Post by afxzanac on Jul 3, 2008 15:13:32 GMT -5
Well, here's the beginning. I've got all of my parts, and I am working on a case. On to the Pictures!
Keyboard I'm using, it had a "chrome" case hot-glued to the outside (see, manufacturers use the stuff too!) which I immediately pried off.
Zenith Screen for $25 on ebay! I like the modular nature of this screen with the 5-pin connector on the bottom, almost don't need to re-case it if you use it for an actual laptop-style screen!
The Victim! C64 DTV Hummer from Radio Shack, I bought 2 when I saw them, and got the second one 1/2 off because it was a display model!
WAAAAAY too much plastic, getting rid of all of this will definitely help with the portablization
Keyboard without the bulky plastic (and chrome)
Backside of the screen, I'm not taking it out all the way until I get the case built, don't want to break the ribbon cable
7.5VDC to power the screen directly, still have to build a 5VDC regulator for the DTV and Keyboard
TRAGEDY!
The PS/2 mini keyboard I had planned on using wouldn't work with the commodore DTV. I tried to see if it was a soldering problem for about 15 minutes, then got out a trusty mini-din connector and soldered it to my pigtail. When a regular ps/2 keyboard was plugged in, it worked fine. Oh well, so much for the mini keyboard idea. Moving forward, I'm going to scrap the "laptop" part of this and make it a "ultra-portable." I'm just going to build a box around the screen and DTV board and put a PS/2 connector and A/V out on the back. You'll still need a keyboard seperately, but the screen and commodore will be in the same small box, which will probably be about 8" square and 3" deep (it'll be so deep because it will sit on a desk like a monitor.) In the future I will probably put a swivel base on the bottom, but for now I will just use rubber feet.
***As far as the project goes***
I spent last night and all of this morning soldering everything together. Right now I have a FULLY operational Commodore 64 with a SD Card >> C64 Disk Drive emulator device hooked to it for data transfer, a PS/2 connector pigtailed in, and a 7" Xbox screen. All of these work right now, but I still need to build a 7805 5v regulator and a case. Right now the keyboard, C64-DTV, and 1541 disk emulator are running off of 4 AA batteries, and I don't know how long they'll last. The screen is running off of it's 7.5v wall adapter, which will provide power for the entire unit. I have erased the flash of the "Hummer Off Road Racing" game and installed a custom kernel that makes this operate as a normal C64. I also visited our local surplus store, and purchased some grey plastic cutoffs for $.95/ea to build a case from. These are roughly 9"x4' sheets, 1/4" thick, and were a heck of a deal.
I'll be taking more pictures tomorrow, and fixing the links above, as my hosting changed and I forgot this was here. Pics will be forthcoming!
***EDIT*** Pics Below
Screen all hooked up and working just fine!
1541 Disk Drive Emulator. It's a MMC2IEC device. Added a 1Gb SD card and have all the storage a C64 guy could ever want!
Close up of the board with all the new soldered connections. The small VR board at the bottom is the 7.5V to 8V regulator that the screen couldn't live without (not sure why, but I'm not using batteries, so draw isn't a concern.)
I flashed this with the tool provided on some of the other DTV sites, and erased the *crappy* hummer game that was occupying my precious space. Now it's ready to run with good ole C64 basic!
The disk interface is very easy to use, and the Atmel chip interprets normal commodore commands to do things like change to a "games" directory. What else was I going to do with it?!?!?
Who ya gonna call?
Space Invaders, anyone?
I have since hooked up a DB-9 "joystick" port to the actual commodore userport, built a 5V regulator circuit and have yet to finish building the case. Updates to come, but it's coming fast!
Keyboard I'm using, it had a "chrome" case hot-glued to the outside (see, manufacturers use the stuff too!) which I immediately pried off.
Zenith Screen for $25 on ebay! I like the modular nature of this screen with the 5-pin connector on the bottom, almost don't need to re-case it if you use it for an actual laptop-style screen!
The Victim! C64 DTV Hummer from Radio Shack, I bought 2 when I saw them, and got the second one 1/2 off because it was a display model!
WAAAAAY too much plastic, getting rid of all of this will definitely help with the portablization
Keyboard without the bulky plastic (and chrome)
Backside of the screen, I'm not taking it out all the way until I get the case built, don't want to break the ribbon cable
7.5VDC to power the screen directly, still have to build a 5VDC regulator for the DTV and Keyboard
TRAGEDY!
The PS/2 mini keyboard I had planned on using wouldn't work with the commodore DTV. I tried to see if it was a soldering problem for about 15 minutes, then got out a trusty mini-din connector and soldered it to my pigtail. When a regular ps/2 keyboard was plugged in, it worked fine. Oh well, so much for the mini keyboard idea. Moving forward, I'm going to scrap the "laptop" part of this and make it a "ultra-portable." I'm just going to build a box around the screen and DTV board and put a PS/2 connector and A/V out on the back. You'll still need a keyboard seperately, but the screen and commodore will be in the same small box, which will probably be about 8" square and 3" deep (it'll be so deep because it will sit on a desk like a monitor.) In the future I will probably put a swivel base on the bottom, but for now I will just use rubber feet.
***As far as the project goes***
I spent last night and all of this morning soldering everything together. Right now I have a FULLY operational Commodore 64 with a SD Card >> C64 Disk Drive emulator device hooked to it for data transfer, a PS/2 connector pigtailed in, and a 7" Xbox screen. All of these work right now, but I still need to build a 7805 5v regulator and a case. Right now the keyboard, C64-DTV, and 1541 disk emulator are running off of 4 AA batteries, and I don't know how long they'll last. The screen is running off of it's 7.5v wall adapter, which will provide power for the entire unit. I have erased the flash of the "Hummer Off Road Racing" game and installed a custom kernel that makes this operate as a normal C64. I also visited our local surplus store, and purchased some grey plastic cutoffs for $.95/ea to build a case from. These are roughly 9"x4' sheets, 1/4" thick, and were a heck of a deal.
I'll be taking more pictures tomorrow, and fixing the links above, as my hosting changed and I forgot this was here. Pics will be forthcoming!
***EDIT*** Pics Below
Screen all hooked up and working just fine!
1541 Disk Drive Emulator. It's a MMC2IEC device. Added a 1Gb SD card and have all the storage a C64 guy could ever want!
Close up of the board with all the new soldered connections. The small VR board at the bottom is the 7.5V to 8V regulator that the screen couldn't live without (not sure why, but I'm not using batteries, so draw isn't a concern.)
I flashed this with the tool provided on some of the other DTV sites, and erased the *crappy* hummer game that was occupying my precious space. Now it's ready to run with good ole C64 basic!
The disk interface is very easy to use, and the Atmel chip interprets normal commodore commands to do things like change to a "games" directory. What else was I going to do with it?!?!?
Who ya gonna call?
Space Invaders, anyone?
I have since hooked up a DB-9 "joystick" port to the actual commodore userport, built a 5V regulator circuit and have yet to finish building the case. Updates to come, but it's coming fast!