Bacteria's multi-console system project : UNITY

Isn't there a way to keep the forum up in read only mode - so it's just there for reference? There was a wealth of information, guides, pictures etc that are invaluable. I was planning on attempting a handheld sometime in the future and I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to do so without all that information. The reference guides are nice but not really enough to go on for the complete noob.

 

The reference guides on the website, www.bacman.co.uk/home are currently still active, all relevant information from the forum over the years was put onto there. In practice, the only stuff in the forum over it's thousands of posts were either repetitive or fodder, or guides that were not complete or lacked detail.

So, the "wealth of information" is still on the website as usual, and that gives all the knowledge needed for beginner/intermediate modding.

As to the old forum, no that was deleted totally a while back. It went from hundreds of members viewing the site per day to about a dozen, so wasn't viable in my time to keep it going, especially as some members were causing dramas and making me lose interest in running the site as a result.


The question posed was for this project worklog, in this thread about how much detail if any people want to see, and might be interested in if at all. If there is not much interest i'll just post key information and videos as they happen.

 

Fair enough. Regarding your question - I would say post as much detail as you are able to. Personally I like to see each stage and the little details that go in to it. I'm not the type of poster who would constantly post "great work" or "coming along nicely" etc, but I would be interested to see everything that goes into the project as it progresses.

 

I agree with banjo. I love following projects like this and seeing the details. Of course if you feel that making these posts is taking too much of your time, then perhaps a little photo and a blurb like "removed Saturn PS board and wired main PS to motherboard and drive assembly" would do it.

 

hi bac
i'd like to see more progress photos.

im kind of planning out a ninty-based system like this but things keep changing as i want to add more. and more.

 

Sure, no problem, i'll post a fairly detailed log here as I go along, quite happy to. This is my forum of choice now after all.

 

Ok guys, update.

Wired up the N64 (with the RGB board) to a SCART cable and then to the HDMI gadget.

I found some interesting points.

My 32" television inputs SCART, composite and HDMI, whereas my 65" screen only takes HDMI; so tested initially on the 32" screen.

Output from SCART looks exactly the same as via the HDMI adaptor. In this RGB mode, the N64 games look a lot better than composite on these LCD televisions.

The N64 outputs some games in 640x480 resolution so naturally those look pretty excellent; however other games like Super Mario 64 output 320x240 resolution.

Lower game resolution means of course some inaccuracies in some pixels and also around images the image isn't crisp - however that is no different to if you take a photo and reduce it down in size, then zoom in to the size it was - further proof it is the definition of the game itself not the interpretor. As you see in the Super Mario 64 image below, the dots in the eye aren't perfect for example, but let's not be too critical.

I tried a few games, games like Yoshi's Story and Lode Runner 3D look pretty excellent, a marginal blurriness around the game images however that again is down to 640x480 pixels being converted to run 1080p - after all, each pixel in the game is having to convert to 3x3 it's size; whereas games 320x240 pixels are converting 6x6 their size and trying to blend edges together, hence compromise on image. On an old television you'd not notice.

I have more testing to do however looks very much a case that the HDMI output looks pretty great, just have to put up with the fact low resolution game systems will of course be vivid but not perfect, some better than others - which you can live with.

One thing I can test, which might make a difference, is to force 4:3 or 16:9 mode on the SCART as that might make the image have full height and therefore help the video conversion to be more accurate. Job for tomorrow!

The console and HDMI rigging is to the right of the picture of course. The little box to the bottom right of the screen is one of the HUC computers I use for general computing, they are tiny, and powerful (as good as a desktop). The HDMI signal is coming into the television by the HDMI cable to the right of the screen; and displaying in 1080p mode (PAL).

 

Interestingly enough, my 65" television shows the game quality better than the 32" one. Sweet!

I'm going to get some MDF cut soon to make the "cartridge" console units. The JAMMA connectors arrived yesterday.

 

Went to Wickes and got 3mm thick MDF sheets cut down to the right sizes I need for the project to make the base unit and console cartridges. Made a start this morning in relocating the N64 console into it. I will need to rewire the controller to the JAMMA board, so will take a few days to get the N64 system completed inside a removable cartridge.

Female JAMMA ports are very stiff to insert a board into, to the point it is not only not easy to do so but also would damage the board fairly quickly; I had this problem in Project Unity a couple of years ago, when I cut the port in half, glued it with a spacer, and it worked fine; however this time, discovered by cutting through the port but retaining the screw holes at the ends, provides suitable fit as gives the port a bit of flexibility.

Also ordered some black aluminium finish vinyl self adhesive sheets, which I will use instead of painting the system - will give a far more professional finish and also a smooth finish too.

This project is quite exciting.

I estimate this project will probably take me to early next year to complete, although that is only a guess of course.

 

cool project

 

Update time.

Got most of a cartridge made, need to make some supports for the top piece to screw down into.

Had originally thought I would make the trace board recessed into the cart i'm making however that will mean a fair bit of extra work making the insides look good in the recess, so instead the idea is to make outer protective sleeve to protect the cart and also in doing so the trace board too.

I need to wire to the trace board of course. The JAMMA board is 56 pins (2 rows of 28 pins). I will be using all the pins, as decided to remake the master controller to have 2 joysticks not 1, and two sets of shoulder buttons (one of which will be variable resistance. This means I can connect other systems I want to - GameCube, Playstation 2. Makes the project slightly harder but will be worth the effort.



The cart will be covered in the vinyl sheet as mentioned before so will look nice. This is the skeleton after all above.

Cutting the JAMMA port meant it bowed a bit when a trace board was inserted so the pins were not going to connect; so separated the port into two pieces and going to secure them slightly further apart so the trace board can be inserted and removed easier.

 

Wow, this is great! I would love to do something like this one day. I noticed you are using RGB SCART and I thought I could give you some helpful information.

Pin 8 is the Aspect ratio select pin and it needs one of the following voltages: 0-2V for no forcing aspect ratio, 5-8V for forced 16:9, and 9.5-12V for forced 4:3.

Pin 16 is the RGB select pin and it needs 1-3V for RGB. Any voltage lower than 1V sets the TV/converter to Composite Video mode. S-Video mode doesn't require any voltage.

 

Indeed, i've used SCART a while now, and simplified the diagram for it some time back : http://www.bacman.co.uk/home/scart/

 

Oh wow. That simplified chart is really useful. I'll have to follow it when I redesign my custom S-Video and Stereo Audio to SCART cable. It's much easier to read than the guides I was following. Thank you for the link!

I've been using RGB SCART for about 2 years now and I just started experimenting with Composite and S-Video over SCART. It's quite useful for things that can't do RGB, like my American VCR.

Quick question, do the generic SCART to HDMI converters support YPbPr Component over SCART? Is YPbPr common on SCART TVs nowadays or is it rarely supported?

 

SCART is handy for systems that take RGB also systems that are S-video or composite as alternatives, as by pin 16 you can select the video mode automatically. No, SCART does not support component. Component video inputs are via different connections on the television.

 

It doesn't support component? I asked because I remember reading in the wikipedia article on SCART that YPbPr can be sent over the RGB lines but it's rarely supported. I was wondering if some SCART displays would accept it. Maybe when I redesign my cable, I could put some RCA jacks on the RGB lines and see if my converter accepts it. I doubt it will but you never know. It supports S-Video even though the manual has no mention of S-Video support.

 

(refer to the diagram in my linky) : With SCART, you'd use RCA (ie composite) with pin 20 and pin 16 set to ground; S-video pins 15 and 20 (as per diagram) and pin 16 set to ground; RGB, pins 7, 11, 15 (as per diagram) and pin 16 fed 1-3v for RGB mode. Those are your only options.

 

Ok, thank you for the pinouts. My prototype cable uses 4 panel mount RCA jacks made out of some spare CAT-5e cable. Two are for Left and Right audio and the other two are for S-Video/Composite. I'm going to redesign it to use cable style RCA plugs for audio and a 4 pin mini-DIN plug for S-Video, maybe a composite plug if I have enough room.

Would any damage be done if Component video was sent down the RGB lines to my converter or would nothing happen?

 

It isn't compatible, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YPbPr

 

I know it's not compatible, I was just wondering what would happen.