CopyNes(Parallel port)

This was a hardware only project a clever guy called kev tris created this devices that sits between the NES's CPU and game cartridge called CopyNes. At boot up it takes control of NES's CPU and if the copynes is connected to a PC parallel port, allows the user to upload / download games to the NES. Unfortunately only the copynes's software is open source the PCB artwork was never released however kev tris was kind enough to post a detailed explanation on how the board works on his website. So I decided to try and produce my own copynes PCB from the details on his website.

To try and be as open source as possible I decided to use a free program to create my PCB artwork ,so anybody should be able to adapt / use my design without having to buy expensive PCB development tools. To this end I decided to use radio spares (RS) free DesignSparks software to create my PCB art work, this can be obtained for free from http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/

As you can see from the pics above I managed to create a fully functioning copynes PCB which fits into the NES case. The only real problem I had with this design was the fact that is uses a parallel port to connect to a PC, I had to hunt around in my loft for an old PC that still had a parallel port as all my newer PC only have USB ports fitted! I did try and use a PCI parallel port card but had no luck getting the copynes PC software to work correctly with that.

So if you are interested in this project and still have an old PC sitting around here is the schematic and PCB artwork, have fun.