Bacteria's Multi-Console System: Screen+Case+N64 - FINISHED

lovablechevy · Post by **lovablechevy** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:55 am

glad to see you got the first system done! you are an extremely brilliant mind, and we are lucky to have you here.

which system you gonna move to next...? (hopes for snes

)

mothatrucka · Post by **mothatrucka** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:59 am

Dang, that's the hotness there. It looks great! Excellent work! So what system's next on the list to add?

Post by **Skyone** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:16 am

Using ribbon to remove the system, eh?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:34 pm

Wow, nice work.

You'll probably be on hackaday.com before tomorrow.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:31 pm

lovablechevy - Very kind of you to say that.

Yes, next system will be SNES! Full sized PAL board. I first need to get the website done though before I tackle other systems.

mothatrucka - Many thanks, appreciated.

Skyone - Yup, ribbon - I wanted something flat so my fingers didn't detect anything when holding the system, and strong, and didn't raise the underside of the system. The only alternatives were a release mechanism like on the SNES to pop out carts, but that would have been very big, ugly and cumbersome; or a small screw-hole so that I had to screw a long screw into and pull the system out - far from ideal. The optimum way to remove the system is to lift on one edge of the cart connectors on both sides at the same time, hence the idea with the ribbon. Unique solution, yes, but then so it this multi-platform system. The ribbon is tough (the type used to wrap Xmas pressies) and glued and hot glued in place so it stays rigid.

timmeh87 - That would be nice.

Guys, if my project gets put onto any websites or blogs you are aware of, please let me know and give me links - I would love to see their articles and how they comment about it.

My intention is to get the website done and then post my work and links in all the N64 forums I have found; and also e-mail to Engadget, Hack-a-day, etc in case they want to post about it. When I complete my next system, SNES, I will then post in all the SNES forums I have found, and for the several systems after that (Jaguar, GameCube, GX4000, SMS, MegaDrive, GBA, PlayStation, NES) in the same way.

kasar · Post by **kasar** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:49 pm

I saw the video and...this is very impresive.

Its hard to belive you turned a entire n64 into a slim "cartidge" that accepts n64 cartridges

and susprising each "cartridge" is one complete system (n64,snes,gc...)

IÂ´m also impresed about how do you set a lot of controllers parts for be a universal system controls

congratulations man,all of this is more than a nice job.

cant wait to see your other modules especially the game cube

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:58 pm

kasar - Many thanks. It will be interesting to do the GameCube, I am quite looking forward to that challenge, especially as the laser disk system on the GC is quite thick (I will have this in the middle section as with the N64 system, so it won't be a problem - same resolution as when I do the PS1 system too). I have the three voltage lines ready for the GC project, in preparation: 3.3v, 5v and 7.4v

It will take many months, if not a year+ to finish all the console modules; lots of fun to come!!

nightwheel · Post by **nightwheel** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:47 pm

Wow, That was awesome.

Only one thought. I would of Figured that you would little more energetic and happy when you showed off your portable in the video.

Post by **Skyone** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:59 pm

bacteria wrote:I have the three voltage lines ready for the GC project, in preparation: 3.3v, 5v and 7.4v

Hm? The GC takes 1.9v, 3.3v, 5v and 12v.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:27 am

nightwheel - Nah, I find "energetic" videos people take look false and ridiculous, like a TV advert of people prancing about a room selling cornflakes! Not for me - keep it factual!!

Skyone - Yes, I haven't spent a long time researching the ins and outs of this (I will read every post in the GameCube section before I start the project, in due course, as research), but I did some searches in the interim, I am aware of Electric Rain's post http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=18044 which stated:

I was therefore thinking that I have the 3.3v line, the 5v line and the 7.4v line (for the screen), I could get a 12v battery cheaply (the ones about the size of an AAA battery) as the system only needs 5mA, unless I can get a step-up regulator (5mA is why I wasn't concerned, my LED has a higher rating than that!); the only issue is how to get 1.9v in the system. I notice from the thread before that you solved this, so know it can be done:

You had mentioned to Bigmac in his postings that you were going to provide a schematic of this, although one wasn't posted - any chance you could please post one - making it simple so that people like me know what is needed and what it looks like - a bit like your TI step-down regulator diagrams??

If not, please let me know what is the best method to get 1.9v; given that I have 5v and 3.3v at the moment please? If I took the voltage converters from a GameCube and put in 7.4v would any of them give me my 1.9v, for example? Or could I put in extra resistors to a TI step-down regulator and make it output 1.9v? Comments appreciated.

evilteddy · Post by **evilteddy** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:25 am

Wow this is absolutely amazing. It all fits together so well. It would be good if you could replace the ribbon with something else like a button on each side that levers the screen off the base.

It is truly awesome. I think my brother said it best when he told me "No offence but his is heaps better than yours is".

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:21 am

evilteddy -

I agree the ribbon is an unusual choice, but as I had to originally have the cart slots in the middle so the system was kept together securely, I only had the following options:

* Have a hole in the case so I could insert a longer screw into it and then pull on that screw to lift off the system. That I thought would fail at some point, anyway, I didn't want to have to use a screwdriver and long screws anytime I wanted to change the system.

* Make half-moons to give thumbgrips to lift the system off - three issues here - firstly that the area concerned is where the flesh of my hands hold and grip the system, so not a good idea; secondly that it would feel rough to use, thirdly that lifting the system on the sides might damage the contact boards as sideways pressure is harder to control than vertical pressure.

* Lever mechanism - to give enough leverage would have made bulky and ugly levers, which would put a lot of pressure to the underside screen section and would be prone to failure. Also, this would have taken precious space up from the console section, which would have resulted in a bigger case - far from ideal on many levels.

* Ribbon, as I used, strong, plastic, flexible, flat, direct upwards lift, no pressure on the contact boards. Unusual, but works; ingenious yes, but after all this system is very unusual in that it needs to come apart. I tested the ribbon method before securing it in place, works really well which is why I adopted it.

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:57 am

That is extremely awesome! So basically each system is like a plug and play? Looks like your hard work payed off big time!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:12 am

***Anyone who has missed page 16 - there is a video of the system being connected and used***

Yes minkster I suppose you could think of it as each system being plug and play; I think of it as a large cartridge which uses smaller cartridges.

The other feature I didn't mention was that the Scart allows for whatever I am playing to be played on a television if I want to play on a telly (optional of course); so for example, if I do a mod to make the SNES take RGB, then I can use my system as a controller/console and play via RGB on the telly (also on the PSone screen at the same time). I have the connections rigged up in the Scart plug, I haven't tested the RGB yet, although the composite and audio lines are fine. I can also plug something in that outputs composite into my system and it will use the PSone screen for the display, and sound via the speakers. Could be useful on occasions. Versatile!

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:36 pm

Wow! It's one thing to read about your project and quite another to see it in action. I really like it!