"Let's make GD ROM emulation happen" Facebook group.

Thanks for the confirmation FamilyGuy! This is really good news

 

So the boards are being shipped and it's time to order parts - but I cannot find the inter-board connector on Mouser or Digikey! The one that goes on the board and plugs into the Dreamcast, Molex part 52584-0579... OzOnE/cybdyn, where did you guys source yours? Should I just ask Molex for samples?

 

Wouldn't hurt to ask for a sample but I found a Chinese seller if you want to order some.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/52584-0579-Board-to-Board-Mezzanine_832396094.html

 

I got the boards today! Only one small problem - there isn't a single hole drilled in the whole thing. :|

I guess something went wrong with uploading the files... so none of the vias work. The boards are useless.

Guess I gotta fix it and wait another two weeks for the new boards.

 

Sorry for you man! Any way you could fix the vias with a drill and solder?

Anyway, it gives you the time to wait for the molex connectors!

 

can y show pic of boards?
maybe you forgot send them the NC drill txt file?
also why manufacturer didn't ask you about this problem? they didnt see what something is wrong.

i used desoldered molex from broken gd-drives))


also, i think about why y didnt use some version of STM32 Dicsovery board? i saw there is good dev boards w/ many spare pins. so you need only make crossboard w/ molex and sd slot(if there is no sd slot on dev board), my 2 cents))

 

These re itty-bitty vias - 13 mil hole size. I don't have the capability to drill and fill them myself, unfortunately.

Cybdyn, here's a (not very good) picture of the board with a business card for size comparison:
http://i.imgur.com/LdtUEKa.jpg

The board itself is very nice! The silkscreen is nice and crisp and all the traces look great. Just... there's no holes.
I do know I sent them the drill files, and looking back at the preview images, I realize I really should have caught this the first time. It looks like the drill hits were all offset and were off the board - I couldn't really see in the preview because they were so small.
I'm not upset about the waste of money, it just sucks to wait until the new boards arrive!

An eval board would have worked, I suppose. Though looking briefly at what STM has available for the specific micro I need, the boards are very expensive! Like, two or three hundred dollars. Plus it was a good excuse to learn to use Altium (PCB making software).

 

Use this CAM job for OSHPark and it will spit out all the necessary files they require.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/vh647n0vdas3947/OSHPark.cam


And I use this CAM file for when I send to other manufacturers:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/ujed58t19gc7647/New-Gerber.cam


These are for EAGLE CAD so not sure if it will work for your software.

 

Thanks Helder, but I already got it all sorted. The guys at OSH Park are great, I told them that their help files seemed to be inaccurate and they fixed them and are giving me free boards (using the new, working files, of course)!
The problem was that I followed their directions for Altium (which I'm using) directly, but because of some other settings I had it didn't work properly and all the holes were off the board. I got it working correctly after some trial-and-error, though.

So, I'll have new, working boards in another two weeks.

 

This might be a dumb question, but have you got the 33MHz oscillator on that board? I can't see it.

 

Of course! You can see the crystal just above the microcontroller in this image:
http://i.imgur.com/Q0l8SBg.jpg

It's actually a 16.9344MHz one (half of the required 33.8688MHz for the audio clock). This is within range for the microcontroller spec and lets me double it to get that required frequency output.

 

Ah, OK - I did see the site for that xtal, but didn't realize you had selected the frequency for that - I was using the USB, so I was basically stuck with 12MHz. I assume that you have programmed up the PLL to generate 66MHz and then set the MCO pin to sysclk/2 ?

 

It gets multiplied up ten to give a microcontroller clock speed of 169.344MHz, and then divided by five to get the 33.8688. I know neither of those are powers of 2, but I had done all the math at some point and through a couple PLL stages, it can be done.

 

Only discovered this now and i would be willing to pay over $150 for this device when made. Great to see work like this is being done

 

i think 150 is much for dcemu that supports only SD card. does it makes sense to buy such device after last news from the DC-SWAT site)))
the G1-IDE device can be DIY or buy more cheaper.
so my idea is to make something in the middle , it based on RC2 (DREAMSHELL) and better then just g1-ide. no need bios-mod or any soldering.


good luck to Mario, i think it's early to say "it being done". but it will be very impressive when Mario destroy my doubts)))

 

This is looking more and more promising by the day. Can't wait for the boards to come in!

 

I agree. Paying 150€ for a device which is considered "niche" in a gamer universe where most people care most about the latest consoles will only hurt the sales. Let's not forget the added shipping fee which will inflate the overall price. Quoting it around 100€ would be fair. Mod parts shouldn't cost as much as consoles, imo...

 

Though the fact that it's niche means people will be prepared to pay more and that there's less concurrence.

That said, cybdyn's and mario's devices could probably be cheaper than DCEMU by a good margin. And the SWAT IDE adapter would be Dirt-Cheap, only issue is compatibility.

 

personally i think about $130 sounds right. but that's just me.

 

You're partly correct, despite the fact that only a minority of people still play dreamcast in the gaming universe. I'm sure they will pay whatever the costs to get hold of such "rare" device. But consider sales figures and the potential variety available in a not-so-distant future...