[RetroRig] Tomodore74

[stigzler]

Status: W.I.P.

Started: June 2017

Story:  My mate lost his dad. He had recollections of his youth playing on his speccy. He's not a big gamer or anything, but thought I'd make him something to bring back childhood memories alongside the wonders of Pi3 gaming! He also loved Wipeout on the PSX - so gonna bung a series of those on too. 

Build Pics:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8s7BEUSedPqXHfmy1

 

[stigzler]

Update:

So, I've finally super-geeked out. Now making my own circuit boards. Learned Eagle CAD and produced my first board schematic. When used with RecalBox and 2 scripts, handles safe power on/off; a power indicator LED and a 5V CPU fan controller. The board:

It's printed on plain paper - it'll be sharper when printed onto specialist transfer paper. First design was with through-hole components. However, remembered the days of hand made PCBs at school and remembered drilling those tiny holes to be a nightmare. So redesigned and re-ordered parts for a surface mount construction. 

Scale wise - that board is about 4cm across! Gonna be some steady hand and tweezer magic with the soldering. 

[tthurman]

A glass of wine always helps things along

[stigzler]

Ya know it

[RIP-Felix]

OSH park, that's all I'm saying!

[stigzler]

Thanks for the steer. Looks good, but 2 week turn around on one off boards would be a challenge to my patience. I'm gonna try the toner transfer method first if Ukmail ever gets its act together and gets the etchant to me. UK folk, avoid these clowns... 

[RIP-Felix]

16 hours ago, stigzler said:

Thanks for the steer. Looks good, but 2 week turn around on one off boards would be a challenge to my patience...

True, but the quality is top notch. As long as you do a good job with the layers in eagle the PCBs turn out immaculate. They'll fix minor issues or tell you if they spot issues you need to fix. It's one of those parts of an electronics project I never knew could be done on the hobby level, until recently (NEStalgia). Then you just need to order the right electronics and solder them in. Nothing a lot of FLUX and the right tip can't handle. Good luck on your surface mounts, they're the way to go IMO...PITA, but better than TH.