Worklog MRKane's final PS2 portable, first competition entry

MRKane

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So I sold my prior PS2 in a Wii U (PiiU) to get the money to make this one, and I plan on it being everything I wanted in a portable so I’m dubbing it my “final PS2 portable”. I want to do it right for me. Also I got diagnosed with MS a little over a year ago so might need to start getting different hobbies that don’t require quite as much fine motor control.

List of intended features that I’ll eventually give up on:
-8” Eyoyo 4:3 screen with component input
-Raspberry Pi (or better yet: something smaller!) for a SMB server
-Temperature controlled fan
-Dual USB ports for both the Pi and the PS2
-Some sort of system control chip with one button interaction
-PS2+ with ability to control the screen settings
-PS2 AV out port
-PCB mounting board for everything so that I can solder to it
-Some sort of sexy design
-Actual PS2 controller d-pad and face buttons
-Wii U trigger buttons and thumbsticks
-Enough batteries to blow a hole in the side of a car
-The usual bells and whistles

It’ll be a huge, premium-model portable, thus I’m dubbling it “the Colossus” (unless someone comes up with a better name).

I’m standing on some giant shoulders with this one, as well as my own little ones, as before I sold the PiiU I got a PWM controlling the screen, and this screen isn’t too much different, I’ve also got a lot of different Pi and Arduino boards lying around the place (Nano Pi Duo etc.) that I plan on checking out and seeing if they’ll be suitable. Might see about using a little Beetle Arduino board as a system controller for this :)

Given I’m in New Zealand I’ll have to really get my act together as we suffer from a “sunny beaches and fresh-air tax” which also impacts how quickly components show up, so I’d better have everything together quickly to order that PCB! It’s a bonus that I’m working from home, and might even consider taking a few days off here and there to rush parts of this through, least I crash out of the competition thanks to the postal service.
 

MRKane

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Whelp that was quick, both Beetle boards became unresponsive after uploading code to them. I've decided to panic-order the chip used in the Wii PMS and see if I can modify the code enough to serve my means (nobody minds if I stand on their shoulders there?). I'm glad I decided to do this now!
 
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MRKane

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Don't know if I should keep things posted here, or edit the above posts, this could be a very monotonous thread!

Setting up the SMB server (thanks in no small part to the legendary guide by darkwing here: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.p...or-how-to-load-games-at-near-full-speed.1780/). So we know the Raspberry Pi works, and I was hoping that it's work on the Nanopi Duo, and the Nanopi Duo 2 as I happened to have those from prior projects: It does, but they don't seem to have the ethernet speed necessary to load games at full speed. While I've got a RaspberryPi Zero I'm disinclined to think I'll be able to get this working in this capacity. This is a bit of a blow, as they're tiny and would have fit my paper-draft for the PCB beautifully.

Thus it's time to buy an OrangePi Zero and pay for express shipping! They reckon it'll show up by Friday, I'm almost willing to put money on it being wrong, but when I purchase from places like this they're usually pretty good.
 

MRKane

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I'm after lots of batteries for this unit as I'm frequently away from power-points for extended durations, and it turns out there's not really heaps of options when it comes to 18650s. I've a rough layout in my head that'll involve holders which store 3 batteries on each side, with a removable housing that'd let me have a minimum of 2 to run the unit.

Turns out I had some picture hanging hooks lying around that turned out to be perfect for terminals when bent into shape, so it was a minor task to mockup a design in Blender. I had a bit of an iteration on the theme over the last two days to finally reach something that was snug but functional. I expect it'll be refined further.
BatteryHolderDesigning.jpg

And one last closeup of the holder with three batteries, and my bird playing with an anti-static bag that happened to be on my workbench. He's usually always around :)

FinalBatteryHolderAndFluffy.jpg
 

GingerOfOz

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Battery holders are looking good, but remember that you must do all the work on the portable without outside help. That birb is very cute, but if he's helping handle the parts, then we will have to disqualify you from the contest. Rules are rules man.

(An exception may be made of more cute pics of said bird are posted)
 

MRKane

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Odds down he'll be in more photos as he's always around - I think he ate a couple of SMD resistors out of a cup of them I had a few days ago. Not happy with that.

I've also had so much demand from friends and family that he has his own Facebook page, and I get pestered if I go a few days without posting a video!
 

MRKane

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So the PIC chip for the Wii PMS and the OrangePI Zero arrived today*, plus GingerOfOZ mentioned more cute bird pictures, so I spent half of Good Friday seeing if I could modify the code to get it to do only what I wanted seeing as I'm using it in a stripped-down capacity. I would like to give a huge thanks to G-Man for making this stuff public, free, and being so easy to read and follow as a project!

While a seemingly simple operation, Fluffy (yes, that's his name, there's a story there) checked the integrity of my breadboard connections while searching the area for yummy crumbs to eat, and interesting things to play with. He found a few bits of bread, an exciting piece of sellotape, and a small length of wire.
PIC+Fluffy003.jpg

*I feel kinda sorry for postal staff who had to work today, as it seems really out of place. Also I've got to eat humble pie for doubting the NZ postal service as both items showed up when they said they would - and that right there is a years worth of luck really.
 

StonedEdge

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+3 points for the contest just for that bird alone. Kawaii DESU.
 

MRKane

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BWHAHAHAHA Brilliant! In all honesty he's a pal I've got around all the time while I'm home, he's super-personable and I've got to be careful that he doesn't get burnt or eat something dangerous. How do we post videos? I'll see if I can step this work-log up a notch lol
 

MRKane

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Well it's been an intense few days, and it only promises to become more-so. Turns out the OrangePi Zero is perfect for loading games over ethernet, and I figure it has to do with the ethernet chip it has. It's smaller than a RaspberryPi, and seems to have a lower power consumption (about 230mA) but gets very hot so I've put the system fan control onto this unit to do both the PS2 and the Pi.

My intention is to make a PCB for this portable which will mount all major components, have membrane pads on the front face for controls, and easy solder points all around as I'm physically past being able to do lots of really fine soldering work anymore.

Here's the basic layout:
BasicLayout.jpg

Part of me wants to try and mount all the screen driver stuff onto the PCB to tighten this unit up even further, but it looks like a true mess of blues and a path that'll only lead to me crashing out of the competition. Still - I welcome any thoughts or comments people might have here :)

And because Fluffy was glued to my shoulder this morning and wasn't hopping all over my bench like he usually is, here's a video from last night. Some birds just want to watch the world burn ;)
 

MRKane

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Forgot the OrangePi Zero to PS2 wiring, and couldn't seem to add it to the prior message, were anyone to want it. Given there were some very tall shoulders to stand on, and that the OrangePi turned out to be well documented, this was a rather trivial task. I did make the mistake of not including the inductor from the PS2 initially and this caused the relay not to work (same issue as DarkWing hit) but learning from that I was able to strip the PS2 ethernet port down and scavenge the relay.

The question I'd have is: Do the other wires in the ethernet need to be connected through the inductor or can I get away with just the signal lines?

Diagram of how to connect the two ethernet ports together, naturally you need an inductor and the 33uf capacitors along the lines to make everything work. Don't know why the 33uf caps, I just do what the documentation says ;)
PS2toOrangePi.png
 
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MRKane

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Well this has been a very focused few days, I've pushed ahead with my plan of making a PCB that'll mount all of the major components in this portable for easy assembly. There's been a lot of measuring, checking, printing, pulling hair out, designing new footprints etc. but I think it has finally come together and now I'm largely onto routing and positioning the last few bits and pieces:
Screen Shot 2020-04-13 at 1.10.23 PM.png

I also took some time away from this to see how my idea of using actual PS2 buttons and the d-pad would go. Conclusion: Works so built that in too.
MountedButtons_Side.jpg
MountedButtons.jpg

And oddly enough, Fluffy hasn't been around the workbench today, and instead concluded that the worlds greatest toy was a piece of sellotape, so he's not in any of the photos here sorry!
 

MRKane

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Had a thrilling day today, busted a filling, which is terrible timing on my part. Anyway, a day's worth of learning later and I've got the first revision for the wiring on the PCB. I'll review it for a few days and also finish it off, but this is the initial draft which has none of the grounds connected. Be brutal, it might save me ordering an expensive paperweight!

Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 6.37.56 PM.png
 

MRKane

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Overhauled much of the design, and re-assigned lots of the pins for the PS2+ chip - it made a world of difference. I'm hoping that I'll get this ordered within the next few days, and for the better part I feel it's starting to come together. Again: Be critical, I don't want to print a paperweight!

Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 6.45.23 PM.png

I'm also open to suggestions as to what image should go on the silkscreen, as one cannot simply print a PCB without a twist!
 

MRKane

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I've just ordered the PCB - it's been a whirlwind of development these last few days to get everything sorted down to a printed circuit board, as well as checked and proofed (well...mostly, as I type this I remember that I changed the pin assignments for the PS2+ but that shouldn't be an issue. I can live dangerously too Mr Bond). The thing about doing something like this is that I'll only have the time and money to do it once, so it's got to be correct.

FinalPCB.png

ComponentLayout.png

And then of course there's figuring out how the device will feel wen held, making sure everything is comfortable etc. This is a little collage of the development of the unit over the last week, based off of internal placements, spacings, how much I can squeeze things down, and how the internals can be arranged. I've omitted the lacerations and broken glass.
Prototyping.jpg
 

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6 batteries? That's nuts
 
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