Benjamin Stevens wrote:
However, nobody has posted about how well this type of screwdriver holds up over time, at least not that I am aware of.

If anyone can ever verify that these do, in fact, hold up well even after many uses, it sure would make these screwdrivers stand out as the ones to get, when considering the quality and the price.

I’m actually pretty impressed… I opened and closed 7 VBs with that screwdriver last weekend, and it seems to be holding up just fine. At that price, I expected it to start falling apart after a couple VBs. 😉

DogP

No problem… you can pick up a fiberglass pen at Radio Shack or an auto parts store, and yeah, there’s not much to it. Just make sure to apply firm pressure and go upward, and it just works.

I saw someone earlier having problems with the NaOH. The trick to it is to use very little water and apply heat. The mixure will be solid at room temperature, but liquid when heated. I’d soak a piece of paper towel in it, lay it over the part of the cable I wanted removed, then stick it in my toaster oven at 150F-200F until the coating was eaten away (few minutes). But you gotta be careful not to overheat the parts, or get the chemicals on or under the window.

DogP

Hey,

I haven’t been around much lately, but over the last couple years, I’ve repaired quite a few displays, and tweaked my process a little bit. I don’t think I’ve ever posted about it, so while I was fixing a few displays this weekend, I figured I’d take some pics and post.

I used to use NaOH to chemically “eat” the polyimide coating on the cable, but it’s kinda inconvenient to use when you’re just doing a couple displays here and there (prep, cleanup, etc). It also requires caution, to make sure none gets on the window, since it’ll damage it.

I’ve seen that some people just use a ball of solder to melt the polyimide, and it works, but I don’t like the amount of heat that the cable is subjected to (you can see the copper seperate from the coating farther up the cable and move around a bit). So, I was looking for a way to seperate the coating from the copper without heat or chemicals. I ended up figuring out that a fiberglass pen, when rubbed “against the grain” (upward, from the PCB to the cable) leaves the copper attached to the PCB, but peels the coating away. Just use firm pressure, and brush like you were trying to rub sticker goo off a window. Once you get one spot started, just work your way across the rest of the display. It takes less than a minute to do the whole thing. It also cleans up the copper really nicely, preparing it for soldering.

Oh, and if you’re not familiar with fiberglass pens… BE VERY CAREFUL. The fibers are very small and break off. Use caution not to get them in your fingers or eyes. Getting fiberglass stuck in your fingers is really annoying… for several days, you’ll randomly feel a sharp stabbing feeling when grabbing something… and fiberglass in your eye is similar, but more painful. 😛

Once the copper is exposed, just run the line of solder across the display like normal, using a little bit of flux… then clean it up, inspect, and you’re done. Of course it doesn’t look quite as nice as using NaOH, since the peeled coating melts and blobs up a bit… but it works perfectly, and hopefully it’ll never break again, so nobody will ever see it. 🙂

Oh, and before I start, I stick a piece of masking tape over the window, to protect it from fingerprints, scratches, etc. while I’m working on it.

Also, I’ve noticed lately on a few displays that the connection to the motherboard has been iffy. When I push the cable all the way in, I can feel it get a bit looser, and the display gets some glitches. Just backing the cable out a tiny bit makes it perfect again. There’s plenty of tension in the connector that you shouldn’t need to worry about it pushing back in or falling out, but if you’re really worried, a dab of RTV across the cable and connector should ensure it doesn’t move.

Anyway… hopefully someone finds this helpful.

DogP

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Just wanted to mention… I picked up this set recently: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161006872043 . I was getting sick of using the bits I ground down and notched, so I figured I’d grab a real driver, and decided to give the cheap set a try first.

My first impression is that they’re actually pretty nice, especially for the price. The driver is deep enough to get the deepest two screws, though the very bottom edge of the plastic handle slightly hits the side of the VB (the bump up where the cartridge goes in). You can still get the screw out, but I decided to grind the bottom edge of the handle down, so it didn’t hit at all.

The quality of the metal seems good. I’ve only taken a few screws out to test it, so I’m not sure how it’ll last after lots of use… but so far it seems to be holding up, with no noticable damage to the driver or screws. It’s also got a magnetic tip, which is nice.

Anyway, I’m not sure if anyone else had tried that style, but I figured I’d post just in case anyone’s looking for a set.

DogP

Nice setup! But as with any method that simply reheats the glue, I think it’s unlikely to be permanent.

I assume the factory knew how to apply the adhesive, and if it has failed once, simply reheating and reapplying pressure to old glue is likely to last even less time than the first.

But, I think people have displays fixed using the oven method still working several years later, so good luck!

DogP

VirtualJockey wrote:
Maybe somebody used an incorrect AC adapter and fried the voltage regulator?

That’d be my guess. If you open it up, check the voltage in and out of the regulator.

DogP

Yeah, I don’t really like that. I dunno whether Game Gear game rental cases were ever made, but something like that would probably fit the VB games much better.

Someone with a vacuum former could probably make VB game inserts for CD cases or something, but you’d still need to do something about manuals and stuff.

DogP

The project is still on… but I’m running into problems actually getting it manufactured. The first place that said they could do it basically took the money and ran, and other places are saying they can’t do the complex connector housing part, so I’m hoping to simplify it a little bit.

But yeah, the plan is to make a link cable housing which can be used for the standard VB to VB link cable, and also to hold a small PCB for a VB<->USB adapter. And if you want it for custom projects, chop the link cable in half and make two. 🙂

Of course this requires software on both the VB and PC side, so don’t expect to be able to plug Galactic Pinball into your PC with this cable and upload your high scores. 😉

DogP

If you open the VB, you can adjust the display alignment a little bit by unscrewing the displays from the end of the mirror/lens assembly. IIRC it’s the one with the Torx screws that allow adjustment (not the small Phillips).

DogP

Ah… if you posted a comment on my Youtube video, I never read those. But yes, some day I’d REALLY like to actually make the TV output, but real life always seems to get in the way.

Making the measurements, designing the physical stuff to make it fit inside the VB and have a connector come out of the case, and all the stuff that goes along with it just takes a lot of time… not to mention drawing up the schematics and actually laying out the PCB once I get the physical stuff done.

DogP

I’m not so sure about that… self tapping screws have been sucessfully used MANY MANY times… including on the original stand and rest of the VB. If they had just made the rest of the stand medallion design better, we’d be set. 😉

I’d be willing to manually tap the hole as well, but on plastic that’s just usually not necessary.

DogP

Man… I’ve been missing all kinds of cool stuff in my absence. Now if the connector was easily obtained (and cheap), we’d be all set! 😉

DogP

Very cool… nice job! If you’re looking for a similar project, 3D Tetris could be done in much the same way.

DogP

Sweet… looks nice and solid! 🙂 Obviously this is what’s available, but is black plastic doable in the future? How about re-using the original self tapping screws, instead of a screw and nut (and having no hole on the front)?

Regardless, nice job! Email coming your way! 🙂

DogP

No… the VB doesn’t output any sort of video. The link cable is just for communication. The only reason for using SNES A/V cable is because the connector is similar in physical shape.

DogP

Yes, this would be great, but the latest gccVB would be a MUCH better.

Applying patches and compiling the whole thing in Cygwin, and having stuff not work because packages changed or whatever is frustrating. The IDE is less important IMO, but something lightweight like Notepad++ is a good compromise. Unzip and start working is nice, but an installer/uninstaller would be good as well. There may be some things like environment variables that would be nice when someone outgrows the simple batch file build.

You may want to add Grit to the package… I’m ashamed to say I still use VIDE, even though I know Grit is a better tool.

Of course a nice common library would be really nice as well, but that seems like an impossibility. 😉

And while 100MB seems absurd… I wouldn’t worry so much about that unless you’re worried about your bandwidth. (Pretty much) everyone has broadband these days, and it’s not uncommon for development environments to be ridiculously huge… 100MB isn’t gonna fill up anyone’s HD.

DogP

I agree… those are some really fun games, though I’m not sure how well they’d port to the VB. You really have to get into those games, and there’s a lot of tedious back and forth, which doesn’t really lend itself to sitting staring into a visor (IMO).

Also, what makes those types of games good is a good story/puzzle… so someone would really need more of those kinda skills than just simply coding skills.

DogP

Just like the SRAM on a regular cartridge, it’s only an 8-bit wide chip on the 16-bit wide bus… so you have to access it through even addresses only.

DogP

I got Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 as well… they’re both really good games. I’m really impressed by the smoothness of the 3D in Mario Kart. In Mario Land, the 3D is noticable, maybe even too much at times… Mario Kart just seems very natural.

I still struggle with the correct distance and angle every now and then though… kinda annoying when I’m at an intense moment and the 3D gets all messed up!

DogP

I’ve never actually tried it, or written any linked code for the Gameboy, but I believe you just take one 4 Player Adapter (we’ll call it 4PA from now on), which has a plug and 3 ports, then plug another 4PA into each of those 3 ports. That gives 10 players (1+3+3+3 with 4 4PA boxes).

Normal 4P mode:
  --G
  |
G-x-G
  |
  --G

10P mode
       --G
       |
  -----x-G
  |    |
  |    --G
  |
  |    --G
  |    |
G-x----x-G
  |    |
  |    --G
  |
  |    --G
  |    |
  -----x-G
       |
       --G

Then of course you can plug more 4PAs into the next set, and so on as you want. I’ve never looked at the technical specs of these, so there may actually be an upper limit to how many can be plugged in… and I have no idea how you actually address each system.

If you wanted to make a custom token ring cable, that could also be done by hooking up Tx to Rx of the next system, and then either use the data, or retransmit it to the next system.

DogP