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Upcoming Supergun


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Hi all,

 

I've recently designed a compact and elegant supergun which I plan on selling for $40 postage inclusive.

 

My goals were:

 

- To have something available for purchase in Australia.

 

- Keep cost to consumer as low as possible.

 

- Quality design and components.

 

- Compactness.

 

- Keep it as simple as possible.

 

The features are as follows:

 

- Board size is 112mm x 50mm.

 

- ATX 20 pin connector for power. Using a PC power supply to provide 12V, regulated 5V and -5V.

 

- Slide on/off switch.

 

- Blue power LED.

 

- Utilises a DIN 8 connector in conjunction with a standard Neo-Geo AES RGB Scart cable to output RGB video and dual mono audio to a capable Scart TV or PVM/BVM. Cable can be wired for cysnc or composite video as sync, both types are supported.

 

- Attenuated video, sync and audio output. Audio is mono only however a jumper is available for stereo Neo-Geo MVS boards. Audio is still output in mono but both channels will be audible. Trimpots (with knobs) for RGB to increase/reduce brightness if needed.

 

- DB15 Neo-Geo style controller connectors. 2 player support, buttons 1, 2, 3, 4 and START supported. Buttons 5 and 6 are wired to the DB15 but obviously not available on standard Neo-Geo controllers. Possibility to create custom joysticks or use Neo-Geo to Mega Drive/Snes controller adapters.

 

- Tactile push button switches for coin, test and service.

 

Boards are in fabrication and parts are on order. Should be in a position to sell in a month or so, once testing is finalised. Once everything is ready I plan on opening a sponsor account and will start selling here if there's interest.

 

I've attached a picture of the silkscreen to give an idea of the layout.

top_silk.thumb.jpg.aa1387c7fd00343d94a2ce06d21b24a9.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

An update on progress.

 

Have a working prototype now. The final design has many improvements and having this prototype in hand has led to further improvements.

 

The trimmers in this prototype are merely placeholders, the final revision will have knobbed trimmers which fit the board perfectly.

 

For an initial run I'm extremely happy with how it's taking shape. Video and audio are working beautifully and I love how compact it is.

 

Next step from here is to tweak the design a little more and send the final revision into production. Also waiting on bulk lots of parts to arrive.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Happy to announce that V1 of my Supergun is complete, and working great!

 

Not quite ready to officially take orders as of yet, give me a few days as they take a while to assemble.

 

Price is confirmed at:

 

$40 assembled

$35 in kit form for the adventurous. Everything required is supplied, you simply need to solder it together.

 

Prices are postage inclusive within Australia.

 

Will post an official thread with all the details when I'm ready.

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  • 3 months later...

Hey @PhantomTurbo

 

So close now! Just about ready. Have been busy prototyping, testing, tweaking, improving etc. The last lot of prototype boards has aided in final design decisions and refining things to a level where I'm happy.

 

Basically added a ton of features.

 

Voltage LED indicators for +5V, +12V and -5V.

 

3 digit voltmeter switchable between 5V and 12V display.

 

Regenerated, buffered and attenuated RGB. Completely safe for arcade boards as they're put under the correct load. Safe for monitors/TVs/any other chained devices like switchers/scalers etc due to correct 75 Ohm impedance.

 

Regenerated, attenuated and standardised sync.

 

RGB scart output with selectable mono/stereo audio output.

 

Composite video and s-video output accompanied by twin RCA audio output. Option for bridged mono or stereo output here as well.

 

Attenuated audio output. Option to disable.

 

Kick harness support with harnesses available for CPS1 and CPS2.

 

Option of 20 or 24 pin ATX as well as traditional arcade PSU via custom harness.

 

Onboard negative 5V generation. Option to bypass and grab -5V from main PSU.

 

Option for Snes controllers via adapter. Onboard Neo-Geo controller plugs.

 

Think that about covers most of it. Should be something special, a lot more advanced than nearly every other supergun out there.

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Does the LED feed of a specific Line from the ATX?

 

With the exception of neg 5, yes. Neg 5 is handled differently as it may come from the ATX or from the onboard polarity inverter. This is determined by a switch. In one position the neg 5 voltage flows freely from the ATX to the appropriate jamma pin, while the onboard neg 5 generation is completely disabled. In the other position the ATX path is disabled and the voltage comes from the onboard negatron.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

All the +5V ATX pins are tied, if that's what you were getting at.

 

There's only a single pin for +12 and -5.

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OK cool, looks like my LED has gone the way of the Dinosaur, I have mine running off an arcade psu hooked up to an ATX plug.

Might have to find another ATX power supply, not having an on/off switch bites it ;)

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Oh you have one of the original units?

 

In that case the main power LED could be powered from the 3.3V pin of the ATX meaning it won't work with the arcade PSU.

 

If not and the LED is blown I can send you a replacement LED at no cost.

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Oh you have one of the original units?

 

In that case the main power LED could be powered from the 3.3V pin of the ATX meaning it won't work with the arcade PSU.

 

If not and the LED is blown I can send you a replacement LED at no cost.

 

Thanks mate, will let you know! I'll get an ATX and try it out, im guessing the LED is ok, just not powered. Now i need to put an idea in your head that you put an extra switch on it that is Power Source: ATX/PSU ! Because that would not at all screw up your PCB routing ever or need a bucket of extra work!... ;)

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Yeah the switch isn't as trivial as it sounds. Using the ATX protocol to trigger power is great as it keeps things simple. Just a simple SPDT switch is all that's required and it doesn't need to handle much power due to just controlling a logic line.

 

Utilising a dedicated power switch to control all voltages is tough. Would need 3 poles and the ability to withstand up to 15A. This really limits options as there aren't any compact switches that fit this requirement.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

This is the direction I've gone in with the latest design. 3 tiny SMD LEDs which light with each corresponding voltage. It doesn't show up well in the picture but the colour of the LEDs matches the colour identifiers of the voltage. Red for +5V, yellow for +12V and white for -5V.

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Yeah the switch isn't as trivial as it sounds. Using the ATX protocol to trigger power is great as it keeps things simple. Just a simple SPDT switch is all that's required and it doesn't need to handle much power due to just controlling a logic line.

 

Utilising a dedicated power switch to control all voltages is tough. Would need 3 poles and the ability to withstand up to 15A. This really limits options as there aren't any compact switches that fit this requirement.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

This is the direction I've gone in with the latest design. 3 tiny SMD LEDs which light with each corresponding voltage. It doesn't show up well in the picture but the colour of the LEDs matches the colour identifiers of the voltage. Red for +5V, yellow for +12V and white for -5V.

 

Oh nice! Sign me up for Beta testing ;)

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Can do!

 

Everything is performing to standard, the only things that I would like to improve is:

 

The composite video output isn't crash hot. It's fine for the most part and quite usable, there's just a dot crawl problem that gives the image a shimmering appearance. Still have a couple of things to try but I'm not holding much hope. RGB and s-video looking stunning so I'm not overly concerned but it would be nice to get composite looking its best..

 

Would have loved to incorporate the sixth button off the jamma edge for pandoras box type boards, but this inteferes with the jamma standard of having that pin grounded which csn cause input problems with some games. I can resolve this with a header or switch to freely enable/disable as required however I'm struggling to find the room physically and trace wise to incorporate it neatly and cleanly.

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Can do!

 

Everything is performing to standard, the only things that I would like to improve is:

 

The composite video output isn't crash hot. It's fine for the most part and quite usable, there's just a dot crawl problem that gives the image a shimmering appearance. Still have a couple of things to try but I'm not holding much hope. RGB and s-video looking stunning so I'm not overly concerned but it would be nice to get composite looking its best..

 

Would have loved to incorporate the sixth button off the jamma edge for pandoras box type boards, but this inteferes with the jamma standard of having that pin grounded which csn cause input problems with some games. I can resolve this with a header or switch to freely enable/disable as required however I'm struggling to find the room physically and trace wise to incorporate it neatly and cleanly.

 

I use the Neo-Scart cable, no issues here! ;)

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Managed to resolve the composite video output and eradicate dot crawl. Very happy and relieved.

 

This means I can now begin ordering the pcbs as everything is performing silky smooth.

 

The new design utilises a Mega Drive 2 cable for RGB scart output. I changed to this from the Neo Geo connector as the MD2 connector is a lot more compact and allows for stereo sound output.

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Default is Neo however I also have Snes adapters. Aside from the ability to utilise Snes controllers this also opens the doors to use an 8bitdo wireless Snes receiver. This means you can use any supported 8bitdo controller in addition to Wii, PS and Xbox controllers. A 6 button Mega Drive adapter is also in development.

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Yeah man the Snes adapters are finalised and ready to go. I have a few on hand but will order more along with the supergun and video hat pcbs. All 6 buttons are supported along with START and select is wired to coin.

 

Very nice playing with an 8bitdo wireless pad.

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