My FC Twin (SNES only) plus Polycase SL-64 project

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 9:25 am

VERY nice. so small and beautiful. Does it fit in your pocket?

also, does polycase ship to japan? Did you have to pay or was it a sample?

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:06 pm

Lookin' Good. Now all we need is a SNOAC with onboard games, so you can cut the size in half!

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:05 am

Kyo: It does fit in your pocket, but to be honest I can't see myself carrying it around that way. It could definitely be toted around easily in a small sack though.
And no, polycase doesn't ship here. I had a relative in the US mail it to me. The cases are so cheap that I don't usually bother trying to get samples. It was under $10 shipped if I remember, so might as well just pay for it.

Ya know Kurt, ive got one of those Tototek flash carts. I actually seriously considered making a portable with it internal, but program speed is just way to slow.
We just gotta wait and see what the bootleg community throws our way in the future II guess

Post by **Triton** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:27 pm

ill buy that flashcart off you! i need it for LSDJ

dragonhead · Post by **dragonhead** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:31 pm

Triton wrote:ill buy that flashcart off you! i need it for LSDJ

better yet, trade him for a real kirby cart :p

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:17 pm

Triton, i'm not sure if any existing homebrew/commercial flash systems can program the cart. I can't find any info on it now (didn't really look too hard though), but I seem to recall reading that on the gbdev site.. In any case, i'm not sure I want to sell it since I like the case.

However, I actually did have plans to make up a bunch of homebrew GB flashcarts. The flash roms are almost impossible to find, but I think I found a place local that carries them. 512kb for sure, anyway. Hopefully I can find some 1MB+ carts to build really cool carts. I've already picked up a couple 256kb-ram + MMC5 games to canibalize.

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:18 am

I did a few hours more work over the last week. I ended up buying a 3.5" lcd, which will be a tight squeeze. The resolution isn't as high as I wanted, but I can always upgrade it later if I want to. Its about the same resolution the AEIcomp screens. I got the hole for said screen cut out, and used some stick epoxy to fill in the gaps around the cart slot. It now has a smooth blend into the case. I'm going to use round buttons for the L and R, but didn't take pictures. All that's left is some spot filler, a whole lot of sanding, and a few coats of paint.

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:15 am

It looks really nice. Very small, too.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:34 am

That is some seriously good work. 3.5" screens are ok, the same size used in the GP2x, although I doubt you want a smaller screen.

It will be impressive when the front is finished. What batteries are you using and how long will they last?

Out of interest, you used an FC Twin - why did you choose that over the Retro Duo (just curious) - is it smaller??

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:37 am

wow, how did I miss this after it was (mostly) completed? It looks really nice and compact. good work.

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:15 am

Nice work grahf! Call me impressed. Where did you grab the 3.5" screen from? AEIcomp has stopped carrying the model I have been using.

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:15 pm

Thanks for the comments guys. Almost all of my modding tools are back in the US, so it's been a little bit frustrating of a project. It's getting there though!

Rekarp: I picked it up locally from a kiosk in Akihabara (Tokyo electronics district).

Bacteria: I'll answer your questions last, since i've got pictures. Everyone loves pictures right?

(Even bad ones

).
I chose the FC Twin since they all seem to come with the CXA1645 encoder, which gives me the option of fantastic RGB/S-video/composite output. From what i've seen, the Retro Duos user a KDAxxxx clone. I'm familiar with this encoder. That said, my next portable may use a RetroDuo. Also, it turns out the FC Twin and RetroDuo use exactly the same clone chipset thats been around since the 90s. The differences are just which memory is used, which seems to vary widely.
For the battery, I picked up a little USB chargable battery pack. The cells are about 1800mAh combined, which should be good for 3 hours of playtime. It also charges via USB, which is cool. The problem is i'm getting a ton of AC noise in the video from this thing, so I may not be able to use it if I can't get it filtered out. Ahh well.

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:08 am

Beautiful work. It just....IS.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:11 am

I've been waiting a long while to see you finish this one, grahf. I think it's great!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:54 am

Certainly is great.

Would it help to cover the areas you mention with tin foil, sandwiched between multi-layers of clingfilm, to enable you to mold around the components giving the interference (and not making a short)? Just a thought.