CD Stupid Card 4.0

[TailChao]

Picked these up at the post office yesterday.

Looks like everything was fabbed properly. The only immediate mistake is actually my fault (I made the pad rows on the RAM footprint a little too close together, but this isn't anything that will break the cards, just complicate soldering).

Luckily the wait gave me enough time to get my test program finished and fix my Turbo CD (the seek gear finally shredded itself, quite lucky that we're able to order new ones). I'll try and get the first card up and running, passing the test program, and playing Gradius II by May 8th. Then it's time to manufacture everything for you guys.

[elmer]

Picked these up at the post office yesterday.

Thanks for the update, they look really cool! I can't wait to get one in my hands. 

[ddoubledee]

OMG, WANT! :O

[Debvgger_]

How is it going TailChao? :-)

[TailChao]

How is it going TailChao? :-)

Very well! Around 11pm last night I finally got to see the two screens attached below.
Quite a relief, as the first card I assembled did not work properly (there is likely a bad solder joint somewhere, the TSOP-IIs SRAMs with curled under pins are a little tricky).

This means that it's resource release time, and now I'll be moving forward to manufacturing. Since this will take awhile, and I cannot give a good estimate as to exactly how much, I'll be continuously updating the first post's new "manufacturing tracker" so you can get an idea how things are going.

Before that, though- I'm going to perform a few tests with different speed grade CPLDs and region mods. One concern I have is that the region mod most people use (the one with the analog switches) adds a very large propagation delay, which could cause the card to not work properly. I'll keep you all posted.

[elmer]

Very well! Around 11pm last night I finally got to see the two screens attached below.
Quite a relief, as the first card I assembled did not work properly (there is likely a bad solder joint somewhere, the TSOP-IIs SRAMs with curled under pins are a little tricky).

Excellent news! 

Did you always intend to curl the pins under the chip, or was that a cunning solution to ...

The only immediate mistake is actually my fault (I made the pad rows on the RAM footprint a little too close together, but this isn't anything that will break the cards, just complicate soldering).

[TailChao]

Did you always intend to curl the pins under the chip, or was that a cunning solution to ...

The only immediate mistake is actually my fault (I made the pad rows on the RAM footprint a little too close together, but this isn't anything that will break the cards, just complicate soldering).

It was the latter. But I always intended to have the NC pins removed during assembly since it greatly simplifies layout.

As an aside, I've finally *removed* the region mod in my TG16 since this card now takes care of the only reason I installed it in the first place. However, during that process I did a few quick checks as to how the CD Stupid Card and a real System Card 3.0 react to different propagation delays (either due to wire length or the MC14551s). They both start to fail around the same time (especially with the MC14551s driven with a 5V supply), so I'm not too worried.  But I'll still order the 6ns CPLDs and see if things improve (we're using 15ns right now).

The TG16 has verrry long dataline traces on its mainboard and can be a real jerk in regards to signal integrity. The unmodded white PCE I have seems to run nearly anything. I imagine you Duo owners never have to think about any of this as everything is condensed on one board.

[Nio]

Just signed just because of this. I am in. *happy*


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

[TailChao]

Alright, I just found something seriously messed up:

The reset timing on the PCE and TG16 is different, in that the TG16 will occasionally have the CPU released from reset long before the signal rises on the HuCard slot.

This was causing the mapper to occasionally miss its first write (which sets the operating region) on the TG16. Putting a delay there will solve the problem, and I'll be flashing the patched System Card BIOS with the predelay added for the developer cards.

I guess this explains why some owners see different behavior among different consoles.
If any of you want to make your own mappers, this definitely needs to be kept in mind.

[Debvgger_]

Just signed just because of this. I am in. *happy*

Well done ;-)

Tailchao: Very good news indeed, and an interesting find.

[elmer]

Hi TailChao ... any news?

I've been way distracted with the PC-FX, but I'm really looking forward to getting to use with the Stupid Card when it's released!

[TailChao]

Hi TailChao ... any news?

I've been way distracted with the PC-FX, but I'm really looking forward to getting to use with the Stupid Card when it's released!

I've been on vacation for the past week and haven't had access to my soldering equipment, so things are Frozen until next Monday.

However, the batch of six cards I have been working on (see the status tracker in the first post) are nearly done. They just need their Flash sockets soldered on and I can test them out. The parts have already arrived for the second batch of eight cards, so I should be able to start those immediately after.

Assuming at least 12 of the 16 cards I'll be assembling work 100%, they'll likely be shipped out around July.

Edit: I've also decided to socket the CPLD on every cartridge, not just the flash chip. This simplifies repairs if needed and also will let you reprogram the mapper.


By the by, nice work on Zeroigar.

[elmer]

Edit: I've also decided to socket the CPLD on every cartridge, not just the flash chip. This simplifies repairs if needed and also will let you reprogram the mapper.

Excellent news ... I hadn't seen the progress updates in the first post, and now I know to look for them.

I like the idea that it's going to be socketed ... that might allow for some interesting tricks down the line.

You've come up with a really cute way of doing a multi-region card ... but I'd happily give up the multi-region aspect if I could think of something else cool to do with all of those gates inside the CPLD! 

By the by, nice work on Zeroigar.

Thanks. 

[thesteve]

i found when working with the gameofyou flash cart that some configurations were so late on the reset pin going high that it wouldnt work
easy solution was simply to ignore the system reset pin (dont know how that would effect your project)

[elmer]

You've come up with a really cute way of doing a multi-region card ... but I'd happily give up the multi-region aspect if I could think of something else cool to do with all of those gates inside the CPLD! 

Haha ... my little head is spinning ... apparently the larger EPM7064 CPLD is pin-compatible with EPM7032 CPLD that TailChao is using ... so perhaps a fast multiply could be added, or maybe fast pixel packing/unpacking.

Both of those would be nice for software-3D.

I'm definitely going to have to do some research on this!