NES PCB- smaller, lighter, blah blah blah

[Ben Cebhrem]

Well, yeah. What the title says. I'll be doing up a schematic of the NES PCB here.
I don't feel ashamed admitting to my ignorance of electronic components, but I do feel assured I can read a schematic (I'm sure everybody knows of the orange paper schematic floating around on the net) and trace a physical PCB to the point of being able to come up with a schematic file. That being said, I will be omitting the expansion port and modifying the lockout chip in such a manner that a switch will allow full normal operation, or "disabled" operation (for whatever reason a person might want to do such). Based on rough estimates, I can see myself getting the PCB down to about half the original size. This is highly subjective of course, as it could just wind up a more conservative 2/3 size.

Anywho... yeah. I might want some information on some SIP components I have never seen in use in a circuit before, but I'll scour the net a bit more, and hope to find some info there.

Good luck to everybody else who is doing something.

EDIT: I found out about the SIP components, so no need to smack me for being an idiot about how to search on information. Yet.

[gannon]

Yeah, the SIP components are just resistor networks IIRC.
Not *too* hard to rebuild the NES I suppose, but doing so with a nice NOAC (hard to find though) is easier/smaller.

[Ben Cebhrem]

Yes, it would definitely be much easier to just use a NOAC, especially given that the amount of information on a dozen of them for hacking them apart is readily available on the internet. Why I chose to rebuild the NES is, quite simply, compatibility, and the sheer work I'll have to put into it (as I don't know crap really about reading a schematic, so the knowledge gained will be invaluable).

And for those hardcore people that absolutely want full compatibility in a small package, hey, it'd be nice, eh? Nowhere near as small as a NOAC, but I'll be able to show how small a PCB can get using the original components at least (until somebody one ups me by rearranging this or that somehow I suppose; I admit it won't be the best/smallest).

[Bibin]

Using real NES hardware, rebuilt as he's doing, is honestly the best way to go. The game compatibility and accuracy will benefit greatly, and apart from that, the audio will no longer get mixed up (The 0% and 23% duty cycles for the square waves are reversed on every NOAC I've seen).

[Ben Cebhrem]

Small update.

I could be using a different revision of an NES1 board than what the "orange paper" schematics are for, but if that's true... I don't know how any of this is working. I'll be more than a few weeks, as I have to correct and refine what work I had already done, so that everything is nice and slipstreamed.

After I get done with the initial design (NES1, lockout in place but selectable on disabling, unused connector pins removed), I'll be working on providing an NES2 schematic, and then after that, I think I might do dual side designs, as well as ones that use SMT parts to shrink the board further. Down the road though.

EDIT: I hate those Orange Paper schematics now. On a positive note, if you ever need to start a fire, make a PCB based solely on them.

[Ben Cebhrem]

Small, disappointing update.

I have a rough draft done up, but have yet to double check all connections to make sure they are good to go. Once I have, I'll be making a testbed on some PCB to test the validity of my claims, and then making a final draft of a paper schematic within a week.

Sometime after that, as money permits, I'll make a schematic/PCB file, and order some. Once I (finally) test on a PCB more professional than a generic Radio Shack PCB, I'll be ready to upload the last bit of my project- the schematic/PCB file.

If only that's where the project ended.

[Kyo]

That sounds super cool. And damn it, if you make a breadboard NES, that will be even super cooler.

I can't wait to see this.