Hi, everyone:
Just wanted to let you know that another MBSID has been born!
It’s called, “NES_SID”. See why, here:
http://flickr.com/photos/75742538@N00/sets/72157601677467147/
(Take it easy on me…this is just a prototype anyway!)
Here are the stats:
Experience level: newbie with some soldering experience, but very little knowledge of electronics
Apprehension level before jumping into the project: 6 (out of 10)
Actual difficulty of project: 3 (out of 10)
Most difficult part (conceptual): the optimized PSU
Most difficult part (physical): creating the display cable with the proper pinouts, using an IDC header so I didn’t have to solder directly onto the pins of the LCD (a good choice)
Other most difficult: cutting holes in the NES. The lcd port came out fine, but I couldn’t hold my hand steady enough to drill the holes for the buttons.
Time elapsed from first solder to sound output: 4 days (and I work during the day, too!)
Some tips for first-time 'boxers:
+Get the Smash TV boards. Save yourself some time and effort (and money). It’s as close as you’ll get to “soldering by the numbers”.
+Buy more than you need at the electronics retailer. You may mess up. You may want to add components in the future. I ran out of those stupid crimp pins and I knew I’d be swapping the boards in and out of cases, so I had to sacrifice some perfectly good equipment for their connectors. Also, find a good wire stripper for stranded wire.
+Test everything before moving on to the next step. You don’t want to discover that you soldered the wrong wire somewhere after you’ve hot-glued the thing and sealed your case up, like Han Solo in Carbonite.
+Check polarity! Especially on components, such as capacitors. This shouldn’t be a problem with SmashTV boards. But check polarity on other things too, like the midi connections. I spend a good hour trying to figure out why MIOS wasn’t receiving a signal from the MIDI OUT; swapped the white for the black and it worked.
+Search, search, search the forums. It seems like a cliche at this point, but you have to do it. Even if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you may find a post that will be useful for the future.
Other recommendations:
+Blue/White 2x20 Microtips LCD - It’s 18$, but it’s beautiful.
+Go to http://www.nuxx.net --c0nsumer’s site. He goes into great detail about his project and lists all the parts used, along with mouser links. He helped me quite a bit. (Thanks, c0nsumer!)
Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m sure I can add to this…and I will.
In fact, I will make good on my promise to write something of a guide, but I’m going to start all over and do it right with a completely new kit.
Thanks again!
-d
