Modifying the Mother board settings

[Stinger357]

Ok I don't know if this has been addresses before but...
We have alot of connections in the pachislo someone that knows the interworkings of these machines should be able to make a connector and connect it to a laptop and get some kind of console access to the Mother Board of these pachislo's, they have to be able to do this at the parlor's or the manufacturer. Since we OWN these machines we should not be violating any rules, and should be able to log into these machines and I KNOW for a fact the registry settings can be altered in RAM or ROM. Someone needs to find a way to do this, if not I will attempt to. First thing I want to change is the 50 buffer we all see. I bet there is 1 setting to change that to any number we wish. I am going to attempt to interface with my pachislo's and see if I can get some sort of console entry. Then we would need to know the commands. But thats later. Anyone have any idea on this,.

[brewboy]

I agree that there should be a way to communicate with the main board, but I have no idea how to do it. Good luck and please keep us up to date on your progress.

I'd still like to know how to retain the volume settings after my machine is turned off without modifying the hardware.

[birdbrain]

try a helicopter with really big speaker mounted to it.

[new in town]

try a helicopter with really big speaker mounted to it.

YEA ! ! !

YouTube - Greatest Movie Scenes - Apocalypse Now - Helicopter Attack

[daverob]

Firstly, I'm no expert on Pachislo machines, I've never owned one and I've only looked inside a few, so I could be talking absolute rubbish here (and it won't be the first time either ).

Having said that if the electronics is anything like pachinko machines (and from the few I've looked at they are), then they will be controlled by a semi-secure processor and programmed in z80 assembler.

Reading out the program shouldn't be that difficult if you know what you are doing, as all boards that use these secure processors will have a code verification port (either a red block connector with a slot in it for the LE2280/LE4280 processors, or an RJ-12 'phone' connector for the IDNAC/SUBNAC type processors). Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to decode this interface and read out the internal software. Alternatively if you've got about $2000+ to waste (sorry I meant invest ) then you could buy a development kit from pklink.com which should be a very good start.


There won't be any 'Registry Settings' as such or any way of getting a console prompt out of the machine. You'll just have to read the program code and work out which byte corresponds to which setting you wish to change and then modify it appropriately. Unfortunately the CPU's internal program memory is write once, so you'll have to find somewhere to purchase blank CPUs (pklink at around $50 each), or design your own daughter board with flash memory. Your board will need an 8Mhz Z80-CPU, a Z80-PIO, and a Z80-CTC along with 16k of flash and 512 bytes of SRAM memory and some glue logic (perhaps this whole lot could be synthesised on a big enough FPGA).

I saw a circuit diagram of the internal layout of the LE-Tech cpus on a Korean site a while back (could have been doskorea?) but I lost my bookmarks and can't find a link to it anymore.

If you've got the money to invest in the tools that the Japanese and Korean pachi-hackers use, and have had a reasonable amount of experience with the old 8-bit computers of the 1980's, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with this. If you were born in the IBM-PC era, and your only experience is with high level languages, then it's probably best to forget about it.


BTW, I'd love to have a go at this myself, If only I had a few thousand to throw at it and some spare time.

[compirate]

If only I had a few thousand to throw at it and some spare time.

Isn't that everyones excuse! Mine especially!

[Stinger357]

great info thanks guys..well the good news is I have the 2000+ to spend, and I have used the old 8-bit (Atari 800) processors of the 80's. I have programed in assembler back in the day. LDA 1, etc... So I might have a shot at this. I will check out that sight and look at getting a development kit from them. And research more of pachislo hacking from the japanese and koreans. I have alot of korean friends so they can help me translate. This is a big task, but it will take some time, and I will keep everyone updated on my progress. Just a note I have been using computers since 1977 when I got my first computer a 16K Bally Astrocade, which had a basic cartridge to program on, and saving data to a cassette player.

[Sid]

I love it when a plan comes together...
Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith

[hanabi]

I love it when a plan comes together...
Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith

Oh Darn it!!

I thought that was MY quote