This is a step-by-step guide for creating a dumper you can use to dump your own NES games by only using a development board, wires, a NES cart connector to interface with the cartridge, and a USB connector to interface with the PC, without the need for any soldering or electronics experience. I made this guide to assist others who don't want to spend a lot of money for fancy multicart dumpers when they just want to dump a single game, or for times when appropriate dumpers are not available to buy. I'm hoping that the amount of detail in this guide can help get anyone introduced into dumping their carts, and not just electronics enthusiasts. Note that this is a Windows-only guide, if you have a method of setting up the software for Linux and other OSes, then feel free to post your own directions on how to set it up in this thread.
Required hardware (Bill of Materials)
You will need the following items:
-NUCLEO-F070RB development board:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... RB/5047473
Make sure this is the 64-pin variant. It will look like the one in this photo, or will have NUCLEO-64 as a subtitle.-NES 72-pin cartridge header/connector
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235824985294-Female-to-Female jumper wires (at least 51 wires):
300mm (40)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 93/5353618
https://www.adafruit.com/product/793
300mm (20)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 49/6827083
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1949
OR
150mm (40)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 66/5629427
https://www.adafruit.com/product/266
150mm (20)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 50/6827084
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1950Most of these listings sell within packs of 20/40. If ordering from a store, make sure to get the appropriate quantity.
I'm selecting the longest cable you can get, since this can give you more slack you can use to manipulate and move the wires around without disturbing/tugging the connections on the NES cart header. You can order shorter cable for a cheaper price (The shortest I've tested with was 150mm, and it was a bit of a struggle to connect all wires, you had to be careful not to tangle anything up in order for everything to reach, but they still worked).
I believe the quality of cable affects how it grips onto the cart header's pins (more on this later), so I'm selecting this brand in particular.
If you are comfortable with soldering and want to substitute these for M-to-F wires, be my guest, although this guide will still focus on being solderless.
-USB A breakout cable (with female connectors):
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 8/11569137
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4448
A substitute can be stripping an old unused USB to get the four connectors and hooking it up to jumper wires that way, but this can get messy and possibly unreliable if done wrong, since most wire for USB connectors is stranded.-USB A to Mini cable
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 03/1531289
If you can't find one of these lying around your home, you can either order one online or find a local store that sells them.-(Optional) USB extension cable
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... K/21398397
This is if the USB breakout cable is too short to reach your computer. You don't need to buy it if you already have one, or if you can work close to your PC's USB connectors.Excluding the optional cable and shipping costs, everything is approximately $35 USD from the time of writing this guide. Shipping can increase the price slightly, or more if you're not in the US. For this reason, I've included as many links as possible for the components that can be bought from a single store, since buying from electronic stores like DigiKey have a fixed rate for shipping.
Required software
To perform the dump over USB, you'll need the INLretro programmer-dumper software. It can be found here:
https://gitlab.com/InfiniteNesLives/INL-retro-progdump
To download it, click on the blue Code button, and under the "Download source code" heading, click zip. You can extract the files from there.
You'll also need the .bin file in this thread (just under this paragraph). This will get uploaded to the NUCLEO-F070RB. The changes from the regular build (found in the "INL-retro-progdump-master\firmware\build_stm6" folder) are moving the functionality of pins PA2-PA3 to PA4-PA5. The relevant .h source file is also included for developers' sakes, but is not necessary for the guide.
Required hardware (Bill of Materials)
You will need the following items:
-NUCLEO-F070RB development board:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... RB/5047473
Make sure this is the 64-pin variant. It will look like the one in this photo, or will have NUCLEO-64 as a subtitle.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235824985294
300mm (40)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 93/5353618
https://www.adafruit.com/product/793
300mm (20)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 49/6827083
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1949
OR
150mm (40)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 66/5629427
https://www.adafruit.com/product/266
150mm (20)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 50/6827084
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1950
I'm selecting the longest cable you can get, since this can give you more slack you can use to manipulate and move the wires around without disturbing/tugging the connections on the NES cart header. You can order shorter cable for a cheaper price (The shortest I've tested with was 150mm, and it was a bit of a struggle to connect all wires, you had to be careful not to tangle anything up in order for everything to reach, but they still worked).
I believe the quality of cable affects how it grips onto the cart header's pins (more on this later), so I'm selecting this brand in particular.
If you are comfortable with soldering and want to substitute these for M-to-F wires, be my guest, although this guide will still focus on being solderless.
-USB A breakout cable (with female connectors):
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 8/11569137
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4448
A substitute can be stripping an old unused USB to get the four connectors and hooking it up to jumper wires that way, but this can get messy and possibly unreliable if done wrong, since most wire for USB connectors is stranded.
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... 03/1531289
If you can't find one of these lying around your home, you can either order one online or find a local store that sells them.
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/det ... K/21398397
This is if the USB breakout cable is too short to reach your computer. You don't need to buy it if you already have one, or if you can work close to your PC's USB connectors.
Required software
To perform the dump over USB, you'll need the INLretro programmer-dumper software. It can be found here:
https://gitlab.com/InfiniteNesLives/INL-retro-progdump
To download it, click on the blue Code button, and under the "Download source code" heading, click zip. You can extract the files from there.
You'll also need the .bin file in this thread (just under this paragraph). This will get uploaded to the NUCLEO-F070RB. The changes from the regular build (found in the "INL-retro-progdump-master\firmware\build_stm6" folder) are moving the functionality of pins PA2-PA3 to PA4-PA5. The relevant .h source file is also included for developers' sakes, but is not necessary for the guide.
Statistics: Posted by KitchenGuy — Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:49 pm — Replies 7 — Views 259