Online store

Summer vacation - no shipping between July 21 and Aug 10!

Game title database

Categories

How to ...

How to… connect the Retrode:

  1. Bring some basic knowledge about today’s computing machinery.
  2. Connect the Retrode.

(Dude. If that’s not gonna get me sued in the US, I don’t know what is.)

How to… insert game cartridges:

First of all, don’t use violence. If it doesn’t fit, there might be a reason.

segaSlot This is the slot for *Genesis cartridges.
snesSlot This is the *SNES slot.
cartOrientation The artwork must always be facing outwards.

How to… configure your OS:

Simply associate .sfc files with the *SNES emulator of your choice, and .bin ones with your favorite *Genesis emulator.

How to… configure your *SNES emulator:

All the emulator really needs to know is where to find the savegame (SRAM) file for each game.

  1. Connect the Retrode and find out its path, or drive letter. Here, let’s assume it is F:
    driveletter
  2. Remove any cartridges from their slots.
  3. Start your emulator. Here, let’s assume it’s snes9x for Windows.
  4. Open the settings dialog, and tell it where to find SRAM files. Here, we would first select Saves from the drop-down list, then enter F: into the edit field marked in red.
    snes9x-sramconfig
  5. (If your emulator doesn’t have a GUI, edit its config file accordingly.)
  6. Quit the emulator.
  7. Insert a game cartridge.
  8. Load the ROM file from the Retrode into the emulator, and see if the savegame gets loaded too.

How to… update the firmware:

If you’re on the firmware update mailing list, you will receive significant updates via e-mail. Installing them may appear a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really not that bad.

You need:

  • Your Retrode at hand, and a USB cable
  • Two toothpicks or other thin sticks
  • A Windows PC with USB port
  • The FLIP software by Atmel (can be found here). Version 3.0 or higher is required.
  • The new firmware file (of  extension .hex)

Here’s how you install the firmware. (A more graphical version can be found on the Atmel homepage in this document, Chapter 5.)

  1. Connect the Retrode as usual.
  2. Backup the config file to a destination of your choice.
  3. Install FLIP.
  4. Using one of the toothpicks, hold down the HWB button. Then press and release the RESET button with the other toothpick while still holding down HWB. Finally, let go of HWB as well.
    firmwarebuttons2
  5. Windows will now recognise a new device. When asked for drivers, direct it to the “usb” subfolder in your FLIP installation directory.
  6. Go to the Windows device manager and look for a mysterious device called “Jungo” or “AT90USB646″ or similar. If there is none, repeat steps 3 and 4.
  7. Start FLIP.
  8. In the “Device” menu, click on “Select…”, or press Ctrl+S.
  9. Select the entry “AT90USB646″ from the list.
  10. Press Ctrl+U to open the USB connection.
  11. Load the firmware hex file (Ctrl+L).
  12. Hit the “Run” button on the lower left.
  13. When the programming is done, hit the RESET button or cycle the USB connection. As tempting as it may seem, do NOT hit the FLIP button “Start Application”.
  14. Open the config file in an editor. Select all text, delete, and replace with the contents of your backup copy.
  15. Enjoy! :D