gcvideo - Open source GameCube component cable solution

I need to make clear that if you use the cheaper xc3s50a it ONLY works with TV's that support 480i / 576i ie they can handle interlaced images. The digikey list you just placed contains the xc3s50a so if people blindly follow that list then can end up building the board and it not working with any TV's in there house.

If your TV dont support interlaced or you are not sure buy the xc3s200a instead which will still work with the board and use unseens code from github his full code should work with all TV's. I have xc3s50a on my board which is connected to my monitor and it display eveything fine, however the TV I have down stairs dont like the output it dont display anything (it dont support 480i) but I dont care.

JP1 controls the fpga reset line, after I build the boards I short out JP1 so the fpga dont startup. At this point I connect my programmer to the flash chip and program it, After that I remove the short on JP1 and place a 4.7uF across it so in short yes I populate it after programming the serial flash and its next to R4.

thanks for the digikey list, that was fast !!!

 

I'll fix that list but I went off of Farnell part number on the original BOM but good to know and it probably won't cost much more.

 

Oh yer good catch dude oops will fix the BOM tonight.

 

Ok fixed the BOM and it's actually a few cents cheaper now too (some caps were on sale!)

http://www.digikey.com/short/330rd5

 

Is someone going to build these and sell them?

 

@Helder

nice work, fixed my BOM to include the xc3s200a farnell number thanks for spotting that.

@Strogen

I dont have an export license for the FPGA so all I can offer is a board + components (minus the FPGA) and a 3D printed case. I am sending one person exactly this IF they dont have major issues with the board I will offer this kind of kit. You will still have to solder but at least its makes it easier for people. I dont plan to make any money major money so the kit will be cheap £6 (parts) + £2 (beer money) + £1 (fee from paypal) so = £9 ($13) total + p&p.

I am only going to offer this if I got enough people interested (say 6) and I dont hear anything bad about the board I am sending out. All the stuff in the kits on my website so you can build it yourself right now I just want to make it a little easier for people plus top up the beer fund ;-)

 

Will it need programming?

 

i was thinking to setup a paypal button on my webpage so when you purphase you add a note stating which fpga you are going to use xc3s50a or xc3s200a. Then after I built it up I can flash the serial flash with the fireware you want and send it out pre-programmed, but you still need to solder on the fpga and weld it into the cube so easier but not p'n'p :-(

 

Where is your web page?

 

So you just need to program the flash and that will program the FPGA? If so that would be a simple task with my programmer. I might offer these here if it's ok with happy_bunny once everything is finalized and the programming is something I can do.

 

I dont mind its all open source so do with it what you want just dont blame me if it dont work! Unseen kindly updated the fpga pinout for v3

https://github.com/ikorb/gcvideo/tree/master/HDL/gcvideo_dvi/bin

I had to move pad snoop for v3 its now located on pin 73 and spdif is on pin 72 (which go to pins 1 & 2 on conn6)

 

The FPGA is RAM-based (like most current FPGAs on the market), it automatically loads its configuration from the external flash on powerup.

 

Cool beans, so no need to worry about how to program the FPGA and just the flash.

 

how would you program the flash ? if you do it off board with a 3d party programmer you will need to convert the top level *.bit file generated into a raw binary file something like this

promgen -spi -p bin -o spi_flash.bin -s 512 -u 0 toplevel_p2xh.bit

then you can just flash the raw file spi_flash.bin with the 3d party programmer. Or If you have a xillinx JTAG programmer you can program *.mcs using iMPACT however the flash and fpga will need to be on the board together and powered up.

whoop new toys got my p'n'p board today



not sure how much its going to stick out though, will find out at the weekend I guess.

 

What does the conn5 connect to? Is that supposed to insert into the Digital Socket?

 

Yup

 

A couple questions: the board in the picture above - do you still have to mod the system for this to work? It's possible to make the board output VGA, right?

 

No system mod required it should just work, currently its dvi / hdmi technically is possable to do VGA but that would require mods to the board and to the vhdl coding.

Not a massive amount to report board built electrically no shorts so it looking good at this point, need to power it up next see if it smokes ;-)

 

Looking really nice, cant wait until its readily available.

 

thanks, no smoke 12v / 3v / 1.2v lines look good so the PCB likes healthy will try and get the bottom half of the case done this week.