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a possibly insane idea
RayB:
--- Quote from: Fozzy The Bear on March 29, 2008, 01:00:07 pm ---No! because you're still running the software on illegitimate hardware.... It'd be no different to those illegal multi game boards. Think about it this way: It'd be like plugging a legitimate Nintendo cartrige into an illegitimate console.
--- End quote ---
You're partly wrong here. It all depends on the status of the patents involved. Patents are typically 20 years. So right now, you could duplicate the hardware of pretty much anything pre-1988. The catch is not using any trademarks that might still be valid, and having legal license to any and all software contained on the chips. (ROMs like the OP already mentioned, but also the BIOS, if any).
Fozzy The Bear:
--- Quote from: RayB on March 29, 2008, 03:40:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: Fozzy The Bear on March 29, 2008, 01:00:07 pm ---No! because you're still running the software on illegitimate hardware.... It'd be no different to those illegal multi game boards. Think about it this way: It'd be like plugging a legitimate Nintendo cartrige into an illegitimate console.
--- End quote ---
You're partly wrong here. It all depends on the status of the patents involved. Patents are typically 20 years. So right now, you could duplicate the hardware of pretty much anything pre-1988. The catch is not using any trademarks that might still be valid, and having legal license to any and all software contained on the chips. (ROMs like the OP already mentioned, but also the BIOS, if any).
--- End quote ---
That's a very grey area Ray. The trouble would come with the software that forms the design of the custom chips. 90% of arcade boards have at least 1 or more custom chips on them. You could I suppose double blind reverse engineer them, but that's beyond the bounds of possibility unless you spend thousands doing it.
The patents issue is not the same worldwide. I believe that in the UK we actually have stronger and longer lasting engineering design patents. This is of course not to mention the design copyright issue which goes well beyond the question of patents. The original designer could sue, even if the patent had expired if the intention is to copy the original product. It would require a test case through the courts to define that and I don't think the original poster wants to be that test case.
Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)
Spacejack:
I guess one could maybe make the case that by building new boards for a set of ROMs that came out of a real (broken) machine, that you were simply performing repairs? Well anyway, it's not like I was actually going to do it all the way to taking quarters, it was just an extension of the thought.
Fozzy The Bear:
--- Quote from: Spacejack on March 29, 2008, 06:29:02 pm ---I guess one could maybe make the case that by building new boards for a set of ROMs that came out of a real (broken) machine, that you were simply performing repairs?
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You could try and make that case.... I think you'd be in for a pasting from any opposition barrister if you did. It certainly wouldn't be classed as a repair because, you're only using one component and building the majority (90% or more) of the machine.
There's still nothing stopping you from doing it for yourself though. Just that you can't make commercial use of it if you do.
You mentioned Space Invaders. That's an interesting machine, because it doesn't have a CPU. All of the logic on it is built from the ground up using discrete chips.
Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)
DJ_Izumi:
Simply put, I think it would just be a lot cheaper and easier to take a 1-2ghz PC and use a dedicated emulator in the box. Especially since, to replicate an arcade board you would need to have that board on hand to backward engineer or very detailed design papers that would be nearly impossible to obtain.
Additionally, many arcade boards would simply too complicated to construct on a breadboard and you'd need to clone the entire PCB as a PCB... You don't want to hear what that'll cost you, but simply put, it'd be cheaper to BUY the real cab or at least it's boards.