Universal PCB (eventually) thread

Tech Talk
62

There’s no reason you can’t build one right now. The schematic on the front page should tell you everything you need to assemble one on any kind of prototyping board, like stripboard (Veroboard for you English folks) or the ‘Pad per hole’ prototyping board they sell at Radio Shack. I could post up pics of the one I made on the pad per hole board, but it is quite fugly and not really helpful in figuring out how to layout your own.

If the schematic isn’t enough, you’ll have to wait for the pcb’s to arrive and for me to put up assembly directions for it. 2 weeks+

Edit: Adding this because I want to make sure people see it instead of being lost in the last post of the previous page:

IF YOU ARE IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT INTERESTED IN PLAYING WITH A UPCB, CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON MICROCHIP.COM, AND ORDER SAMPLES OF THE PIC, SPECIFICALLY THE 18LF4550 I/P.

Those bastards cost over $13 if ordered from Digikey. Do everyone a favor and get some for free from the source. You can get up to 3 each of 4 different models, up to twice per month. Also get the 18LF4455 I/P ; its the same chip with a 2/3 of the memory; Since Im only using like 1/4 of the program memory and RAM, everything should fit in there fine. Get some 12F683 I/P and 18LF1330 I/P to round it all out; either use them to learn PIC programming, or send them to me as a tip to toy around with :slight_smile:

If you get some sampled, and send them to me as part of an order for the pcb when it gets here, I’ll certainly discount the cost of the pcb if you let me use the extras in other orders.

So go, signup for accounts, and sample some free goods. They should be here before the PCBs are, and it beats paying $13 to anybody for them.

63

Instructable up on how to make a UPCB cable.

64

Great work. I’ll read the instructables later and make an account. Those guys will probably be like, “Why the hell are we getting all these requests for samples of these PICs???”

I will toy around with this in the near future. I just have some other projects to finish up first.

~Paik

65

Toodles:

Im guessing you got your hands on a PS3?

I was going to see if I could nab one for you, I think I might know someone who doesn’t play theirs as often and would be willing to lend it to “me” for a few weeks, and well, I’ll could just hand it off to you for X weeks or however long.

I just need to see if this guy will still let me borrow it. He’s offered it to me before in the past (month after release), but I didn’t have any games, or any sticks to use on it. So I declined his offer.

~Goodbye

66

I brought my stuff over to a friends house, and had about 5 minutes to test. I’m certain he’d loan me his copy of VF5 but the PS3 itself it out of the question. Hell yeah, I’d love to have one here to test with for a couple of days. The only thing I KNOW it currently works with is VF5 and the dashboard; Id like more of a chance to test the BC games and try other tactics to get it working.

67

Just read the instructable. Very nice tutorial. I love the extra emphasis on testing : )

I’ll get to the parts ordering later tonight.

~Paik

68

DC support :frowning:

69

Have you SEEN the information on how the maple bus works??? Eventually I should have it coded in, but frankly, it scares me.

70

Hey toodles just a suggestion if any other systems in the future are like the xbox360/dreamcast you should put in a place for an option/upgrade board addon

71

Were you born retarded or did your dad have to hit you in the fucking head a few times as a kid?

72

Do you even understand what I am talking about? What if another system comes out that uses a similar port/method as the dreamcast then what? It wouldn’t be compatible thats what. Then it WOULDN’T work with ALL systems like toodles intended it to which is his goal for this project.

73

Xbox and xbox360 are like that. Just splice the wires from the xbox360 passthru or the dreamcast pass through.

74

Ok so the dreamcast/xbox360 pass through are universal then correct? Thats all I needed to know I though they were specific to each system maybe label them something else for n00bs like me (ie. Passthru A and Passthru B)

75

They are universal as long at the console uses at most 2 wires for communication.

I just got word that the PCB’s are printed and FedEx’d. According to tracking, they should be here Friday.

Im cleaning up the code for another release. All of the USB stuff that was spread all over has been consolidated to a usbtemplate.h and usbtemplate.c. They are huge, but all of the information is in one place. If I get to understanding it well enough to know which functions can be used by all USB systems, and which ones are system specific, I’ll separate them so there is more code re-use.

Other than the fact I could really use some more hoods, I got everything here to build the first pcb when it arrives, and take bunches of pictures for another Instructable. I won’t be selling ANY of the pcb’s until the first one is completed and tested. I wanna make sure the PCB design works, and I also want to test the piggyback designs.

76

Hey toodles I put in my sample order over at microchip.com so I’m ready to order a pcb from ya, just when ever your ready let me know.

77

That’s odd, it didn’t like my cox email address for sampling.

It does however, like my UNLV school of engineering address.

78

das wut i’m talkin bout

79

I can’t wait till this thing is done… I have 8 different systems and 3 sticks for 3 different systems… now I can sell those and only have to own 2 for all 8 systems =D

80

Well, for some reason my prototype is acting up, and with the boards due to arrive tomorrow, I can’t be bothered to try and figure what the problem is. Probably a cold solder point somewhere.

For those that are curious, here’s what the prototype looked like. The PCBs coming in tomorrow are significantly smaller.

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6599/protoud2.jpg

A lot of it looks like a hodge podge because of the order things were added in. The main circuit with ICSP, crystal, PIC and USB port were done first, so nice and clean. The DB-15 on the bottom was added next, and I did my best to do it cleanly with uninsulated bus wire on the bottom, but that tool up half the damn board, and only came out sort of clean. Then I found out the internal pull ups were not strong enough to be reliable, so the 12 pull up resisitors for everything, and starting to look messy. Then the 16 pin IDC connector for the output was put in, and I just connected it with the green 30 AWG wire. Then I had to reroute the power so the power from the IDC connector went through the PTC fuse, and then I realized I could use a pull up on the RB4 line for easier wiring, blah blah blah. It’s messy, but it served me well until last night. It looks I’ll be needing two of the PCBs for myself now. One for my favorite stick, and another to keep outside of a stick for testing/development.

In other news, I think I have a handle on how timers work. With the board down, I cant really test like I’d like to, but I think I have it down. If I’m right, this means that I can implement support for Gamecube (which I can test), N64, and 6 button genesis (both of which I cant test) ; and implement recording/playback and tournament modes.

Taiki (and anyone else that is rooting for 8 button support), can you give me an idea of how you would want things laid out for each system with an 8 button layout? I know the ability to switch layouts is wanted for Neogeo, but how should the layout be be for other systems? For NES? GC? Six button layouts like genesis? PSX? Be thorough and I’ll start putting it in.

81

What are the dimensions off the UPCB in millimeters?