hansolo77

Day 18 (total 18 days in production, not counting days I didn't do anything)... 98% Build Day I'm still waiting for my Mausberry Circuit. But the tracking number I got a while ago for my replacement is now showing activity, so there's a good chance I can follow it now. Hasn't moved out of Florida yet, been 2 days, but meh at least it's moving... Stage 1 - Attach the HDMI cable to the case. That was a bitch to do. Because of the way the cable was designed, I had to cut the case from the OUTSIDE, and the mount is on the inside. I used a dry-erase marker to mark where to cut, which of course only worked until I checked to see if it would fit then it got smudged out and disappeared. Once I finally had the thing in the hole, the back wasn't pretty. I mean, it was so bad I don't want to show pictures. I had to trim and cut off one of the original motherboard mounting posts just so I could get it in there.. it used to be right under where the HDMI cable is mounted to the case. Stage 2 - Wired up the USB Hard Drive to make sure everything still works. At this point, I still haven't done anything with the C14 power in plug.. that was my next task, and took all day. Stage 3 - The C14 Plug. What we have here is a typical 3-way extension cord you can buy at any grocery store for $2 (this one was like $1.34 I think with my employee discount lol). I cut like 95% of it off, so I was just left with a little bit of cord and the 3-way plugs. I then stripped the wires, twisted them, tinned them, and soldered them onto the C14 plug. The shrink tubing was a bitch to make work too, since I had to have the tubing on the cord before I soldered, and the heat from the gun caused them to start shrinking before I finished. So the ends closest to the C14 plug had to be stretched up and over which made me fear it wouldn't be a good seal. Looks ok from this picture. The reason it's bulging is because those C14 plugs have holes on the inside of the pins, and I poked the wired through them then crimped them back for a good solid connection before completely soldering. That makes them bulky. Stage 5 - Connecting everything up. This turned out to be a chore too. I wanted to make sure EVERYTHING worked, which included the drive, the NES adapter, the USB HUB, my Xbox 360 controller, and a keyboard. Running all the wires and stuff inside makes it appear to be very disorganized, but it's actually not that bad. Stage 6 - Power Adapter Modification. As it turns out, everything worked great. That is, until I went to close the case over top of it. The power adapter on the right, used for powering the USB Hub, stands off to the side of the power plug, rather than vertically flush with the cord like the one on the left. That caused a height problem, as it was too tall by about a half inch. Luckily, it was 2 pieces held together by a single screw. I took it apart to see if I could make something work. I thought about running a splice and attach some longer wires, but that would require a lot more work that I just don't feel was necessary. In the end, I just left the adapter the way it was, but took the back plate off (that the power plugs were attached to) and used my dremel to cut it down so it was only about 1-inch square. That way I could plug it in, and keep all the original wiring. When I get the Mausberry Circuit, I'll revisit this and close up the casing of the adapter with some electrical tape. So that's it for 98%. All the hardware is working harmoniously. The case is screwed back together. I've left the system on and running (not playing anything) for about 2 hours, and I do notice a bit of a warmup around where the power adapters are. I'm not sure if it's something to be concerned about. Obviously any kind of heat is bad for electronics, but it's not HOT, just warm. My biggest worry is the PI power (the one on the left) since it's back is right up against the hard drive. So the 2 being so close to each other might cause a problem. I think if I were to build this again, I'd swap the locations of the C14 and the HDMI. That would position the adapters farther away from the drive. The only thing left to do really is attach the power circuit. Before the USB plug snapped off, I was able to test it and make sure it works (which it does). I even had the LED working. Some time in the future, I bought a blue LED to replace the red one with, just because that's what cool people do lol. I've also been able to wire up the reset switch to act as an EXIT button when you're playing games, in case you're using a controller that doesn't have a way to exit with a key combo (like an Atari Stick). Speaking of which, that's still in the future plans, but I want to make sure this is all working and stable before I try anything with that. I might just get a USB adapter and plug it into the hub until I feel like doing more cuts and solders. Something else I'm considering is finding a way to get a fan in there to keep the system cool. There's not much room, but I think a fan mounted somewhere by the exhaust vent holes on the upper right of the case (where there is all kinds of free space) blowing hot air out might be doable. The problem is powering it. I've seen some hacks, where people are using another power adapter (one to charge your phone) and they cut the USB plug off, then wire up the red/black wires to a fan. The problem with that, you're only getting 5v and most computer case fans require 12v to spin, so it might not be worth it. Maybe I can find a USB powered fan, but it'd have to be small (an preferably mountable). These are just spitballed ideas though. I've got a killer headache now though. I still need to troubleshoot an issue I'm having with the controllers. My Xbox controller works great by itself, as do the NES controllers. But when they're all connected up together, weird things happen. I can navigate in the system, then I lose control inside a game. I can bring up RetroArch inside a game to change input devices, but then I can't exit the game. If I don't have the Xbox controller plugged in, the system still detects it as Player 1, and ignores the NES pads until a game loads. So something somewhere became read-only and doesn't detect hotplugging. So yeah, still work to do, but for the most part I'm calling the hardware phase a 98% success!

Lol... I just wanted to answer one. I cheated though, so I don't have a quote. Unless you wanna see... "You are standing in an open field west of a white house..." Bonus points if you know what happens next!

But nevertheless, it IS an improvement! And you took @rtkiii's 4th place spot. Updated OP, DB, RSS

I wish I could do that kind of stuff.

Happy Birthday Dude!

Day 17 - Massive Updates, will provide more details tomorrow. I have to go to bed soon because I have a sleep-clinic appointment tomorrow really early that I can't miss. But here's where I'm at: Received C14 plugs from China and installed one this morning before work. Still need to stop by the hardware store for some nuts. Received 7-Port USB Hub from England. Haven't tested it yet. Received HDMI mounting cable. Hot glued the soldered wires to the Raphnet NES-USB adapter to make sure they don't accidentally get pulled out. Rebuilt the Linux Kernel per the previously posted link and confirmed the problem with the gamepad getting stuck pressing UP has been fixed. Still trying to figure out why SMB1 and other various games don't work now. Suspicions from the RetroPie forum suggest it might be something got hammered when I did all the updates. I'll try recompiling the source (easy to do in RetroPie!!) tomorrow. Also received yesterday but didn't report: Star Trek The Animated Series BluRay (was on preorder for over a year). Star Wars The Force Awakens Collector's Edition 3D BluRay (comes with all kinds of bonus stuff that was advertised then cut from the final version of the previously released version that I bitched about). This required me to sign up for a trial version of Amazon Prime to preorder, as it was a special "Prime Members Only" opportunity. Star Wars Rogue One Catalyst Novel. Seagate 4tb NAS Drive (another addition to my server to replace a failing 1tb drive). It's like Christmas over here lol. I'm still waiting on my replacement Mausberry Power Circuit. But I sent an email directly to the contact email link in my order confirmation rather than using their website's contact form. I explained the situation again, and that I've been waiting and waiting, and the tracking information they gave me showed it was still sitting somewhere waiting for the USPS to PICK UP since last week. The guy (or girl, or maybe somebody new) replied back apologizing, said there was a mixup with the order, and that he was just finishing up attaching the pin headers for me and was personally taking it out to ship right after sending the email. So hopefully it'll be here soon. That circuit is the last thing I'm waiting for. I've got everything else I've ordered. The only thing now is deciding on what to do next. I'd still like to come up with a way to attach some DB9 plugs so I can use Atari Joysticks and Sega Gamepads. But I'd like to get this phase of the build completed. I'll take lots of pictures and stuff tomorrow when I get home from the clinic.

Is it a commonly known game, or something that is so far out there, nobody could ever guess it? I don't want to cheat again lol.

Thanks stigzler. I double-checked and it wasn't. Just a bad photo. I had the focus set wrong (it liked my fingerprint better than what I had centered in the frame).

C&C is lazy talk for Command and Conquer I think... unless he's talking Crimson Clover, but I don't think the & would be there.

It's not Halo. I'm a bit of a Halo fanboy, even though I've not yet upgraded to an XbOne to play 5 yet... I was thinking more like a space fighter sim, but they're usually saying "on my wing" or something to that nature, not "on my six".

And GeorgeT joins this months Competition! And it's nice to see your progression on that board too. Keep it up! Thanks to you too MO for your encouraging tactics. Gotta be careful though, don't give away all your secrets! Updated OP, DB, RSS

Thanks for the praise guys. The only reason I don't like those plugs you linked to (beside the $16 price) is they're big. Looks like a 3/4 inch hole. I don't want something that large cut out. Of course, the C14 plugs are pretty close to that too. I probably should have just went with one of these. Oh well, live and learn. I posted a question on the RetroPie forums asking if anybody has seen that issue with the controller pressing UP after returning from a game. Then I did a bit of searching (always search first!) and found this: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/4516/how-to-apply-raphnet-kernel-patch-to-fix-northwest-drift Looks like this is a known problem with this particular device (although in the reply to my question it apparently is a larger issue with other devices as well). Has to do with the way the kernel treats centering the input (remember having to center your joysticks back in the day before you could play?). The fix is to actually rebuild the kernel of Linux with a few patches. So that's my next task. Rebuilding the kernel can take like 2 hours. I'm about to leave for work, so this will have to wait till tonight/tomorrow or maybe Thursday.

Lol! What would you expect from Michael Jackson? Updated OP, DB, RSS

That's why I like these extra bonus games. There are so many games out there, and I guarantee nobody's played them all (at least if you're not on the dev team). Having bonus games gives people a chance to showcase a game they like that might not be hugely popular. Gives it a chance to shine. Updated OP, DB, RSS

Hey don't sweat it rtk! I haven't even posted a score yet. Updated OP, DB, RSS

Ok, so go ahead and laugh at my shoddy soldering. I actually think this is probably the best soldering job I've ever done. I still have the included controller ports from Raphnet should this end up not working. I wired up the first port, and had switched the white and yellow wires by mistake. Luckily I caught it before I hooked anything up. It's hard to see at 11:30 at night with crappy "orangy" incandescent light. Once I had the first port wired up, I grabbed an NES controller, plugged in the USB, and booted up the Pi. Since it's USB, there's no drivers (a plus because I have no idea how to do that with Linux). EmulationStation recognized right away there was a Raphnet 2-port adapter installed. I mapped the controls, and luckily it picked up all the buttons. I then tried to play test 1943. Navigating in ES worked fine. Once the game started, all the buttons seemed to work. Fire, Special, Left, Right, Up, Down, and Start. Didn't have any use for Select, so I quickly learned that worked as well. You press START+SELECT to exit a game. So that worked. I then went on to wire up the 2nd port. Loaded up the system with a controller plugged into port 2. It already remembered the mappings, but I went in and manually configured them again to make sure all the buttons worked, which they did. So bonus there! I then plugged in both controllers and loaded up Super Mario Bros 3 (I knew it was 2 player). Checked all the controls out for P1, then for P2. Looking good! I disconnected everything, then went back over my soldering with a pair of nail clippers and trimmed off the tails of the wires sticking out the back, just in case so they don't touch any other connections. I'm going to go over it with a hot glue gun tomorrow to secure all the connections. You'll notice in my pictures, there's 1 wire on each port that I didn't get to solder through the holes. Somehow I managed to fill those holes with solder prior to getting the wire through (or I managed to pull the wire out before the solder had set). So I ended up having to just solder it flat to the hole, rather than through. It's not an ideal connection, but it seemed to work ok. Man, I really need to think about investing in one of those "helping hands" rigs with the clips to hold stuff. This was really hard to do, holding the iron in one hand, and the circuit/wire/solder in the other. I managed, but man.. there's gotta be an easier way! My next task is to figure out why Super Mario Brothers (the first one) doesn't load. After that, I'm going to have to figure out why the controllers want to keep pressing UP once I exit a game, but then don't do it when both controllers are connected. I suspect there is a grounding issue somewhere, but I can't figure out where.

My plans are just to cut whatever hole out I need for the HDMI and then a couple of drilled out holes for the screws. The same for the power plugs. I could do something like you did stig, with a custom-made wall panel for the connectors, and then just use that to replace the existing holes. Maybe for a future project. I don't think my skill level is any where near yours. That's just insane dude. Hat's off. Deep bows. All that good stuff. The only thing I'm concerned about, once I get this all hooked up and the cover put back on, is heat. And I never brought it up because I thought maybe the open space would be good enough to keep it cool, but maybe not so much. There are pre-existing vents, but I doubt that would be sufficient. I tried to figure out if maybe I could use the GPIO and maybe mount some kind of fan over the SOC that comes on when it gets hot and turns off when it gets cooled down enough. I've seen (was it Instructibles?) plans where somebody had done just that, using scripts and a relay. I don't know anything about electronics, and the idea of building circuits just scares me to death. So maybe I can come up with an alternative, like something that can run on AC? But I still think a relay is going to be needed if I want it to run only when hot. Unless I can get one of those Noctua fans, they're pretty much the quietest things available. Maybe I can come up with a way to run one of those on AC. It's a future endeavor. Day 16 - 1st of Many Packages I got my NES->USB circuit in the mail Haven't opened it yet. Looks like I got some work to do. I knew this going in, but now that I'm holding it in my hands, it's scary. There are these weird snaps on the sides of each of the plugs that I'll have to cut off, and the top right corners will have to be cut off as well to make them fit in the holes on the case. I think what I'll try to do first is just use the existing wires on the plugs already installed, and just solder them to the circuit.

Nah man, it ain't right. I just wanted to feel like I participated. Go ahead and pick another one.

I cheated. Although if you asked me what game it is.. I'd say it's what you get when you join an Elephant with a Rhinoceros. "The regular folk ain't ready for the raw sex appeal I'd unleash into the galaxy." http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.245965-Obscure-Gaming-Quotes?page=9#9026764 I don't play enough games it seems. If this IS the correct quote, feel free to chooses a different one @tthurman. I don't feel right cheating on that lol.

Happy Birthday! And man, I'll never play that game ever! LOL! Looks pretty to watch though.

Here is that video I promised. Sorry it looks all pixelated. Before I started the recording, I had focused it using automatic focus, then switched the camera to manual so the auto focus wouldn't change it. I guess between the time I switched it, and the time I started the recording, I must have bumped the camera and caused the focus to shift. So its a little messy. Hopefully you get the gist of it all. Oh, and ignore that large white blob on the right when the screen goes dark lol..That's me. It's hard to sit for so long without moving. And I tried not to talk because being sick my voice is all puberty-croaking.

Finally feeling better. Spent 2 whole days at work Friday and Saturday. Paycheck is going to be TIGHT, so I might have to cut into my car savings to pay rent this week, but you can't help it. If you're sick, you're sick. At least I didn't waste money going to the doctor. It's a $45 copay, and he'd probably just tell me "Nothing I can do, has to run it's course", like he has the last 3 times I've been sick. There's been an extremely virulent strand of pneumonia going around, and some people have died from it. So I figured if I wasn't feeling better in a week, I'd go. Apparently, Wednesday was my WORST day. I had a fever of 103f and had to drag myself in to work because I couldn't call off. Went home like 15 minutes later. I was so pale everybody said I actually was starting to look green. They said my eyes were puffy and my forehead was swollen. My nose was completely stopped up, and I've been coughing with a rattle all week (still am). But sometime Thursday afternoon, my fever broke or something. I could breathe through my nose, and laying in bed (not standing/sitting up at the computer) really helped calm my coughing. I had a late shift Friday so that gave me a chance to go to bed early and sleep in. I still woke up around 9:00am but I was feeling a lot better and decided to try to work through the day. Then I did the same yesterday, and I'm "officially" off today, so things are looking much better. I no longer have a fever, and sinus's are still kinda wonky but clear enough to breathe through. I still get a cough fit every now and then, but my color is back and I feel great. So it's time for an update to my project! Day 15 (didn't count the sick days) Got a confirmation email that my replacement Mausberry Power Circuit was shipped. However I just have the Tracking number, the package hasn't actually left their facility yet. No biggie. I also have confirmation that the C14 plugs I ordered are on their way, though coming from China so may not be here till December 1-16. I might have mentioned that before. Again, no biggie. I also have my "guaranteed compatible" USB hub on the way. Coming from the UK, they don't offer any kind of tracking information. I also got a confirmation from Raphnet that my NES circuit (to convert the NES plugs internally to USB) has shipped. I've not received anything yet, but they're all coming. So that's a good thing. I found a really cool video online that was used for the MTV Video Game Awards in 2009. Somebody had modified it slightly by increasing the speed and changing the music (and added sound effects). I took it a step further and added a screenshot at the end of the "EmulationStation Loading" screen so it ties in smoothly with the last screen you see when the Pi is booting up before you get the menu system. I'll post a video on Youtube for all to see of my setup soon. I've got a few more ports working, and added a bunch more PSX games. I've also been trying to scrape more metadata for games. EmulationStation (RetroPie's "frontend") has a very limited capability as far as their options. You get either NOTHING (just a centered list of games) or a list with BOX ART and some simple details about the game. If you change to a more detailed theme you can get icons and such for the game type (fighter/shooter/platformer), the number of players, etc, bu it can cause the system to lock up on a WHITEOUT screen due to the memory capacities. So that's it. You don't have any way to have screenshots, or video snaps. There's something in the works, but it's going to require a completely new branch of the software and will probably be a long way out still. Today, however, I did some shopping, and have now got my RPI3 mounted inside the NES case! This was actually more difficult than I thought it would be. I had an idea of how I wanted to do it, but the actual buying of the hardware was the most difficult thing. I knew I needed some screws and nuts to hold it down, and some nylon spacers to lift the Pi up off the bottom of the case. I found the documentation to the actual layout of the Pi, with measurements of the screw holes. According to that, I needed M2.5 screws. Now I didn't know this at the time, but that M means Metric. So I'm at the hardware store looking all over the place for screws marked M2.5 and couldn't find anything. Everything is labeled like #6, #8, #10, etc with various types of heads and lengths. That's because the good ol' US of A has to be different than the rest of the world and changed the measurements to inches, and then got lazy and gave them code numbers instead. I gave up and just went with the smallest diameter I could find (#4 (larger is thicker)) and got the 1.5 inch length. I then went to the end of the aisle and found their drawers for METRIC (doh!). Surprisingly, the smallest diameter they had there was like M4+. So I just went with my #4 screws and then dug in their spacer drawers and found the 1-inch nylon spacers I needed. Total cost, around $2.50. Total time spent, nearly an hour lol. Got everything home, and the first thing I did was take a screw and spacer and made sure they fit together, which they did. I was also smart enough to grab a bag of screws that had matching nuts in it, so that worked. The next thing I did was try the screw in the Pi holes. Of course they felt too big. But I gave it a little twist with the screwdriver and it actually fit perfectly. So I screwed in all 4 screws then added the spacers, and placed it inside the NES case. I wanted to mark where to drill holes for them, so I had to have the spacers on it and everything to make sure I had clearance. Once that was all done and marked, I grabbed my Dremel and drill bit, and drilled 4 holes. The last hole is actually hidden under the NES's false bottom, and because of that the screw hole is raised about a half an inch. So I had to cut one of the nylon spacers in half to make it fit right. Once I had the size right, and everything in place, I used the nuts and tightened everything up. I then had to use the Dremel's cut off wheels to cut of the extra bits of screw on the bottoms, because they were taller than the footpads and caused the NES to not sit flat. Everything looks great now, and the Pi is fully mounted in place! The location I put the Pi is the most appropriate. I still have access to the SD card if I need to take it out. And the USB plugs have enough room out the side for anything I attach to it. With it being closer towards the front of the case, I also have room in the back for the power adapters coming. Until I get the rest of the hardware, about the only thing left for me to do is figure out how I want to mount the HDMI plug. I see a lot of (bad) cut outs for the plug, where people just use hot glue to secure it to the back the case. I'm probably going to have to go this route too. I decided to return the HDMI cable I bought at MicroCenter, and ordered THIS instead. It has screws for mounting, which will look better than having hot glue. I just have to wait for it to be delivered too. My plan is to have both the C14 power plugs and the HDMI plugs on the back of the case. I'd love to do something with the holes in the back that were created by the old power and A/V ports. Maybe somebody out there has a way to 3D print a cover for those? If not, I will probably just leave them. My next post will have a video showing the boot up (so you can see my spiffy splash screen!) and the menu system.

Nice score MO! Sorry I've been sick guys, I'd hoped to get some game time in to at least post up a score. I still have a couple of weeks, so hopefully soon! @rtkiii Seems like MO was able to post a score snap, did you want to try again? Updated OP, DB, RSS

I've never seen a bunch of those, thanks!