Bacteria's portable DreamCast handheld console - IntoDream

[Dylan]

adding to the list of compliments I'll say nice job, I'm glad to see someone do this proficiently.

[Hobie-wan]

Looking good.

[Basement_Modder]

let's have more of "the crew" here too! The more the merrier!!

Did somebody say crew???

Good to see some progress!!

[bacteria]

Now i've got my new Dremel (yay), got it to work cutting a crude shape out of 2mm thick perspex. There are two reasons for this, the first being that weight against the VMU boards will make the VMU screen corrupt or brick, so there needs to be something to protect the boards by making a small gap. The second reason is to prevent shorts between the PSone screen board and the DC board.

To achieve this, the perspex piece is elevated in position by a few strips of plastic post (they are actually old DNA swab sticks saved from the bin, although any plastic slim strong tube would do). Five pieces of plastic tube have been used, as per the pic. The perspex does not need further securing to the case as it is a fairly snug fit in the case as it is.



The gap between the top of the perspex and the top of the case itself is 18mm, which means the DC board can sit on top.

The DC board in the pic is identical to the one being used, however this is a spare board, with two corners trimmed a little, like on my project board - this enables the board to fit in the case. You can also see why I spent so long working out exact positions for everything - the screen cutout hole was literally right to the millimeter before, as you see the gap from the edge of the DC board to the joystick controllers is only a couple of millimeters.



I was aiming at the start of the project to make the final system 70-75mm thick (anticipating 75mm), the reality is going to be 73mm-75mm thick, so pretty happy with that!

Out of time today, may do some updates during the weekend, however will certainly do some Monday and Tuesday.

Immediate jobs:

* Retest the VMU unit works, especially when the perspex is pressed downwards towards it.
* Test the screen works fine (not checked since installed it).
* Wire to all the existing connections, put perspex spacer sheet back and recheck.

Then, make a start on the case backing. I have learnt from experience that although after spray painting and varnishing a case and leaving it for a day to set is fine for normal use, anything comes in contact with the surface for any period of time and it damages the surface; it seems to need several days to set properly and rock hard. That means it makes sense after the tests above to fill in the gaps in the case back, make all the extra holes needed for switches and buttons as well as the air in and air out vent holes - then, can do the paint job and while it sets for a few days, complete more of the core work as needed before final (?) assembly and lots of tests. Part of the "core work" will be wiring the case controls fully whilst the DC system is kept on the desk, so the portable can be held properly and the controls tested for working and sensitivity - easier to do this at this stage. I also want, all being well, to test a mod on my other DC console to see if it can be made region free to play USA and Japanese games via PAL output. [url=http://www.lyris-lite.net/fu_archives/000601.html]This link seems to indicate it is quite easy! Reason being, I have a few games downloaded that are USA and a Japanese one. One USA game and one Japanese game works, but the others don't. Using a boot disk (eg Utopia) doesn't help as the image scrolls (60Mhz mode on a 50Mhz PSone screen), using an NTSC screen instead of a PAL one has a stable picture but only black and white. This is logical as the console is PAL outputting in NTSC mode (black and white screen). Without the Utopia disk the game doesn't run (eg Elemental Gimmick Gear) so indicates region protection; if the above process works, then I can make the PAL DC think it is an NTSC one, so will play NTSC games, and output via a PAL 50mhz screen. If anyone has any comments on this, please let me know. I am fairly new to the DC so learning as i'm going along: there is a lot I don't know, and it is better for someone who knows more than I do to stop me making mistakes before I learn the hard way!

If it doesn't work, no big deal, doing this mod more for "completeness" than any other reason, however if it works ok on the spare DC console, I will do it on my project system.

There is a lot of work left to do yet, lots of wiring, working out where the batteries can fit, etc...

[Basement_Modder]

Looks good. I have to wonder, though... Why do you always use perspex for insulation? Electrical tape/ a simple sheet of paper would be much more flexible and keep the final unit thinner.

[bacteria]

On previous projects I have used electrical tape to insulate between boards, the issue on this project is the VMU is extremely sensitive to being pressed and the DC is heavy, if it were to press against the VMU board it would at the least cause the VMU screen to have garbled graphics, or none at all. Thus, on this project, the perspex is there not just to insulate but to make a strong "shelf" for the DC system to rest on. I don't have a choice in this project.

[spinksy]

awesome work, I'd have to paint it white though - (original DC colours )

[bacteria]

Ah, spinksy, red gives so much more character!

On a different note, updated my Wordpress site yesterday, gave it a spring clean and also grouped the guides into logical sections. My intentions are to put more mini guides in there and also mini videos to support them, before launch of the DreamCast portable. Frankly, the project is very complex indeed, especially in regards to making things fit ok, that it will take quite a while yet before completion. I had thought a month or so more, more likely to be more like December - hopefully before Christmas, although there is no way to know how long a project like this takes. Progress is slow due to the continual forward thinking before placement of anything in the case, and how it will impact on everything else.


Updates today:

Tested the VMU while pressing on the perspex layer sheet - works fine. Tested the PSone screen (first time since basic trimming, etc) - works fine (tested it on a composite output TV plug'n'play game).

Worked out what pins to connect the rumble pack and the memory card to on the MadCatz controller. Can't afford to wire these back to front or it might fry them.



Then removed the large connector for the rumble pack and memory pack, with my Dremel with a diamond metal circular cutter, also wire snippers. Desoldered the joystick and removed it.

Then, time to trim the controller board as it is too tall. If it were laid flat, it would add about 6mm or so to the portable's thickness, or prohibit the chance of installing batteries in the system, so the controller board will be cut up, and positioned at the top of the screen's board. The controller board needs trimming and rewiring not only because it is too high for the portable but also because I need to have vent holes in the case top and bottom as well as switches and having the board as is would prohibit this.

Snipped off the wires that connect the controller to the console, will re-solder them back later. There are three things to look out for when deciding where to trim a board:

* Is the board dual layer or more (if more, you can't trim the board as you can't see where the hidden connections connect to).

* You aren't going to cut through components or components that may be sensitive to other components (eg chips); the traces might be relevant to the clock timings, so extending the wires could alter the resistance of the connections and mess it up. I found this a while back when trying to half an N64 console board a while back...

* The route is fairly easy, not too many fiddly connections to wire to.

(I'm going to make a mini guide on this subject too, BTW).

Looking at the back of the board, there is a fair bit of grounding and also bare areas 2/3 up the board.



Just a case of extending the connections broken with wires.



Here is where it will go in the case. Also, you will see the speakers are wired up and the grounding connections wired together. Each button has two contacts, one is grounding the other is the button connection. I have just stripped a wire, tinned it and soldered to the grounding connections, then used wire to connect each pad to each other (I tend to use white wire for ground connections, out of habit).

(I will also be looking to make a guide on this too later).



More updates tomorrow - tomorrow I will wire up the controller and also the contacts on the controller. To the right of the controller the rumble pack board will go, and the memory pack will be connected (all being well).

[bacteria]

Decided instead to work on the case base today, after all, I can work on the electronics more when the painted case is drying for a few days.

The holes have been filled with PolyFiller quick drying filler; this is the second application, needs sanding and smoothing yet.

Found a tiny fan, nearly totally quiet, only 25mm across, probably from an old graphics card or whatever. It will be mounted on the top of the case, to pull air out of the vent holes. The hole next to it is the on/off switch; can't use a regular switch as it is liable to get too hot with the amps this thing draws, the switch is from the DreamCast, so fine for the job - it says it is rated up to 30v and 3 amps - the system will probably pull about 2.6 - 2.7 amps in total, so inside the thresh hold. The other hole next to it is for two switches to swap between the 4 button pad under the screen controlling the screen and volume, or a rotated d-pad for Q*Bert, as discussed before.



And here is the bottom of the case, with enough air vents for the air to flow to and through the fan over the processor and also towards the system. The two holes are for headphone out and also recharger jack. The holes for the shoulder buttons were cut out a while back.



The portable will have 3 fans in total, one for air out, one for cooling the processors, and one (the original DC one) to just move air around the innards generally.

Obviously the above case pics look crude at the moment, after all the case needs sanding before spray painting; also at the moment the CD cover is off which also detracts from its looks.

When painted, in the next days, this will look lovely!

[IcKy99]

how long of a battery life do you expect to get out of this. Im curious because you say its gonna be running three fans and the disk drive