Ben style making-of the Blackbox

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blackbox_dev
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Ben style making-of the Blackbox

Post by blackbox_dev »

Because most of you don't visit my forums, here's the making-of the Blackbox. And you said it wouldn't work...

Well, it all started one day when me and my friend said "Hey, let's make a game console". And I said "Sure!". Well, maybe it was a bit more complex then that. I can't remember.

He eventually drifted away from the project, but I made a forum for the newly renamed Blackbox Game console. Consisting of only three members, the Blackbox forums were a peaceful community.

Then people like Skyone and MM007 joined what is now known as the International Blackbox Team. We all made some nice schematics (some more important then others), and then we had the Blackbox 0.1. Not content with that, I made the Blackbox 0.21!

Enough of the history stuff, let's get down to the making of the Blackbox 0.21!

I was really impressed with DigiKey's service. They delivered my order in less then 24 hours (maybe even 12)! This is the whole order:

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The next day I went out and got a Propeller:

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Beautiful, isn't it? :P

I also ordered a breadboard because I lost my old one. And without further ado I went to work on the Blackbox. I started with the power supply. Here's a little bit of it in progress:

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Notice that that (ha ha, double word) is a 7805. The reason I have 7805 there is because my wall-wart is too high voltage for the 3.3vdc regulator. Here is the finished power supply:

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Notice that I added a green LED. Also, the electric tape is covering a ceramic capacitor, so that it doesn't short out on the electrolythic one. I later taped down the DC jack as well, because it kept popping out of the board (I even later found out that I just needed to clip off one pin and it would stay fine). So, I plugged it in and said "Let there be light!!", and sure enough, there was!

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I later moved on to more important parts of the circuit. Starting with the Propeller itself!

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With the power supply done I started to move on to more important stuff. (but I said that already, didn't I?)

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There's not really much to say about the next pictures, except that I kept wiring, and wiring, and wiring... :P

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Note: that thing in the corner is my programming cable (later redone using chopped up paper cli--I mean SIP headers. :lol:

And here's the whole thing in it's scragally wire glory:

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Note: the wiring was later completley redone to be a hell of a lot neater. It's at the bottom of this post

And to all the people that said the Blackbox wouldn't happen, and wouldn't work, I say...

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HAHA! IN YOUR FACE!! :twisted:

The program loaded up in there is the Parallax Graphics_demo, by the way.

So, this is the rewired BB. Much neater, isn't it?

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Yup, sure is. 8)

Hope you had fun reading this!

The end.
I'd imagine right now you wish you were a cuttlefish...
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jeroen
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Post by jeroen »

It's working. Ok it's far from complete but it's working.
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gannon
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Post by gannon »

Long way off from an actual console though (program wise).
What languages are there compilers for?
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blackbox_dev
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Post by blackbox_dev »

Spin (kind of like BASIC and Pascal) and Assembly. I plan on making a BASIC interpreter when I get around to it.

Edit: I thought that I should mention the SD card slot isn't added yet because the slot's pins are too big for my soldering iron.
I'd imagine right now you wish you were a cuttlefish...
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vb_master
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Post by vb_master »

Looks promising. I will probably build one.
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Post by Turbo Tax 1.0 »

are you gonna make a custom pcb or just use perfboard
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ganonbanned
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Post by ganonbanned »

hello, what are the specs on the BB? i would ask on the site, but would probly be a n00b kind of.
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ShockSlayer
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Post by ShockSlayer »

If I knew more about it, such as controller and language, then I could program emulators for it. (Or atleast try :P )
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Post by bicostp »

Wow! I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but you have an image on the screen so that's a start. 8)

Are you going to make it a console? A handheld? Sell just the loaded motherboard, and people add their own controllers and case like the Apple 1?
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vb_master
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Post by vb_master »

ShockSlayer wrote:If I knew more about it, such as controller and language, then I could program emulators for it. (Or atleast try :P )
Jeroen said that it uses BASIC and assembler. I am begging that LUA would be implemented please, implement LUA!

Why didn't you get the Propeller from Digi-Key though?
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Sparkfist
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Post by Sparkfist »

ganonbanned wrote:hello, what are the specs on the BB? i would ask on the site, but would probly be a n00b kind of.
As of now the specs are that the Propeller acts as the CPU, GPU and audio chip. Games are going to be on SD cards. The controller is as I see it up in the air at the moment, mainly as iam7805 might have to redesign it using a new chip and the controller port type hasn't been decided yet.

To explain things further on how the system works. The Propeller has 8 cogs (cores) in it, and so by using 1 or more cogs you can make a software GPU to run video, exact same thing for the audio. And to elaberate on the controller, the current controller uses a PIC chip, but a SX20 chip has been suggested and is being considered as a replacement. The controller port is being decided between either having a 3 prong port (simalar to a mic) or have a DB-9 (male).

Also come on by the blackBox forums, we've got a fair number of threads that likely will answer questions you have, and if you can't find an answer either make a thread in the suggestion forum or PM iam7805/Skyone.
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ganonbanned
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Post by ganonbanned »

Sparkfist wrote:
ganonbanned wrote:hello, what are the specs on the BB? i would ask on the site, but would probly be a n00b kind of.
As of now the specs are that the Propeller acts as the CPU, GPU and audio chip. Games are going to be on SD cards. The controller is as I see it up in the air at the moment, mainly as iam7805 might have to redesign it using a new chip and the controller port type hasn't been decided yet.

To explain things further on how the system works. The Propeller has 8 cogs (cores) in it, and so by using 1 or more cogs you can make a software GPU to run video, exact same thing for the audio. And to elaberate on the controller, the current controller uses a PIC chip, but a SX20 chip has been suggested and is being considered as a replacement. The controller port is being decided between either having a 3 prong port (simalar to a mic) or have a DB-9 (male).

Also come on by the blackBox forums, we've got a fair number of threads that likely will answer questions you have, and if you can't find an answer either make a thread in the suggestion forum or PM iam7805/Skyone.
ok thanks i just didnt want to ask on the forums, sound like a n00b
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Post by Kurt_ »

I didn't think you'd make it this far, I have to admit.

But I can see this project (if it gets 100% done and such) turning into a console/handheld (by the looks of it at this point, it'll be a handheld) that at least 50 people will have. Probably more in the future.

Are you planning on selling this or just giving us the schematics to build our own? Are you gonna make a little 5 second test game soon? To test video/audio/controls and such?
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ganonbanned
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Post by ganonbanned »

Kurt_ wrote:I didn't think you'd make it this far, I have to admit.

But I can see this project (if it gets 100% done and such) turning into a console/handheld (by the looks of it at this point, it'll be a handheld) that at least 50 people will have. Probably more in the future.

Are you planning on selling this or just giving us the schematics to build our own? Are you gonna make a little 5 second test game soon? To test video/audio/controls and such?
i know hes going to sell them. i signed up to be beta tester. maybe, someone could make a portable one! (no, its not a handheld)
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ShockSlayer
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Post by ShockSlayer »

vb_master wrote:
ShockSlayer wrote:If I knew more about it, such as controller and language, then I could program emulators for it. (Or atleast try :P )
Jeroen said that it uses BASIC and assembler. I am begging that LUA would be implemented please, implement LUA!
K. :wink:
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