Is this the main TurboGrafx forum?

[Necromancer]

Welcome aboard and good luck with this project.

SignOfZeta - My system will have a 5.4" PSone screen, which is a very good screen. Yes, there was a portable system made years ago, they are rare and only one I found was going for over £1100. My system will cost me 10% of that, and with good batteries, screen, etc. The handheld system only had a 2.5" screen and was power hungry. My system will be easy to hold, good battery life, quality screen, plays US and Jap games; so your point??

Don't be so defensive - that was his point.  To paraphrase: this beast has the potential to better the LT and GT in all ways, and while you could have started with a more compact PCB and saved yourself some trouble, that is your concern, not ours.

[bacteria]

Apologies, mis-read the post a bit!

I must admit though, if I had known now what I didn't when I started this project I would still have got the system I did (TurboGrafx PAL) - the CoreGrafx systems on e-bay are about £100; I paid £45 for my system - I wouldn't have fancied spending £100 on a board for a project, it's a lot of money when there is a chance when opening up a system to hack or mod it that the system will die, and £100 is a lot of money to risk.

Anyone know the size of the motherboard for the CoreGrafx system?

[Arkhan]

my first turbo grafx i got from my aunt was painted that color by a friend and I thought it was limited edition the whole time.


and then I got the internet.




what made you pick the splattery looking blob case?

[esteban]

Welcome bacteria.

First, let me apologize for the poor reading comprehension skills and abrasive conversational tone of my fellow forum members. You'd think they were raised by feral dogs.
I posted a message yesterday, but apparently I forgot to hit "submit". I find myself struggling with basic tasks these days, so don't be alarmed.

Anyway, (1) yes, this is one of the more active TG-16 forums... magicengine.com used to be active, but it is probably dormant now. Other general video game forums have a smattering of TG-16 fans, but it usually isn't a stable, consistent topic of conversation.

(2) Good luck with your project.

(3) I, for one, like the candy-red color and shape you chose for IntoGrafx.

Now, to turn the tables:
(a) Any info on the PAL TG-16 would be great: what documentation came with it?, are distributors mentioned?, any pack-in games?, any upcoming titles mentioned?, etc. etc.
(b) Does the box/packaging mention anything interesting? (i.e. pack-in game?)

[bacteria]

Thanks esteban - I presume you refer to posts like from Arkhan's last post, for example? He obviously doesn't realise that this is a vacuum formed case which I designed and made. Red makes it look nice - Nintendo released the N64 in various colours after all - enough said!

Documentation that came with system - booklet plus some leads - interestingly, the power supply was two pin not three, so designed for European plugs. As to distributers - don't know, will look in booklet to see if any are mentioned (can't at the moment). Seller is selling one on e-bay at the moment in UK again; seem to have a few - think they were the distributer if I recall. No included games.

Good, pleased I found the main forum site for this system then.

Tell me; is anyone interested in me posting a WIP guide here for this work I am doing - are people here interested in modding worklogs? There is no-where relevant on the BenHeck site for this system; so I put it on my website at the moment. If there was a lot of interest from members here for me to do a worklog, I will. If there isn't much interest, no point. Up to you guys.

Work I have to do on my TurboGrafx remaining - batteries (Li-ions), fix into case (and switch already built); RGB mod (amplify signals); make into separate system to integrate into removable system; build front of case, mount everything. Lots of work remaining.

[Necromancer]

Tell me; is anyone interested in me posting a WIP guide here for this work I am doing - are people here interested in modding worklogs?

Heck yeah!  Anything too technical will be over my head, but that won't stop me from reading any updates and drooling over the pretty pictures. 

[bacteria]

Great, that's one vote, thanks - other views/comments?

I don't get technical in my worklogs. My electronics knowledge is pretty low on the scale, however I am good at research; good at fine soldering work and innovative techniques. I work on the basis of not "how clever I am, look at me" as many were on BenHeck before I came on the scene; rather prefer the basis of "follow my work, replicate it and make your own - here's how...".

[nectarsis]

I'd love to see an "artist rendition", or even pics of different designs you tried/various versions.

[Tatsujin]

spenoza - Good point well made. I suspect, but might be wrong, that the RGB is 60Mhz as it takes NTSC games and when converted by the extra chip, you get 50Mhz composite on PAL - which explains why NTSC games play fine on a PAL system.

I have tapped off the RGB, just need to amplify the signals for my screen (I have the components). This probably therefore means I have a full-speed system (and great image quality).

as i said before, you will have the 17% speed down with a very high probability:

very high probably they changed the crystal to obtain the 50Hz. so the whole board will be affected from that. without changing back the crystal, there will be no other way to bring back the original speed onto the screen.

at least, that is the thing what all the early importers did, when they modded JPN PC Engines (or Mega Drives as well) to PAL for the european market.

can you let us know the MHz on the crystal?

[Arkhan]

Thanks esteban - I presume you refer to posts like from Arkhan's last post, for example? He obviously doesn't realise that this is a vacuum formed case which I designed and made. Red makes it look nice - Nintendo released the N64 in various colours after all - enough said!

Yes I do realize what it is.  Again, I am asking why you chose that design. It's curiosity.  Calm down.  Singling one forum members post out by name (me) is a surefire way to piss someone off.

I'm not sure if you picked up on the nostalgic tone of the mention of my first red Turbo Grafx.  I guess not.  I like the color red.  For 3-4 years I thought that I had a special rare red one.  Then it turns out it was spray paint.

[Black Tiger]

(a) Any info on the PAL TG-16 would be great: what documentation came with it?, are distributors mentioned?, any pack-in games?, any upcoming titles mentioned?, etc. etc.
(b) Does the box/packaging mention anything interesting? (i.e. pack-in game?)

Mine came with a poorer quality version of the North American system manual. The pack-in game was Alien Crush, which came loose in a sleeve with a photocopied manual, underneath everything else in the console box. From what I've seen of eBay auctions for the PAL TurboGrafx, it looks like OEM games were provided (sellers have/had tons) and distributors randomly inserted or provided them. The power supply and some accessories came in a separate box. The main box lists the contents, including "a game", but each side is pretty much the same as the reverse as it wasn't fully commercially released. The box was made in Taiwan, but the hardware was made in Japan. The main box has a peel-away serial number on the bottom(?).

[bacteria]

Tatsujin - There is a long white arrow pointing to a metal loop that sticks out from the board; which says 17.73448Mhz; which I presume is the crystal? If it is a crystal, how come it is a small loop?



Arkhan - Ok,   I chose my case design to be just big enough to take a 4 button pad, d-pad, joysticks, screen and speaker for the controls. I wanted the case curved and interesting, not a box. Here is a pic from my PSone system I made recently - you will see what I mean. I may well re-make it though with PSP joysticks instead and red casing, and a bit slimmer if possible. The underside needed to be flatter on the base to take CD's or carts yet also angular.



Black Tiger - Looked at my manual, it was a basic one, orange fronted. The seller (a shop) I bought it from e-bay put in a game with the system; as you indicated. Got rid of the box a while back, so can't look. The serial number on the back of the console is a sticker - 0911748HA  if that means anything. On back of box, says make in Taiwan, so guess the system was make in Taiwan not Japan; also says needs 10.8v at 780mA although it runs fine at 7v (what I use) - guess most of the board runs at 5v anyway as there is a large 7805 present, also says product code is HES-TGX-11  whatever that refers to.

[Arkhan]

I see.

its pretty interesting.

You could def. put a 6 button duo pad on that red case and it would look pretty sweet.

I take it these things wont exactly be mass produced right?

Seems like a pain in the ass to get it done...

[bacteria]

Thanks!

I just make systems for myself, they are very labour intensive to make; I also don't sell them as there is no guarantees with such systems like you get in shops, so always an issue if things go wrong anytime. I can make repairs quite easily, but that is because I know how everything works and fits together, others won't. In saying that, I do make case kits for people if they want to have my cases and make their own systems.

A couple of people have commented about 6 buttons for the system - on my controller, and others I have seen, there is a "I" and "II" buttons, select and run and two switches to select between single and auto fire options; as well as a D-pad. Have I missed something?

I am looking at making this system into a multi-platform system (a vastly improved version of the one I made a year ago), where the top of the case covers main controls for systems, then extras like shoulder buttons and the N64 "Z" and four "C" buttons can be on the back of the case where your fingers rest whilst holding the case. Power and control actions will be communicated via magnets - trust me, it will work!

[esteban]

(a) Any info on the PAL TG-16 would be great: what documentation came with it?, are distributors mentioned?, any pack-in games?, any upcoming titles mentioned?, etc. etc.
(b) Does the box/packaging mention anything interesting? (i.e. pack-in game?)

Mine came with a poorer quality version of the North American system manual. The pack-in game was Alien Crush, which came loose in a sleeve with a photocopied manual, underneath everything else in the console box. From what I've seen of eBay auctions for the PAL TurboGrafx, it looks like OEM games were provided (sellers have/had tons) and distributors randomly inserted or provided them. The power supply and some accessories came in a separate box. The main box lists the contents, including "a game", but each side is pretty much the same as the reverse as it wasn't fully commercially released. The box was made in Taiwan, but the hardware was made in Japan. The main box has a peel-away serial number on the bottom(?).

Awesome, thanks. You know what you can add to that long list of "to do's" (or the longer list of "gotta finish one of these days")? A few pics/scans of the TG-PAL box and documentation.