vkc

joined 1 year ago

Open Source Cartridge Reader: ROMs and saves from real hardware! (tinkerbetter.tube)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In today's ROM-er-iffic episode of Veronica Explains, I check out the Open Source Cartridge Reader, an incredible little open source device, which you can build yourself. You can dump your ROMs and save states from a variety of popular vintage video game consoles.

Stores selling kits or preassembled OSCRs (not sponsored, no affiliate links):

Where I got mine: https://cartreader.net
Starshade: https://store.starshade.dev
Bonzo's: https://bonzosretro.shop
Save The Hero (currently selling an older revision, could be a good deal): https://savethehero.builders

Links you can use to learn more and build one yourself:

Sanni's GitHub: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader
Project wiki (yes, it's pronounced "Oscar"): https://github.com/sanni/cartreader/wiki
A bit about savegame conversion utilities: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader/wiki/Savegame-Conversion
@ThisDoesNotCompute did an awesome video a while back about replacing batteries in your cartridge games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7I-oLD6Iyg

And lastly:

My Patreon: https://patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
My Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains
My PeerTube instance (watch ad free): https://tinkerbetter.tube

Chapters: 0:00 I say greetings and talk about OSCR 2:07 How do ROM cartridges work anyway? 5:46 What is ROM dumping? 7:01 (Finally) introducing the Sanni Open Source Cartridge Reader 9:26 DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer 10:03 Setting up your SD card for OSCR 11:58 Let's dump a Sonic ROM with the OSCR! 13:47 Ripping Metroid 15:01 Backing up and restoring save files with OSCR 17:29 How to get an OSCR 18:32 OSCR's quirks 19:44 Conclusion