Hacking Hardware MigSwitch, i just recieve my sample.

[SDA]

Good luck with your new flashcart!

 

[ghjfdtg]

Yeah, I noticed the MIG was slow to boot the dude's game in the OP, not sure if it's the MIG's fault or just a sub-par SD card being used.

Glad i'm not the only one who noticed this. If this is the loading speed even with fast microSD then it sucks ass. Would not surprise me if cutcenes in games like TotK stutter.

 

[z0gg0]

I hope someone test Super XCI soon

 

[TomSwitch]

Making a duplicate of your own house keys and it works, nice. Sounded like someone think that is evidence the the same store can make a master key that can open all locks. That key won't even open your door if you modify it.

There are good reasons to want to have some duplicated keys for sure. Maybe you want to give a set to someone that you trust.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The RP2040 has its flash integrated like every modern microcontroller?

Nope. No internal flash or EEPROM.

Funny thing is, the Pico is probably far more modern than these "modern" microcontrollers you are referring to (most of the microcontrollers people use for hobbyist projects, are ancient chips that have been around for decades)
And unlike any of those, it has the ability to execute code directly from an external flash chip, which is an advantage, as the microcontroller doesn't need to be programmed to change the firmware, different flash chips with different firmware can be dropped in, or have dipswitches to select between different flash chips or different banks on a single chip.

 

[ghjfdtg]

The RP2040 has no internal flash but this doesn't stop you from loading the firmware into its RAM from the FPGA.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

They would be making bank if that was the case. If they were RP2040, that would probably be a $10 flash cart. Though if we ignore the missing silkscreen, the number of pins lines up, the crystal oscilator there is probably 12MHZ, question is though, which mostly disproves this theory, is where is the flash? They would need flash to run a program (the only other alternative is running it from RAM, requiring a re-program on each boot).

Assuming that both of those chips are not the same (I doubt they would be using dual RP2040, for what purpose?) then it is possible that one of them is the flash chip.
I guess we are past the days of needing an entire FPGA to make a flashcart work (for sure there is no FPGA in this thing nor would one fit) and the RP2040 seems likely here due to its PIO, which is a feature unique to the RP2040 which allows it to emulate hardware I/O very similarly to what was being done with FPGAs on flashcarts for other consoles.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2024

The RP2040 has no internal flash but this doesn't stop you from loading the firmware into its RAM from the FPGA.

What FPGA though? I don't think they even make FPGAs small enough to fit in that footprint.

 

[TomSwitch]

Scraping the body marking is a waste of time. It will be reversed soon enough and an open design will emerge. The picture from OP looks like hand soldering. I wonder how many can they actually make.

 

[ghjfdtg]

What FPGA though? I don't think they even make FPGAs small enough to fit in that footprint.

I'm sure there are FPGAs in this form factor. They mentioned how they had issues with ordering the parts so it's probably a more obscure part. The left chip has most traces going to it so i assume that is the FPGA. Right chip has the matching pin pitch/count for a RP2040 but we will see.

 

[G33ksquad]

A man in the alley said he sell me his keys, said he tru$ted me.

 

[eosia]

how did they make this?
can we dump the code inside this cart?

 

[Duo8]

Assuming that both of those chips are not the same (I doubt they would be using dual RP2040, for what purpose?) then it is possible that one of them is the flash chip.
I guess we are past the days of needing an entire FPGA to make a flashcart work (for sure there is no FPGA in this thing nor would one fit) and the RP2040 seems likely here due to its PIO, which is a feature unique to the RP2040 which allows it to emulate hardware I/O very similarly to what was being done with FPGAs on flashcarts for other consoles.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2024

What FPGA though? I don't think they even make FPGAs small enough to fit in that footprint.

Read a couple months ago in the open source DS flashcard thread how the 2040 isn't quite fast enough to comfortably work as a ds flashcard. If that's true then it's not likely it can replace an fpga in a switch flashcard.

Also, there are tiny fpgas out there (finally I get to use this pic).
I think this one probably use one of those chinese fpgas.

 

[linuxares]

how did they make this?
can we dump the code inside this cart?

FPGA or RP2040 but we don't know. It's possible to dump it if you know all the lines etc, but the data might be encrypted.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Read a couple months ago in the open source DS flashcard thread how the 2040 isn't quite fast enough to comfortably work as a ds flashcard. If that's true then it's not likely it can replace an fpga in a switch flashcard.

Also, there are tiny fpgas out there (finally I get to use this pic).
I think this one probably use one of those chinese fpgas.
View attachment 414641

Possible, but another thing: Every FPGA I have ever seen has a high pin count, and the one you showed there is BGA (understandably, since the size doesn't allow for a lot of pins otherwise), but the one in the MIG is not.
Not that there is any technical reason why a FPGA can't be made with a lower pin count, it would just be limited in functionality, and there's not much reason to, so it seems unlikely to me.

 

[djnate27]

What do you mean by "sample"? Is it just a piece and not the whole thing?

 

[TheStonedModder]

What do you mean by "sample"? Is it just a piece and not the whole thing?

I think that’s just a regional/translation thing

He has the actual flashcart

 

[aos10]

If you are already banned, signature check don't really matter, and can the MIG read Repacked XCI's, that is the question.

no

custom XCI with injected update will not works



also, it seems there is no way to update the MIG switch if nintendo released an update to block it? it seems so.

 

[AmandaRose]

What do you mean by "sample"? Is it just a piece and not the whole thing?

It's a British and to a somewhat lesser extent European way of saying test version/demo version/review version of something not yet available to the general public.

I received my sample of the new Harry Potter book the other day.

I was luckily selected by Nintendo to sample rhe the new Zelda game months before it came out.

I got invited to sample the new restaurant that is opening soon.

And so on.

 

[impeeza]

For us sample is a free item give to test it.

 

[mrdude]

I'm sure there are FPGAs in this form factor. They mentioned how they had issues with ordering the parts so it's probably a more obscure part. The left chip has most traces going to it so i assume that is the FPGA. Right chip has the matching pin pitch/count for a RP2040 but we will see.

If it's coming from Russia it might be hard to get chips due to sanctions.....just saying.