New guy tackling the portable Radica

[xenepp]

Hey all,

I've been looking at this over the last few days and it's finally given me a reason to go out and get me a Radica... or two

I was mega pleased to find this site, it's been SO useful thus far!!

I grabbed myself a Arcade Legends 2 and a Streetfighter2/GNG. Of course the first thing I did was bust them open

I was amazed at how small the GOAC was!! So after playing for an hour of so I thought it was time to pull off that rom.... oops.

In using a Stanly blade (exacto knife) I cut a few extra traces on the PCB and upon pulling off the rom... yanked off a few pads. Arse.

This would have been fine though since I used the side of my blade to scrape the top layer from the white area above said pad to reveal a nice new trace, however I hadn't anticipated the flimsyness of this.... and proceeded to yank off the new pad I'd created. Double arse.

So, with regret, the SF Radica was slung in the circular file and, after composing myself, set about starting on the AL2 Radica. This time I plan on just cutting the rom side pads and creating some sort of simple logic gate to switch between the rom and the cart (when a cart's inserted it'll play that instead of the rom and vice versa) and possably consider a good nights sleep before hand

I plan on using a Hip Gear and possably it's audio amp and then creating my own custom sculpted case to seat it all in. The case will eventually be made from regular casting resin since I work with it quite a lot with my movie prop replicas and I'm something of a dab hand with silicone molding

I'm gonna try to keep this as small a possable and keep a landscape design. Shouldn't be much bigger than a folded out Nokia 6260 (but a fair bit thicker) methinks.

So that's me up to date, I'll basicly try to keep posting as I progress and kinda keep a web "diary" on events that unfold. Who knows, it might be of use to someone.

I've wasted enough valuable web space, I'll keep y'all posted!

-Joel

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

sounds cool goodluck

[daguuy]

yeah good luck with it . if ripping off the button things is a problem, just replace them with tact switches

[demonofaj]

On Ben's making of of the radica, he shows his way of doing the control board, as in the right way.

[xenepp]

First off, the forum link from benheck.com doesn't show this post and won't let me log in.... weird.

Progress update though... I buried another Radica. The method I used to remove the rom this time ended up ripping out all the circuitry and I was NOT pleased.

Looking back at my SF2 Radica though, all I had to do was some repair work on traces I inadvertantly (too hastily) severed and solder to new traces from the pads I killed. In theory.

In reality I must have spent too long soldering and destroyed the thing altogether. I just get a black screen that does naff all. I now have a few q' though:

1. What are D5 and D12? Are they normally connected together? I ask since these are the pads I killed and re-routed and I'm thinking I may have routed them incorrectly. I traced them back to a point where they're joined???

1. Are A21 and A22 really not needed? All the carts I've inspected so far have them connected?

2. What method of attaching the connector has everyone else used? I'm currectly cutting the solder attaching the rom to the board mid-way, any better ideas? Anyone taken pics?

3. Where did all the threads go?? I'm certain there was a thread posted by Ben regarding hooking up genesis controllers which contained a link to another forum which was bursting with info on this...

4. IS there any more info on this?? I've scoured the forum back to front and not found much info other than what Ben's posted. It's useful, but a blow-by-blow account would REALLY help.

-Joel

[xenepp]

So now I'm pissed.

I grabbed a third Radica today and though I'm sure I wired up everything as per Ben's diagram, I got zip. Black screen with every game I test (I got about 20 to test).

Is Ben's diagram accurate? Has anyone used the diagram and succeeded?

I ain't tryin this again, so I wanna see if there's anything I can do with this one!

I know I soldered everything up fine too. Probably my best job ever actually...

-Joel

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

is the cart in backwards you never know

[pezman]

it woulde help if you posted pics. not only will they help but they are cool

[xenepp]

Y'know what? after checking a cart against the wiring I'd done, the data lines didn't really match....

I'd wired in the thing in reverse.... (Someone should really make a clearer diagram!!)

So after 4 hours or so or rewiring (at three in the morning you have to check and double check yourself!) I had life!!

One tip for anyone out there trying this, once you have all your connections soldered correctly on the Radica (and your SURE it's all correct), hot glue them in place, there's been a few times where I've been glad of it, plus you know it'll be secure! Just don't overdo it!!

Another thing I found useful in removing the rom chip was basicly cutting (digging at) the chip just above the vias. It means the chips dead forever, but if you have a cart slot built in after... who cares? This way I only killed two tracks and being the genius I am, didn't take much to repair

I will post compatability with the carts I have in the thread at the top of the forum, but it works!

Next up, stereo sound and 6 button inputs! Maybe if I hook up the sound directly from the chip it'll sound better..... ?

My Hip Gear's in the post and I'm working on a nice, compact, landscape case for the whole thing

Thanks to those that have helped so far, I'll get pics up asap, but my digicam kinda sucks, so they might be quite poor

-Joel

[xenepp]

Little update:

I have stereo (As you may have noticed from my other post) in the form of an old MD MK1 headphone jack!!!

Also, I now have a nice six button pad wired up which will eventually (and after a bit of hacking about) become the pad I use for my enclosure.

I promise to have pics up soon!

Next up I figure out how to get rid of that horrable distortion on the right audio channel! Woot!

All on course and making lotsa progress!!

-Joel

[xenepp]

Got my hipgear today... stay tuned for pics!

-Joel

[Unidentified Assilant]

Sounds great!