Major update on the project - new video uploaded - hope you enjoy it!
Bacteria's project: "Project Unity"
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Hope you liked my video above!
Bought some cheap offcuts at B&Q (hardware store), for £2 got two strips of flooring MDF type, 6mm thick; used half of a strip to make the shelf for this in the pic below. The shelf is screwed to the sides for strength.
Got my 20 on/off switches today for the project, nice round ones.
Next job is to cut the wood struts down to the final height using an electric saw; i'm just hoping the saw doesn't jutter too much in the process; fortunately as it's chipboard i've used for the sides, should cut through it quite easily.
When done, going to then finish off the PS2 system, get it installed into the Alpha Omega, make the controller casing and get that installed; make the video for the PS2 part of the project and upload it.
After that, will put Alpha Omega on hold for about a month or two whilst going back to the N64 in large format GBA casing project (also SNES too BTW), will make a handful of portables including commissions, various videos will be made for the project of course before final video.
After that, back to this project again, for the Philips CD-i
According to the Amiga CD32 forum I was on before, no-one has done modding on the CD32 before to their knowledge, so i'm the first on that score; no idea if anyone has done mods on the CD-i before, I might be the first for that too.
Thing is, I bought the CD-i for ONE game, Mario Hotel, and from what I remember, there are probably no other titles I can think of that are good on that platform, and not on other systems too.
Bought some cheap offcuts at B&Q (hardware store), for £2 got two strips of flooring MDF type, 6mm thick; used half of a strip to make the shelf for this in the pic below. The shelf is screwed to the sides for strength.
Got my 20 on/off switches today for the project, nice round ones.
Next job is to cut the wood struts down to the final height using an electric saw; i'm just hoping the saw doesn't jutter too much in the process; fortunately as it's chipboard i've used for the sides, should cut through it quite easily.
When done, going to then finish off the PS2 system, get it installed into the Alpha Omega, make the controller casing and get that installed; make the video for the PS2 part of the project and upload it.
After that, will put Alpha Omega on hold for about a month or two whilst going back to the N64 in large format GBA casing project (also SNES too BTW), will make a handful of portables including commissions, various videos will be made for the project of course before final video.
After that, back to this project again, for the Philips CD-i
According to the Amiga CD32 forum I was on before, no-one has done modding on the CD32 before to their knowledge, so i'm the first on that score; no idea if anyone has done mods on the CD-i before, I might be the first for that too.
Thing is, I bought the CD-i for ONE game, Mario Hotel, and from what I remember, there are probably no other titles I can think of that are good on that platform, and not on other systems too.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Used my electric saw and cut the sides right down to the correct height. Got some vibration when the saw was cutting but got away with it.
Replaced the two power switches with my new ones, they seem to work fine.
No, it isn't wonky, it's the camera angle!
Height will be 35cms including top and bottom wood sheets; so just under 34cms to play with in total.
Replaced the two power switches with my new ones, they seem to work fine.
No, it isn't wonky, it's the camera angle!
Height will be 35cms including top and bottom wood sheets; so just under 34cms to play with in total.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
This thread is getting disjointed however it isn't possible to do otherwise for a while as having to do a bit here and a bit there. Later in the project, i'm going to have to make an index on the first post to catalogue the work!
Made three controller casings for the master controller; one for the PS2 system, one for the CD-i and one for generic ones that don't need a dedicated controller section as the wires go straight to the traces and button contacts; will make more as needed.
Can't complete the PS2 system until two things happen - the controller for the PS2 is installed into the controller casing; and secondly until the Philips CD-i is installed into the system. The reason for this is the layer in the Alpha Omega casing will contain the PS2 and CD-i and it is easier to wire the consoles in together than mess around afterwards.
This will cause a delay in the PS2 video of course, however will mean the video for the PS2 and CD-i will be out around the same time.
I'm not anticipating the CD-i to take long, although might as things tend to; as I want to get back to the N64 in GBA style casing project soon; juggling a few things at the moment after all!
Like with the Colecovision, the CD-i takes three voltages, 12v, 5v and -5v; my -5v line is the only one not in the Alpha Omega yet, will have to rig up the regulator I have to do this, and work alongside the -3v one in the system already. In the meantime, will run off the mains power that came with the console.
In the pic below is my CD-i; it uses an unusual small star hex screwdriver, I forgot I had one before so had to butcher the CD-i controller casing to get to the board inside, found a couple of suitable screwdrivers since then, hope they fit ok!
The two parts on the left are for CD playback and Photo-CD - I have no use for these functions so removed the section.
Got system opened fine, getting the motherboard out took a little working out though!
The CD unit is quite small which is handy.
Correction - the CD-i doesn't use 12v, 5v and -5v; it just uses 5v and -5v
Good, works fine.
Will test a few games to see which ones do what on controls; and which other games than Mario Hotel might be worth playing.
Arcade classics has 3 games on it, Galaga is arcade perfect, pity though it only occupies 1/2 the screen.
I need to know what games I like on it, and what buttons do what in the games. Buttons are minimal on the CD-i; you get d-pad and 2 side buttons; so for example in Galaga, the left side button fires, the right pauses. I know in Mario Hotel to open a lift door you need to press up AND down at the same time (?) so will need to make a button ideally to do both at the same time, or use two keypad buttons on the master controller do that when pressed at the same time.
The motherboard is about 24 x 16cms; if you wanted to make a portable with this, including the CD, would be about 40-45mm thick plus screen; so around 55-60mm thick. I'm not making a portable with this system as you know, just mentioning to anyone interested: also, BTW, the system would be straight forward to make into a portable.
Going to relocate the CD ribbon cable as there are only around a dozen wires or so, and about 1mm apart so not too hard to relocate. As the drive unit is quite compact, won't take long to make an enclosure for it either, meaning there shouldn't be much of a delay to the large format GBA style casing N64 and SNES project, so no issues.
Made three controller casings for the master controller; one for the PS2 system, one for the CD-i and one for generic ones that don't need a dedicated controller section as the wires go straight to the traces and button contacts; will make more as needed.
Can't complete the PS2 system until two things happen - the controller for the PS2 is installed into the controller casing; and secondly until the Philips CD-i is installed into the system. The reason for this is the layer in the Alpha Omega casing will contain the PS2 and CD-i and it is easier to wire the consoles in together than mess around afterwards.
This will cause a delay in the PS2 video of course, however will mean the video for the PS2 and CD-i will be out around the same time.
I'm not anticipating the CD-i to take long, although might as things tend to; as I want to get back to the N64 in GBA style casing project soon; juggling a few things at the moment after all!
Like with the Colecovision, the CD-i takes three voltages, 12v, 5v and -5v; my -5v line is the only one not in the Alpha Omega yet, will have to rig up the regulator I have to do this, and work alongside the -3v one in the system already. In the meantime, will run off the mains power that came with the console.
In the pic below is my CD-i; it uses an unusual small star hex screwdriver, I forgot I had one before so had to butcher the CD-i controller casing to get to the board inside, found a couple of suitable screwdrivers since then, hope they fit ok!
The two parts on the left are for CD playback and Photo-CD - I have no use for these functions so removed the section.
Got system opened fine, getting the motherboard out took a little working out though!
The CD unit is quite small which is handy.
Correction - the CD-i doesn't use 12v, 5v and -5v; it just uses 5v and -5v
Good, works fine.
Will test a few games to see which ones do what on controls; and which other games than Mario Hotel might be worth playing.
Arcade classics has 3 games on it, Galaga is arcade perfect, pity though it only occupies 1/2 the screen.
I need to know what games I like on it, and what buttons do what in the games. Buttons are minimal on the CD-i; you get d-pad and 2 side buttons; so for example in Galaga, the left side button fires, the right pauses. I know in Mario Hotel to open a lift door you need to press up AND down at the same time (?) so will need to make a button ideally to do both at the same time, or use two keypad buttons on the master controller do that when pressed at the same time.
The motherboard is about 24 x 16cms; if you wanted to make a portable with this, including the CD, would be about 40-45mm thick plus screen; so around 55-60mm thick. I'm not making a portable with this system as you know, just mentioning to anyone interested: also, BTW, the system would be straight forward to make into a portable.
Going to relocate the CD ribbon cable as there are only around a dozen wires or so, and about 1mm apart so not too hard to relocate. As the drive unit is quite compact, won't take long to make an enclosure for it either, meaning there shouldn't be much of a delay to the large format GBA style casing N64 and SNES project, so no issues.
I am the Bacman
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alienjesus
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Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
I own hotel mario, and i'm pretty sure you never have to hit up and down simultaneously. Just one or the other, depending on situation. Perhaps worth testing that before you go and do unnecessary work.
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
I've tried it - to enter lift you need to press up and down at the same time, to exit the lift you press down. Strange. If you press the left side button "I" while still in the lift you can go back into the lift you came out from.
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Well this will certainly be a quicker build - I have about 40 or so CD-i games, some are useless "interactive" games (ie useless), some not much different to some bad DOS games, and most of them are a pain to play because the cursor moves so ridiculously slowly that games are unplayable; otherwise Backgammon might have been worth playing too.
So, as only Mario Hotel seems worth playing (that is quite a good game actually), there is no point in having the CD's being able to move outwards to change a CD as there is only one game i'm interested in on the CD-i; the PS2 pops out the CD tray, so no issues there either.
What that means is, only having to relocate the CD unit to its spot and not building a section for it. The FMV add-on doesn't seem needed for Mario Hotel, so can remove that too.
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Well this will certainly be a quicker build - I have about 40 or so CD-i games, some are useless "interactive" games (ie useless), some not much different to some bad DOS games, and most of them are a pain to play because the cursor moves so ridiculously slowly that games are unplayable; otherwise Backgammon might have been worth playing too.
So, as only Mario Hotel seems worth playing (that is quite a good game actually), there is no point in having the CD's being able to move outwards to change a CD as there is only one game i'm interested in on the CD-i; the PS2 pops out the CD tray, so no issues there either.
What that means is, only having to relocate the CD unit to its spot and not building a section for it. The FMV add-on doesn't seem needed for Mario Hotel, so can remove that too.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
I was wondering if the effort to make a system for just one game was worth it, however on the Amiga i've only two games on that i'm interested in.
Desoldered the CD ribbon port and relocated it about 9" away; the CD-i did the initial spinning but didn't move the motor to read the game so didn't recognise it present - ok, changed the wires to 8", same thing, so then used shielded cables, same thing; in fact, think I got a garbled line on the bottom of the screen; so wired with 4" wires to see if that was ok - nope. After that, as it was probable i'd shorted the pins on the ribbon connector at some point, soldered directly to the ribbon cable itself, and did a very good job on it; however, using 8" wires again, still didn't recognise a game disc present.
Not extended the wires for the other points on the drive unit, just the ribbon cable. No reason it doesn't work, but it isn't. Must have had a short at some point.
Only option left is short wires, like 2" long, if that doesn't work, i'll call the CD-i dead in this project, no way i'm buying another one, it really is a bad console system. One quite good game is not good enough on a platform. I'll give it another few tries; if not working then, i'll drop the CD-i.
Desoldered the CD ribbon port and relocated it about 9" away; the CD-i did the initial spinning but didn't move the motor to read the game so didn't recognise it present - ok, changed the wires to 8", same thing, so then used shielded cables, same thing; in fact, think I got a garbled line on the bottom of the screen; so wired with 4" wires to see if that was ok - nope. After that, as it was probable i'd shorted the pins on the ribbon connector at some point, soldered directly to the ribbon cable itself, and did a very good job on it; however, using 8" wires again, still didn't recognise a game disc present.
Not extended the wires for the other points on the drive unit, just the ribbon cable. No reason it doesn't work, but it isn't. Must have had a short at some point.
Only option left is short wires, like 2" long, if that doesn't work, i'll call the CD-i dead in this project, no way i'm buying another one, it really is a bad console system. One quite good game is not good enough on a platform. I'll give it another few tries; if not working then, i'll drop the CD-i.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Worked out that I can mount the CD drive upside down in the space it was going to be in originally, so secured the drive to the board with cable ties (no risk of glue getting weak and making the drive unit drop), and removed the large CD cartridge add-on for the FMV video which I don't need as Mario Hotel doesn't seem to need it, and removed the port, so it now sits flat against the fan on the Playstation 2 system - just the right overall height!
Mounted into the place.
Just need to work out the voltage lines and make the -5v regulator for it (the CD-i uses 5v and -5v).
The controller is wired into place; only 4 wires.
As you know, on the master controller I have a plug-in controller case for each console (the Intellivision, GameCube and Amiga CD32 ones are already made), will have one for generic ones that don't need their own controller section - no point having one if not needed after all; eg if there are no chips or other components on a controller and the wires just go to the button traces, I can have a generic controller section for them - eg TurboGrafx, NES (as I wired the controller to the NES console a while back), CD-i and others. The criteria are simply that the console controller doesn't have any components (as mentioned) and also basic - ie no joysticks, up to a maximum of 8 buttons on the controller. The NES has 8 buttons, TurboGrafx has 8, CD-i has 6; for example.
Mounted into the place.
Just need to work out the voltage lines and make the -5v regulator for it (the CD-i uses 5v and -5v).
The controller is wired into place; only 4 wires.
As you know, on the master controller I have a plug-in controller case for each console (the Intellivision, GameCube and Amiga CD32 ones are already made), will have one for generic ones that don't need their own controller section - no point having one if not needed after all; eg if there are no chips or other components on a controller and the wires just go to the button traces, I can have a generic controller section for them - eg TurboGrafx, NES (as I wired the controller to the NES console a while back), CD-i and others. The criteria are simply that the console controller doesn't have any components (as mentioned) and also basic - ie no joysticks, up to a maximum of 8 buttons on the controller. The NES has 8 buttons, TurboGrafx has 8, CD-i has 6; for example.
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Got the -5v line working. Tested the Cd-i with a heatsinked 7805, and the -5v regulator on 8 x AA cells (just for testing), worked fine. Good!
I am the Bacman
Re: Bacteria's project: Alpha Omega
Video 9 of the series is uploaded - Philips CD-i
I am the Bacman