Generator set this jumper to it's upper position.
- EEP enables the 1K pullup resistor for reading N64 eeproms and controllers. You can leave it set all the time unless you have a GBA cartridge plugged in, then simply disable it(switch set towards the front of the reader).
- The voltage switch selects between 5V and 3.3V when the USB cable is plugged into the Cart Reader shield. If the USB cable is plugged into the Arduino Mega then this switch must be set to 5V.
Buttons
Tapping the left button once moves the cursor one element down, a double click moves it up.
You can execute the current selection by either holding the left button longer or by tapping the right button.
Resetting the folder number
Currently each new dumped file is stored in a numbered folder so that it does not overwrite a previous read-out of the same game or save. You can reset that folder count my placing the cursor of the main menu on "About" then pressing and holding down the left button until you see the folder reset message.
Misc
- Be aware that there is a filename limit of 8 characters plus extension and a limit of 35 files/folders per directory.