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philjay
Joined: 19 Dec 2022 Posts: 22
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 12:17 pm Post subject: Crazy Idea - Bung Multi XChanger |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKCFs9OFGZA
Last day i took my Parallel Card - Game Enhancer+ - for PS1 with Unirom inside programmed.
My question is: In your opinion, is it possible to program a game enhancer + with the bios of the multi xchanger and use the parallel port of the game enhancer+ to program a v64jr and a gameboy enhancer like the old Bung product? Do any of you have the bios of the multi xchanger by any chance? From the characteristics it doesn't seem very different from another peripheral like the one I have except for the lack of the Gameboy port for programming the carts. |
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NorQue
Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 63
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2023 11:06 am Post subject: |
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If I'm not mistaken a lot of these devices had an external parallel port. And from how I understand these devices they're basically just clones of each other. I guess it's not far fetched to assume that the Bung X-Changer for the PSX isn't that different.
On their product page for the Multi X-Changer they wrote:
Quote: | ASIC
Multi Xchanger has a built-in custom made asic fully developed by Bung Enterprises Limited. |
So it may not be that simple.
Can't find a download for an update anywhere on bung.com.hk backups, so it's highly likely you'll need someone to supply a dump from an original unit to verify either one or the other.
If you're looking for an alternative method to upload games to devices like the X-Changer or V64 I can highly recommend the HP t510 Thin Client, which can be bought for prices as low as 27 EUR on Ebay (at least here in Germany). It has a parallel port, a dual core 64 Bit CPU that runs modern Linux distributions and I even managed to boot FreeDOS from a USB stick. It also runs dbjh's Dosbox and Dosbox-X branches. Another more expensive thin client with real parallel port I got just this week is the Dell Wyse 5070 Extended. It also runs Linux, Windows up to Windows 10 and it works with "problematic" devices like the GDSF7 and the V64. |
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dbjh
Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 167
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Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2023 7:00 am Post subject: |
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My pass-through changes that are in that DOSBox branch have been accepted by DOSBox-X upstream, so I do not maintain a separate DOSBox-X branch. The changes have been in the binary releases since May this year.
Could you specify exactly what Linux distro you used on that HP t510 Thin Client? I remember you had an issue with inline x86 assembly not compiling (neither __i386__ nor __x86_64__ defined), which would be strange for a regular x86_64 distro.
Getting that inline assembly to compile would greatly speed up transfers. |
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NorQue
Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 63
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 6:47 am Post subject: |
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For the Linux I'm running on the t510:
Quote: | nrq@rei:~$ cat /etc/debian_version
11.8
nrq@rei:~$ uname -a
Linux rei 5.10.0-26-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.197-1 (2023-09-29) x86_64 GNU/Linux
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For the Parallel Port on the Raspberry Pi I had to run:
Code: | sed -i "/__asm\ {/,/}/d" src/libs/passthroughio/passthroughio.cpp
sed -i "/__asm__/,/);/d" src/libs/passthroughio/passthroughio.cpp | for your Megabuild and remove all the inline assembly in src/libs/passthroughio/passthroughio.cpp. But that wasn't necessary for the t510. I recently got a Supercom Partner 64 and its DOS software runs as well through Dosbox-X with your changes as it does through FreeDOS (that was the reason I dabbled with FreeDOS at all).
Good to know I can just get a regular Dosbox-X now, thanks for that! |
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dbjh
Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 167
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2023 8:07 am Post subject: |
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NorQue wrote: | For the Linux I'm running on the t510:
Quote: | nrq@rei:~$ cat /etc/debian_version
11.8
nrq@rei:~$ uname -a
Linux rei 5.10.0-26-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.197-1 (2023-09-29) x86_64 GNU/Linux
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Thank you.
NorQue wrote: | For the Parallel Port on the Raspberry Pi I had to run:
Code: | sed -i "/__asm\ {/,/}/d" src/libs/passthroughio/passthroughio.cpp
sed -i "/__asm__/,/);/d" src/libs/passthroughio/passthroughio.cpp | for your Megabuild and remove all the inline assembly in src/libs/passthroughio/passthroughio.cpp. But that wasn't necessary for the t510. |
My modified DOSBox Megabuild 6 version was made with the same regard for non-x86 as the original :-P But it was fortunate it runs on at least Raspberry Pi too (after making the change you mentioned). Thanks for clarifying the situation on the t510. I had misunderstood.
BTW thanks a lot for sharing those commands. I didn't know that was possible with sed.
NorQue wrote: | I recently got a Supercom Partner 64 and its DOS software runs as well through Dosbox-X with your changes as it does through FreeDOS (that was the reason I dabbled with FreeDOS at all). |
That is great to hear. Mystic_Merlin had similar results when using AllowIO or giveio64 (in combination with realbase/ecpbase). On Linux it is similar as long as realbase and optionally ecpbase are used. Using realport makes DOSBox Megabuild 6 & DOSBox-X use ppdev, which is much slower. realbase is only available on x86, so on for example Raspberry Pi there is no choice other than realport.
NorQue wrote: | Good to know I can just get a regular Dosbox-X now, thanks for that! |
You are welcome :-) You contributed in no small part to make that possible (pi-parport). |
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philjay
Joined: 19 Dec 2022 Posts: 22
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2023 8:32 am Post subject: |
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Thank you for all the advices |
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CZroe
Joined: 29 Aug 2021 Posts: 24
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Posted: Tue May 07, 2024 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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I can confirm that it has an Altera chip labeled “U1 ASIC” on the PCB. The FW is on a Winbond chip at “U2 EEPROM.”
I’ve long wondered why this thing requires a mod chip when it could just as easily work like any number of parallel port devices that can access a CD-R, especially since they aren’t even trying to boot PSX backups like many of the others.
Requiring a mod chip for functionality they could have easily built in tells me that Bung wanted to avoid unlocking CD-R support of any kind for legal reasons. I’ve long suspected that they would have leaked a “backup enabled” BIOS for it much like the Doctor V64. Earlier V64 BIOS files from Bung had all the backup functions built-in but the menu options were hidden unless you changed one single byte. For a while that one byte was the only difference between official Bung V64 BIOS files and the unofficial “backup enabled” version you could get at scener sites. Eventually the backup enabled FW diverged significantly when they began adding stuff like the boot crack.
I’ve long wanted to dump my Multi Xchanger BIOS but I wouldn’t know where to start looking to see if it has a similar single byte flag for enabling and disabling CD-R support. I see options mentioned for BIOS send/receive but they never released the utility for it. The chip is a PLCC soldered without a socket so I’ll need some kind of a test clip to do it safely, which I don’t have. Even if I had the dump, I can’t just load up my hex editor with an official and unofficial BIOS to see where they differs like I can with old V64 BIOS files.
I wonder if it would even need a FW update to work with the Neo Geo Pocket stuff… considering the Pocket Linker has the same “GB-X” chip inside as the GB Xchanger (Bungs custom ASIC) and is almost identical inside.. |
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