Official LOB64 Interface Standard

[XCVG]

so how about a lodgenet n64? would that plug into a lob64 port? I believe palmer was checking in on those things...

does anyone here even own a lodgenet n64?

I think it'll plug in, but it definitely won't work. I thought about swiping a LodgeNet but never did. There's a guy somewhere on the web who has a whole box of the things.

[palmertech]

I was looking into it, I have a rough idea of how it would work, but certainly not through a LOB64 port.

I have the parts in front of me to build a web browser for the N64, but it would be so useless that it is not worth the time. Besides, most of the hardware would have to be offloaded to external parts, so not really an "N64" web browser anymore.

[NR1224]

wow...that's awesome...IF the day ever comes that my N64p gets anywhere, ill be sure to include this..not that the day would ever come of course

[XCVG]

I'm planning to add one to my portable too. I'll build an AV/controller adaptor as well.

Also, you don't need a diode in the controller 3.3V line. Just don't connect the controller 3.3V to the N64.

[lovablechevy]

this is such a great idea!

so who's gonna be the first to implement this for other systems...? it should work, since old systems generally only use 2 players.

i'm thinking mainly nes and snes.

hmm... *goes off to tinker*

[Dark-Aries]

why stop at n64? This thing should be standard in every portable.

[lovablechevy]

my thoughts exactly!

example:

snes
1. Composite Video
2. Left Audio
3. Right Audio
4. GND
5. P1
6. PL
7. SL
8.

obviously, they could be in a different order for the final version. but snes only uses 5 pins for the controller. 1 is for vcc, which won't need to be included, and one is ground, which is already covered. so you only need 3 of them!

i'm not sure of the exact for nes, but i know it's similar!

[eagle5953]

why stop at n64? This thing should be standard in every portable.

It depends on how many pins the controller uses. The N64 is uniquely perfect because it uses only one pin for data. Most systems, though, could do a 2-player setup but not 4.

[lovablechevy]

why stop at n64? This thing should be standard in every portable.

It depends on how many pins the controller uses. The N64 is uniquely perfect because it uses only one pin for data. Most systems, though, could do a 2-player setup but not 4.

like i said, most older systems only have 2 player anyway. and the ps1 only has 2 players for most things. so this would be very doable for most systems we portablize around here.

[Dark-Aries]

why stop at n64? This thing should be standard in every portable.

It depends on how many pins the controller uses. The N64 is uniquely perfect because it uses only one pin for data. Most systems, though, could do a 2-player setup but not 4.

like i said, most older systems only have 2 player anyway. and the ps1 only has 2 players for most things. so this would be very doable for most systems we portablize around here.

Only system that might pose a problem is the Gamecube or Dreamcast, because the 360 has System Link, PS3 nobody does, and the ps2 only has two controller ports...

[palmertech]

When she says "The ones we portabilize around here", I do not think she is talking about GCps, PS2ps, PS3ps, and 360ps. I could count the number of all of those that have been made on 3 hands.

[Dark-Aries]

When she says "The ones we portabilize around here", I do not think she is talking about GCps, PS2ps, PS3ps, and 360ps. I could count the number of all of those that have been made on 3 hands.

But you still make them around here. It just means it can be standardized towards every console basically.

[eagle5953]

my thoughts exactly!

example:

snes
1. Composite Video
2. Left Audio
3. Right Audio
4. GND
5. P1
6. PL
7. SL
8.

obviously, they could be in a different order for the final version. but snes only uses 5 pins for the controller. 1 is for vcc, which won't need to be included, and one is ground, which is already covered. so you only need 3 of them!

i'm not sure of the exact for nes, but i know it's similar!

It is similar, but this is the issue:

Unless the portable is always 'master' or always 'slave,' you'd need to reserve space for two controllers. This is why the LOB64 pinout has a wire for each player - you don't know in advance which player you will be.

The following is not in regards to a dedicated secondary 'slave' system. It is for standalone portables.

You have 8 wires in a standard ethernet cable. You would use four of them for video, left audio, right audio, and ground (you'd power the controller with the portable itself). You have four remaining wires to transmit the signals from two controllers (player 1 and player 2), which is 2 apiece.

NES uses 3 pins for data - wouldn't work.
SNES uses 3 pins for data - wouldn't work.
Genesis uses 5 pins for data - wouldn't work.
Playstation uses 6 pins for data - wouldn't work.
Dreamcast uses 3 pins for data - wouldn't work.

Gamecube uses 1 pin for data - should work.
Xbox uses 2 pins for data - should work.

One option would be to connect the systems using a different cable - one with more pins. To determine how many pins you need, take the number listed above for the system of choice, multiply it by 2, and add 4. In the case of the NES, for example, you'd need a cable with 10 wires (3*2+4) for 2-person play.

Common cables:
serial cable: 9 pins (not very helpful in this case)
parallel cable: 25 pins (should be plenty)

Another option is to have two ethernet ports on the portable: one for when it is the master portable (with the game in it), and the other for when it is the slave portable. This would allow for up to 4 pins (5 if you combined the audio) for the controller to transmit signals to the master portable.

[Life of Brian]

I'm looking forward to discussing the idea with Ben at MGC. Does anybody here remember his VCSp Gold Edition which used a DB9 connector to link two Atari portables? I've wanted to link two portables together ever since I first read about it.

[eagle5953]

I'm looking forward to discussing the idea with Ben at MGC. Does anybody here remember his VCSp Gold Edition which used a DB9 connector to link two Atari portables? I've wanted to link two portables together ever since I first read about it.

Thanks for the link - I wasn't aware of this. He did two things I mentioned - using a serial cable (9 pins) and having two ports, depending on whether the system was to be in master or slave mode.

You'd have to for Atari, which would need 5 wires for the controller (up, down, left, right, button). Using my formula, it would need 14 wires (5*2+4) to connect using one port, although you could get away with 13, considering it does not have stereo sound anyway.

Interesting that he could use one of them to connect a controller for single-player use... but unless i'm mistaken, it would not work natively for the LOB64 standard (player 1 signals are only ever received by portables set to slave mode), but of course, you could always include a standard controller jack for player 1 if so desired.