Worklog PIS2, a long overdue ps2 portable

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Thanks @Doom & @cfc_12. It’s not the most original (just used a free font) but will work for this:)

@YveltalGriffin That’s right, although the auto calibration is not gone but the annoying big red text “AUTO CONFIG” which used to display every time the lost of signal happened isn’t displayed anymore.

A couple weeks ago, after discussing that annoying red message with you guys, I was trying different setup with the PS2 split board and while soldering out of nowhere a big blob of solder ended up flying on the middle of my screen. I had the factory screen protector but the LCD had a burn mark when turned on…

Was pretty annoyed but I resolved myself to get a new screen and though that I could maybe ask the manufacturer if there was a way to hide that text at the same time. Got a reply after a day or two and I must say that there customer service was top-notch. Within 5 working days they had flashed new boards with this update and they where on the way to the land of the kangaroos.

So as mentioned the auto calibration still happen so you can see the image moving from left to right for a few seconds. When I ask if it was possible to removed this they mentioned that without that mode the image ratio could be really off and could go off the screen so it need to be there. Not a big issue anyway.

Now the transition between the different menus and game sections are almost seamless :D
 
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Case Update

So after all that sand there was… more sanding.
Did a coat of primer which revealed quite a few defects and by digging a bit some of those defect where actual air bubble from the ABS cement.
Applied a nice layer of filler to fill those suckers.



First coat of paint was not bad although I painted it in my garage which is dusty af.




Did some really fine sanding (800, 1200) to remove some of that dusty paint and did a few more layers of spray paint.

Only down side the word portable which is starting to be hard to read.
My OCD side is a kinda trigger by it but will not touch that case anymore after all that sanding.
I also have a small hand syndrome ;)


Till next time!
 
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cheese

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The button is right there tho, we have it there for this very reason! Also you can totally do it on mobile as well, so you click upload, and take a picture right then and there :P
 
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So I had this idea for a while which was to use the button of a PS3 controller as the main switch for the portable.
The cool thing with that button is that it is semi-transparent so you should be a able to see a light through it.

For this I got a tack switch which comes with a LED, cut a small piece of transparent plastic which will replace the tack switch "lid"


Because that section will also have the screen and volume control I got a few things to make a prototype board and screw post


I used the same approach for the joysticks, button and D pad


Homemade screw posts, basically nylon spacer with ABS cement.
I went with Nylon because it’s quite easy to adjust the height with a Dremel


The different boards, I also filled the button and d-pad so that I got more contacts against the tack switches.


And finally testing the main switch LED, it worked quite well, just bright enough to notice it but not too bright that it is distracting.



It’s starting to take shape ;)
 
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Madmorda

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This is absolutely beautiful :D I love the ps3 button idea
 
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Thanks guys, It took a bit longer because I had to redo that prototype board. The first one only had 2 screws, one on each sides, so when I was pressing the main button my finger would go through the case :facepalm:. I'm glad I took the time and added 2 more screws in the middle. Now it's rock-solid.
 
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Can I ask? I got the same PS2 to HDMI converter but when I plug it onto mine, it says out of range.. does yours have input delay?

Also, I use my PS2 with a USB to Hard Drive SATA attachment. Is it not good? is SMB very different? Amazing build so far! Mine is delayed so much because of ebay's shipping times.. I can't order all just one go.
 
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And I’m back…again, I guess this worklog title became even more relevant.

After only 1 1/2 years of hibernation I couldn’t stand looking at this empty case anymore so I ended up jumping back on this project from last week. I’ve also got a bit more regular times during the weekends now so I should be able to finish it this time, if nothing else comes in the way.

I must say that I’m pretty impressed with all the project over here, there is some seriously sexy portables around.
Anyway let’s go back to updating this worklog.


Case update

After picking up the case which has been carefully stored, half hanging on top of a shelf, I found out a few marks on the front and a few bigger ones on the back.
Had to go back on sanding both sides and painting them again. The front came out looking pretty nice, the back not so much…
I will need to go through a few more rounds of sanding / priming to hopefully get a nice looking case.


Controller

Now with the good news, I had some issue with my third party controller last time around so poor Kratos kept jumping left and right none stop. After spending an afternoon taking apart a brand new controller of the same model and a bit of trial and error it turned out that some of the components on the board were bridging the ground traces and by removing the joysticks the board was registering some of the direction as always on. Bridging those back and everything was back to normal.


PS2 + screen

Last weekend was focused on making sure that NTSC PS2 board was still alive after storing them and luckily it was, as well as the screens board too.

I considered using the sync splitter board to get H and V VGA video signals but I decided to just gear up a bit by getting a fine soldering tip along with a good LED magnifier and solder to the H and V sync lines instead to save a bit of space.

I setup a small piece of a board to avoid putting too much stress on the wires. And finally I wired some connectors for both video and controller board so that the components are a bit easier to manage in the case and are easier to replace if need be.
 
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fibbef

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Your workspace is so uncluttered that those pics are giving off a sense of serenity. This is looking great!
 
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@cfc_12 Thanks man, good to be back.

@fibbef Thanks mate but It's actually a lot more messy usually.
Did a bit of cleaning and checked with my Feng shui consultant before taking those pics ;)
 
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So for the last couple of days I’ve been looking at wiring the the Raspberry Pi 2 data lines to the PS2 without much success so far.

I’ve tried wiring the lines directly which didn’t work.

I then search on the forum and found Gman PS2 razer worklog which had a diagram
that Cheese found plus a pic of Gman’s wiring.



I though “nice, just need to follow that” well nothing is that easy it seems…

The raspberry Pi 2 as a different Ethernet port compared to the Pi3 + that Gman used.
The Pi 3 + has 10 pin vs to the Pi2 8 pins. I’ve tried to find some info to see the difference between the 2 ports but not much luck there.

Anyway I went ahead and based on Cheese diagram I assumed that the lines 1,2,3 and 6 are used to transfer and receive the data and I just need to use a 33nF cap in-between.

So I looked online and found a diagram of a ethernet port which look similar to the Pi 2.
g25_eth_wiring.jpg




I then solder a 33nF ceramic cap between each lines but no luck, I tried a few other combinations with the same result.


I’ve also took apart the PS2 ethernet port to see if I could trace it but the inside is pretty messy and those coils make it impossible to trace with a multimeter.


So long story short I’ve been trying multiple wiring combination for the last 2 days without success and wanted to see if I’m missing something obvious like a setting somewhere or if anyone else has an idea on how to wire this thing:rothink:
 
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