*Gasp!* (see page 6 for LOB64 pinout!)

[Rekarp]

Looks good Mario.

[ShockSlayer]

Ironically, I had a port on my 5th portable with the exact same pinout. I only ever used it for video output. it was one of those psone one screen ports.

SS

[Mario]

Thanks, Rekarp.

I tried the cart switch yesterday, and it works fine except that I can't find a good enough diode. All the ones I have drop the voltage too much. I did some research and found the type of diode with the lowest drop is a schottky diode. They only have a voltage drop of about .1v, wheres normal diodes have 1.6v.

Bottom line is find a schottky diode. They have a very low voltage drop and will allow the controller to work correctly.

[XCVG]

Yes, a schottky diode would be ideal. You can get an even lower drop out of a MOSFET if you wire it right, but it looks weird and requires a MOSFET.

[palmertech]

It seems to me that a portable with nothing but a LOB64 port, a screen, and assorted controllers for various systems would be neat.

I am not going to implement one, I think. If I do ever need it (For MGC or something) I can always make a simple AV out+controller in dongle to connect to the right outputs on my N64p.

I like this idea, but like I said before, I would bet that two N64ps have met in the same room a total of under 10 times.

[XCVG]

Well here's another point- the LOB64 port can double as an AV out and controller connector. From there you can build an adaptor or a cool dock.

[Life of Brian]

I like this idea, but like I said before, I would bet that two N64ps have met in the same room a total of under 10 times.

Why are you folks so practical about all of this?

This is a modding forum - practical doesn't always enter into the equation! In my situation, however, it does - I'm building two at the same time, and I'm keeping both of them.

[eagle5953]

I like this idea, but like I said before, I would bet that two N64ps have met in the same room a total of under 10 times.

Why are you folks so practical about all of this?

This is a modding forum - practical doesn't always enter into the equation! In my situation, however, it does - I'm building two at the same time, and I'm keeping both of them.

Here, here! Practicality is not the primary concern; if it were, we'd just emulate everything on our PSPs and PCs.

As far as using a standard crossover cable, it's not going to work:



As you can see, it switches pins 1 and 3 and pins 2 and 6. This would connect video to audio right and audio left to player 2. For a LOB64 crossover cable, you'd need to connect 1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:4, and 6:5. The other pins wouldn't matter.

Therefore, short of making drastic changes to the LOB64 specification, normal crossover cables would not work. Custom crossover cables would be necessary.

What would be ideal is this: make an adapter 'dongle' for converting a standard cat5 to LOB64 crossover. It would continue pins 1, 2, 3, and 4, but connect pin 6 to pin 5. Thus, the player 1 input from portable 2 would be sent down the player 2 line.

master portable - standard cat5 - dongle - slave portable

This 'Eagle Dongle' if I may so name it, would eliminate the need for any sort of custom crossover cable while maintaining compatibility with the Klobio Box and the LOB64 standard.

Edit:

[nevermind1534]

Then you could use 4, 5, 7, and 8 instead and use one of the ones that gets swapped for something else.

[eagle5953]

Then you could use 4, 5, 7, and 8 instead and use one of the ones that gets swapped for something else.

Yes, I had considered that ("drastic changes to the LOB64 specification"), but we'd rather not mess around with the spec right now. Besides crossover cables aren't THAT common, whereas normal Cat5 is.

[Life of Brian]

Since this is my worklog, I couldn't possibly go any further without an update on the portables!

I took marshallh's advice and found a solution to my diagonal lines on the screen problem. Turns out there's a choke and a diode - exactly what marshallh recommended - on a circuit board that came with the Zenith screen. I wired them together in parallel and then put that in series with the screen's power line.



This is the circuit board they came from, if you recognize it. The wire wrap choke came from the spot where there's a bit of glue, and you can see the diode symbol where the diode was. This means anybody who uses a Zenith screen shouldn't have to put up with that annoying interference.


Also, timmeh87 mentioned in my Technical Q&A thread about the PTH08000 regulator that the cap I had on my input line was not sufficient. I re-read the regulator's info sheet and he was correct. I had a 10v cap, I replaced it with a 35v cap. Safety first! Even though the 10v was doing fine for my tests, the regulator's info sheet recommended a cap with a voltage rating at least two times the maximum voltage.


I'm still kicking around ideas for the cases, I'll update more about that when I make some decisions.

[eagle5953]

I nearly forgot that this was a portable build thread. It has been about the LOB64 standard for several pages now.

[XCVG]

My addition to the LOB64 scene will be the X64 adaptor. Drawing coming soon.

[eagle5953]

Well here's another point- the LOB64 port can double as an AV out and controller connector. From there you can build an adaptor or a cool dock.

My addition to the LOB64 scene will be the X64 adaptor. Drawing coming soon.

I see what you're saying there. Sweet idea - that'll cut down on the amount of I/O ports and wiring.

LOB64: one port to replace them all

[Mario]

So, Brian, that's just a standard choke and standard diode, right? Any will do? Does it get rid of all interference? If I load up Ocarina of Time you can see very faint vertical and diagonal lines in the blue sky, rather annoying.

Check out my worklog, I installed the first LOB64 port in my portable.