Euzebox build

[r0jaws]

Strong hints, and the leaving out of strategic printouts on the run up to Christmas saw Santa drop a Euzebox in my stocking.

A Euzebox is the European variant of the American Uzebox project.
"The Uzebox is a retro-minimalist 8-bit open source game console." and when I chanced upon it I thought I would love to have a go at building my own Games Console from scratch.

I finally got an evening when I set aside a bit of time to put it together. It only took a couple of hours over one evening.

Opening the pack gives a couple of detailed spec sheets, one PCB and 3 bags if components.



There are a lot of nice easy through hole parts to solder in, and the board is really well spaced out and easy to work on.



I built it in stages, first all the resistors and Power supply..



Next was the IC socket, caps and oscillator...



SCART socket, reset switch and ISP Header next...



Next was the only bit of surface mount soldering for the SD Card socket, which is much more straightforward than it would appear...



Finally, the SNES sockets at the front. Plenty of solder here to ensure a good strong bond able to resist the pull and push of regular use...



A shot of the base once all the components were welded in. Looks good to me, lets test her out...



A power on test utilising a SNES psu (9v 1a), unconnected to the TV and left for a few minutes to check for unexpected behaviour. The LED is lit, as it should be, and there is no evidence of any shorts, heat or smoke.



Plugging it in to the TV and she immediately came up with the startup splash screen for the built in Tetris clone.



It's a fun version actually, and graphically much better in real life than I was expecting TBH.




I really enjoyed building this, and I'm looking forward to putting a few more of the games available for it on an SD card and putting it through it's paces.
I'll be finding a nice clear perspex casing for this, so expect to see it at future Amibay events.

[johnim]

very nice phil and thanks for sharing

[keropi]

nice one!!!!!
I would get one to build too just for the fun of it IF it had some other video-output method... I'm not gonna lie: hdmi is the way to go, scart is just poorly implemented in most lcd tv's sadly

[Zetr0]

Now that looks like a lot of fun indeed!

[r0jaws]

I have to agree, seeing the nightmare that zetr0 has to put up with with his TV.
I've been very lucky with the LCDs in my house so far, but definitely HMDI is the way forward.
The American one has SVideo and composite NTSC outputs though, just a thought.

[HWHardsoft]

Hi,

a new version 01-05 of the EUzebox is available now. Thats new:

- integrated prototyping area
- extension socket (UART, ports for Uzetherm, GND, 3.3V, 5V)
- 6 pole pin header for ISP connector
- rated break point and connector for external power switch
- pre programmed with game loader 0.4.2
- BUGFIX: connection between left and right audio channel at SCART connector
- BUGFIX: integrated sync patch
- BUGFIX: +5V at pin 6 (VCC) of PC900
- BUGFIX: additional holes for scart connector
- BUGFIX: GND connection at pin 31 of ATMEGA
- BUGFIX: +5V at pin GND connection at pins 30 and 32 of ATMEGA
- BUGFIX: bigger space between solder pads and ground planes

Here are some pictures of this new version:



Cheers

-Harty

[r0jaws]

Thanks Harty, love the case, very nice.
Welcome to Amibay.

[BrooksterMax]

What a lovely compact solution to a retro gaming platform, nice and compact.

[scrappysphinx]

Is the case available for purchase?

[HWHardsoft]

Hi,

many thx for your comments.

Originally Posted by scrappysphinx

Is the case available for purchase?

Its a case from Hammond type 1455L1202. A milled case is not available until now. But you can buy the unmilled standard case from some electronic distributors like Digikey

http://www.digikey.com/product-detai...895-ND/1090707