t64 Resurrection

Includes but not limited to: SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Gear and I guess the Virtual Boy.

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kibble
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by kibble » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:15 am

jjhammerstein wrote:What kind of gate is it, and how do you connect it?
U8 on the 64 is a 74125 quad bus buffer and its diagram looks like this:

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The part I'm using is a NC7SZ125P5X that contains a single bus buffer and it looks like this

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Out of the 5 pins that it has, only 4 connections are actually required because the A input is just tied to Gnd at all times. The way it's connected to the 64 is that the /OE input goes to pin 15 of the PIF chip, and the Y output goes to both pin 16 of the PIF and the controller data pin. Gnd and VCC a pretty self explanatory.
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by Haunted360 » Thu Feb 03, 2011 10:32 pm

Very nice Kibble.

A question though - how did you learn to do this stuff? Just from the power of the Internet or from University??

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hidiosoman
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by hidiosoman » Fri Feb 04, 2011 12:32 am

I just spent my last 3 days looking up datasheets and wikipedia info on logic gates and similar electronic components. Those have helped me start to understand what everyone is talking about. I don't know how he learned the stuff, but this is how I started learning the basics.

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by kibble » Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:49 am

Haunted360 wrote:A question though - how did you learn to do this stuff? Just from the power of the Internet or from University??
Just like this:
hidiosoman wrote:I just spent my last 3 days looking up datasheets and wikipedia info on logic gates and similar electronic components. Those have helped me start to understand what everyone is talking about. I don't know how he learned the stuff, but this is how I started learning the basics.
If you have a part number for something, google it! Chances are you can find a datasheet for it and figure out how it works. I've only taken one class on digital electronics in college, but that was just recently and it was just dealing with basic gates and stuff. I really wish I knew more than I currently do. specifically with programmable logic and microcontrollers. I hope to one day get my EE, although some choices that I made in my education have caused that to be dragged out longer than it should have been. Don't let it happen to you!

edit: completely butchered the quotes...
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by kibble » Fri Feb 04, 2011 8:09 pm

Quick update:

I have been doing some research regarding the power supply portion of the portable. Ideally, it would be great to have the system completely be powered by 3.3V instead of having several different voltages going to different things. By eliminating the DAC for the video and having the signals stay digital from the RCP to the 3.3V powered LCD, the 5V line can be eliminated. The only other part in a regular N64 that uses more than 3.3V is the AMP-NUS chip that normally takes 12v that most people run at 7.2V from the batteries. Eliminating that chip would make it possible to run the n64 off one 3.6V battery, with some slight regulation.

I'm thinking a buck-boost circuit that would lower the voltage to 3.3V when the battery voltage is > 3.3V and boost it when it drops below 3.3v, obviously with a battery protection board to prevent the batteries from dropping too low. The biggest benefit to this would be the capability of using one battery to power everything or to have two thinner batteries in parallel for double the capacity. I'd have to do some experimenting to see how well this would work out, but a chip I've found that would accomplish this function is Linear Technology's LTC3113. It requires one inductor and a few other components to provide up to 3A of current as long as the input remains above 3.0V. Below that voltage and the current output drops to 1.5A.

It's more of a thought for now. Any input is welcome.
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by Snipeye » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:22 pm

Problem: Screen.

I suppose if it uses <500mAh, you could use a mintyboost-esque circuit to boost voltage up to 5v, 3-4V is a pretty good place for efficiency.

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by bassmasta » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:40 pm

I had thought about that too for a portable, but the overall battery life is the about the same because though you have double the capacity, you have double the power draw.

Better to give the highest voltage to the sound amp, no?

Though it would be useful if you wanted to run it off of only one battery.
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by eagle5953 » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:46 pm

Yeah, the screen could be a problem. PSone screens like, what, 7v or so? Other screens tend to be fritzy once you go below 6v, and I'm not aware of any that run on 3.7v or less.

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by kibble » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:50 pm

The screen I'm planning on using has a max spec of 16.5mA for the LCD plus a few more for the LED backlight.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... 73-1335-ND" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As for the amp, I guess I'll have to see what kind of voltage levels are coming out of the audio DAC. Poo, I just remembered that the audio amps I'm planning on using require 5V....
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by limpport » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:38 am

eagle5953 wrote:Yeah, the screen could be a problem. PSone screens like, what, 7v or so? Other screens tend to be fritzy once you go below 6v, and I'm not aware of any that run on 3.7v or less.
Not the greatest example, but don't the screens in the FC16 Go's run entirely off of 3.7v? Or is there some sort of voltage booster for the screen?

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by dragonhead » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:10 pm

limpport wrote:
eagle5953 wrote:Yeah, the screen could be a problem. PSone screens like, what, 7v or so? Other screens tend to be fritzy once you go below 6v, and I'm not aware of any that run on 3.7v or less.
Not the greatest example, but don't the screens in the FC16 Go's run entirely off of 3.7v? Or is there some sort of voltage booster for the screen?
they need 18v for the LED backlight. oddly enough, the GBO power board supplies exactly the right voltages

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by Triton » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:33 pm

confirmed by me, it will run down in to the upper 2v range, but only turn on properly at above 3.1v

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by Electric Rain » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:52 pm

I'm still here... I briefly check the forums about once a month now.

Sorry guys. It's nice to see my name come up every once in a while though. And yeah, the GC IDE/USB stuff was shipped off to Marshall a while ago, but he's pretty busy with other stuff too. Please don't bother him about it. I do enough of that. He communicates on a regular basis with the creator, destop, who is super difficult to get ahold of. It's not a question of IF he can get it working, it's just when and if he feels like it, really. But apparently emu_kidd has an SD card version working. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm pretty pessimistic about it. I tried to the extent of my abilities, guys, but I didn't have the knowledge to debug destop's interface. I built it hoping it would work if I followed his schematics and used his software. It didn't, so I was stuck. Marshall tried to help me remotely, but it's really a hands-on type of thing.

Yes, I'm still in the modding scene, as much as I ever was. But now I'm in college, and I have other projects in the works... in my head. :lol: As usual, I never have any money, so I can't really make anything worthwhile. That's another reason I don't hang around the forums anymore.

But, I digress. Didn't mean to bring this thread off-topic again. Kibble, awesome work. I will be following your progress, because next to GC DD emulation, a redesigned N64 mobo is the highest priority in the console hacking section of my brain. Let's see who can pull it off sooner - you, or Marshall. :P
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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by kibble » Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:44 pm

Electric Rain wrote:Let's see who can pull it off sooner - you, or Marshall. :P
:P At the rate I'm going, anybody could do it first. LOL

I made a little board that solders to the back of the cart connector and has pads to solder the wires to. It works, sorta, and I have a question for those of you who have done cart relocations before. I'm having this weird issue where only certain games work and sometimes some work and then don't. Mario Kart works 100% of the time, Mario 64 works sometimes and only if I mess with it and make the wires somewhat taut. Tetrisphere I was able to get working once and then didn't work again..... Could it be the fact that I used kynar? I have done continuity checks on all the traces and they all appear to be solid all the way to the RCP. I know the carts aren't bad because I tested them against a known working 64 and they all work just fine. I thought maybe the contacts in the slot were dirty, but I've cleaned them and they're fine. I even took the Tetrisphere cart apart and traced continuity from the contacts inside and they seem fine. I spent about 3 hours last night messing with this and didn't really get anywhere and I'm scratching my head as to why I'm having an issue. Next I'm going to try to solder directly to the RCP. I'm wondering if maybe the traces got somewhat damaged when I removed the bottom connector from the main board.

In other news: I put together a wooden board that contains an n64 board, power supply and LCD so that I can mess with that as soon as I can get an adapter board made for the FPC connector for the LCD. I tried making one already with limited success. I'll have to make another one. I also finally got around to ordering a DE0 board just like the one Marshall uses and I'm eager to learn to use the software to get started with it! :mrgreen:

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Re: t64 Resurrection

Post by blaze3927 » Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:08 am

^^as for first problem i have used kynar to relocate 20+ boards and never had any of those sort of issues, any continuity issues on the actual 64 mobo?
then again issues with kynar are not unheard of

That pcb looks V nice, any chance you could please upload the .brd file or jpeg?
i wanna make one :mrgreen:
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