Taking the plunge

[Bobzilla]

Well I've been stocking parts for a few months now and am finally taking the plunge into this exotic new world. I thought about starting a work log but I'll just commit it to memory for now and jot down a few things here and there on this board.

Step one: I grabbed 2 cardboard boxes and sharpied one with SNES mini and the other with N64.
Step two: Rip and tear apart said Nintendos and place parts in corresponding cardboard boxes from Step one.
Step three: 2 barebone systems sitting on my workbench. Working so far on my 13" Sharp with RF Modulator (something just sexy about the word RF Modulator)
Step four: Open up brand new PSone LCD combo purchased from Ebay a few weeks ago. *side note* included receipt attached to box read a sell price of $19.99. I guess things are worse than I could have ever imagined in Tennessee.
Step five: Marvel at the the real beauty of the PSone portion of this combo. Very nice looking I must admit.
Step six: Pitch the PSone back into the box after removing the LCD.
Step seven: Connect SNES mini to PSone LCD, without sound of course. Not doing any solder work just yet. SUCCESS! Nothing broken so far and I'm very pleased at the image quality for Super PO.
Step eight: Connect N64 to PSone LCD, again no sound. SUCCESS! N64 a go although image not looking as good from Turok 2 and that lame ass intro... ugghh... I used to hate that in games.. I mean come on.. I just wanna play the damn game.
Step nine: It's 2am in the morning. GO TO BED!!!

More to come. I want sound tonight. Forgive me for my noobie work but I'm just hoping I might get a little encouragement from veterans. You are all legends in my book. Don't get too excited. My book is exactly 3 pages long and made out of construction paper.

[Bobzilla]

Let there be sound. Thx to Harshboy's wiring schematic, I now have sound coming from the psone speakers, although it sounds pretty bad above 30% but I'll worry about that later.

I saw the postings about this audio problem and the on-board psone lcd amp. I'm scared of cutting up the board to separate grounds so for now I'm just going to ignore this problem. I also read some people had video distortion when the volume was turned up. I did not run into this issue. Maybe Sony just made the boards better toward the end. My psone lcd looks a little different than the pictures I've seen in the forums.

Since I finally had the sound I so craved, I then ripped off that AV multi connector. Very clean rip though. I'll reuse this, maybe. This is where I now stand which leads me to my question.

Does anyone know what type of Molex (?) connection is used inside the psone lcd? I know it'd probably be best to just solder stuff directly but I was thinking of using these Molex connections in case I ever need to swap out stuff quickly. The connections sort of look like something called a Molex Mini Mi 2 (I kid you not). Not a lot of wholesalers on these things plus they are pretty damn expensive and I'd hate to shell out the dough on something that isn't the same exact thing. I know I could use any other small molex for my purpose but it'd be nice to just use what's already on the psone lcd board.

Any help appreciated. Thank you.

[Donalbain619]

I'm loving this thread right now. Very episodic. I had a PSOne screen that sadly is no longer working. Are you talking about those little Molex connectors for the speakers? I recommend keeping them on so you can easily remove the speakers for any reason. They're super small anyway right? Tell me if your talking about something else.

[Bobzilla]

Yes I am talking about those connections as well as the 10-pin wiring harness thingie.. There are 2 of them inside.. Like a really tiny molex.. so far i've just managed to snap them into sections that I need. Of course, by doing this I've rendered at least 2 pins useless. The search continues.. Perhaps I should send a photo to Mouser or Digikey? Pretend like I'm some sort of big spending embedded electronics guru.. or better yet.. a starving student.. I'm neither of course.. just a dude who wants to cuddle with a selfmade portable.. Something to pass down to the kids some day.. You know? That future when they'll be wondering what it was like to actually use your hands to play video games rather than brainwaves..

[Bobzilla]

Just realized that most of the work in this project has been N64. Alas, I'm stuck here in the SNES thread. Too late, so I have to make a combo machine.. Actually this was always the intent. Suicidal for a first portable? I don't think so. Will it actually be portable in the end? That remains to be seen. I have a trick up my sleeve that I haven't seen anyone try yet. I'm keeping it to myself until I show some sort of progress on it.. Not going to blab on and on about how good I am, as I'm a true noob amateur with credibility approaching absolute zero.. I've only just begun.. I'll only say one thing about it.. It's going to be really, really difficult to pull off, but if I do, we very well may have reached the end of progress.. I know that I won't even bother doing anything else.. I'll just sit back and count my millions and stare at my various Nobel awards..

Now only if these kids would fall asleep so I can go play in my garage.. I have some Kynar that needs some heavy petting..

[Donalbain619]

Make this into a book. A great tale of danger and excitement, of soldering irons and multimeters! A story to be passed down through the ages!

[Bobzilla]

A night that started with great anticipation an excitement turned into one of torture and despair.

I ripped that extension piece off the bottom of the board which of course renders the cart slot useless. It was then where my cart relocation woes began. I had such high hopes of doing the work of a true artist and master craftsman. But, in short order, I found myself flailing about the turbulent and unfamiliar waters, grasping for any ability to get 2 pieces of metal to solder together. I have absolutely no idea what the deal was. The wire I was using, the flux, the solder, the iron, tinning? Just getting the first extension on took a little over 30 minutes of futzing around with it before I finally found a method that would work for me. Hope and pray. Needless to say, I finished 8 in about an hour. Yeah, I suck that bad. Not to mention the hack job that it looks like. Let's just say that Art is both objective and subjective.

Although as discouraged as I was last night, I'll be back at it again to finish this nightmare as I contemplate some easier way to do it. Tonight I'll have 42 extension pieces to remind me of this.

And one more thing. I ripped off controller ports 3 and 4 because they just kept laughing at me through the ordeal. Who's laughing now?? Ya Sucka MCs!!

[Bobzilla]

The wife is back from N'Orleans so very little time has been spent on the cart relocation. It appears the problems I had the night before have been rectified. I was able to do 17 traces in about 10 minutes. Half way there on the board side or 25% overall. I really hope to get it working this weekend. If only just to say I've done it.

I'm also reconsidering my original plans in an attempt to speed up this portable's timeline. No decision made yet. I think I need to take a step back in order to move forward. Do this the right way the first time. I love speaking in cryptics.

In other news. I'll be posting a picture of my uber workstation tonight including my sweet chair, as referenced in another post that has really got some legs to it. http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=37716 I have some seriously ghetto stuff going on (my apologies to the ghetto). Who knew that a single duplex receptacle could be made into 14, one which serves a sizable wet/dry vacuum? Don't worry, I have a fuse. I am protected.

I'm also going to apologize for the size of my picture to the left. I love that calculator but I think it's time to get rid of it or shrink it. Note: That is not my hand. Way too pretty.