(For more informations, you can also read this old article.)
I finally had time to use my Saturn, and I could verify that iso/cue "loader" works on real hardware !
Of course it works well when reading from RomFs, and it works also well when reading file from SD card 
My test environment ... sorry for the mess 
(Micro SD card is located on top-left of the cartridge)
I lost some time to understand why data transfer from SD card was slower than expected, but finally understand why : some debug/whatever delay routine was called when accessing cartridge registers ...
Just putting some #if 0 around this delay code solved the "problem" ^^;
Read more Iso/Cue "loader" works on real hardware :]
So I am making an enhanced version of Pseudo Saturn firmware.
And, as an extra feature of this firmware, I added an iso/cue "loader".
Why the quotes around "loader" ? Because it doesn't emulates CD-block
So, it only loads few homebrew games, but it's enough for me, and I don't want to waste more time on adding CD block software emulator while better solutions (rhea, jhl's "mpeg" cart, etc) already exist.
As an other bonus, I also added RomFs support to my Saturn library
It is like romdiskfs that is widely used on linux, DS homebrew, etc, but it allows file compression, some other features, and ... is probably buggy because I coded it from scratch
(*) Virtual file system is not really new on Saturn homebrew scene, because Piratero already implemented one in libyaul a while ago
RomFs root folder contents. I will load sl_elf.iso file in the next paragraph.
So here is a capture of yabause running sl_elf.iso, after decompressing it from virtual file system stored in Flash memory.
sl_elf.iso is "satdemo" made by CharlesDoty, grabbed from SaturnOrbit's examples (Thank you Rockin'B for making SaturnOrbit ! After 10 years, it still have it installed on my laptop's hard disk
).
yabause running Saturn demo from iso file, near SatLink software I use in order to debug my Saturn programs.Very big thanks to the yabause team ! I grabbed the iso/cue loading routines from yabause sources, and it was very easy to port them
Edit : I removed unused code (CD Block emulation routines, etc) from iso loader module, and .o size dropped from 74KB to 18KB oO
Edit (2015/06/26) : I tested this code on real hardware, and it works too ! Please see
this article for more details.
Read more Iso/Cue "loader" works :)
Last week, I soldered new USB dev carts, so please let me know if you want to purchase one
What's new with theses carts ?
I use new PCB (Rev 2e) and flash chips that allow to store firmware larger that Action Replay firmware :
- Action Replay Flash ROM : 256KB
- USB dev cart Flash ROM : 512KB
It will be useful when making custom firmware for this cartridge 
And, I'm now familiar with using flux when soldering ! Before, I was soldering small pitched parts (typically, the FTDI USB chip) with stain in excess, then using solder wick. This gave good results, but I wasn't satisfied with the visual aspect nearby soldering points :
Before : only stain & solder wick used to solder FTDI chip
After : flux used to solder FTDI chip
And, there are now "ROM cartridge" available for sale !
This is just an "USB-less USB dev cart", but it allows to run Pseudo Saturn firmware, and also future revisions of the firmware with ROM size larger than 256KB available on Action Replay carts. And of course, it is a little cheaper than USB dev cart
ROM cartridge ... well, this is just USB dev cart without USB modules, so nothing really new ^^;This cartridge is interesting in the case you want an USB dev cart for dev things, and another cart for gaming purpose.
Read more New USB dev carts for sale !
After making some cleanup in my development folders, I found an old archive file
It is dated 2007 June 20, and contains a very early version of ietx2, which is an adaptation of yeti3D engine to Saturn.
At that time, I was using a PentiumIV processor and 80GB IDE hard disk in order to run sh-elf-gcc provided by SaturnOrbit ... very nostalgic times ... but I definitely prefer nowadays for Saturn development
Iso file can be found >>> here <<<.
(No, there are no sources available, because I didn't kept archives of sources at that time.)
Please don't waste a CD-R for this. You can try on yabause, or just look at screenshot and say "hey, very ugly stuff" however.
ietx2 beta screenshot : not enough time to draw last quads in VDP1 list, hence the garbage on foreground.
ietx2 beta screenshot : example of incorrect rendering when quads coordinates exceed 16 bits range.Present version
You can find current version (ietx2) and sources of my Yeti3D adaptation
here (dated 2011 April 19).
Also, there are videos of ietx2 available below. Click on the links to display them on youtube.
Future (?) version
I'm still maintaining sources of ietx2.
I renamed project name to ietx3 (yeah, I'm not very original when choosing project names
), and now use a lite version of Yeti3D PRO engine ... "lite" means original, minus a lot of features, in order to keep a decent frame rate, and fitting to Saturn resources.
You can find some videos (binaries are not released, sorry) on my youtube channel :
Read more Nostalgia time : ietx2 old (buggy) beta iso for download
I made many fixes to my flasher utility. (Old article available here , even older article available here)
Changelog :
- Tested on around 30 Action Replay cartridges. It was working fine for all known flash chips.
- Ask for confirmation before returning to multiplayer screen.
- Return back to initial screen in the case user don't want to go to multiplayer screen.
- Retrieve and display chips IDs when firmware selection menu is displaying.
- Fixed erase/flash operations for AT29C010 flash chips.
- Minor fix about text display.
- Fix for BFBF/1010 flash chips.
- In the case Action Replay flash chips is supected, display disclaimer
before flashing as a typical Action Replay flash device (SST29EE).
- Refresh vendor/device IDs display during error/disclaimer message display
in the case flash is not recognized.
- Major changes in menu related routines.
- Added key auto repeat feature : holding Up/Down button should scroll automatically now.
- Added erase verification test.
- If erase/write verification test failed, display informations about failure.
- Use FRT-based delay during flash write/erase.
- Changed highlight color in menus.
- Change color of vendor/device strings according to chips flashability.
- Hopeless : red
- Maybe OK : yellow
- Recognized : green
In short, it now has nearly the same compatibility as legacy arflash/Atlas utility, while being SGL-free (it doesn't uses Sega libraries), compatible with newer flash chips, embedding several firmwares in a same executable file, etc, etc.
In the case this flasher is not compatible with your Action Replay (it may happen, I don't decide about future revisions of Action Replay cartridges), please let me know in this article's comments or by email .
However, please note that I don't plan to add new features to this utility. New features were added during beta testing phase, and I really thanks beta testers for this.
Some screenshots from beta testers :
BFBF/1212 flash chip, now recognized as SST/Greenliant type.
Picture provided by gameofyou1.
0101/2020 flash chips : everything is working fine, as in the previous version of the flasher utility.
Picture provided by TabajaraLabs.
Weird 53BF/4707 flash chips : one chip is recognized as typical BF/07 (SST), while the other doesn't returns its vendor/device IDs.
As you can see on PCB picture, flash chips on right side are different, so that they return different vendor/device IDs.
Pictures provided by A Murder Of Crows.
1F1F/D5D5 flash chips : pictures before and after I fix the Flasher utility.It (finally) works on latest version Pictures provided by Sonic Dreamcaster.
BFBF/1010 flash chips : according to datasheet, theses flash chips have twice more memory than usual chips (total 256KB -> 512KB).However, a look at cartridge PCB between C6 capacitor and bottom-right flash chip shows that most significant address bit is grounded, so only 256KB can be addressed from Saturn ... what a pity 
Pictures provided by SaturnAR and Zorlon.
You can download Flasher utility and its source code here : flasher_arp_20150326.7z → http://ppcenter.webou.net/pskai/ 
Disclaimer #1 : You will loose your cartridge backup data after flashing it.
Disclaimer #2 : I'm not responsible in the case I brick your cartridge and/or damage your Saturn.
Note : I didn't made PseudoSaturn firmware. All thanks about PseudoSaturn firmware must go to CyberwarriorX.
Read more Saturn cartridge firmware flasher utility : major (final ?) update
