Emulator Possibility

[wtp327]

Hey, I hatched an idea while playing with my old 1g Nano. Is there any way to write a plugin to make the Nano an EPROM emulator? I tune cars, and it's a giant pain in the ass to haul my laptop into the car every time I have to change the tune. Plus, once I get it perfect, I could take the .BIN and save it, then transfer it to my computer and burn a chip with that file (so I don't have to run the plugin every time I start the car). I'm trying to emulate a 27C256 chip, 28 pin (most common on Nissans and Hondas). The emulator cable goes from the 28 pin header to a male IDE connector. I figured that with all the pins on the iPod connector, it could probably run a 28 pin chip.

TL;DR - Is EPROM emulation possible from an ipod?

Also one other small problem- No programming experience, especially with the rockbox plugins. Would it be a nightmare? I think it's possible.

[bluebrother]

No.

(You could build up some hardware and use the Ipod to control that via a serial line. But it might be much easier to just get a small laptop instead. Netbooks aren't expensive and gicen time and money needed for a custom solution it's also way cheaper.)

[wtp327]

I have a netbook, this is just kind of a pet project for me. Now you mentioned something about a serial port? The emulators I'm looking at have a serial input, how would I go about attaching the ipod to a serial port? And then communicating with it to run an emulator like the Romulator or Ostrich? EPROMs are old technology, so this shouldn't be too hard? Plus, since I would be using a separate emulator, I could leave the 'pod in the car, and go into the plugin when I want to make a change to the BIN. Sweet! 

[saratoga]

I have a netbook, this is just kind of a pet project for me. Now you mentioned something about a serial port?

The ipods have a UART available through the dock connector. 

[wtp327]

K, say I got the iPod-to-serial cable, how would you go about writing a program to communicate with the emulator like a PC does?

[saratoga]

K, say I got the iPod-to-serial cable, how would you go about writing a program to communicate with the emulator like a PC does?

See /firmware/drivers/serial.c and /apps/iap.c for the existing code that implements the ipod accessory over serial support.

Also, probably worth checking if the voltages the UART gives match what your device expects.