Retro game stuff talk

VictimRLSH

@obsidianspider Still continuing with the build, it still works as a placeholder. :) I examined it under a magnifier but couldn't see any physical signs of what happened. This is like 4th gen surface mount, some components border on the microscopic. Impossible to repair even if I COULD see what happened.

obsidianspider

As I continue to tinker with Pis and electronic stuff I have found that there are some places a Pi just won't fit. To learn more about what the ESP32 can do and also to try out a new (to me) gadget I ordered an ODROID-GO kit. It's not a powerhouse, but I'm impressed with what it can do. The RetroESP32 custom firmware is also really slick. This won't replace even a Pi Zero in terms of performance, but it's still pretty neat.

Rion

@obsidianspider said in Retro game stuff talk:

ODROID

Have you had a look at the ODROID-GO Advance?

obsidianspider

@Rion I have. I was waiting to see the reviews on it before buying, and they look great. Of course now, due to the COVID-19 stuff, the next shipments aren't expected until maybe May, but I am pretty sure that will end up being a go-to throw in my bag and take it with me kind of system. It looks fantastic, especially for the price.

WeirdH

@FlyingTomahawk said in Retro game stuff talk:

@VictimRLSH

Who would have thought that after so many years Lego could become useful again.

Excuse me, what? Lego has never stopped being useful. What a weird and disturbing thing to say.

ClassicGMR

@Rion said in Retro game stuff talk:

@obsidianspider said in Retro game stuff talk:

ODROID

Have you had a look at the ODROID-GO Advance?

I just bought one myself (OG Advance). I haven't had a chance to put it together yet so can't say how awesome it is BUT I will have it running this weekend. :)

obsidianspider

@ClassicGMR Lucky! Let us know how you like it.

VictimRLSH

@obsidianspider I saw a Kickstarter a while ago for a FLEXIBLE Arduino Uno compatible board (but much smaller than the Uno, kinda the same size as an Adafruit Metro/Trinket). They made many times their seed budget but I have not seen the actual device available yet. It would be awesome to make a Arduboy game watch out of one of those in the band and a .96" Color OLED display for the face.

obsidianspider

What's the plural of Lynx?
.

.

If you guessed "broken" then you'd be right.

After learning that a Lynx II will not power on without a game inserted I took a chance and bought two "for parts/repair" Lynxes on eBay. One has clearly been opened because the screws to close the case are missing, but that one at least has signs of life when you press the power button. The other Lynx is totally dead. From what I've been able to read on AtariAge and some other places it looks like there are a few common points of failure, so I'm going to check those out and hopefully in the end I can have one "stock" and one modified with a nice BennVenn TFT.

I also got some new test PCBs in the mail from OSH Park that should work with 1.3" and 1.54" TFTs. I hope to test them soon.

FlyingTomahawk

Osh park is shipping out pcbs?
Are they in the US?

obsidianspider

@FlyingTomahawk OSH Park are totally US-based. I ordered my boards on 3 March at 14:34 and received them today. Not bad for $3.45 including shipping.

Aside from me getting some IPA inside the 1.3" screen when cleaning up after my soldering (oof) both screens work with the same pinout and configuration files. I can just power off the pi, unplug one, plug in the other in the same spot, power things back on, and it just works. The juj driver is smooth as butter. I'm really loving how well this worked.

Dipkid

Pretty glad I managed to score all the parts and set these babies up before this horrible quarantine stuff kicked in:

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My OG mod-chipped Ps2 with Free Mcboot (OPL for HDD games) & a 500 gb IDE internal drive.

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Also made some changes to the pal snes.

FlyingTomahawk

@Dipkid

That is one hell of a fancy SNES. Very unique design, well done.

obsidianspider

@Dipkid said in Retro game stuff talk:

Also made some changes to the pal snes.

"some changes"

Wowowowow!

FlyingTomahawk

Another Famicom done. This time as I mentioned previously, no cutting, no grinding, no modifications to the body. It can be powered by 5V 1A, which means any microUSB phone charger should work just fine. I think that's pretty much it with Famicoms for now. I have now a genuine stock Famicom, one with RCA jacks coming out on the side and this one here.

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obsidianspider

@FlyingTomahawk That looks fantastic! It's rare to see a Famicom that isn't discolored over time. Great job on the AV and USB conversion.

FlyingTomahawk

@obsidianspider

i painted this one though. (shameonme)
I do have one still untouched and let's say white-ish and that one is unmodified and will stay that way. who knows how much that stuff is gonna be worth in another 20 years.

obsidianspider

@FlyingTomahawk I want to try this retrobright method some time. I need to find a source for those UV LEDs and how to power them.

FlyingTomahawk

@obsidianspider

Yeah, I'd love too. Maybe in the near future I'll start with some SNES modifications.
You could get UV light strips in China once the whole virus thing is gone. They sell them cheap over there.

obsidianspider

@FlyingTomahawk AliExpress is a great resource. I still don't understand how they can afford to ship me something all the way from China for $1.37, even if it does take a month, but I'm ok with it.