challenges in DCp land

Klefmung · Post by **Klefmung** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:30 am

What are the challenges in making a DCp? Why is it so hard so that noone makes them?

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:57 pm

multiple voltages
Mother and daughterboards
weird disk reader rewiring

see dkap's site and the sticky

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:00 pm

Well you can go about making a Dreamcast portable in one of two ways. The Treamcast way, which is that you replace the PSU (power supply unit) with a DC-DC converter and attach an LCD (suggested PSone) screen to the back so it folds over the disc lid. The other is the handheld way, in which you take the whole system apart and rewire together the connection between the motherboard and the GD-Rom board and the same things done for the first.

Now the Treamcast on has been done by a member here, by the name of Cennar. His site is detailed enough you should be able to figure out what needs to be done to get it working. It's a nice way to portabize the Dramcast to the point that it can go in the car, or you can set it up to play so friends a little, but not to just walk around with like a Gameboy or PSP.

The handheld I would say is best for you if you have very good soldering skills. The connection that Dkap01 rewired has 50 contacts, and they are close together. So if you know you can do it go for it, I'm sure it will be well worth the effort.

Good luck.

Nucklez · Post by **Nucklez** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:25 pm

I really like Dkap01's portable. Currently I've got a Treamcast style portable under works, but I'm really considering making my own vacuum table and building one like Dkap. The hardest part of any style is the power supply. I have seen that a Game Cube PSU will work with the DC though. The 3.3v circuit is the hella of all current circuits. It is apparently what controls the GD-ROM, the LED and god knows what else. I would have to guess that it uses around 3 Amps on the 3.3v alone. I am building a PSU from scratch, using cheapo parts from Radio Shack and scraps from old computers.

For the 3.3v circuit I currently have three LM317's in parallel, with a nice heatsink and a salvaged fan from another DreamCast. The heatsink was from the Front Side Bus of an older Intel P4 Motherboard that I removed some the prongs and mounted the fan and all three LM317's to it. I'll have to write up a schematic for the LM317's, because you need diodes between Vout of each chip when running them in parallel to keep them from burning each other up.

As for the 12v and the 5v, a 7812 and a 7805 will suffice just fine.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:05 pm

If you're still set on making your own PSU for your Dreamcast portable. I would suggest looking in the N64 forum. Reason being is that they have a simalar problem in powering the N64, namely the 3.3v input require something like 1.5-2.0 amps. So take a look there and see if anything helps you on your project.