Stumbled across the Arduino-Mega-ICT project in a posting at the UKVAC site. Thought that it might come in useful as I dig in again on fixing up the 3-board stack for my Taito Space Invaders. I wanted to add some additional labeling to the PCB (to make it easier to orient the ribbon cables), so I created near clone layout using Cadsoft Eagle (my goto tool for PCB design and layout). Minor tweaks to the positioning of some components and a few weeks waiting on the PCB’s to arrive.
Five of the control boards (I forgot to hit the “send 10” checkbox) and 10 each of the 6502 and 8080 “pods”. The next step (after soldering that pins in place) was to wait for the KeyShield on the slow boat from Asia. Somewhat impatient person that I can be, I opted to re-write part of the ICT code to support a simple GPIO keypad interface. You can find the code HERE, along with some additional eye candy on the boot screen (and a keypad self-test routine as well).
I haven’t yet attempted to emulate the 6502 (mostly because I know that some of the ROMs are failing their checksum, so I really need to make a 2708 programmer first). But I’ve seen branched project that uses the arduino & pods, but under USB/PC control, in order to interact with the games. I also spotted a version of the arduino mega with a built in WIFI adapter available from BangGood.com. When that board arrives, I’m aiming to make a wireless ICT device, where I can step through memory and ROM tests on a board from my desk, without the need to haul the laptop over to the Arcade PCB under review. (Boards are on a different slow boat now :o) ).
