Uzebox AVCore+Baseboard Kit Selling Now!

[uze6666]

January 1, 2009

Clay Cowgill is selling Uzebox kits made of his BAseboard and AVCore module. If you are interested send him a personal message on this board (clay1919) or contact him through email at "clay -at- embeddedengineeringllc -dot- com". The kit price is USD$105 ($100 without SNES controller and A/V cables) plus $8 shipping by FedEx ground. It is a fully assembled kit and includes:

• 1 Uzebox AVCore module with MicroSD
• 1 Baseboard with SNES connectors, audio, composite, S-VIDEO and power jacks
• 1 SNES controller clone
• 1 A/V cable
• 1 S-VIDEO cable
• 1 Power supply

Sparkfun Electronics now stocks the Uzebox! They have a nice yellow version of the baseboard etched with the new Uzebox logo. They sell stuff "a la carte", i.e: you can buy only a AVCore module or baseboard for instance. Buy it here!



Note that the Uzebox outputs NTSC signal. Hence it will not work in Europe with PAL or SECAM TVs, unless those accepts NTSC (which is common these days).

You will need an AVR programmer to flash your programs. I usually recommend the AVRISP MKII found at Digikey. There is also other models available at Sparkfun and Ladyada's store.

Some asked where they can find the schematics for the AVCore: http://belogic.com/uzebox/files/UZEBOX_AVCore_1.2_Schematic.pdf

-Uze

[Jhysaun]

So Im just wondering, what Schematic did you use to build this? The one on the download page uses NES controllers, and this one uses SNES, and this has a MicroSD slot while the one on the download page does not. Is there any schematic released so other people can build it or should I just build the old one?

Thanks

>J

[uze6666]

Yeah you're right, the schematic is a bit out of date (eh, it's only been there two months ).

Clay, is the designer the AVCore module with SNES, SD interface and simplified video DAC. His latest schematic is available here and is now the official baseline, so I'd stick to that one. I've been working like crazy on the kernel/firmware in the past weeks, but I'll update the schematics very soon. If you have any questions regarding how to assemble your own with his version, fell free to ask. Me and Clay will be glad to clarify things.

-Alec

[Majorsky78]

Hi!
I am reading here already for a while. Fantastic project!
I am thinking about buying a kit. My questions are:
- Are they available in Europe?
- Do you already have PAL support?
- How much is the price for Europe (including shipping)

Thanks in advance,
Andreas

[uze6666]

Hey Andreas,

- Are they available in Europe?
- Do you already have PAL support?
- How much is the price for Europe (including shipping)

We have a potential distributor in Europe and, If all goes well, they should be available by end of November. No official PAL support yet, but we will probably have a special version with a PAL crystal. Final price is not known for now so stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Alec

[ZxxxY]

Sorry abuot silly qestion. but is he using sd card instead atmega644? if yes plz give me a schematic or .brd how to do it. and if its external memory for more/better graphix games plz give me a schematic or .brd.

[uze6666]

Sorry abuot silly qestion. but is he using sd card instead atmega644?

Hehe, no, all chips and components are actually on the other side of the AVCore PCB (facing down). That left room for the microSD and text/logo. Neat huh?

We intend to use the MicroSD for many cool things like:

• 'Multiboot' - Have a bootloader in the mega644 that can load and reflash the chip with many games.
• Stream sampled music to games and use the kernel voices for sound effects
• Movie player
• Data logger
• Dump screen captures
• (put more cool uses here)

The AVCore Schematic with SD is here:

http://www.embeddedengineeringllc.com/UZEBOX/UZEBOX_Stamp_1.0.pdf

I'm not sure if that's the latest version, Clay could answer that.

I'm updating my DIY schematic version with a SD interface and it should be posted as soon a I'm sure it works fine.

[havok1919]

I'm not sure if that's the latest version, Clay could answer that.

Dammit... Thought I changed that to point to the new version a while ago... *sigh* Fixed now. Here's the "official" link for the second version:

http://www.embeddedengineeringllc.com/UZEBOX/UZEBOX_AVCore_1.2_Schematic.pdf

This is the "production" version. Things to note that aren't referenced on the schematic: (since I was still making component load changes until the last second)

• Audio output filter is populated
• LED and current limiting resistor are not stuffed (it was ~20% of the power consumption for something that just made a little glowy effect on the baseboard)
• Video encoder chip enable has a PCB trace forming R29-- if you want to enable power control on the video encoder you cut that trace (there's a solder relief around it showing where) and install a resistor at R28 right next to it. I didn't want to default to that since it eats one of the spare I/O.
• C2 is no-load (you can put a cap there if you're using the ADC and if you need more power filtering).
• The reset switch is not loaded since the ISP does that automatically and since the baseboard has a reset button anyway.

I'm using Pin35 on the baseboards as a 'key' location (hole plugged on the socket).

-Clay

[DavidEtherton]

What magic USB dongle do I need to program this? It's priced similarly to the adafruit fuzebox except that I don't have to assemble it myself (and spend another $50-100 on a decent soldering / multimeter setup)? Are extra SNES controllers available for dual-player-megatris goodness?

(This thread is fairly old, is it still available for this price?)

-Dave

[funkaster]

[quote="DavidEtherton"]What magic USB dongle do I need to program this? It's priced similarly to the adafruit fuzebox except that I don't have to assemble it myself (and spend another $50-100 on a decent soldering / multimeter setup)? Are extra SNES controllers available for dual-player-megatris goodness?

(This thread is fairly old, is it still available for this price?)

-Dave[/quote]

wondering the same here: how do you program this?... Are these kit still available? if so, how much is the international shipping?