Do we have room for another N64P? (t64 WIP)

[RevvRon]

Nice work. Where did you purchase your chipquik kit at? Is it just flux and some solder?

[kibble]

Nice work. Where did you purchase your chipquik kit at? Is it just flux and some solder?

I bought it at a local electronics store. It's not really just any solder, it's apparently a solder that contains bismuth. I've tried to find the stuff just by itself but haven't found any. The little kit is kind of expensive at like $17 so what I do is collect the used chip quik material and re-use it on parts that don't have such tiny pins and only use the brand new stuff on more critical parts. This is the second of these kits that I've bought and from experience, you're more likely to run out of the solder than the flux.

[BENFTW]

Nice work. Where did you purchase your chipquik kit at? Is it just flux and some solder?

I bought it at a local electronics store. It's not really just any solder, it's apparently a solder that contains bismuth. I've tried to find the stuff just by itself but haven't found any. The little kit is kind of expensive at like $17 so what I do is collect the used chip quik material and re-use it on parts that don't have such tiny pins and only use the brand new stuff on more critical parts. This is the second of these kits that I've bought and from experience, you're more likely to run out of the solder than the flux.

Hey I think I found your bismuth solder: Bismuth solder

It is 60% bismuth, and 40% tin.

[kibble]

Nice work. Where did you purchase your chipquik kit at? Is it just flux and some solder?

I bought it at a local electronics store. It's not really just any solder, it's apparently a solder that contains bismuth. I've tried to find the stuff just by itself but haven't found any. The little kit is kind of expensive at like $17 so what I do is collect the used chip quik material and re-use it on parts that don't have such tiny pins and only use the brand new stuff on more critical parts. This is the second of these kits that I've bought and from experience, you're more likely to run out of the solder than the flux.

Hey I think I found your bismuth solder: Bismuth solder

It is 60% bismuth, and 40% tin.

YOU SIR ARE AWESOME!!!!! I believe that's the stuff! I know it's supposed to have a melting point of around 150C or so, 138C sounds even better. Flux is really cheap so getting that stuff and using your own flux would be way better than $17 for the little kit. At least the kit is a good intro to that stuff.

[Skyone]

If anyone tries out that solder, please let us know how it is!

[64M320N3]

I have some, and it is AMAZING!
Because I'm retarded, at first I thought it was regular solder, and I wondered why it took so long to cool.
Terrible for connections, great for what you want to do.

[Skyone]

That's great news. I'll be getting some ASAP.

[kibble]

I wondered why it took so long to cool.
Terrible for connections

I bet that wasn't so AMAZING.

[64M320N3]

Nope.
It's great that you pointed out that you can remove chips with it, though. Now I actually have a use for it.

[RevvRon]

How is progress?

[kibble]

How is progress?

Funny you ask that cause I was just logging on to update the thread.

Anyway, today I tested that little 3.3v to 5v step up circuit to see if it would work and it indeed does. I tested it on one of my working 64's. I bypassed the 7805 regulator on board and connected the step-up between the 3.3v line and the 5v and everything displayed just fine, audio was fine too.

Other than that, still working on the circuit board layout, moving things around, making connections etc. I finally started organizing and cleaning up that mess of wires between the CPU and RCP. I'm going to try to keep them looking similar to what they look like on the official 64 board.

Still trying to get a PSone screen. I tried to win one on eBay yesterday but I lost, plus it went a little higher than I was hoping to pay. Have been searching game stores and stores that carry used audio/video and games but have had no luck.

It's funny how I haven't played with my 64 in quite a long time, possibly years but, since I started working on this project, I've been buying games and playing them when I have some time. I just bought another game on eBay today.

I'm ordering some parts from Mouser and DigiKey to do some more experimentation on my working 64's and finish up with those parts on the circuit board.

I would really like to get my hands on a screen soon so I can do some testing with batteries and make sure that everything works properly before I go and finalize stuff on the layout. I was looking at pics of the connectors inside of a PSone screen and I think I should be able to place a connector on the board where I can just connect the screen directly to it without having to solder any wires from one place to the other.

[Mario]

This is amazing! It's very obvious you've put tons of work into this already. I really want to see this completed.

Just one aesthetic note, though. The T64 vias are hidden under the chips! Move the T to the other side and flip the 64, like this:



So that when you flip the board over and look at the bottom, T64 is the right way around!

EDIT: I've got some 7" DVD players that can do 4:3 or 16:9. Though I suppose it might take up too much space, and defeat the purpose of making a super small N64p.

[palmertech]

If you make a plug like that for the PSone screen, you will be giving up a lot of room in the portable. You can lop off the bottom of the screen board, with a fully redone board like this, you may as well go all the way.

A note on screens: The Zenith xbox, PS2, and GC screens have IDENTICAL internals to the PSone screen. You can reliably get them on eBay, I suggest looking into those. The other thing I wanted to note is that with a board this small, you could make a really small portable; Small enough to benefit from having a 3.5" screen. I can link you to some good, fairly cheap ones, if you want, I have one that does composite, but Mario helped me figure out a way to input s-video to the video IC, gonna be trying that out.

[kibble]

If you make a plug like that for the PSone screen, you will be giving up a lot of room in the portable. You can lop off the bottom of the screen board, with a fully redone board like this, you may as well go all the way.

Well that's part of the reason why I'd like to get my hands on a screen, to see what I can do away with and what not.

A note on screens: The Zenith xbox, PS2, and GC screens have IDENTICAL internals to the PSone screen. You can reliably get them on eBay, I suggest looking into those.

Yeah, I failed to mention that I have been looking for those too but, still no luck.

The other thing I wanted to note is that with a board this small, you could make a really small portable; Small enough to benefit from having a 3.5" screen. I can link you to some good, fairly cheap ones, if you want, I have one that does composite, but Mario helped me figure out a way to input s-video to the video IC, gonna be trying that out.

Please, do tell! I'd consider using it as long as it's a thin TFT, I can't stand STN screens. Are you referring to those ones on DealExtreme?

[palmertech]

Well that's part of the reason why I'd like to get my hands on a screen, to see what I can do away with and what not.

Ah, I see. There are some great threads in the screen forum that show how far you can cut down, you can get the board down really small!

Yeah, I failed to mention that I have been looking for those too but, still no luck.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PORTABLE-XBOX-PS2-P ... 286.c0.m14" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is one that seems good right now. I would watch for deals, last summer, I bought 4 or 5 of those "refurbished (my ass)" for $9 each, plus $9 shipping; Awesome deal, it was!

Please, do tell! I'd consider using it as long as it's a thin TFT, I can't stand STN screens. Are you referring to those ones on DealExtreme?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14781" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have one, I can vouch for it's quality. Even on composite, small text is perfectly readable, and it looks fantastic, LED backlit, too! I am going to have pictures up in the next few days, might wanna hold off on buying a screen till ya see the internals, they are very small, fits completely behind the LCD. That other 3.5" screen on DX is okay, but it has a funky res, and SS had some issues getting it to work without flickering on an N64. I would stick to the one I linked to.

Let me know if ya need any help, I really want to see this completed!