P2000T Cartridge Reader

This repository contains hard- and software utilities to read P2000T cartridges using an Arduino Leonardo board. The repository is organized as follows. The arduino folder contains the source code for the Arduino Leonardo. In the kicad folder the files can be found for the arduino shield board. Finally, in the script folder a number of Python scripts can be found interfacing with the Arduino Leonardo board to dump cartridge roms to a file.

Kicad scheme

Uploading the firmware

Open the Arduino IDE and open the file cartridge_reader_firmware.ino. Verify that the source code can be correctly compiled and upload it to the Arduino Leonardo. Next, proceed to the Python files as found below. Test that the interface is functioning and then use the readrom.py file to dump the cartridges.

Python files

The following three Python files are provided to interface with the Arduino Leonardo Board. To work with these files, you need to have the pyserial package installed.

• serialtest.py: Tests whether Python can succesfully interface with the Arduino Leonardo and the cartridge reader firmware.
• comparison_test.py: Tests whether the standard basic cartridge can be succesfully read. This requires one to have such a cartridge in their possession.
• readrom.py: Dumps the contents of the cartridge in a rom.bin file. The rom.bin file is stored in the same folder as where this file resides.

Logic table

In the table below, the interfacing of the Arduino pins to the signals on the P2000T cartridge can be found. This interfacing scheme has been designed around the documentation as found here. It should be explicitly mentioned that the scheme as found in the Field Support Manual is erroneous and has the CARSEL1 (CS1) and CARSEL2 (CS2) pins swapped.

BANK	D8 / A12B	D2 / ~CS1	D3 / ~CS2	A12	A13	~CS
0x00	HIGH	LOW	HIGH	LOW	LOW	LOW
0x01	LOW	LOW	HIGH	HIGH	LOW	LOW
0x02	HIGH	HIGH	LOW	LOW	HIGH	LOW
0x03	LOW	HIGH	LOW	HIGH	HIGH	LOW
N/A	x	HIGH	HIGH	x	x	HIGH

Bill of materials

• Arduino Leonardo
• 2x15 pin edge connector; pitch 3.96mm
• 74HCT4040N or similar

Picture

Licensing

• All source code, i.e. the firmware and the Python scripts are released under a GPLv3 license.
• The hardware files to (re)produce the Arduino board are released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.