VirtualJockey wrote:
I will also chime in and say I prefer the VB over the 3DS. As the owner of a 3DS, I think it’s a cool toy. There is depth, but ZERO immersion. Also a bit peeved about the sloppy construction (floppy screen), and the terrible sweet spot. If the console fails, let’s hope it at least gets one killer App before said death.

If it does die out, I’ll remember this time to buy up the uncommon or rare games on clearance to horde for the next 15 years 😛

I’ve had mine now since day 1, and have to say fully enjoying it, but there are niggles, as have been pointed out.
1 that is bugging me, and I have not seen it mentioned before, is the lines left on the top screen from the bottom screen when closed up, its not scratched the screen but i do have to clean off something each time (i have a glasses cloth with my 3DS at all times now for that)
I don’t think it will fail on the scale the VB did, a whole heap of folks on the margins of gaming don’t even know VB existed, but 3DS is fairly well known, but i don’t think its gonna get the status the DS held.
As a DS 2 i think its a good step, but could have been a bit higher res. The built in stuff is fun, I hope it get built on more and not just a out of the box gimmick.
The screen has depth but yeah VB is more immersive. It will never have a ‘pop’ out feeling, the screen would need to encompass some of your peripheral vision to achieve that (only with Imax 3D have i ever had that ‘oh i could reach out and touch that’)
I find i have to support my arms/wrists, on my knees or table, to keep the 3D while playing, but even then human nature can take over and i find I’m tilting it or something and the 3D is ghosting. My eyes have definitely adapted in the last 6 wks or so, as i can play for longer and with 3D slider fully up now.
It is certainly a but of a rocky start, time will tell, I hope it sticks around though I’m having alot of fun with it.

VirtualJockey wrote:

wazzal wrote:
Count me in! Though a quick question; can I assume by wanting the donor carts “shell”, the PCB won’t be needed or am I wrong in assuming that?

I would assume the female pinout that’s attached to the PCB would be needed. Otherwise, we could have just mass-produced cartridge shells by now for Homebrew carts and flashboys. As it stands, I think there is extreme difficulty and/or high expense to produce PCBs with the VB cart female connector.

I think Richard would re-flash the existing chips with the bound high rom, I could be (and most likely am) wrong, but thats how i see it, otherwise he would be giving away a flashboy innerds but without the usb port, and doing a heap of soldering etc for free as there has been no mention of payment, only 2 donar carts.
Am i right in thinking that any game could have its eproms re-flashed?

That sucks, especially as they ad that it will do VB.

I had the same with mine, bought here in UK, fortunately i work where i could get it altered.

Do you have an industrial unit near you, somewhere with an engineering shop, its such a quick job that you might manage to get a kind chap to do it for a donut or something. You just need the shoulder diameter grinding down to the bit diameter for about an inch.

Good luck.

e5frog wrote:

Anyway, hope you do it – I will buy one if I can afford one, it would be very handy being to start the VB and choose any game instead of first having to hook it up to the PC and flash the cart. FlashBoy/FlashBoy Plus is the best thing out there now though and I’m glad to have one.

Fully agree with e5frog, FB is great but can be a pain if not got pc booted etc, I would most likely go for one of yours too Vaughanabe13, especially if it saves game data for any battery back up roms and to have the game choice when boot up VB will be a great ‘pull’ for buyers.
I think given the choice yours would sell more than FB (nothing against FB or owt like that, just ease of use etc).

I’m guessing that FB is still selling, might not be huge qty but there is always a turnover of folks in this community so i think you would have a regular amount selling.

Timescale really don’t matter, its always good to see progress of projects with your posts, not that i understand alot of it, and the fact that VB units still sell well on ebay means there will be a market.

If you still have some interest in getting some made then i would say please carry on. 😀

VBoy wrote:
I imagine they’d sell pretty easily on here and eBay!

Do you reckon this would do the job for powering mine via the adaptor tap?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-ZX-SPECTRUM-POWER-SUPPLY-PSU-16K-48K-SINCLAIR-/170634693479?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item27ba9ecb67

Powerboys, they might sell but I’m kinda slack (got mine powered so motivation was wiped out) but i do have 5 or so of these half finished, they need some soldering and a resistor fitting, one day, one day.

Regarding the Spectrum supply, I’ll defer the answer to HorvatM or any other user who uses the Spectrum supply.

Top job that you are enjoying this top system.

VBoy wrote:

Hilarious that I got the stand the wrong way around, only me eh!

Actually no, most magazines etc at the time did just that, the stand logo then faces the camera when taking a pic of the business side of the VB, but the other way round means your arms rest on the legs while playing & your hands grip the controller underneath giving a little more sturdiness.

Making a power adapter wasn’t hard, but then i do have the tools and fellas who can use them here at work, so I just got them to do me a rabbit. If i ever get a small batch made i will post an ad here.

Howdy Fella and welcome to a top community.
Nice purchase, and great that other folks are getting to play in your office and liking this ace system.
I’m not 100% but i think you can use a generic transformer to power up, but i’m not sure if the JPN adapter needs AC or DC, DogP and many others here will know I’m sure.
I use a standard UK DC transformer and made up an adapter to take the plug, works fine on 9v (i have photos of it in my profile if you are interested)
Hope this is of help, but do check the AC or DC bit before you go plugging stuff in, I don’t want you to be cursing me when the unit goes pop, oh and try to find yourself a Flashboy, well worth it. 😀

Howdy, welcome to the community, top choice you made.
VB is a great console, works well and once you got it set up, focus and IPD (distance between eyes) you won’t get head aches, eye strain etc, well no more then using any other console.
All the info known about unreleased games etc is in this site, take your time and read it through.
I hope you do manage to get yourself a VB and some games, I recommend getting yourself a Flashboy, you can play all games then, all homebrew & demos even a great unreleased game. 😀

RunnerPack wrote:
you’d have to get rid of the pivot posts and use a metal pin or machine screw(s) in their stead.
Can you post an STL (preferably ascii)?

No worries, have edited and removed the visual & mold type detail, just leaving the basic shape, less to do, cheaper to print.

Also done one with just a thru hole, so a pin can be used.

Of course there is the full detail version too.

Zip file has STL in and the pdf’s are just so anyone can look at them in 3D without need for special viewer software download.

I hope these helps and if anyone gets results, I’m interested in how strong it might be, also some photos please. 😀

Attachments:

1. vb-clip_tab-stl.zip
2. vb-clip_tab-basic-3d.pdf
3. vb-clip_tab-basic-with-hole-3d.pdf

RunnerPack wrote:
Maybe Hedgetrimmer (and/or I) could work on an aftermarket replacement…

The pdf is a 3D model of the clip I did in Solidworks. Not an easy item to have made physically but possible if you know some good cnc millers. I would be happy to let you have the 3D model file in whatever format is required if you do want to try and get one made. I would like to see photos etc if you do.

Your best and easiest option for a replacement will most likely be what you seem to be doing, find someone who has a busted stand (ie the medallion cracked, usual problem) who is up for selling it.

PM or email me if you want file in a usable format.

Attachments:

1. 

   clip_tab_1.jpg
   

1. vb-clip_tab.pdf

Yep agree with it all, I’ve only been ‘into’ VB for the last 2 or 3 years and in that i’ve noticed a steady rise.

Bob bless the Flashboy and heartfelt thanks to Richard and Chris, without FB i certainly would never have been able to play all the games, cos i know I’ll never own them all.

Lester Knight wrote:
in case it isn’t an april fools joke it is worth entering.

I don’t think it is a joke, I think like Fwirt says they have gone for a bit of irony in offering a VB as first prize for a 3D contest and the joke is that the 3DS is second prize, which is what most folks will want, but not members of this site.

So go for it, well no don’t, my mistake, its a joke, not worth entering, (do y’think my ruse worked and I’ll now be the only entrant?)

Cool, I just entered it, I want a US VB, and its boxed too, I could find a use for $1000 spree and maybe a home for the 3DS.

1. DS (most likely will change to 3DS (its great) once I’ve had it a while and played more game types).
2. SNES
3. VB
4. Wii
5. N64 (or Dreamcast, can’t decide so its a tie)

The Dreamcast is the only non-Nintendo console I own.
Problem I now have is as I look at my list I want to put in the NES and the Cube cos they both had some top games, wow I’m just so great at decision making, or am I?

I’m on: 0774-4241-7576

Vaughanabe13 wrote:
My point is that I don’t care if some developers decide to make games playable in both 2D/3D, but for Nintendo to limit them to only that option is kind of defeating the purpose of having a 3D handheld console.

Good point, it should be up to developers after all they would be the ones losing out if its a ‘only play in 3D’ game and the folks who can’t see 3D don’t buy it, no nintendo profits affected.

To have games that have to be played in 3D, and use the 3D well, will also boost the ‘must get a 3DS’ sales factor.

Yeah someone else had a go too, better pics than mine, nice job Dan, i do have a few on the 3DS camera but i only spent about 3 mins, got an image, thought yeah maybe with some fiddling it could be better but strangely i had something else to do.
I would have posted earlier but i couldn’t log into the site on explorer on my laptop and couldn’t spend the 10mins to download opera, again, I had something else to occupy myself with.
But it works……………………………. to a degree.

Loving the 3DS, yeah PWings could have done with some more locations, but it is what it is, and I know i will waste lots of time trying to get each mission a perfect score. Picked up Ridgeracer too, again nothing surprising, its ridgeracer, but fun & with 3D.
Most fun? prob with face raiders using my cats face pulling stupid expressions flying round the room, daft Nintendo fun.

Not great, but not that surprising, the ability to turn off 3D is on it, unlike our VB, so Nintendo won’t sideline anyone from playing 3DS games that can’t do the 3D.

@Vaughanabe13: which VB games started to utilized the 3rd dimension, not 100% sure what you mean, (I’m not ragging on you, don’t want to start another bout of banter, just interested so i can fire them up on my flashboy and check it out more, I’ve not played all the VB games in great detail, only a few, but have sampled them all)

I am kind of with jumpman here in that i can’t think of a VB title which although wouldn’t be as pleasurable to play in 2D, having them in 2D wouldn’t make the game unplayable.

Vaughanabe13 wrote:
Ok, assuming that is actually possible and will work, what exactly will you get out of this “stack of time” spent? Seems like a waste to me but I honestly don’t care what other people do with their time. Think on.

You didn’t get that I meant it was you who has spent the time thinking & posting how it won’t work (over and over again), I am quite happy to waste my time on whatever I want, I don’t give a monkeys if it works or not (and I will let you know either way), I just thought it would be a strange, mildly interesting thing to try, ‘a joining of Nintendos 3D consoles’. I never said I wanted anything from this, just a bit of amusement.

Go on you know you want to spend another 35 seconds of your life thinking and replying to this pointless post. 😀

For a pointless exercise that WON’T work (without trying how can you be so definite and know the out come), someone has spent a stack of time thinking and posting, your input is greatly appreciated, keep up the good work.