Jamma-Console

The Last Bandit

So given that the supergun is done with, its time to move onto something else.

This time its a generic jamma console adapter, plan is any RGB SCART capable console should be able to connect to any Jamma compatible cab and just work without faffing about with padhacks etc etc.

Realistically only going to do the older consoles, probably nothing newer than the Saturn or PS1.

Step 1. Build audio and video amp to convert SCART stuff to Jamma signal levels. Done



Seems ok with MegaDrive, PC-Engine, Saturn and SMS or far. Thanks to Urbanledge for the CRT, took a bit of tweaking but looks pretty decent now if you ignore the savage screen burn !!


Step 2. Write firmware to do controller/Jamma conversion. Not done, will take ages and ages.... and ages..

Stay tuned

o1s1n

There is seriously a huge hole in the market for one of these. The only ones which exist are either hack jobs of single consoles or else adapters that don't seem to want to work.

Good luck with the project, seriously super excited if this comes through in the end. PC Engine & Turbo Everdrive & cab...drool

First on the list for one off these!

The Last Bandit

I hope your not in a rush !!

Was making ok progress on the Saturn till the bugger died on me (possible I blew it up ), typical just after selling my spare one as well..
Moved onto the SNES now, should be handy enough (I hope).

MrVestek

The Last Bandit wrote: »

I hope your not in a rush !!

Was making ok progress on the Saturn till the bugger died on me (possible I blew it up ), typical just after selling my spare one as well..
Moved onto the SNES now, should be handy enough (I hope).

I have one at home with two dead PSUs (well one dead PSU and another PSU that's for a slightly different model).

It's yours for spares if you want it.

The Last Bandit

Oh that could be very handy indeed

The Last Bandit

Finally got the finger out and started on this again...

Got SNES & Mastersystem interface done, next up is Megadrive.

MrVestek

I still have those PSUs if you need them.

CiDeRmAn

This could be a winner alright.
I'd certainly love to see a way to get my shmups on consoles running on the cab.
Can't wait!

The Last Bandit

Forgot about them !! Ya if you Parcel Motel me one of those it would be brilliant, obviously I'll cover the costs.

MrVestek

I have two different versions of PSU. One has blown (but is easilly repairable) and one works just fine but only fits in a certain model of Saturn.

I don't think this is documented very well so I can't post specifics. If you could PM me a pic of your current board I'll make sure that it's the right one that I'm sending.

The Last Bandit

Will do

Doge

Wow! Thats a very nice skillset you have there Mr. Bandit!l
BTW that kitchen table is almost becoming as famous as Ashen's couch. :P

The Last Bandit

Right so, had a major rethink of this and completely changed the design - removed most of the excessive engineering **** that had crept in..

Going for a much more modular approach that'll be cheaper and much more flexible (ie more consoles supported). So now it'll be a main board that hooks up the Jamma bits and interchangeable daughterboards for the various consoles.

Schematics finished and hoping to get a few proto boards ordered before I head off on honeymoon in a few weeks.

deadly!
where you heading for ?
Japan???

The Last Bandit

Alaska

Not expecting to find too many retro gets...

wow!
that should be a crazy!

CiDeRmAn

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Alaska

Not expecting to find too many retro gets...

Copy of Snowbros perhaps?

The Last Bandit

Finally my proto pcbs turned up so fired up the soldering iron

Changed the design so that each console has its own daughter that acts as the controllers, should keep the cost down a bit. Using the same logic as the original controllers did as well (where possible) to prevent any possible lag.

Audio works great, the amp is plenty powerful. The video needs a bit more fine tuning though before I'm happy with, although my arcade crt is fairly crap so probably doesn't help !!

Shown here with a Saturn adapter as its the only one I've build up so far

Myrddin

Seriously impressive stuff, really well done :cool:

Steve X2

When can I place my order/s ?

CiDeRmAn

Very nice Bandit, very nice!

STG.Otaku

I hope you have taken the Sega Mark III in to account!

The Last Bandit

Yep Sega Mark III will work with it so long as its properly RGB modded

Hopefully it won't take too long to fix all the bugs but each spin takes 4 weeks for new pcbs so don't hold yer breath !!

STG.Otaku

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Yep Sega Mark III will work with it so long as its properly RGB modded

Of course.

o1s1n

When do I get to test it out on my cabs?

The Last Bandit

Proto 2 ready for mfg, should get the files send off this week. Hopefully the new layout fixes the crosstalk problems or I've got some serious figuring out to do...

Andrew76

Just re-reading over this thread - is the console specific controller permanently soldered to the daughter board? (Permanently as in unless you de-solder it). Would it be much work to produce a daughter board that had those screw terminal blocks like on a J-PAC or something similar? So you could wire the board directly to your cab's cp. I know you said you didn't want to faff about with padhacks but just curious all the same.

The Last Bandit

The plan is that each console has is own daughter-card that does all the controller specific stuff.

I've about 6 different ones laid out so far and one of those does indeed fan out into terminal blocks, but its the controller buttons would connected to here for pad hacks of controllers I can't figure out (Dreamcast for example)

The cab control panel is connected via the Jamma edge and extra button 4/5/6 are connected to the jamma-con board with terminal blocks or into a CPS1 connector I've added to it.

The Last Bandit

Picked up new PCB's this morning so plenty of soldering in store for me this evening. Hope the bugger works this time...

Got the Playstation controller adapter working on the Playstation (One) at the weekend, PS2 needs a bit more fiddling but its progress anyway

The Last Bandit

Bugger... Much improved but still not perfect, looks like I need to choose another audio chip as this one is too damn noisy.

Ah well the work continues and the cost mounts up

o1s1n

Awh no still getting audible interference?

The Last Bandit

Ya if you crank up the volume it interferes with the video, the gnd signal gets very noisy. Can use the line-out with an external amp or headphones anyway so might be able to tweak it a bit and get a few test units out anyway

CiDeRmAn

Dying to see this working.
Seeing how p1ss poor other solutions are for hooking up consoles to jamma cabs, particularly the PS2

CathalDublin

Cant wait for this to be ready, finally get to use all my consoles

Andrew76

Yeah keeping an eye on this thread too.

@LastBandit: Any chance of some finished units appearing this side of Christmas do you reckon?

Would be cool to play some Saturn shmups on the cab.

The Last Bandit

Andrew76 wrote: »

Yeah keeping an eye on this thread too.

@LastBandit: Any chance of some finished units appearing this side of Christmas do you reckon?

Would be cool to play some Saturn shmups on the cab.

Hard to know really, needs another board spin at least and takes about 4 weeks to turnaround each set of boards Made some progress on it last night but still not good enough.

Controller adapters are coming along as well. Got Saturn,PC-Engine, SNES-NES, Megadrive (3button), Master System all finished.

Master System one will actually handle anything with DB9 connector & RGB out, so that's Amstards, Atari ST, Amigas, Spectrum +2/3

o1s1n

By the way, when you say 'crank it up', how loud are we talking?

I don't pay my games with much volume at all (actually in many cases I'll be just using headphones) - definitely don't have it at arcade volume levels

The Last Bandit

All the way to 11 Actually its not that loud anyway, should be about the same as a regular Jamma board.

If you plug in external powered speakers then its fine.

o1s1n

Yeah that's what I was thinking. If the screen interference is only happening when the game volume is loud (I've actually seen the same happen with some of my jamma boards) then I don't think it would be much of an issue? Not for me anyway.

Andrew76

o1s1n wrote: »

By the way, when you say 'crank it up', how loud are we talking?

I don't pay my games with much volume at all (actually in many cases I'll be just using headphones) - definitely don't have it at arcade volume levels

But the headphones you're using are via FrancoB's adapter I presume? Which is coming from the jamma edge. As long as you get an acceptable volume with no interference it should be fine.

Maybe a silly question (don't think I'll fully undestand this project until I see it all completely hooked up ) but why the need for an audio out port anyway? The console audio should be going to the cab speakers via Jamma no? Or is the port the only way you can test audio (without a cab yourself)?

Is this correct:

- Plug console into the wall.
- Put console inside/beside cab (pop a game in).
- Controller cable goes from console to your daughter board.
- Console RGB scart cable goes into main board.
- Main board connects to cab jamma loom.
- Audio/video/controls all outputting via the cab itself.

What are the two blue pots on the right hand side of the main board btw?

The Last Bandit

The audio out is included for cabs that have their own stereo amp built-in and use that instead of the mono Jamma output - only applies to candies I think.

Or instead of using the (often crappy) built-in single speaker, you can plug in power stereo speakers as more consoles use stereo audio anyway.

Yep, that list is correct and accurate.

Those two pots are for adjusting the video amplifier on the main board, should only need to be set once and avoids you have to adjust the arcade monitor itself.

That board layout has changed a lot since, the 9V output is gone and I've added a CPS1 kickharness connector so the extra kick buttons are easier to connect.

I'll have to do up a video of it working some time soon, although the arcade monitor I'm testing with it manky with screen burn

Andrew76

A video would be excellent actually.

o1s1n

Andrew76 wrote: »

But the headphones you're using are via FrancoB's adapter I presume? Which is coming from the jamma edge. As long as you get an acceptable volume with no interference it should be fine.

Oh yeah, what I was getting at was 'how much volume is required before picture interference starts?'

As in, I'll be playing via headphones with the volume low or else the cabinet volume low. So if there was no interference at lower levels I'd be happy to take one as is

CiDeRmAn

I also would be interested in trying one of these out.
Let me know what can be done.

The Last Bandit

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Let me know what can be done.

You could tell my wife to stop nagging me about "playing with silly boards all the time"

CiDeRmAn

The Last Bandit wrote: »

You could tell my wife to stop nagging me about "playing with silly boards all the time"

If I can't persuade She Who Must Be Obeyed the merits of playing a spot of Super Metroid or Destiny I don't value the chances of my convincing your better half of the same.

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

If I can't persuade She Who Must Be Obeyed the merits of playing a spot of Super Metroid or Destiny I don't value the chances of my convincing your better half of the same.

You'd be surprised, I got my girlfriend HOOKED on Theme Hospital before Anything's possible! An ad came on the tv the other day for that Forge of Empires nonsense, & she said "That looks like such a rip off of Civilization"...& I was like dafuq?? It was only then she told me I muttered that the week before about the same ad

MrVestek

My solution was simple enough: I got rid of her. :P

CiDeRmAn

MrVestek wrote: »

My solution was simple enough: I got rid of her. :P

MrVestek

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

We both know that wasn't the only reason. ;-)