ToToTEK.COM

[rbudrick]

Anyone can answer this if they know, of course, but this is sort of in reference to something Tomy told me once.

Tomy, you mentioned that the MGD1 can dump Famicom Disks using

(PC to FDS) - Can dump and reprogram
----------------
1) MGD1 8M (from BUNG)
2) MGD1 to PC cable
3) MGD.exe (transfer to fds software by BUNG)
4) Modded FDS drive

I have a few questions about this.
-Are there any special interfaces I would need in addition to this, or do I just plug the FDS Ram adapter into the MGD and connect the MGD to my computer with the MGD to PC cable?
-Is the MGD to PC cable proprietary, andis there a way to build one if so?
-Does anyone have any instructions for using MGD.exe (it is a DOS application, I believe)?
-Will a non-8M MGD1 work for this (for example, 4M)?
-Does UCON64 work for this?
-MGD.exe...should I guess that it's a Win95/98 only application?
-Is the MGD to PC cable the same as the MGD2 to PC cable?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, it's just that I may have the opportunity to get an MGD soon and I want to make sure I have everything I need to do what I need.

Thanks so much to anyone who can help! I very much appreciate it.

Yours,
Rob

[rbudrick]

I suppose you are right, Doc. I guess I just wanted to have all my information (and expectations, for that matter) in order first. It'll be close to $350, and the person I'm getting it from isn't sure about some of these answers. Hope you folks can help!

-Rob

[kyuusaku]

$350 is big money for a MGD1 plus its not very reliable at writing FDS disks. It cannot write/dump disks as well as Tomy originally thought, the CRC algorithm is bad. Also it is very time sensitive. MGD (aka pclink20.exe) was written with 1990 386 timing in mind, you'll have a hell of a time getting it to work properly. I've spent probably 20 hours over months of trying on my various computers with very little success. I've tried hacked versions of the program as well. Even a 486DX/33 is too fast!

Get a Chameleon USB / copy of Pasofami / FDS chameleon adapter. Cheaper and much much better.

[acem77]

little off the subject.
but you said that the pclink20.exe software gave you a hard time with the mgd1?
i just know i never had any problems with pclink software when uploading roms , goldfinger codes or game saves. or when downloading game saves. but that is with the mgd2 hardware.
did you just have problems dumping games? that is the only thing i never could try.

[rbudrick]

[kyuusaku]

I'll ask my friend if he could purchase a set. He's broke right now and so am I. I think he'd like the set so maybe when we both get money to spend, he'll pick me up one which I can sell to you.

Yeah acem77, I remember you saying that about PClink /w MGDII but I don't have a PC Link to try it out. MGD1 hardware is ENTIRELY different than MGDII, having a PC/MGD/FDS sync all together is much more time sensitive operation than serially writing to RAM.

BTW, the reason why the MGD1 has FDS support is because the MGD1 originally ran off FDS disks before the 3.5" adapter was released years later. Thus, the MGD does the job at writing files to disk such as MGD1 disk images but if you verify them, they're corrupt. Maybe Tototek will put out a FDS reader/writer *wink wink*

[rbudrick]

Hey Kyuusaku,

What method do you use to verify them? This might be pretty handy...

As for funds, I could certainly supply you ahaead of time if need be.

Hey Tomy,

If you don't make your own FDS solution, would you have a way to buy the Chameleons and sell them on Tototek?

-Rob