You know, it may simply be easiest and provide the best longevity to simply have new ribbon cables made – one end with fingers that connect into the motherboard’s connector, and the other end that terminates in pitch-perfect castellated holes for soldering onto the LED board.
That would eliminate the most frustrating and difficult issues of the VB displays, improve the console’s lifespan, and be a great deal easier for the average solder monkey to manage. Also, flex cables are comparatively cheap to make.
I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to find an appropriate flat ribbon cable replacement of the appropriate pitch. There may, likewise, be a corresponding locking connector that could be soldered onto the LED board as well.
S7AYONTARGE7 wrote:
I guess I’ll spill the beans early, then. Sorry in advance if this seems like I’m hijacking the thread, but this will go hand in hand with Kevin’s work:
I’m looking at getting connectors and cartridge shells produced. Devs and reproduction artists alike could purchase them in bulk for production runs of new games and of games that are too rare for most to buy in any reasonable capacity, and the destruction of donor carts would be a thing of the past.
The VB only sold 177k systems worldwide. Many of the games obviously sold less than even that. So even the most common game (Mario’s Tennis) probably only sold about that much (as it was a pack-in in the USA, and most every VB owner probably bought it in Japan).
That’s not a lot, and at the rate that homebrew titles will soon be produced thanks to a certain someone in our community (long live VUEngine!), I feel that relying on the destruction of retail carts will one day become infeasible.
I have contacts that have produced knock off Nintendo and Sega material that is the best quality around and is about as close to honest Nintendo and Sega parts as anyone has ever made (quality wise and when allowed by law, look wise), and at prices that are insanely cheap (systems/2 controllers/power/av as low as 14 bucks while still making a profit). With the connections they have in China, I honestly feel like it’s a huge possibility both cart shells and board connectors could be reproduced at a reasonable cost for everyone in the community.
The reason I’m not having the whole cartridge produced, is because I don’t want to kick Kevin below the belt. He’s worked very hard to produce these boards, and deserves to be able to keep producing them for the community. If the only other two missing pieces can be provided by me, that would be the easiest solution… as far as I can see… unless the whole cart can be produced for peanuts. If that’s the case, I’d contact Kevin directly (as I already have via email about other things), and talk it out with him before making any decision public.
*perks up*. Well, color me interested. Donor stuff has always been the worst part of VB repro-ing. You might also look into making pin connectors like those on the console itself – I regrettable had to salvage one from one of my VBs in order to make a dumper for VB games, and while that system had problems, it could have been repaired.
I’m going to post this here because it relates to fixing VB displays. Essentially, I need some help with ribbon cables.
Sometimes when I swap out ribbon cables, the end that goes into the motherboard gets damaged (see pic).
How does this happen? What can I do to prevent it? And is there any way to fix it?
Any help is appreciated.
Cheers!
You are super lucky, however, as you’ll notice that that broken pin continues up and merges with the one right next to it; you can simply put a jumper between the two on the LED board, and you’ll be all set to go. Or you can solder a wire from what remains to the pad it’s supposed to contact; either will work.
Planlos1988 wrote:
Hello and thanks for the welcome 🙂
And/Und hallo RetroDan, wie meinst denn das? Fragen bezüglich Problemen oder Technik oder eher in Richtung verkauf von VB Sachen?
(And hello, RetroDan, what do you mean by that? Questions about problems, or technology or just about selling VB stuff?)
Unsere Gemeinschaft ist gleichmäßig ausgewogen. Techniker, Programmierer, Künstler und Musiker können fast jede Frage beantworten. Und Sie wissen nie, wer hat eine Antwort für Sie, so dass Sie fast alles fragen kann. Ah, und bitte meine schlechte Grammatik vergeben.
(Our community is well-balanced. Techies, programmers, artists, and musicians can answer almost any question. And you never know who might have an answer for you, so feel free to ask just about anything. Oh, and please excuse my terrible grammar!)
Wyndcrosser wrote:
I can put this on my flash cart, but I’m wondering if an official release from here will ever be done? I like a solid box design and manual printed to help complete my little wall. Any thoughts amazing ppl?
W
Well, I have plans to do a release of this like I did with Dimension Wars, but Real Life has put this project on the back burner for a while.
Also, I’m teaching myself C++ (and probably C, too) so…yeah.
I saw his stuff earlier this week, considered some of it, laughed, shook my head, and moved on.
The plain fact of the matter is that ANYTHING with a finite supply is going to, at some point (and under the assumption that somebody else wants it), command a price point above and beyond the value of its components. While I look down on the practice of gouging, people with copies of Earthbound or Hagane, or Conker’s Bad Fur Day, or any of the innumerable rare and/or expensive titles out there, are going to attach a price tag to compensate themselves, and unless they’re daft fools, they’re going to try to get as much as someone will pay for it.
That this is happening to an unreleased game or a home-brew game is disgraceful, but hardly surprising. In fact, because of the dearth of VB repro makers, when compared to other consoles, it is far more likely to command a brutal price…AND more likely to get paid that price. I invite you to look for “FaceBall Remastered” or “Hyper Fighting” on eBay for the VB.
Well, if it helps, I’m conducting a poll on my NintendoAge thread to determine what game I make next…and THAT will be a 100-game run, not merely 50 ‘with addons’. So there’s a very good chance that you’ll be able to get your hands on my next game much easier.
In order to vote, you’ll need to be a registered NA user and be logged in (the poll is at the top of the page):
Four have been paid for and are shipped out today, and the other three are allocated. However, all hope is not lost. I have enough materials to make 5 more or so on-hand (though I’m moving soon, so all that is packed away at the moment), and people have three days from the time of interest to actually pay me before they’re kicked off the list.
Reel Big Fish wrote:
The first one you listed isn’t bad. It’s a little on the pricy side, but it looks to be a pretty good computer.
As far as your computer choices go, I would say no to them. Overpriced, underpowered, and useful for maybe three years at the longest
Why do you say useful for three years? What bottleneck would you perceive? Just curious.
It depends on what type of stuff you want to do with it OP, but I don’t think the proccessor will hold you down AT ALL with that computer for a LONG time. RAM is basically a non-factor, you can upgrade RAM very easily. That video card is very good, and you can upgrade that as well, if you feel like it in the future.
OP for me, that first computer you listed looks to be a pretty good computer that would be able to play any game. If you shop around, maybe you could find something with similar specs for a little cheaper, but performance-wise, that is a very good computer.
Neither the processor nor the RAM are the true bottleneck, its the entire configuration.
Three years is the average length of time a company-assembled computer will stay relevant. Quite frankly, with only 32GB of RAM (even if it’s the newer DDR4) and a mere Quad-core Intel i7, hyper threading or no, the bang for buck simply isn’t there. The only two things of any true note are the Pascal-architecture GTX 1080 and the PCIe SSD. I’m curious as to whether the SSD is NVMe or simply a PCIe adapted SATAIII connection, because that would make a tremendous difference in speed.
All told, I would casually estimate the value of this machine as around $1300 – $1500 at the uppermost, and I would be furious at wasting $500+ on a computer. Maybe I’m more critical since I am a system builder and, up until I bought my Mac Pro, I haven’t bought a computer built by someone other than myself since I was 16.
Aaaand it’s February 14th. Know what that means?
Seven copies of SD Gundam just came up for grabs!
If you missed out on getting your hands on a copy at first, you now have the opportunity to do so! Each copy will cost $100 + s/h. Remember, I will not mis-report item value for overseas shipping – tarriffs or import taxes are your responsibility. One copy, the eighth, is already spoken for, going to a NintendoAge member as part of a trade. But the seven that remain will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Owing to the frustration of allowing six weeks to pass without contact from many users, I will also insist on a three-day payment window – if you post that you want a copy and I set up a transaction, you will have three days to make payment or lose your spot to the next person who wants one.
I hate being so authoritarian about this, but even I have my limits. If you were part of the original list, sent a donor, and lost your place because of this, feel free to PM me and I will PayPal gift your donation’s monetary value back. OR, you may still purchase the copy that was allocated to you. However, the price increase still applies.
A Quadro is a heavy lifting card, but gamers won’t get any more out of it from an equivalent consumer card, because Quadro is geared more towards professional usage – things like CAD or design software. Quadros are very, very expensive because they aren’t meant to tackle the stuff an average user deals with. I would recommend you avoid like the plague.
As far as your computer choices go, I would say no to them. Overpriced, underpowered, and useful for maybe three years at the longest. Do you really want to spend $2000 on something that will last you three years? That’s like $667/year, or $55.55/month.
Guy Perfect wrote:
I apparently have different ideas for what constitutes a “powerful” machine than RetroDan, since my price point is less than half of his. (-:
I was very particular when I wrote very powerful, Guy Perfect.
For me, that ‘very’ encompasses high-end parts, like a dual-CPU motherboard, a pair of CPUs to stick in it, about 48-64Gb of RAM (which for a dual-CPU board should be just about half its capacity), and a 6Gb GeForce GPU or better. Plus an excellent PSU, at least two SSDs, aftermarket CPU fans (because I never do water-cooling – fucking gimmicky nonsense with too much risk for too little return!), and a very large, very cool tower to put it all in.
It may just be me, but I’ll drop extra cash for really solid stuff over components that come from less reputable companies. I went ASRock once…never again.
Bwahaha! I wasn’t simply going to do it without talking with you or compensating you, thunder. That’s not how I roll. I meant (though I see how it came across that way) that I’d love to help getting a physical release done. It wasn’t a “Dur hurr, I gunna make repro an’ takes all da munnie!” thing, have no fear.
