Hardware GBA Flash Cart

[Darkipod]

I am using an original 256 MBit F2A cartridge with a F2A USB cable without huge problems (so far I couldn't find out how to not flash that ugly Multiboot menu and use Pogoshell instead, but it flashes and reads okay). Just got it a couple of weeks ago from someone in the trading forums here. Before that I used it with the ancient stand alone parallel port Flash Advance Linker, that should tell you how old my cartridge is.

AKAIO works quite nice for flashing, too, btw.

Do you have a computer with a parallel port!?

 

[enarky]

Do you have a computer with a parallel port!?

I had one when I bought the FAL, that must've been in 2002. Haven't had one for ages, that's why I bought that USB F2A cable recently.

 

[Darkipod]

Oh, Well Im thinking of getting a parallel to USB converter-thing

 

[DanTheManMS]

I'm 99% sure that that would not work at all. Those devices are really only good for printers. Just like how those USB-to-PS/2 adapters are really only good for USB keyboards and mice, and don't work with USB thumb drives.

 

[enarky]

I'm 99% sure that that would not work at all. Those devices are really only good for printers. Just like how those USB-to-PS/2 adapters are really only good for USB keyboards and mice, and don't work with USB thumb drives.

Yepp, that's it. They can't handle proper bidirectional communication, that's why they're unusable for anything but printers.

 

[Darkipod]

Hm. There aren't and solutions that emulate the parallel port functionality?

 

[FAST6191]

You might be able to pull something off with crazy FPGA magic but for the most part those that want proper parallel and true serial in this day and age go looking for a motherboard with it on (they do still exist), get an older machine (most of the time proper needs for this sort of thing are simple programs but ones that run entire businesses/make serious money for them) or buy a PCI card. The does appear to be laptop PCMCIA stuff if you are lumped with one of those but I have not had cause to test it yet and the quick scan says it costs a pretty penny.

All that said if you are planning to be an electrical engineer and get further into this hacking business I would consider sorting something out with serial and parallel ports -- they were common right up until the late P4 era and still available after that so it is not like you are lumped with keeping a 486 running or something. Ground issues aside even if it is just a laptop you can get a lot done and most people are happy enough to almost give away laptops of that vintage (and they will scream along with a cut down version of windows XP and a lightweight linux distro).