Making PC Engine HuCards

[pbj]

Well, your December 24 revisions arrived and I tested them out.  No need for jumpers, works perfectly with 512 and 1024 chips.

I need to figure out how to bend the eprom legs to try your surface mount thing but got very good results with flush cutters.  I’ve got a piece of wood with two finishing nails for my glueing jig, which also performed very well.

[pdco_arcade]

Good News.  Any thoughts about changes / improvements?  Maybe an adapter to receive the PC Engine card and change to a 32pin DIP pattern to mate with the ERPOM programmer?   So can re-program them without unmounting the EPROM.  Really a problem if using the bent lead idea.

For the lead bending I have used small long nose pliers and work from both ends.  The ones with smooth internal surface on the jaws ( no teeth ).
https://www.harborfreight.com/5-34-in-needle-nose-pliers-63815.html

[lilshawn]

just throwing my 2 cents in...

the 27c801 can be found in a TSOP package (although it is one time programmable on not erasable so you'd have to make sure about your programming) ... but you could probably design a board set like what you have there to flush mount it upside down in a cutout and then slap a sticker over it and it would almost look stock.

[pdco_arcade]

I have been thinking about a similar solution but using the flash chip from that Flash HuCard project.  More readily available and re-programmable.  Not sure if having the chip suspended only by the package leads would be a failure point.  Used normally looks like the chip is slightly off of the PCB surface.  So supported by the package leads anyway.  Having label(s) covering it might reinforce the soldered leads.  Those chips cost $3.50 - $4.20 each though.    PJB has to comment if that is a budget buster or not. 

[lilshawn]

Not sure if having the chip suspended only by the package leads would be a failure point.

if it was a real concern, i would build it, test it, and then fill the void around it with epoxy.

[pdco_arcade]

Is there any reason could not add a contact in either of the the general areas depicted in the image?   Is there anything in the PCEngine / TurboGrafx card slot / connector to made adding a contact a bad thing?

[pbj]

Nope, shouldn't hurt a thing

https://jt-studios.com/product/38pin-pc-engine-connector/

[lilshawn]

Is there any reason could not add a contact in either of the the general areas depicted in the image?   Is there anything in the PCEngine / TurboGrafx card slot / connector to made adding a contact a bad thing?

i mean as long as you aren't using it as a solder pad that will increase thickness, as those 2 spots in particular, are within the "rails" that guide the card in.

[pbj]

Maybe it’s time to play around with surface mount, but figured I may as well start using up these EPROMs I’ve been staring at for months.

[pdco_arcade]

Those look really good.  Especially the soldering.  Almost looks like you know what you are doing.  :-)   Did you use a solid bottom sheet?

[Lingwendil]

Very cool project.

A suggestion- check out JLCPCB for possible future orders. They have been wonderful for me, and every bit as high quality as PCBway and OSHpark. Very competitive pricing. I had customer service issues with both the other places for hobby stuff.

[pbj]

I’ll check them out.  The price actually went down on shipping slightly for this latest batch from pcbway.

In other news, I’ve been pondering making a PCE to TG16 adapter.  The only difference between the two is the order of 8 pins are reversed on the edge connector.  TG16 carts also have some rudimentary region protection that’s defeated by grounding a pin on a PC Engine.

With that edge connector I linked previously and some tweaking of these PCBs, I feel like we’re close to being able to do this.  Here’s an adapter on eBay that shows how simple this is..







 

[jeremymtc]

In other news, I’ve been pondering making a PCE to TG16 adapter.  The only difference between the two is the order of 8 pins are reversed on the edge connector.  TG16 carts also have some rudimentary region protection that’s defeated by grounding a pin on a PC Engine.

Might it be possible to layout the pcb with a jumper or switch to reverse those pins for compatibility with both systems? Basically to have parallel traces and then define which path is used?

[pdco_arcade]

Ordered a few of those connectors back when working on the HuCARD.  Took right at 3 months to receive them.  I had figured been took to the cleaners.  That adapter a real need or just dreaming?

[pcefaner]

I'm very happy
There are still many PC-E players DIYing HuCARDs
I will also post some pictures I made myself
DIY large cards


PC-Engine + large card


super grafx + large card

[Malenko]

wheres my turbo duo cards?

[pbj]

How in the hell did you get a game running off the expansion port?  And with a memory mapper no less.  I’d love to get a bootleg of sf2 going with the English translation but I’ve got a Duo with no port.

Malenko - waiting for Rocket Panda so I don’t have to mail two packages.  Still waiting on that game list. 

[pcefaner]

How in the hell did you get a game running off the expansion port?  And with a memory mapper no less.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The expansion port includes all Hu-Card connectors, so games can also be launched through the expansion port. SF2 is the only PC-Engine game that uses a MAPPER. To accommodate the MAPPER and to facilitate the procurement of ROM & MAPPER ICs, a large cartridge design was adopted. However, optimizing it for Hu-Card is not difficult and can be done later when there is time.

[pcefaner]

How in the hell did you get a game running off the expansion port?  And with a memory mapper no less.  I’d love to get a bootleg of sf2 going with the English translation but I’ve got a Duo with no port.

Hi pbj,
You can download the IPS patch file for the English version of SF2 from this webpage. The result is as shown in the picture.



URL
Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (English hack)
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=15952.0