Hey, why not make the casing rackmount? might be neat looking and would give you the room you'd need for sure.
...and I think you should go ahead and attempt the whole using a single disc drive for the disc-based systems console once it gets to that stage. I mean, worst that can happen would be that it doesn't work and you can fall back on just using multiple drives, right?
Bacteria's project: "Project Unity"
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
AppleQueso wrote:Hey, why not make the casing rackmount? might be neat looking and would give you the room you'd need for sure.
Could mount a couple of these to give a modular pull out look.
CRT vs LCD - Hardware Mods - HDAdvance - Custom Controllers - Game Storage - Wii Gamecube and other Guides:
CRTGAMER Guides in Board Guides Index: http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1109425#p1109425
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
I should have put the NES update here regards the composite, etc; (oops); oh well, moving on...
Got this at a car boot sale today for £2; its an Akasa 8.5" computer fan - totally silent.
Decided i'll design the Alpha Omega into a futuristic casing and incorporate this large fan into the system, it will be ideal to keep everything cool.
I'm going to incorporate all the CD and cart systems together and probably have the boards inside the casing like honey trays in a beehive, that way there will be excellent airflow passing through all elements of the casing - important for some systems like DreamCast, Xbox and GameCube.
Got this at a car boot sale today for £2; its an Akasa 8.5" computer fan - totally silent.
Decided i'll design the Alpha Omega into a futuristic casing and incorporate this large fan into the system, it will be ideal to keep everything cool.
I'm going to incorporate all the CD and cart systems together and probably have the boards inside the casing like honey trays in a beehive, that way there will be excellent airflow passing through all elements of the casing - important for some systems like DreamCast, Xbox and GameCube.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Should have put this into this thread rather than a new one; so copied it here.
The box of tricks you get on a PAL NES "toaster" console is a circuit board about 2" x 2" enclosed in a heavily secured shilding unit that takes some work to remove and separate from the main board, then open up and get to the board.
This box has the AC in (yes, AC in not DC), RF output, composite and mono audio output. The AC goes into components then into a 7805 (hence no need for the AC as it converts to DC for the 7805), and the 7805 although outputs negative, isn't present on the small board. Confusing!
Anyway, after various tests and trimming, etc, worked out what is needed for the video. The video line from the motherboard is too weak so needs amplification, which is why it moves to the transistor. The audio also passes through various circuits, although needs no amplification as you can take it straight off the NES motherboard fine.
I looked on the net for options, found a few but they were for the NTSC NES 2 unit, and frankly, doesn't work on this PAL NES unit, I tried it.
Not knowing a great deal about electronics (learning though slowly), no idea what the coil is or how to rate it, what I do know is the circuit does not work without it present.
The pic below is the board after removing all the shielding, the RF modulator parts, etc. The parts circled are the parts you need for this mod. Keep the 7805 too. A 7805 is easy to wire - the pin nearest the "7" is the 7.5v in, middle is negative, and the "5" pin is the 5v output.
Schematic I made
Pic to clarify - now I know what works, I can wire it up properly!
New update:
Worked out this section isn't needed, above the row of capacitors, so trimmed a little off at a time and then tested, got to the end, all fine. These are pics before snapping the piece off - helps to make the board smaller. Only player 2 port suffers, but as my console system is only 1 player anyway, doens't matter (if it did matter, could have kept and relocated the parts needed).
More to come off the board yet!
The box of tricks you get on a PAL NES "toaster" console is a circuit board about 2" x 2" enclosed in a heavily secured shilding unit that takes some work to remove and separate from the main board, then open up and get to the board.
This box has the AC in (yes, AC in not DC), RF output, composite and mono audio output. The AC goes into components then into a 7805 (hence no need for the AC as it converts to DC for the 7805), and the 7805 although outputs negative, isn't present on the small board. Confusing!
Anyway, after various tests and trimming, etc, worked out what is needed for the video. The video line from the motherboard is too weak so needs amplification, which is why it moves to the transistor. The audio also passes through various circuits, although needs no amplification as you can take it straight off the NES motherboard fine.
I looked on the net for options, found a few but they were for the NTSC NES 2 unit, and frankly, doesn't work on this PAL NES unit, I tried it.
Not knowing a great deal about electronics (learning though slowly), no idea what the coil is or how to rate it, what I do know is the circuit does not work without it present.
The pic below is the board after removing all the shielding, the RF modulator parts, etc. The parts circled are the parts you need for this mod. Keep the 7805 too. A 7805 is easy to wire - the pin nearest the "7" is the 7.5v in, middle is negative, and the "5" pin is the 5v output.
Schematic I made
Pic to clarify - now I know what works, I can wire it up properly!
New update:
Worked out this section isn't needed, above the row of capacitors, so trimmed a little off at a time and then tested, got to the end, all fine. These are pics before snapping the piece off - helps to make the board smaller. Only player 2 port suffers, but as my console system is only 1 player anyway, doens't matter (if it did matter, could have kept and relocated the parts needed).
More to come off the board yet!
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Turns out the coil on the composite line is not needed, for some reason before it needed it, now it doesn't - it makes sense not to need it as there is no interference from radio waves anymore as teh daughter board was removed a while back!
Opened up a NES controller, removed the chip, then re-applied it after making the board so thin it was see-through (and also slimming the chip pins too). This was to get the small board onto the NES console board, to the same height as the NES chips.
The composite amp is covered in clear tape and that is hot glued to the board. I did the same method before with the relocated capacitors - still electrically insulated, but being clear tape can see afterwards what is done - and the hot glue also stops the tape unravelling too.
The blue dotted lines indicate the size the board will be when finished, the capacitors and the small board to the controller plug off it will need to be relocated in the middle of the board in the space available. I want to make this NES console board contain all elements, and about as flat as the chips on the board itself. That will mean this console has been made as flat and small as possible. Making the system region free is 5 seconds work, snipping off a pin, will do that too - allows it to play NTSC games too then.
Opened up a NES controller, removed the chip, then re-applied it after making the board so thin it was see-through (and also slimming the chip pins too). This was to get the small board onto the NES console board, to the same height as the NES chips.
The composite amp is covered in clear tape and that is hot glued to the board. I did the same method before with the relocated capacitors - still electrically insulated, but being clear tape can see afterwards what is done - and the hot glue also stops the tape unravelling too.
The blue dotted lines indicate the size the board will be when finished, the capacitors and the small board to the controller plug off it will need to be relocated in the middle of the board in the space available. I want to make this NES console board contain all elements, and about as flat as the chips on the board itself. That will mean this console has been made as flat and small as possible. Making the system region free is 5 seconds work, snipping off a pin, will do that too - allows it to play NTSC games too then.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Portable yes, handheld no. Portable just means that "portable" as in can be moved from one place to another!
It doesn't matter how much I reduce all the boards, 18 console boards will end up fairly heavy, probably around 5kg in the end. This will be a base unit for many systems.
It doesn't matter how much I reduce all the boards, 18 console boards will end up fairly heavy, probably around 5kg in the end. This will be a base unit for many systems.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
I think it should be in the shape of a cube, either painted black or painted like the cubes from Cube!
"Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. I'm off to play Sega"-HAL 9000
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
That's a pretty good idea, rather than a sphere idea, a cube - with the pipes separating the cube divisions in silver, the squares in black. That would also be good for mounting the carts and CD drive units.
Update:
Done some general work. Going to be able to trim more off the top; relocated the flat capacitors on the top right, into the middle of the board, these capacitors feed into the gamepad connectors, so that pad (pic underneath) isn't needed either - there are four diodes that connect from the capacitors on the motherboard to the gamepad connectors; not the brown wire (that is ground). As the white wire doesn't go into one of these capacitors (rather off the larger one), just connected it via its diode to the controller directly.
I could have easily eliminated the tiny board entirely and just connected the capacitor to the diode and grounded each capacitor as needed, however thought it made it easier to follow and troubleshoot if needed by using the method I did. It is easy to relocate the 2nd player port the same way if you wanted too - I don't want a player 2 port so removed it before - if you want to keep it, just relocate as with the other one.
The loose white wire is connected to ground, so I can touch the chip pins to test the button pad connections work fine (they do).
All that work to reduce the top part of the board down by a few millimeters! (not done that yet, only have to cut it off now, the hard work is done).
Had to add a wire to the controller chip, as per pic, as the grounding was disconnected. Works fine now, tested on Donkey Kong!
Got a fair bit of trimming to do yet.
Update:
Done some general work. Going to be able to trim more off the top; relocated the flat capacitors on the top right, into the middle of the board, these capacitors feed into the gamepad connectors, so that pad (pic underneath) isn't needed either - there are four diodes that connect from the capacitors on the motherboard to the gamepad connectors; not the brown wire (that is ground). As the white wire doesn't go into one of these capacitors (rather off the larger one), just connected it via its diode to the controller directly.
I could have easily eliminated the tiny board entirely and just connected the capacitor to the diode and grounded each capacitor as needed, however thought it made it easier to follow and troubleshoot if needed by using the method I did. It is easy to relocate the 2nd player port the same way if you wanted too - I don't want a player 2 port so removed it before - if you want to keep it, just relocate as with the other one.
The loose white wire is connected to ground, so I can touch the chip pins to test the button pad connections work fine (they do).
All that work to reduce the top part of the board down by a few millimeters! (not done that yet, only have to cut it off now, the hard work is done).
Had to add a wire to the controller chip, as per pic, as the grounding was disconnected. Works fine now, tested on Donkey Kong!
Got a fair bit of trimming to do yet.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Here's the NES video. It covers the following aspects:
Opening a PAL NES "toaster" console
Removing the parts
Parts needed / not needed
Removal of the A/V and AC power daughterboard
Composite and audio modding
Fixing the cartridge port to play games reliably again
Region free modding to play NTSC games as well as PAL
Board reduction
Demonstration
Opening a PAL NES "toaster" console
Removing the parts
Parts needed / not needed
Removal of the A/V and AC power daughterboard
Composite and audio modding
Fixing the cartridge port to play games reliably again
Region free modding to play NTSC games as well as PAL
Board reduction
Demonstration
I am the Bacman