Posts Tagged ‘technology’

So while I was waiting for the paint to dry on the second controller of the SNES-001 Advance, I got to going through some of my You Tube videos and really had a hard look at one of those situations where one expects a particular outcome and is completely surprised by a 180 turn of events.

The video in question is the one of “The Nimbus II”, my third and last N64p I’ve made to date. All things considered, this was probably the most complex and best portable system I’d ever constructed. Sleek, comfortable and truly a blast to create, it is also the least noticed mod I’ve ever done. My first mod even kicked it’s tale by almost 2X (in relation to You Tube views)!

The reasons don’t escape me though as by the time this was released, anything news worthy related to an N64p had been burnt to a crisp, but I still really expected a little more due to the quality of the system itself. However, it never happened and I had to watch other portables, some finished with duct tape and super glue, rocket past me in a flame pirated glory.

But, then I remind myself that this hobby isn’t about how much your project get’s noticed,(though this is a much added bonus that bares motive) but the self pride in knowing you’ve completed something worth while and stuck with to the end.

So, as I crack a Budweiser and think up lyrics to another “Real Men of Genius” riff, I salute you Mr. basement dweller modder man, who fearlessly creates in the face of an absent interest and continues to hone his practical, yet useless use of skill!

With that said, here’s the video that I was whining about.

Well, audio and video through a controller wire works! My proof of concept is good. All that’s left to do now is wire up the controller and all the tact switches. As always please check out the forums for more info, but enjoy the video, though it’s a bit shaky and pretty short!

So after a few weeks with no posts here, an update for the Genesis portable has come, worthy of posting.

On top of hitting a couple snags which is quite common, I hurt my back lifting an old TV and have been unable to really mod at all because of it. Now that I’m on the mend, I was back to picking up where I left off, even though I left off on a problem.

To make things short and sweet, I couldn’t get the screen to work. After messing with my batteries which I was still scared about after shooting 8.4V up my arm, I hooked everything up to my power switch, hit the button and nothing…

Power was going everywhere it was supposed to, but no image on the screen. So of course I think I fried the damn thing, but it was rated for 12 volts and I only put 8.4 through it. After a bit of thinking and asking on the forums, of course the solution was right under my nose. The Video out line was not grounded. Though I thought didn’t need it because the screens power line was grounded to the Genesis board and there was only one ground coming from the screen, I thought they all shared. Not true. After taking the screens A/V cable apart, I noticed that each RCA input had one signal and one ground and all the grounds met at one junction box midway down the cable and that’s where they merged the ground wires into one.

Simple version, I needed another ground wire and once that was in place, BINGO! First try and the system, screen and game all fired up! Which means I’m good to go with wiring up the audio and controls and with any luck I’ll have this done by this weekend!

I’m actually quite happy with the quality of this screen for it being only composite input, so I’m gonna run with it and not try to RGB mod this. It’s getting close and I’m getting excited!