Cheap Computers from modded video games?
I recently saw an ABSOLUTELY shi**y and cheap T.V. video game ($3-5).
It had a standard keyboard and got its data (I think the OS) from a ROM cartridge (It seems to be standard size/build).
I am posting pictures and a link to a manufacturer(He is Chinese,so you know what quality to expect).
I was just wondering,is there any way to put on a tiny program onto the ROM that may read input and print to the screen (T.V.) and include basic drawing abilities VIA the controller.
(An O.S. like SymBOS for MSX would be nice(Search Wikipedia for MSX))
The pic:
The Link: http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/1480178/keyboard_learn_machine.html
ADDED:The slot(covered) between the 2 words at the top is where you put the ROM. There's even one with a mouse,here: http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/1492900/LEARNING_COMPUTER_MACHINE.html (China:).)
That's right Gregorian, I heard/saw that 4 shops gave out Pre-release or scene release copies of the latest GTA, 4-5 movies and all this in the vicinity of various police stations. (LOL,one of them was in a back alley near the CID division HQ).
In Mumbai,fools used to get stoned(Drugs) right in front of the elite CBI HQ and they weren't even taken for questioning.
The "It's not part of my job description" attitude reigns with glory here.
Yes, of course. But you'll need to reverse engineer it. I'm not sure what OS's you're refering to but you could definately write your own.
Travis Goodspeed does a lot of work on this and always tries to describe the process he used. Here's his blog.
He has a post about reverse engineering a clicker protocol on the front page. But I'd recommend you check out his reverse engineering the IMME using his goodfet( I donated some money and he sent me a board, the SMD parts are cheap too).
Just open it up and have a look at the chips for the datasheet and such if you buy it.
If you think about it this kind of thing is done all the time, most recently linux on the wii.
I have a megadrive 2 and a pirated cartridge I opened it up and it has a EEPROM, I dumped it and it was just a raw rom on there. So I reprogrammed it with another rom and it worked fine. So if you're lucky it maybe fairly easy.
[edit] maybe just message them and ask for the datasheet.
onejerlo wrote: They are available in retail,It would be kind of crappy if a kid had to buy 5000 of those "toys",now wouldn't it?:) Yes I know they are available in retail. I am just stating that in retail they would not be $3.9 ;) They would perhaps be $5-$10 each.
gregorian wrote: Don't blame him onejerlo. He's not from the East. We actually have advertisements for pirated software in the newspaper. "Get Photoshop, DreamWeaver ….. for Rs. 50 (around $1) per software". What's a console to us? ;) Just because I am not from the east means I know nothing of the east? Please do not judge one by their geographical location. I could tell you right now that a lot of the illegal things that happen there happen here as well. Ohh well.
Back to the point at hand. It would be possible to rewrite the code if you knew what language it was programmed in. And as wolf said, there is reverse engineering of a cart. to get the information off it to learn how to reprogram it.
@AldarHawk:Sorry;but Canada usually does not come to mind as a nation that would have such things happening,indeed,it is one of my fav. nations(I usually maintain a list).
And you are right,while the website advertises that it would be $3.9 or something per "toy", as far as I know,they are sold in retail at $5 here.that wouldn't be too high(It's not merely for profit,consider the taxes).
And what I mean to say is,these cartridges should use the same methods of programming.
I have seen well over 50 such "toys" over the years and they all seem to have the same type of cartridges.
And I think they do use a raw ROM image.I should get together with someone in EEE and look into this.
@AldarHawk I'm not saying that you don't know much about the East, but it's impossible for me to imagine that the level of corruption over there is greater than this place. Since you said that we'd have to mass order, I thought that you might not know that what is published is nowhere near related to what is actually done. But I didn't mean any offense, so sorry if it looked like that.
step in the right direct? http://hackaday.com/2010/07/14/programmable-game-boy-cartridge-walk-through/