Bacteria's project - Modding a GP2x....FINISHED
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Good ol Woogal, he does everything and more! I really liked his Quake port for gp2x. I was thinking about getting one, but I realized all I'd use it for is NES and Neo Geo, so I'm just going to finish off my NES portable and my Neo Geo laptop and call it good.
Emulation isn't accurate. There is no substitute for real hardware!
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bacteria
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Right, I am well again, that last sickness really knocked the beans out of me for quite a while.
Before I get back to doing this GP2x project (hopefully the mid/end of this week), I need to improve the speakers I am using on the MP3 player (they are too tinny), I recently re-wired the speakers from a stereo to standalone speakers, so I will remove the old speakers from the stereo (they aren't needed anymore); they are about 70-80mm diameter, and make an enclosure for them. This will give better sound. I may also hack apart a small amp and rig that up too. I know I could buy a 2:1 stereo set of computer speakers, but why buy if you can mod and recycle for free??
Then I can get back to the GP2x project...
Before I get back to doing this GP2x project (hopefully the mid/end of this week), I need to improve the speakers I am using on the MP3 player (they are too tinny), I recently re-wired the speakers from a stereo to standalone speakers, so I will remove the old speakers from the stereo (they aren't needed anymore); they are about 70-80mm diameter, and make an enclosure for them. This will give better sound. I may also hack apart a small amp and rig that up too. I know I could buy a 2:1 stereo set of computer speakers, but why buy if you can mod and recycle for free??
Then I can get back to the GP2x project...
I thought you might have died.
Glad to see you back.-
bacteria
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Thanks guys! Skyone - just an English expression I quoted!!
Finished making the MP3 stereo mod, took about 3 hours.
Insides: used a TI card to convert 7.5v from a spare PSone PSU to 4v. (middle of pic). Speakers are about 95mm diameter.
Side view (finished) - smoothed surfaces since this pic was done BTW.
Front view.
Works well, and only cost me the price of a TI card (£5)!!
I cut a large hole for the front of each speaker (so only a piece of thick paper covering whole thing), stuck on the MP3 player onto the case with double sided foam pads, removed the old battery pack and soldered the wires inside the construction, and made an extra hole inside the MP3 case to take the audio wires which I connected directly to the port so I didn't have a wire sticking out the bottom of the MP3 player - looks neater this way. I have easy access to the USB port and the buttons to control the system.
Next work will be back on my PG2x project, in a few days time.
Finished making the MP3 stereo mod, took about 3 hours.
Insides: used a TI card to convert 7.5v from a spare PSone PSU to 4v. (middle of pic). Speakers are about 95mm diameter.
Side view (finished) - smoothed surfaces since this pic was done BTW.
Front view.
Works well, and only cost me the price of a TI card (£5)!!
I cut a large hole for the front of each speaker (so only a piece of thick paper covering whole thing), stuck on the MP3 player onto the case with double sided foam pads, removed the old battery pack and soldered the wires inside the construction, and made an extra hole inside the MP3 case to take the audio wires which I connected directly to the port so I didn't have a wire sticking out the bottom of the MP3 player - looks neater this way. I have easy access to the USB port and the buttons to control the system.
Next work will be back on my PG2x project, in a few days time.
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bacteria
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No, but that wasn't the idea, I needed to make it run off the mains instead of battery (as it was designed for) and give it fairly decent speakers. It sits on my table in the bedroom, playing music day and night (replacing a far bigger and power hungry old PC). As the MP3/MP4/Game system was only actually useful for MP3's (reasons mentioned before why), I made this into a very cheap stereo.khaag wrote:It's not exactly "portable" anymore though is it?
Wow, it's just like the Indians and the buffalo. Absolutely no part goes to waste around your place, I'm sure. Some people seem to think this kind of hobby (building electronics) must be very expensive and wasteful, but really you can be quite a cheapskate and make some very cool stuff.
Emulation isn't accurate. There is no substitute for real hardware!
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bacteria
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arfink - Agreed, mind you, when you start talking about console modding then things do get a bit expensive. I like the idea of taking a cheapskate product and making it equivalent to an expensive one by modding it with better components (eg this MP3 project), and/or recycling a gadget and making it useful again (eg the Ipaq project).
It is nice to think out of the box with projects, in terms of not buying the latest model of something just released but instead get an older and cheap variation, and modding it to be as good as the expensive equivalent.
The sound was a little muffled with the MP3 player speakers as there were no air holes for the music to get out of the speakers, so I cut out a 55mm circle centrally on the case, over both speakers, made a circle a bit bigger than the hole, used a paper hole punch and made some holes in it (equidistant) and stuck these circles over the speaker holes. The result is a richer sound, louder volume and still a nice looking case. I didn't have to use an amplifier in the end, I am getting good sound volume with the MP3 player only on 50%. If I adjust the MP3 player internal volume to max and the MP3 music volume high, it is loud. I keep it low volume anyway, as constant background music. Perfectly happy with it!!
Off to sleep now, after coming back off my night shifts, will do some of my GP2x project later.
It is nice to think out of the box with projects, in terms of not buying the latest model of something just released but instead get an older and cheap variation, and modding it to be as good as the expensive equivalent.
The sound was a little muffled with the MP3 player speakers as there were no air holes for the music to get out of the speakers, so I cut out a 55mm circle centrally on the case, over both speakers, made a circle a bit bigger than the hole, used a paper hole punch and made some holes in it (equidistant) and stuck these circles over the speaker holes. The result is a richer sound, louder volume and still a nice looking case. I didn't have to use an amplifier in the end, I am getting good sound volume with the MP3 player only on 50%. If I adjust the MP3 player internal volume to max and the MP3 music volume high, it is loud. I keep it low volume anyway, as constant background music. Perfectly happy with it!!
Off to sleep now, after coming back off my night shifts, will do some of my GP2x project later.
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bacteria
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Ok guys, first GP2x project update for a fortnight! I have a short time today for project work, but I do have all of tomorrow and part of Friday available, so there should be a stream of updates over the next couple of days.
First job today was to change the 470uf capacitor for the 220uf one as per the original S-video hack guide. Both work just as well although the 220uf boots the PSone screen with good video signals (colour) quickly. I thought having a larger capacity capacitor could only help, however as it makes no difference, and I noticed when using a TI card to get my 4v for the MP3 project that a 220uf capacitor made no voltage but a 100uf capacitor (as per the diagram for the TI card) has the correct effect, I thought it prudent to change to the 220uf capacitor for the GP2x project.
I removed the old 470uf capacitor, put some electrical tape under the old wire and soldered a new (black) wire to it, then soldered the connections to the new 220uf capacitor which I had already hot glued in place on the back of the perspex.
If you recall, when I started this project, I cut out a hole for the screen rotation from my first perspex sheet, but discovered the hole was too small? Turns out this sheet is ideal as the backing (inside part of the "sandwich") as it is about 6mm or so smaller in radius compared to the hole in my case front. I therefore marked out with a red CD marker pen the cut-out required. I discovered, from reading Ben's book recently, that of course you can get a nice straight edge by heavily scoring the perspex and then snapping the residue off - saves a fair bit of time, this is why the marker pen marks are roughly straight!
Well, scoring and snapping the perspex works fine but can sometimes snap in the wrong place. This doesn't matter for this part of the project as the cut out will go inside the case and will be heavily hot glued and UHU glued in place and the case front will be reinforced in any case, so when I rotate the screen, the perspex doesn't flex at all.
Had to use small amounts of hot glue to repair the joints! (doesn't have to be a strong bond, at this stage it only has to keep the circle in place).
First job today was to change the 470uf capacitor for the 220uf one as per the original S-video hack guide. Both work just as well although the 220uf boots the PSone screen with good video signals (colour) quickly. I thought having a larger capacity capacitor could only help, however as it makes no difference, and I noticed when using a TI card to get my 4v for the MP3 project that a 220uf capacitor made no voltage but a 100uf capacitor (as per the diagram for the TI card) has the correct effect, I thought it prudent to change to the 220uf capacitor for the GP2x project.
I removed the old 470uf capacitor, put some electrical tape under the old wire and soldered a new (black) wire to it, then soldered the connections to the new 220uf capacitor which I had already hot glued in place on the back of the perspex.
If you recall, when I started this project, I cut out a hole for the screen rotation from my first perspex sheet, but discovered the hole was too small? Turns out this sheet is ideal as the backing (inside part of the "sandwich") as it is about 6mm or so smaller in radius compared to the hole in my case front. I therefore marked out with a red CD marker pen the cut-out required. I discovered, from reading Ben's book recently, that of course you can get a nice straight edge by heavily scoring the perspex and then snapping the residue off - saves a fair bit of time, this is why the marker pen marks are roughly straight!
Well, scoring and snapping the perspex works fine but can sometimes snap in the wrong place. This doesn't matter for this part of the project as the cut out will go inside the case and will be heavily hot glued and UHU glued in place and the case front will be reinforced in any case, so when I rotate the screen, the perspex doesn't flex at all.
Had to use small amounts of hot glue to repair the joints! (doesn't have to be a strong bond, at this stage it only has to keep the circle in place).
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bacteria
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UHU glued the cut out to the case and hot glued the perimeter.
I remember reading somewhere that desoldering braid is also useful to connect one battery to another. If you touch a battery terminal with a soldering iron (with some solder on it), the surface gunk on the battery terminal evaporates. If you put solder onto the end of a piece of desoldering braid and then pop it on the battery terminal and apply the soldering iron, the desoldering braid solders to the battery terminal very securely. Desoldering braid is metal, so conductive. I tried this out on an old AAA battery (one that doesn't matter), seems fine, and of course desoldering braid is extremely flexible so easy to work with:
I remember reading somewhere that desoldering braid is also useful to connect one battery to another. If you touch a battery terminal with a soldering iron (with some solder on it), the surface gunk on the battery terminal evaporates. If you put solder onto the end of a piece of desoldering braid and then pop it on the battery terminal and apply the soldering iron, the desoldering braid solders to the battery terminal very securely. Desoldering braid is metal, so conductive. I tried this out on an old AAA battery (one that doesn't matter), seems fine, and of course desoldering braid is extremely flexible so easy to work with:
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bacteria
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Put the screen on top so I could show what it looks like on the case:
(the batteries in the pic are only to support a couple of pieces of perspex I used as a stand for the pics).
The perspex from the screen sits nicely on the recess circle in the case. There is a gap between the PSone perspex and the case perspex, this doesn't matter as the top piece, when assembled, will be quite tight, so the PSone screen will rotate quite easily and smoothly.
Jobs (in rough order):
* Get the batteries connected and hot glued in place.
* Make the sides and rear of the case, allowing for holes for the shoulder buttons, switches (inc on/off), recharger and mains connection.
* Connect wires from the GP2x to the casing.
* Secure the GP2x mobo to the rear of the case - it doesn't need to move as the screen rotates, and this method makes sense.
* Connect the joystick and make a small platform for it to be mounted against the case rear.
* make the top of the case, including the tight rotating circle for the PSone screen "sandwich" top.
* Make some button tops for the top of the tact switches and make these nice.
* Finish the case with 160gm thick paper and make it look nice. I may print images on the top, not decided yet.
I had had thoughts initially of making a series of slides so 6 contacts (4 for the D-pad and 2 for buttons) would alternate when the screen was vertical or horizontal. I can make this work, but feel it would be likely to fail, especially as the space in the case is tight and a lot of wires need flexibility to move as the PSone screen moves. I only need 3 mini switches to do this function, and these will be reliable. If when I have assembled the unit I find there is sufficient space, I may give it a go anyway.
(the batteries in the pic are only to support a couple of pieces of perspex I used as a stand for the pics).
The perspex from the screen sits nicely on the recess circle in the case. There is a gap between the PSone perspex and the case perspex, this doesn't matter as the top piece, when assembled, will be quite tight, so the PSone screen will rotate quite easily and smoothly.
Jobs (in rough order):
* Get the batteries connected and hot glued in place.
* Make the sides and rear of the case, allowing for holes for the shoulder buttons, switches (inc on/off), recharger and mains connection.
* Connect wires from the GP2x to the casing.
* Secure the GP2x mobo to the rear of the case - it doesn't need to move as the screen rotates, and this method makes sense.
* Connect the joystick and make a small platform for it to be mounted against the case rear.
* make the top of the case, including the tight rotating circle for the PSone screen "sandwich" top.
* Make some button tops for the top of the tact switches and make these nice.
* Finish the case with 160gm thick paper and make it look nice. I may print images on the top, not decided yet.
I had had thoughts initially of making a series of slides so 6 contacts (4 for the D-pad and 2 for buttons) would alternate when the screen was vertical or horizontal. I can make this work, but feel it would be likely to fail, especially as the space in the case is tight and a lot of wires need flexibility to move as the PSone screen moves. I only need 3 mini switches to do this function, and these will be reliable. If when I have assembled the unit I find there is sufficient space, I may give it a go anyway.
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bacteria
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Tried to solder desoldering braid to the batteries, didn't work, so I tinned the end of a piece of desoldering braid and doubled up the end of the other, pressing it down with electrical tape. This in effect makes soldering tabs. I just then need to solder wires between the cells to connect them up.
I ran a wire connecting half of the tact switch contacts together, one of the ends will connect to the GP2x and the other to the joystick. This is the wire for the common ground for the button contacts.
Two of the cells are hot glued in place now. The weight of a speaker is about that of one of these "C" cells, so 4 cells at the top of the case and the 2 at the bottom with the speakers should make the system equally weighted.
I ran a wire connecting half of the tact switch contacts together, one of the ends will connect to the GP2x and the other to the joystick. This is the wire for the common ground for the button contacts.
Two of the cells are hot glued in place now. The weight of a speaker is about that of one of these "C" cells, so 4 cells at the top of the case and the 2 at the bottom with the speakers should make the system equally weighted.
