Hello all, I've run into a problem while designing this project I intend to complete over the course of the next year. I'm trying to make an all-in-one Nintendo console that plays N64, Super Famicom and Famicom games, housed in a Macintosh Classic case with a built-in screen. I have pretty much everything sorted out, except for one problem: the cartridge slots. I want the system to have all three slots side by side on top of the Mac case, but I can't think of a way to extend the cartridge connectors all the way up there (the console boards will be layered on shelves). Any ideas? I'm not against manually soldering wires, I just really have no idea how to go about this. -Chief
Conceptually, it's really simple. Desolder the cartridge slot from the motherboard, mount the cartridge slot where you want it and run wires from each pin from the cartridge slot to the board. However, depending on how long you're looking to extend it, you may introduce electrical noise to the extent that it will no longer function. You should keep the wires as short as possible and you'll probably be fine. That being said, how far have people successfully extended cartridge slots? I'm kinda curious at this point.
I have heard issues with wire length on relocating/extending the cartridge connector. I believe I read it's about 7 inches that will start to cause Issues, so if you need to extend the slot make it around 6.5 inches maximum length. There's also a lot of unused pins on the N64 (These Pins were going to be used for the N64DD). This will reduce a lot of work and make it a bit more tidy. Here's a diagram for that http://www.bacman.co.uk/imagehost/pics/431ed38d9f2c39ff9fb440af3fc1a77f.jpg The Green is what pins are necessary, the Blue can be ignored (You need to attach the specified blue pin for an Everdrive to function). I can't seem to find the page with the information about it though. Seems it's no longer there.
I've run games over a ~1 meter ribbon cable for the SNES without a problem. No experience with extending the N64 though.
Not even necessary, at least for the FC and N64 (not sure about the SFC). They're just kinda "clipped on" (FC = edge connector, N64 = kind of connector-on-connector, iirc) to allow for some flexibility when some kids shoves in a cartridge with a whole lot of enthusiasm.
Alright, thanks for the information. Just a few questions though; how will I know which way is up on the connectors and does that matter at all in terms of wiring them, and what gauge of wire should I use? Would a PC ribbon cable be alright?
on the n64, you could just pull off the cart connector and use ribbon cable with the correct pitch PCB headers (DIL). basically then you have a removable cart extension. Mobo > Male PCB header (Dual inline) > Ribbon cable > Female PCB header >Stock Cart connector To reduce cross talk, put a ground line between each wire in the ribbon cable. You can also wrap the ribbon cable in some sort of foil tape (connected to ground) to reduce noise even more... Doing it that way will only cost about $7 per console, be removable and require easy soldering (the N64 has the expansion slot in the way, so soldering wires directly wouldn't be easy).. is this system just for cart based nintendo's??
make a small pcb with cart slot to a ide connector and use 80 wire ide cables (so grounds between). Tidy and little soldering and removeable.
This sounds like a good idea, I'll try it out. Yeah, but I was thinking about putting in a Famicom Disk System as well, the floppies fit neatly through the Mac's slot. I'm just worried about how long the Disk System will last inside the console without needing to be repaired, the one I have works 50% of the time. When it doesn't work, I have to open it up and adjust the drive head, it's quite annoying. Does anyone know about a permanent solution to this? Is there some way to make the Disk System more stable?
Maybe try a flash cart, you could hide the SD slot in the original floppy slot, or an old floppy based backup tool... Otherwise I'd grab a good working FDS either from someone here or off YHAJ
