Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP)
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Hey! It is so good to see that you are still around.
Yeah, I totally neglected this build. I guess waiting over 2 months for the Mausberry killed it. I kept working on my Futura theme and also got into other things like eGPU stuff.
Got me a GTX660 and connected it to my Laptop and now I started to replay all the games I could never play on Ultra settings. Skyrim, Sniper Elite V2, Mass Effect 1-3 I tell you gaming can be sooooo time consuming.Anyways, back on topic.
I am not sure what exactly went wrong. As you guys say the Mausberry works with the RPi 3. I will try to solder the GPIO pins tomorrow so that I can just plug in the two cables that came with the Mausberry. Maybe my soldering work was not good?
Still I didn't wanna stop there and leave the stuff otherwise I might not continue to work on it again. So I took all my parts and start to put them into the Famicom and here is the result. She ain't a beauty but it does work and besides I still got a few more Famicoms here to improve. The controllers can only be charged if the Pi is running. Wish there was a sleep mode like the PS4 has where you can keep charging the controllers. Here pics....
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that retropie logo is sweet, where did you get it ?
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I got it from the Splashscreens section in the RetroPie Settings menu. Just download the extra splashscreens.
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Splashscreen
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@FlyingTomahawk How did you get the clock to show up in the bottom corner?
Creator of the Radiocade: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6077/radiocade
Backlog: http://backloggery.com/lilbud
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@lilbud said in Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP):
@FlyingTomahawk How did you get the clock to show up in the bottom corner?
lol. that's a TV feature not RPi feature. ;-)
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@FlyingTomahawk What kind of tv does that? My TV struggles with overscan, no friggin way mine has a clock.
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It's a Sharp TV. We have 2 Sharp TVs and both can display that clock on the bottom-right.
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Back at it again...
Today I soldered the 40 pin thing into the Pi Zero just to make sure that it was not my soldering work that causes the issue.
Test 1 -> Success!
At first it looked like my solder work was sloppy after all.... BUT...
After I assembled everything back together I gave it another try and the issue appeared again. Back to square one.
So we know the Mausberry is working.
We know it did work with the setup in the image above.
So what could it be... I start to remove cables and keep testing till I found it.The adapter cable male to female micro USB (yellow arrow) that I use to is the culprit.
If I plug the power cable directly into the Pi all works like it suppose to but if I use that adapter cable it won't work.
I am technically not versed and don't know why that adapter cable can cause such an issue.
For now I will keep the silver power cable connected directly so that I can use the Mausberry. I will have to find a different adapter cable but even then no guarantees that it works.If someone has a link to such a cable please share, thanks.
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@FlyingTomahawk woo hoo! I'm glad your troubleshooting helped you identify the problem component.
With extensions and adapters sometimes there can be a problem with voltage drop, or just crappy materials.
If you connect a multimeter up to your 5V GPIO pin and ground, are voltages different with the black cable vs the silver? I'm wondering if the black one is fluctuating or something bizarre like that.
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Ok, scratch that. It wasn't the cable. :-/
I have a new theory now. It could be that the Famicom switch touched the Pi Zero which is just underneath it. I taped the switch and now it works.
So yesterday it was sloppy soldering and today it was sloppy packing into the Famicom.
I am glad it finally worked, at least for now.But there is one last issue left to though.
The SNES emulator runs like shit on a Pi Zero. I overclocked it and added a heat sink according to ETA Primes youtube tutorial but still no luck.
If I use the PiSNES emulator it does run smooth but it won't recognize my second 8 bitdo controller. So in short I can either have a laggy SNES with 2 players or smooth running SNES with 1 player only.NES, MegaDrive and Gameboy Advance run good as they should. No issues there.
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The SNES emulator runs like shit on a Pi Zero.
Good thing you have a Pi 3…
Any way you can fit that in the case?
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Yeah I have one but I need that for NeoGeo and Capcom stuff, speaking of which wonder when ruckage is releasing that awesome theme of his.
I will buy a new RPi 3 as soon as possible. I am sure it'll fit in there somehow.
Is there any new Pi coming out anytime soon? Not that I buy a Pi 3 only to be surprised by a new release few days later.Oh and btw. there was only a slight voltage drop with or without adapter cable.
5.03 vs 5.21
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@FlyingTomahawk They usually announce new models in February for the Pi anniversary, but I remember reading that they weren't planning on an upgrade to the Pi 3 for a while and they were focusing on software for a bit to make it more robust. I'd say you're safe with a 3 for now. If I were making a home console today that's what I would use.
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Yesterday after I thought that finally everything is working it started again to reboot.
I am out of ideas here. Everytime I thought I found the culprit it turns out not to be.
I will give this Mausberry another thourough test today after work on my RPi 3 and see if it behaves the same way.
If it does give me the same trouble I'll smash that thing and I'm gonna build a switch like ETA Prime is showing in his tutorial on youtube by shorting GPIO 5 and 6. -
Was it rebooting when fully assembled? You were saying the switch was making contact before. How does it work if you have the case out? I'm wondering if something is "kinked" inside the case and is causing an issue.
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That is what I thought too but the last few tests were out in the open not closed inside.
I am currently testing it with my RPi 3 as we speak and it seems to work just fine.
Maybe there is an issue with the Mausberry and the Zero4U board? I don't know and to be honest I don't care anymore. It does work with the RPi 3 so I'll just get one in the near future and replace the Zero with it.And it looks like my RPi 3 just froze up during the ES update...just great.
I think I'm gonna go watch DS9 and keep this Pi stuff running see if it moves. -
@FlyingTomahawk Sorry to hear that you're running into frustrations with the build, but I'm sure it's going to be really cool when you're done with it. Take the night off and you can tinker with it tomorrow. Just don't take weeks and weeks and months off like I've been doing with my handheld builds. ;)
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Yeah, you're probably right. A short break might do good. That and a cold beer.
Thanks. -
You'll get it sorted out and we're here to help you. I'd come over and take a look, but you're a little far away. :)
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Finally got all build together.
Removed the Pi Zero since it was a disappointment performance-wise. Put in my RPi 3 even though I tried to avoid that but no choice I guess. The RPi3 is encased in a case with a fan build in running at 3.3V to keep the temps low and noise down.I needed to remove the microUSB adapter since it was giving my the lightning bolt constantly. With it removed and the USB cable plugged in directly to the Mausberry I still get the lightning bolt occasionally (mostly in the ES menu when videos are running) but not during game play.
Here some pics of me trying to test fit all.
If you wonder what the other PCB board is, that is a RF module from an old RRoD (red ring of death) Xbox360. That way I can use my wireless Dreamcast Arcade stick.
Now what is left to do is fine tune the looks of it all. (Boot screen, loading screen etc....) Theme will be mainly Famicom-mini by ruckage and as soon he releases the NeoGeo/Capcom theme I will create 2 system profiles and separate Arcade stuff from the rest.
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