I'm collecting parts to build a ROM dumper using an Arduino and guidelines from here.
My electrical engineering skills are extremely wanting as I'm relatively new to this kind of thing (I've backlit some Game Boys, but that's about it). One section of the instructions says that, in order to properly read SA-1 SNES cartridges, I'll need to flash a hex code to the PIC12F629 chip. In order to do this, I'll need to build a simple PIC flasher for the COM port using the schematic provided here.
This has me in a bit of a pickle: I have little if any idea how to read that schematic and even less of an idea what tools I need in order to build the thing. I've tried googling this, but nothing I find gives any particular instructions about what tools to use or how to build this particular tool. Ready-made tools like those offered by Microchip are way out of my budget as well.
I already have the Arduino and all of the parts except for the screws and spacers. If it's possible, the ideal would be to use the Arduino as a PIC12F629 chip flasher, flash the PIC as needed, then retool the Arduino as the ROM dumper. Is this possible? If it is, could someone give me some clear instructions for n00bs on how to accomplish this?