Retrozone's PowerPak

[JC]

Modding it for use with the Famicom.

[133MHz]

I think that michael's referring to the fact that the PowerPak itself contains no extra sound hardware, even if you mod it to use it on a Famicom you wouldn't get any extra sound since the generating hardware is simply not present.

[keiffer01]

. But I've also thought of just getting a PSP or something portable.

I use a DS and R4 , and I think that is cheaper, too.

I have a psp and I must say that it is PERFECT for emulation on the go. I have around 2000 various nes roms on it, about 100 snes games, 5-6 n64 games, 2 ps1 games, and about 30 or so GBA roms. And I also copied a few of my original psp games on the memory stick so I wouldn't need to carry disks anymore. Plus you can find the original psp for around 80$ used so yeah PSP is the way to go.

[satoshi_matrix]

I dont want to get too off topic here, but I have a PSP that's version 1.50 and runs the old kernel exploits. I assume that PSP emulation capabilities have grown leaps and bounds in the two or so years since I last fiddled with my PSP. Can you point me anywhere where I might be able to learn what I need to do in order to update my PSP to allow for PS1, stable SNES and non blurry NES emulation? It might be better if you just PM me. Thanks.

[JC]

I think that michael's referring to the fact that the PowerPak itself contains no extra sound hardware, even if you mod it to use it on a Famicom you wouldn't get any extra sound since the generating hardware is simply not present.

All I've got:

the fpga connects to the expansion pins. an fpga is like super reconfigurable microprocessor. the guy used "pwm" (pulse width modulation) and some other stuff to get the audio.

Says he's got the extra audio working fine, except for some volume level issues.

EDIT: Seems the mod may not be directly to the pak but to the converter between the pak and the Famicom. Kinda like what 133 did?

[Lorfarius]

I dont want to get too off topic here, but I have a PSP that's version 1.50 and runs the old kernel exploits. I assume that PSP emulation capabilities have grown leaps and bounds in the two or so years since I last fiddled with my PSP. Can you point me anywhere where I might be able to learn what I need to do in order to update my PSP to allow for PS1, stable SNES and non blurry NES emulation? It might be better if you just PM me. Thanks.

This is where I went:

www.pspiso.com

[133MHz]

All I've got:

the fpga connects to the expansion pins. an fpga is like super reconfigurable microprocessor. the guy used "pwm" (pulse width modulation) and some other stuff to get the audio.

Says he's got the extra audio working fine, except for some volume level issues.

Nice. I didn't know that the PowerPak had data lines connected to the expansion pins.
The guy probably used PWM and a low pass filter (RC) on Pin 18 to generate analog sound without additional hardware like a DAC. I wonder what the volume level issues are (too loud or too soft).

EDIT: Seems the mod may not be directly to the pak but to the converter between the pak and the Famicom. Kinda like what 133 did?

If the digital signal is carried to pin 18 on the PowerPak, yeah.

[Jero32]

The "techie" here. Ya he used the pwm and a low pass filter or something along those lines. Some of you should really learn your stuff before you say it "lacks the hardware" cause the whole idea of powerpak is that its reconfigurable hardware ;-)

edit: it wil also not work with the mapper pak on the retrousb website. You need to download the latest version. Which is on loopy's website. (go to nesdev.parodius.com forums and look around you'll find him) go to his acount on nesdev and click his website link.

edit2: the audio output pin is pin #54 on nes side. You cut the bridge on your nes game to famicom adaptor pins #45 and #46 (make sure its really cut) bridge them with a 10k resistor then you lead a 10k resistor from pin 45 to pin #54 on the nes cart connector. (the one over pin #45 and #46 should be 10k but you might want to see what value sounds correct to you for the resistor going to pin #54 on the nes cart slot)

[133MHz]

Some of you should really learn your stuff before you say it "lacks the hardware" cause the whole idea of powerpak is that its reconfigurable hardware ;-)

It can have a whole 2C33 on board, but if it isn't linked to pin 18 (or 54), it's useless.

[Jero32]

Some of you should really learn your stuff before you say it "lacks the hardware" cause the whole idea of powerpak is that its reconfigurable hardware ;-)

It can have a whole 2C33 on board, but if it isn't linked to pin 18, it's useless.

I was mostly refering to micheal who called me "not very smart". You should at least try and do some research before well......slightly insulting someone (i'm not horribly offended here but stil)

[michaelthegreat]

I understand the reconfigurable hardware. I ASSumed it didn't have the connections. My apologies. I thought about deleting my original post, but since it just makes me look stupid in the end, I'll leave it.

[Jero32]

It's cool. It's not like i'm super angry or something. I do stupid stuff all the time
now to get back to designing my portable nsf player.

[UglyJoe]

now to get back to designing my portable nsf player.

You mean Rockbox?

[Jero32]

now to get back to designing my portable nsf player.

You mean Rockbox?

actually the idea is to use an actual 2a03. Emulation sucks ;-)

[nintendodork]

BUMP

I had a question about this...
Do people make unofficial updates for these?  Such as mapper updates?  Because it seems it will take a while for Brian to make all of his planned mappers compatible.  Does anyone have any more compatible mappers for it?