Got the Naki multitap today. It has *five* ports. (So it's a six player multitap because, uhhhh, there's a sixth port on the SNES itself or something. Whatever.)
Anyway, nice quality connectors, the usual "if it was any cheaper there'd still be dirt from the floor on it" internal construction, but no big deal. A solder pot would probably work best, but I had good luck using a 1" wide blade tip on my Metcal iron. (like for doing an entire side of a DIP IC at once) Takes about 8 seconds to remove the entire connector. Hot air wasn't ideal since it heated the pins too much and let them move in the plastic.
I think I'll just dual footprint my little "Gamer" base board and allow for either vertical or horizontal mounting. I like 'em, and for <$1.25/ea with no NRE or minimums I can't imagine we'll find a better deal! (and if we do, they look compatible with more or less any other style SNES connector anyway)
Happy, happy. I'm going to see what 100 of those Multitaps will cost from our distributor...
-Clay
Last edited by havok1919 on Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Great! It seems they really are better suited for vertical mounting, that will do for me. What will you do with that big pile of crap? Well, hope you keep at least the wire with the plug, they could be useful for other projects like SNES<->keyboard/mouse adapter and the like.
CompMan wrote:Can you tell me what type of chip that is?
Compman
+1, might be useful for something on an Uzebox system or peripheral. Or might not. I suppose I can just do a search on multitap schematic myself though.
I just searched, didn't turn up anything useful yet.
CompMan wrote:Can you tell me what type of chip that is?
I'll see if I can tell anything from it. It could be a little micro, or some sort of mux/shifter combo or even an ASIC from back in the day. They sanded the top down pretty good to obscure the numbers. Over time we might be able to tell for sure given enough samples. (I've done that before-- they'll miss little pieces while sanding sometimes. Get 20-50-100 pictures of different ones and Photoshop then into a single image and make out the numbers from all the little spots they miss quilted together.
ladyada wrote:the switch could be reused, although its a bit tough to remove switches sometimes, looks like a pretty generic 2-row SPDT dealie
Looks like a kinda snazzy switch. Double pole, three position, with four mounting lugs (one per corner). Looks like that'd be a good candidate to pull with a solderpot (or similar).
The IC has 'normal' CMOS/TTL power pin locations, so it' likely not a PIC anyway. I can make out some lettering, but not enough for anything meaningful. Might be possible to suss it out over time.
-Clay
P.S. Heh... Silly idea time. Use an entire Multitap for an UZEBOX. Keep the SNES controller connectors and switch and LED-- replace the main board with an UZEBOX board that has data lines out to the other SNES connectors (all five total). Replace the SNES joystick cable with power and A/V out. Then we just need a Bomberman or multiplayer space war clone or something.
CompMan wrote:Can you tell me what type of chip that is?
Over time we might be able to tell for sure given enough samples. (I've done that before-- they'll miss little pieces while sanding sometimes. Get 20-50-100 pictures of different ones and Photoshop then into a single image and make out the numbers from all the little spots they miss quilted together.
, that is funny. It shouldn't be too hard to tell what it does by just reading the output. Maybe I should look for docs explaining the protocol.
havok1919 wrote:
P.S. Heh... Silly idea time. Use an entire Multitap for an UZEBOX. Keep the SNES controller connectors and switch and LED-- replace the main board with an UZEBOX board that has data lines out to the other SNES connectors (all five total). Replace the SNES joystick cable with power and A/V out. Then we just need a Bomberman or multiplayer space war clone or something.
What about keeping the guts and using the multi-tap as intended? Just throw the Stamp in there, wire it to the Multi-Tap circuit board, and feed A/V and power through the original hole. Recycling with less work and more of the original PCB re-used . (more work in software, but less in hardware I guess.)
I was thinking of an Atari war clone with 4-5 players
I'm going to see what 100 of those Multitaps will cost from our distributor...
Well, hope you keep at least the wire with the plug, they could be useful for other projects like SNES<->keyboard/mouse adapter and the like.