Downing's Basement

Another Portable N64 Commission Underway!

Posted: 06/10/2015 in Current Project
Tags: commissions, Downing, N64p

Yup, no sooner did I finish of my first portable N64 commission and ship it off did another come down the pipeline! Never have I had two such similar projects happen so close in time frame and it’s yielding some very cool improvements.

Essentially this is a duplicate of the N64p I finished off last month, but taking everything I learned from the first version and perfecting it the second time around. There are a few key differences in this one though that required a bit of extra design work, but it will be well worth the effort in the final project.

There are two big differences with this one. First, the screen is a completely different model than the other version. This is a wide screen 16:9 default ratio, however it does have an option to be 4:3 if the user wishes. I decided to go with for a few reasons, but the main reasons were picture quality and size. In my opinion, this screen is sharper than what I used last time as far as composite input goes and the thin profile and smaller driver board make this much easier to work with.

The second difference is that my buyer in this case is based in the UK. This presented a problem at first because the UK and Europe use a different region code than the US. US uses NTSC for it’s format which is basically just a different hertz rating based on the electrical systems we use. NTSC is 60Hz and PAL is only 50Hz. So, this meant I had to use PAL hardware for the N64 as well as needing a few PAL games to test the system on. I also had to get a 220 to 110 transformer so he could use the battery charger that is specific to the batteries that are going in the thing. So although this one was very much the same, it had it’s share of “firsts” that I had to overcome. Fortunately they weren’t that difficult to get over.

Additional improvements also include:

– Better ventilation for the regulator and system as a whole with a new vent panel cut into the top and a vent in the back.
– Relocated headphone switch which has been moved to the face of unit instead of on the bottom where it could be accidentally pressed.
– Custom home cut PCBs for the buttons, d-pad, headphone switch and power jacks.
– PLA material for the 3D printed body and face of the casing instead ABS to prevent warping.
– Custom brackets for all loose components like the audio amp and regulator for more secure mounting and less wire stress.

So I’m pretty excited to see how this one is going to turn out and so far progress has been very quick and efficient. Time is still an issue as I don’t have much of it to dedicate, but at least when I do put the time in, it goes further. I should have most of the case parts finished off this week and then I’ll be able to start the fun part of sanding and painting and after that gets done I’ll start posting some progress pics! I’m excited to see how this one comes out!

Latest Portable Commission Complete

Posted: 05/25/2015 in Current Project, General News
Tags: Downing, Hack, Mod, N64p

Alright after about 5 months of working off an on with this project as time allowed, my first portable in a year is complete.

A commission I took at the end of last year, I was finally able to get this guy done and will be shipping out the buyer next week. This is a very basic N64 as far as portables go, but it still did have it’s issues and took a bit longer to fix than anticipated.

System Specs.

5″ TFT LCD Display
2 – 2mm Mylar Speakers
Custom Audio Amp by RDC
2 – 3.7v 5000mAh Li-Po Batteries in Series for 7.4v Output
Standard N64 Motherboard with heavy trim
Expansion Pak
Hardwired Memory Pak
Custom 3D Printed and CNC Machined Enclosure
3.5mm Headphone Jack with Manual On/Off
Dual Power Circuit for Wall and Battery Power

All in all I’m happy with this though the casing issues did irritate me to no end. But the custom audio amp (by RDC), the two seperate power circuits for wall power and battery power and the modular case style were all new techniques/items that I’ve never done before and with the next project I’ll be able to improve on the ideas and their usages.

I didn’t do up a build log for this one but I might do up a couple of posts on the modular case building technique I used as I think that could be pretty helpful for other case makers and portablizers.

So the next project is to finish off my OUYA portable that I’m about 3/4 of the way complete. That one should be fun once it’s complete. So until we meet again, enjoy the video!

A First Step To A New Frontier, Pi Style

Posted: 05/14/2015 in General News
Tags: portable, Raspberry Pi, Retro Gaming

For the past 3 or 4 years now, the Raspberry Pi has been a huge asset to the maker communities across the world. Within the past couple of months, a new, more powerful version of the Pi has come to market and I felt it was time to get my hands one.

For those who don’t know, the Raspberry Pi is basically a mini Lynx based computer system that is about the size of a credit card with a decent amount of power to run basic programs for a variety of different applications. One of those applications that holds great interest to me since it first came out though was its ability to run retro gaming emulators, which of course then transitioned into a portable gaming system.

The only downside was that the emulation was limited to about the Super Nintendo and prior consoles due to it’s hardware limits. But now, the Pi 2 is on the market with 6X the speed of the original and 2X the RAM. This has made it capable of running PS1 and N64 games at full speed which has now peaked my interest. And the best part, the system itself is only $35.

But, this of course is going to have its learning curves. I’ve never even used Lynx and there is a fair amount of coding that has to go into place to make this work as a portable system, but tutorials are vast on You Tube and the only issue I see is going to have the time to do it. I’ve just about completed the N64 portable commission (hopefully closing it up this weekend) and after that is complete, I have to finish off my OUYA project. So it’s most likely going to take some time before I get to this, but I really do want to see how something like this would come out and the designs are already being made for it.

So maybe by the end of the year I can start to play around with this, but at this pace I don’t really know how long it’s going to take to get to it. But at least I’ve got the idea in place and we’ll see how she turns out when it happens.

Thoughts on the MBB Shut Down

Posted: 04/27/2015 in General News

Earlier today I posted an article from DesperateNerdLife’s blog about the closure of the Modding forum Bacman Forums, which I had been a Moderator on almost since the beginning and then left about a year ago.

I, like many others, was shocked to see the 404 Can’t Be Found page when I went to check in and then later realized that he had pulled the plug for good. And to be all honest, I had mixed feelings about this because though it wasn’t a surprise that it had happened, it was the closure of a chapter in my life that I had helped write and now no one could read it.

I mean, I agree with him to some extent that the scene just isn’t there anymore on a large scale and to pay for something no one uses is a bit of an unnecessary expense, but the way he up and pulled the plug and the amount of work people had put into their build logs for future reference I think was a personal statement and a spiteful “F-You” to those who had issues with him.

And that’s just the thing, in my opinion, this wasn’t a closure because the scene was dying as he led others to believe, but because the amount of push back he was getting both internally from his Mods and the community as a whole. He mentions the degradation of the community and if it’s not there, there’s no reason for the site, but it’s hard to keep a community when you alienate even the longest term members because they have a disagreement with you. You can’t be expected to keep a loyal following that way and it became apparent to me a year ago (or sometime well before that really) that unless the he came up with the idea or didn’t do something the way he would do it, it was just wrong.

So this is the reason that I surrendered my Mod title of a forum I had been loyal to a fault and had spend a lot of time to make one of the best console modding sites on the net. It was unfortunate and sad but I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere by staying and it was time for someone else to take the reigns. And in less than a year, it’s gone.

Though, in my previous post, there is a link to a full cached version of the site which he was kind enough to share. It’s 3 Gigs of a zip file but it may be worth it if you put the time into a build log and you’d like to get it back.

So what do you think about it? I can’t have any loyalty to a site that doesn’t exist so the cards are on the table now. He was a good man to me for a majority of the time I worked with him, but his faults began to show and grow and that eventually crept it’s way into the site and it’s content…which then has lead to it’s demise.

RIP Bacman forum

Posted: 04/27/2015 in Uncategorized

For those who were looking for an answer as to why the Bacman Forums closed up, found this today that shows his last post. Make your own conclusions.

DesperateNerdLife

Sad news for the modders: probably the best forum has been shut down for good recently.

This was Bacteria’s last message to the forum

I have decided to close the forum today.
The main site http://www.bacman.co.uk/home/ has already been updated to remove links to all but a couple of sections, and later today I will shut the forum permanently and remove its links. I will keep the reference site going for a while however.
Why you ask? Well there are three main reasons:
1) The modding scene is all but gone now, almost all modders I used to “know” on the sites have long since gone and the activity on the forum has been very low for some weeks, often I log on and i’m the only member on it now. One of the reasons for the forum was for the community, however the community have all but now gone…

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Reorganizing and Sharing

Posted: 04/08/2015 in Uncategorized

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be making some changes to this site in both content and layout. Basically what I’d like to start doing is sharing some of my designs that I’ve worked on in the form of CAD and 3D printed design files. So, for example, when this N64 portable is completed, I’ll be adding the STL files and the CAD files to a zipped folder that can be downloaded if one wishes as well as maybe small guides of how to implement them into a project.

Eventually, as time allows, I’d like to start building a reference area as my projects progress so those who want to try their hand at a similar project will have a place to get the direction they need to get moving. Having a project showcase site is cool, but I feel it’s time that this place become a bit more useful and informative.

Again, this will be a long work in progress as I can get to it, but hopefully I’ll be able to make this site a bit more useful to those who give the time to visit.

But I’d like to thank you all who do make it a habit to visit on a regular basis and sorry I’m so far and few between posts, but real life is very taxing at the moment, limiting most of my free time to my hour lunch break at work and a few hours on the weekends.