Just smoosh it. You don’t need a dedicated tool, but I do use a vice for mine to make sure the pressure is distributed evenly. Take the largest piece with the teeth and the the ribbon cable over it so the strands of the ribbon each rest in the grooves between teeth. Take the smallest piece, lay it over top so the side clips go in the slots, and apply a smooth pressure straight down. Take your time and do it smoothly so you dont break the plastic tabs. Also, triple check the ribbon cable to make sure the notch that goes into the connector on the board is oriented properly.
Already broke the 16 pin one trying to do it without a crimper. :bluu:
In order for the Saturn to properly see the buttons, I need to have the outputs set right for four lines in less than one microsecond; thats 1 millionth of a second. 11 assembly instructions to check four lines; one instruction more, and the last line is only read on about every other frame. Damnit. It’ll take some serious hacking, but I think I can do it. Hope to have an answer by tomorrow.
I’m having trouble following the schematic for the 4.7 resistors. Is one of these supposed to be R13, i.e., the 22 Ohm?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deepthoughts/2537061673/
I can post questions like this in your instructable if you prefer.
Marvelous timing. A couple of hours ago, I posted up the image of the rev 2 board with the resistor and cap values, and the indientifiers for the directions and buttons. Check the first post in thread 
Crap, I checked the shematic link on the first post recently enough but still missed that image! Thanks. Now, I’m unsure about the third point to short in step 12 of the assemble instructable (the paragraph begins, “The third point is not well identified on the UPCB silkscreen…”) I have a v2.1 board.
That one isn’t need on the rev 2.1 board. You’ll see the points just right of the F1 fuse marker where the PTC fuse goes. You can also see the trace that connects them. I figured I should cut the trace on the rare occasion I need to test the current, rather than have everyone solder in a jumper wire.
Got Sega Saturn working on real hardware, tested in the BIOS and a quick bit of NHL '98 and it’s eye bleeding graphics. I need to recheck how well it works with adapters (the Innovation and Magic Box, at least), but making sure those work when it works on real hardware should be easy.
I need to fire up the Genesis and get that working next, with 6 button support if possible. Since I figure the problems Im having with the Geny are the same slowness issues the Saturn had, should be easy to copy the code over and get it going. Once Geny is working, new code will be posted and I’ll get to work on PSX converter support. (although I did have an epiphany about recording/playback that I’m itching to try and implement.)
I’m sorry to keep asking questions, apparently I really don’t understand assembly as well as I thought I did.
I’ve got the IDC connector on the rainbow ribbon cable for the buttons. Two questions:
- Looking at the IDC connector, which pin corresponds with which wire?
In my example:
|||||||||||||||||||| <–Ribbon Wire
Guide tab this side
OOOOOOOOOO <-Pins
OOOOOOOOOO
Does it go like this?
1234567890ABCDEFGHIJ <-Wire
Guide tab this side
13579ACEGI <–Pins
24680BDFHJ
- What do you do with the ground wire/s that goes to the buttons? Do they connect to the pins directly opposite named pins (strong, jab, etc) the on the UPCB?
- Yes.
- Yes.
So you have the ribbon cable in the IDC connector and plugged into the UPCB. Take the two leftmost colors, and those go to the button. Next two go to the next button, and so on. You dont have to worry about which is ground really; just connect those two wires to the button.
Just a quick note to anyone trying to run the PDFSUSB program under Vista and getting ‘error 997’, try the following:
Right click pdfsusb, properties, compatibility, set to XP or 2000 or so. Also check ‘run as administrator’ if you haven’t disabled UAC.
In device manager, select the PIC18F4550 Family Device, right click properties, power management, uncheck 'allow the computer to turn off this device’
Run the program as admin (right click, run as admin [if this is available])
Should solve the problem. As seen at http://forum.microchip.com/tm.aspx?m=241830
–flux
I’ll put that info in the first post and the Instructable. Big thanks!
Great news toodles, and just in time for my saturn-in-a-cab project 
New problem.
I have everything wired, buttons to the connector, and the new Dsub connector I got to the UPCB. I plug in the USB button select cable to the PC and nothing happens at all.
I thought the PIC was already pre-programmed and it should at least show the found new hardware wizard? Now I’m starting to get frustrated.
I’ve tried two different Dsub connectors (the one you made and the one I fixed), I 've tried plugging it in with STA+SEL, and other button variations. No result at all.
Check Control Panel-> Game Controllers, and see if its on the list. If you’re lucky, its already there (regular HID devices dont require driver installation). Otherwise, check your Device Manager and see what it has; see if there is anything weird there.
It’s not showing up at all. I’m not even getting the “BA-DUMP” noise when plugging it in. The UPCB isn’t being recognized at all by Windows. Device manager shows nothing unusual, and I double checked by using my 360 based controller to confirm the USB ports are functioning.
I just checked the button select cable using my multimeter, and the Dsub pins seem to be showing proper connection with the USB pins. The Dsub ->UPCB appears to be showing good connection as well.
Futher edit: I went back and checked the soldering on the UPCB by using the test guieds on the UPCB assembly instructable and they all passed.
Disconnect it from everything else in the stick; so its just the bare UPCB -> ribbon cable Dsub ->USB cable. Plug it in, see what happens.
Unplug it, use something like a paper clip to short the two prongs of the ‘PROG’ button connector, and plug it in.
Use the multimeter on the voltage setting (whatever voltage is just over 5 volts; 20 volts on mine) put the black probe on the ‘GND_TEST’ point. Put the red probe on the following and tell me if they do or don’t match the voltage written:
VCC_TEST points : 5v
Here’s an image of the board with the points to test. The blue points should be close to 0 volts; the red should be clost to 5v. The green point will vary, but should be around 3.3ish volts. Check the voltages and let me know if any are different from what is shown. Yes, you can use the probe on the leg of the PIC.
Also, silliness check: the two chips have little notches is them on one end to indicate their direction. Make sure they match the notch on the silkscreen on the board image! Both of them should have the notch on the bottom end just like the picture.
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/8053/smalllabelledupcb21wc4.jpg
After its been plugged in for 10 seconds or so, feel the top of the chips with your hand. They should NEVER be warm to the touch.
Done, no change.
Okay, the voltages don’t match what you’re showing.
Counting up from the bottom left, pins 5 and 6 are showing 5v instead of 0
Also, counting up from the bottom right, pin 10 shows 5v instead of 0.
The green pin is showing 0v instead of 3.3.
To be fair though, I’m not 100% sure I was shorting the PROG pins. I’ll try to dig up a jumper out of my parts box.
The PICs are oriented correctly, and do not feel warm to the touch.
The ones you mention are just fine; I made an error in making the image; those three lines are supposed to be high. Do the rest of the lines match? What are you seeing on the green point? What does the voltage read on the two purple points?
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4858/smalllabelledupcb21jf8.jpg
Just for the time being, pop out the smaller chip; we don’t need it.
Sorry you’re having difficulty, but I’ll help ya through it. The board, PIC, and USB cable were all tested by me, so this simply shouldn’t be happening.
The green pin shows 0
Both the purple pins show 0
The rest of the pins you have match what you have colored.
This is with the PROG pins shorted and the smaller pic removed (I bent the pins taking it out :P)