Bacteria's portable DreamCast handheld console - IntoDream

[spinksy]

Great stuff - glad it works!

Looks good mate!

[bacteria]

Great, just tested the rig with alternating the grounds - turns out that although my continuity tester doesn't make a "beep" to indicate that the ground from the d-pad on the controller is connected to the ground on the screen, it does work in practice. That means back to original idea, of using the two existing switches to alternate between the screen functions and the slanted d-pad. Nice!

Also, rewired the joystick to how it should be, works fine now.

I know this is only a small update, although worth posting, time is short today as off to work soon.

[Basement_Modder]

Looks amazing, John! Waiting for this to be finished is like reading a whodunit murder novel. It's crazy!

[bacteria]

Well, all being well, might be completed in a week, although of course it will take a bit of time to then get videos done, PDF worklog finished, etc before "launch"

[Hobie-wan]

Need a box, foam inserts, baggie, and manual too. There better be an unboxing video.

[bacteria]

Well, the 4 buttons for the rotating d-pad work / screen controls; great! Just need to check I orientated them fine for Q*Bert (I did anticlockwise, think that is right!?). Wired to two spare identical switches to those in the case base; I only have to move the wires to the other switches and job done.

Tested Quake 3, couldn't fire weapon as controller not wired to the shoulder buttons, did it to check the rumble pack - worked great - as ran over a weapon and picked it up, got a quick red light flash and slight rumble; went into training room, immediately got fragged (as wanted), rumble really kicked in to give quite a strong rumble; and light worked nicely during that time. In other words, rumble motor and light work great!

[bacteria]

The shifted d-pad should have been rotated clockwise not anticlockwise, so resoldered 4 wires to correct this.

Interesting thing - Q*Bert (a burned CDR game) doesn't read my VMU, says it needs 8 blocks and the card is full! Checking the card, there were 5 blocks used only from PenPen so 195 left. Loaded up Quake 3, saved some custom settings, like naming the character, it saved the 25 blocks needed fine, reporting correctly 170 blocks on the VMU remaining. Tried Q*Bert again, still doesn't read the VMU. Not an issue, but I am curious as to why!

Did the part of the project I was dreading for a while, trimmed bits off the corners of the DC board and sloped parts, so it will fit in the case ok. This is where it is indespensible to have a spare board - I could check what was ok to remove and what isn't easily, which I then did on the proper board. Used a fair bit of compressed air to blow out any metal shavings from this work (which could cause a short), tested system again, works fine.

Next job will be to secure the two case halves together with the "H" shaped plastic (looking forward to that actually); connect RGB and check that works ok, connect the audio, connect the switch connections to the case backing, connect the shoulder buttons, then trim the daughter board from the DC to the controller (the one with the ribbon connecting), then fix the fans, secure the system in place, connect the battery power, check the system closes properly, do so, test.

[bacteria]

When you use a vacuum formed case, or a tupperware box trimmed to size, you have two case halves that need to be secured together properly. You also have the issue that each section is fairly weak as a structure. You therefore need to find a way to not only strengthen but also secure the sections together.

Here is a pic so far of it half done. I will complete the rest tomorrow morning (UK time), and will then post a "how-to" as another PDF document on my site as it is ideal material for a guide.

Ignore the jagged bits in the corners, they will be covered when the other case half is secured in place.

What did I use? general purpose glue, hot glue, duct tape and the most important ingredient - "H" piece car windscreen replacement plastic strip parts!



I will of course post a new topic here, with a couple of pics on the work in this thread and set up a new thread for the mini guide, as before.

[bacteria]

Completed the assembly for attaching the case halves.

Please look on my Wordpress site (by clicking my sig) for details of how it was done. New section made for this, and PDF file for download.

Also shows a sneak peak of what my system will look like when completed!

*started a new thread for this mini-guide link* as it is an important part of case making.

[jfe2]

It's hard to believe that case came from a tupperware... Great job! It looks really nice and seems to fit everything perfectly.