SNESNESp

[Life of Brian]

I'm finally getting my rear in gear and am going to make that SNES/NES dual cartridge Retro Duo portable I first envisioned way back in 2008.

Initial concept sketch, probably won't stick to this much at all aside from installing the two cartridge connectors at a right angle to each other. You can see I planned on using a PSOne screen but I'm tossing that idea. NES cartridge connector sits at the bottom of the portable with the NES cartridge flush to the back. SNES connector is up at the top with the SNES cartridge jutting out perpendicular to the NES cartridge. It will be possible to have two cartridges inserted at the same time, but you'll need to insert the NES cartridge first:

The third gen Retro Duo has finally gotten the dpad feeling pretty solid and non-flaky. About time! The first version had a TERRIBLE dpad. It's still not as good as an original controller but the black buttons are pretty cool. I'll probably borrow this color scheme - gray with black buttons and black button labels. I'm using a widescreen LCD I've had for a while so that helps cut costs. After extensive "testing" with the screen, I am certain no one would even notice the image is stretched in these NES and SNES games. Like hailrazer once said, a screen this small hides a lot.

Wookie is going to help, too. His part in the project is to sit on the windowsill next to me and soak up the sun's energy until the SNESNESp is nearly finished, at which point he'll bombard the portable with the full power of the Solar Particles stored within his furry body. The portable will then have an estimated battery life of 3,000 years.

 

[Ashen]

I am excite.

 

[Life of Brian]

Oh, good, Wicket decided to help too:

So many Solar Particles! She's becoming irradiated! Surely she will overheat and go into meltdown if I don't finish this portable quickly! We must avoid this terrible cat-astrophe!



I bet you came here to see a portable and not cats, didn't you? Ha.

 

[Life of Brian]

I am excite.

Thank you! I'm honored. I love your work, man. You're one of the main reasons I've decided to get back into portablizing.

Pretty easy to get inside this thing. Four screws and you're in:

Oh hey, the circuit board is blue now! So high tech!

A quick peek at the bottom of the board tells me that the connections for the NES side are really just passing along controller input, power, ground, and audio/video. This is good news! That means I can extend the wires without any worry. If they were somehow related to the connections between the cartridge and the processor chip or whatever the heck you call it there would be issues with taking it beyond a few short inches, but this is a different story:

 

[W00gala]

Awesome as usual.

 

[Life of Brian]

Trying to keep my picture-to-post ratio at least 1:1

The Retro Duo's circuit board, the NES cartridge, and the controller circuit board are all approximately the same width. Good!

You can never take too many notes. It saves you so much time and confusion later:

Notes notes notes notes:

For those of you who recall the diagram I made of the v1 Retro Duo's player 1 controller (link found here) back in the day, here is an update for the v3 Retro Duo's player 1 controller:

You may think I'm posting this diagram to help all of you but it's really for my own reference as I build this thing

 

[grossaffe]

This thread needs more cat.

 

[Life of Brian]

This thread needs more cat.

You know, I was thinking that too. At first I was thinking, "Is this too much cat?" but then I thought, "No, I think grossaffe would like some more cat."

 

[ttsgeb]

This thread needs more cat.

I honestly have to agree. We are simple folk here at MR, we need simple amusements such as those of Feline Anecdotes to help use digest the awesomeness of your return to portablizing.

 

[nuke]

This is awesome.

 

[wallydawg]

More Cat Pictures to Appease the Queen!

 

[Life of Brian]

Silver sharpies are great for labeling pins on circuit boards:

Hmmm....

Hmmm....

Hmmm.... (I do this a lot when building a portable - hold up the circuit boards in various configurations until I can wrap my mind around the shape of it all)

An idea appears:

I think this is quickly turning into a vacuum formed case kind of a thing.

Definitely not the color scheme of the finished portable, highlighters were within reach. Although it wouldn't be a bad color scheme. Makes me think of the Handy Duo and other stuff by lovablechevy.

 

[Life of Brian]

More Cat Pictures to Appease the Queen!

Granted. Pleased to meet you, good sir.

I ordered some rainbow colored ribbon cable for this portable because I want it to be beautiful inside and out

 

[Abyss]

That looks nice and compact, but that looks like a pain to get the NES game out. Overall this is looking quite neat. In the words of Ashen, "I am excite."

 

[Life of Brian]

That looks nice and compact, but that looks like a pain to get the NES game out.

Maybe I should add an overly complicated swivel mechanism? Or line it up just right so that a cartridge just slips into place, and is then held securely while playing? I think you're right, though. Mock up time with card stock and cardboard I think.

Maybe? Dunno. It would certainly give it a bit of retro NES style flair with a hinged cartridge connector type thing.

 

[Ashen]

You're one of the main reasons I've decided to get back into portablizing.

That some ultimate flattery there man, Glad I could inspire one of the greats to make their way back to the hobby. I was a lurker for so, so long and I always loved your stuff.


As for the cart problem, how about something like this, kinda.

 

[Life of Brian]

The NES cartridge connector is a tight mofo, it would definitely hold it in upside-down. Just have to avoid wobble and I'm golden. Putting it like that would require either relocating the cartridge slot to avoid running into the SNES board or flipping the cartridge over so that the back faces out, which isn't so bad I guess. It would be better than relocating another cartridge slot which is something I'm trying to avoid wholeheartedly.

Ah, but the NES circuit board could be built into the section of plastic lending the SNES cartridge anti-wobble support! Maybe this is the way to go.

Edit: The more I think about it the more I like it. I could really focus on building strong support into the case, which will be essential because the cartridge connectors are pretty tight and you have to friggin' PULL to get the cartridge out.

 

[Prog]

I hate the Retro Duo NES slot. Holds it for dear life.
That's an RDv3 right? Did they fix the 7+ and GND mislabeling on SNES? Also, do you know how tolerant the SNES side is of voltages?
I'm pretty sure I fried the NES daughterboard on mine but not the mainboard.

 

[Life of Brian]

That's an RDv3 right? Did they fix the 7+ and GND mislabeling on SNES?

Oh yes, that was just mislabeled on Rev 1, I think. It's correct now. The board looks very clean and organized now.

Also, do you know how tolerant the SNES side is of voltages?

Hmm, not very? 5v or under, don't go above. Under 5v and it just won't turn on.


I decided to say, "Screw it" to building my own audio amp and ordered a cheap one off of eBay along with some DS speakers so we'll see how that pans out. Waiting on my rainbow ribbon to come in the mail, waiting on audio amp to come in the mail, waiting on speakers to come in the mail, etc. Twiddling my thumbs until then.

Pretty sure I'm going to try vacuum forming this case. Still trying to wrap my head around the design. I kinda see it in my mind, but I keep running into conflicts. I'm open to any tips you guys have about building wooden molds for vacuum forming.

 

[Life of Brian]

Piddling around today, broadcasting on UStream live right here: http://ustre.am/iN86

Update: Been at it for 3 hours, okay I'm taking a break. Will broadcast again soon-ish when I have something interesting to show.