Using a Teensy to Read a ROM

Trammell Hudson and phooky of NYC Resistor have been exploring read-only (e.g., non-volatile) memory chips in a series of fascinating posts on the hackerspace’s blog.

phooky wrote The Joy of Dumping, which explains why you’d want to check out the ancient data moldering on decades-old chips:

Which brings up the question of why youโ€™d even want to bother to begin with. This is the firmware for an obsolete solvent control system running on a Motorolla 68000 microprocessor, obscurity on obscurity on obscurity. Whoโ€™s ever going to need it anyway? Why save the bits?

For the same reasons we record any history: because someday it may prove to be useful, and because someday it may prove to be beautiful. And even if itโ€™s neither, at least itโ€™s fun to poke around. Just pulling the strings out of the binaries yields odd puzzles.

In Stick a Straw in Its Brain and Suck: How to Read a ROM, phooky shows how to dump a ROM.

Trammell Hudson followed up last Sunday with a post showing how to snag a ROM’s data using a Teensy development board. Cool stuff!

My interests include writing, electronics, RPGs, scifi, hackers & hackerspaces, 3D printing, building sets & toys. @johnbaichtal nerdage.net

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