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PlusCart (an inexpensive DIY WiFi multicart)


Al_Nafuur

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2 hours ago, Al_Nafuur said:

👍 Second joystick would be much better than the console switches.

The more the better. :) 

 

Harmony can do joystick, paddles, driving controller and switches. And I have a hacked BIOS with additional right joystick support. 

 

BTW: Have you thought about wrapping around when browsing the menu? Especially when you only use the switches, it is sometimes really hard to navigate back. And last not least: Is there a way to make the folders look distinct from files?

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32 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

BTW: Have you thought about wrapping around when browsing the menu? Especially when you only use the switches, it is sometimes really hard to navigate back.

👍 good idea

 

33 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

And last not least: Is there a way to make the folders look distinct from files?

The folders have already a different color than the files. The different is not much noticeable, and when using the NTSC setting on a PAL machine it might be worse.

 

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1 hour ago, Al_Nafuur said:

The folders have already a different color than the files. The different is not much noticeable,

On my TV (Sony Trinitron) almost not noticeable. There is a minor difference in brightness, that's all. I usually check if there is suffix in the filename to be sure.

1 hour ago, Al_Nafuur said:

and when using the NTSC setting on a PAL machine it might be worse.

I am at PAL60, and PAL50 makes no difference.

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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On 2/2/2024 at 6:54 PM, Al_Nafuur said:

Setup screen of the PlusCart?

Yeah.. I was setting it up at an event and connected it to the facility's WIFI but it wouldn't exit the setup screen thereafter.  I then tried it using my phone's hot spot and I then could exit the setup menu.

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46 minutes ago, Just Jeff said:

Yeah.. I was setting it up at an event and connected it to the facility's WIFI but it wouldn't exit the setup screen thereafter.

did the facility's WiFi had a html login screen after you connected your other devices (smartphone laptop) to it? The PlusCart's Wifi module can't handle these login pages.

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  • 4 weeks later...

hey guys,

@Al_Nafuur
I have identified a scenario and would like to know if it is what is expected.
The pluscart is already configured and connected to a wifi network, and at the moment the router does not have internet access, when turning on the pluscart it only displays the options, sdcard & setup on the screen.

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On 3/9/2024 at 1:56 PM, Capellão said:

hey guys,

@Al_Nafuur
I have identified a scenario and would like to know if it is what is expected.
The pluscart is already configured and connected to a wifi network, and at the moment the router does not have internet access, when turning on the pluscart it only displays the options, sdcard & setup on the screen.

The PlusCart is only checking if the WiFi module (ESP8266) is connected to a router. The PlusCart firmware assumes that a internet connection is present with a router connection. If the router is not online the PlusCart requests to the PlusStore API will timeout (AFAIR after 35 seconds) and only the local menu points will be displayed (Setup, Offline ROMs and SD-Card for the PlusCart Duo).

 

 

 

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On 3/11/2024 at 9:43 PM, Al_Nafuur said:

The PlusCart is only checking if the WiFi module (ESP8266) is connected to a router. The PlusCart firmware assumes that a internet connection is present with a router connection. If the router is not online the PlusCart requests to the PlusStore API will timeout (AFAIR after 35 seconds) and only the local menu points will be displayed (Setup, Offline ROMs and SD-Card for the PlusCart Duo).

 

 

 

In testing I obtained the following:

 

Scene 1: Does not locate the router: after 10s it displays the retry option in the menu.

 

Scene 2: Connects to the router, but it has no internet connectivity. Displays Setup, Offline ROMs and SD-Card .

 

I understand that's it. The doubt arose due to Scene 2, it seemed that the esp8266 board was not being identified, and in fact it was the internet signal that was out at the time.

Edited by Capellão
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  • 3 weeks later...
hello,

@Al_Nafuur

I found a scenario on some STM32 cards, the same ones that are not recognized by USB, programmed by STLINK, 
where the WI-FI card is not recognized in version 102.3.17, but using version 102.3.15 which has that oscillator 
change it works normally. Any indication of what to do?
 
Edited by Capellão
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7 hours ago, Capellão said:
hello,

@Al_Nafuur

I found a scenario on some STM32 cards, the same ones that are not recognized by USB, programmed by STLINK, 
where the WI-FI card is not recognized in version 102.3.17, but using version 102.3.15 which has that oscillator 
change it works normally.

The difference between the two versions is that the older one uses the external clock and the newer one uses the internal clock again. This was necessary for the UnoCart as it does not have an external clock.

 

My suspicion is that the internal oscillator of the MCU is clearly out of spec. For USB with the high clock rates, even very small deviations will prevent the communication . If the internal clock deviation is somewhat higher, it will no longer be sufficient for the relatively slow UART connection to the WiFi module.

 

8 hours ago, Capellão said:
Any indication of what to do?

I don't remember if there are more changes from 15 to 17, but for now I would recommend using v102.3.15 for these boards.

 

In the future these boards would need a custom firmware that uses the external clock.

 

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1 hour ago, Al_Nafuur said:

The difference between the two versions is that the older one uses the external clock and the newer one uses the internal clock again. This was necessary for the UnoCart as it does not have an external clock.

 

My suspicion is that the internal oscillator of the MCU is clearly out of spec. For USB with the high clock rates, even very small deviations will prevent the communication . If the internal clock deviation is somewhat higher, it will no longer be sufficient for the relatively slow UART connection to the WiFi module.

 

I don't remember if there are more changes from 15 to 17, but for now I would recommend using v102.3.15 for these boards.

 

In the future these boards would need a custom firmware that uses the external clock.

 

I understood. One of the important functions of version .17 is the "disable Right+Reset Exit" menu, which makes it possible to run games like ind500. Is there any possibility of adding an option to select Clock: internal or external to the setup menu?

Or do a test at startup, in case of an error in the internal oscillator, it will automatically switch to the external one.
Edited by Capellão
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1 hour ago, Al_Nafuur said:

PlusCart API of the PlusStore is down for a few hours now. I am troubleshooting.

Good news: I found the issue.

The Apache Webserver deletes the Content-Length http header set in the PlusCart API. The PlusCart needs the length of the response to parse it correctly.


Bad news: I need my hoster to "fix" the changes they made to the Apache webserver tonight.

 

 

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After spending half the night yesterday troubleshooting and looking for a workaround, here are my results:

The PlusCart sends a HTTP/1.0 request, because I didn't want to parse the chunked content of the HTTP/1.1 responses. It looks like my hoster has changed the Webserver/PHP configuration so that it always response with an HTTP/1.1 response (even though a 1.0 should always be responded with 1.0). A chunked HTTP/1.1 response doesn't has a Content-Length header, because every chunk has a size indication. But the Content-Length header and a not chunked content is needed by the PlusCart to parse the response.

 

I haven't found a workaround to force the Webserver to respond with 1.0 (or a not chunked 1.1) to the PlusCart requests to PHP, only for static html files I can force this.

 

I have wrote an email to the hoster to explain the issue, but they responded that they will need up to 72 hours to investigate what is going on.

 

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Hi,
I have spent a few couple of hours tonight reading about unocarts and pluscarts.
I've decided I am going to have a go at building a Duo. Apologies if I have missed it...but I could not find anywhere that links or references to the type of SD-Card reader breakout board required.
My concern would be that the layout of the pins on the reader will match up with the board, or are they all the same?
Please can somebody advise if this one would be suitable to solder to the pluscart board?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003402512131.html

Thank you for your help.

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2 hours ago, Tiberius said:

Hi,
I have spent a few couple of hours tonight reading about unocarts and pluscarts.
I've decided I am going to have a go at building a Duo. Apologies if I have missed it...but I could not find anywhere that links or references to the type of SD-Card reader breakout board required.
My concern would be that the layout of the pins on the reader will match up with the board, or are they all the same?
Please can somebody advise if this one would be suitable to solder to the pluscart board?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003402512131.html

Thank you for your help.

Yes, this model works.

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I have been able to continue using my PlusCart with the special Offline ROMs download mode whilst the API is being fixed. It's less convenient, but it beats waiting. You either need a USB micro cable or ST-LINK connection for it to work. It involves flashing the ROM file(s) you want to play to a flash sector on the PlusCart, and then scanning for the ROM(s) found in the flash area, and playing them offline.

 

More details here:

https://pluscart.firmaplus.de/pico/?Manual#offlineROMS

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8 minutes ago, boodog34 said:

Hello. Pluscard User here. I'm getting the message 'Sorry, but the PlusCart API is currently out of order' and usual menu not showing up. Whats a API? Is it something wrong with my cartridge or wifi? 

image.thumb.jpeg.aefc384cca1deb4561b635edee0d7347.jpeg

No, everything is fine with your PlusCart. But the server is misconfigured by my hoster, so the PlusCart cannot parse the menu listings correctly.

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