Letters
Digital to Analog Conversion
Hello I was reading your article on using a Game Boy or Game Boy Advance screen for your NESp and you said that you would need to convert the analog signal to a digital signal for the screen to use. I was wondering if you could tell me more about this and maybe I would be able to help you to figure out if it could be done feesably. I know that the computers in cars use an A/D converter to convert the analog signals from sensors to a digital signal that the CPU can read. The sensors put out a voltage signal that the converters assign a value and then they convert that to binary and send the binary code to the CPU. I don't know if this will be of any help or not because I do not know how the NES system works. I just thought maybe it would help. Thank you for your time.
Brian Keesbury
The Monitor in my NESp has a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and any LCD display that accepts an analog signal must have this. The GB and GBA both do not have a DAC because they work on a purely Digital Signal, the CPU outputs a Digital signal and the Screen accepts a Digital Signal. The NES is different in the fact that there is never a digital siginal to tap into. The PPU - Picture Procesing Unit does not have the capibility to output a digital signal. I could be mistaken, please corret me if you can get a digital signal from the NES PPU. To make a DAC for a specific screen is very complicated and you would need a wave form analyzer, which is very expensive.
3 questions...
1. Will the NESp2 use the "NES on a chip"? Seems like that would help with the space problem: http://tripoint.org/kevtris/Projects/portendo/nesonachip.html
2. Do you know offhand the total cost of NESp?
3. Any idea on when the NESp2 will be completed, and if it will be more expensive? It sounds worth waiting for...
thanks,
Jon
Thanks Jon, I have known about the NES on a chip for a while — you may have noticed the link to Kevin Horton's web site in the navigation bar to the left — but it is a question none the less and I will answer it. No, I was not planning to use the NES on a chip, since space is not really an issue, if you look at the pictures of the uncompleted NESp V2, you will notice it is much smaller than the original. I intend to make it even smaller by making it so that the cartridge port is in such a position that the cartridge is aligned with the motherboard. The NES motherboard sans the RF modulator & EXT port has the same footprint as a NES cartridge, just much thinner. I hope to have the NESp V2 down to the thickness of a cartridge and a half, with a cartridge inserted!
I am not sure to the dollar how much I spent on the NESp, but you can look that on on the Parts list page if you want to figure out how much it would cost. I spent more money on figuring out how to make it and tools then I spent on the NESp. I figure I could make another for about $130.
I think the the NESp v2 really should be cheaper the the original, I have figured out ways to make it for less.
Got a question, just e-mail it to me! tighe@classicgaming.com