Minigun Supergun - An Open Source Supergun

[Pap]

Hey guys, completely new, i got the boards and parts, i was just thinking, getting that weird video connector/cable is very hard to come by. can i just put there some SCART port?

If you are building the mini din 8 version, then yes you could wire up a SCART port instead. But I don't recommend that.

why not recommended? i have the 8 pin version, i ordered the parts just days before 9pin version was "invented" here

and yeah the 8pin cable IS available, but where i live shipping from anywhere is absurd (i pay more for the shipping than the already expensive cable/adapter), on the other hands we got SCARTS all over the place and finding a solid scart rgb cable is not a problem for me (especially when i got like 4).
so i would prefer to have the scart connector there at start, or like you said @Frank_fjs build a din>scart adapter. should i be aware/beware of sth along that path? is there some magical pinout picture that any1 can share?

 

[the Goat]

Hey guys, completely new, i got the boards and parts, i was just thinking, getting that weird video connector/cable is very hard to come by. can i just put there some SCART port?

If you are building the mini din 8 version, then yes you could wire up a SCART port instead. But I don't recommend that.

why not recommended?

Not recommended simply because it will be ugly and prone to breaking.

 

[Pap]

well if it's only about the looks and rigidty then i can make it work
where to look for pinout? to scart?

 

[Frank_fjs]

Pinout for the mini din 8 is within the main download.

 

[Arthrimus]

While I have you, it would be totally fantastic if I could incorporate your button remapping functionality into the next and upcoming supergun I'm planning. I'm at a comfy enough level with Arduino where I could do it myself, but why reinvent the wheel so to speak. Thoughts?

PM me and we'll discuss it.

 

[RockyArcade]

I am really hoping that the RAD2X can replace all of that.

The RAD2X cable works quite very well with my MVS boards! The picture is real sharp. The only thing I'm missing are scan lines...

I have not really had video problems with the MVS boards, but it is good to know they work well with the RAD2X. I generally have problems with Nintendo boards and some of the old shmups. For my troublesome boards I actually have a Minigun that I added some wires off the jamma connector to direct connect to a k7900 monitor. However I just built a Playchoice machine from scratch using that monitor and now I either need to figure out a better modern solution or get another k7900. I have plenty of gbs8200 boards and other solutions... The minigun is supposed to make it so I don't need those. To be honest, a Minigun and an OSSC is cheaper than a k7900 anyhow.

 

[evilsim]

i have been making 8 pin mini din male to 9 pin mini din female adapters for a while but this saves me the effort!! 9 pin mini din pressure got to @Frank_fjs (i still prefer 8 but hd retrovision (rgb -> yuv) cables can be used so its handy for my setup)

 

[Frank_fjs]

It was kind of the opposite really. I've always used and preferred 9 pin, but everyone pushed for 8 pin so I implemented it.

Now things have changed and people realise the shortcomings with 8 pin and benefits of 9 pin.

 

[Yami]

Hi,
is the minigun still for sale somewhere?

Thank you!

 

[evilsim]

@Frank_fjs I couldn't resist - I have ordered some 9pin mini Minigun PCB's !! Let me know if you want a PCB and I''ll ship you one.


If anyone wants to grab a plain PCB , DIY , or fully build MInigun w/ 9 pin mini din, I will have some soon. I still build and sell the OG v2.5 PCB's as well. I donate to Frank the creator as well.

9 pin mini din PCB's I ordered white
8 pin mini din PCB's I have are black

 

[Frank_fjs]

Dude, I'd love a 9 pin PCB. Thanks!

 

[Nearlylogical]

Greetings,

I'm am not sure if this is the place for this, but I am new to the Home Arcade life and I really like the idea of building my own super gun, but alas I lack a OSSC or really anyway of consuming an RGB signal. This gave me an idea, since I do have a way to work with S-Video and the Minigun was open source I would just modify it to output S-Video. To that end I added an RGBS header and PWR header to the basic board and made a hat that would convert the RGB + Sync signals into S-Video and Composite.

This is my first work in this area so I'm pretty worried about it working, but I thought I would post it here in case it is useful to anyone or if there is any feedback. I'm not sure how much use it will be to other though. I'll hold off on posting the modified Minigun board though unless Frank gives the go ahead, it's less of a derivative work and more of a tiny revision.

 

[Frank_fjs]

Awesome!

I can't open the PCB file at the moment due to being at work. Which IC did you use for the video conversion?

I've used the Sony CXA2075 and it has excellent s-video output, composite isn't too shabby either.

It's always been on my to do list to make a separate video conversion board.

 

[Nearlylogical]

I'm using the BH7236AF since I could find the spec sheet for it, but I'm not terribly committed to it. If CXA2075 has better results it wouldn't be too hard to switch over to it. They have the same pin out, just need to change a capacitor and change how the YTRAP works (CX uses a resistor to +5V and the BH uses a cap and inductor to GND) from what I can see.

This is my first video board and 2nd board ever so you may be horrified by what you see on the PCB haha...If so I'm sorry

 

[Nearlylogical]

Here is an updated version using the CXA2075M. There are some changes to align it to the reference documentation I found on Console5, but it essentially functions the same. I also swapped the RCA connector out so that it uses one that is found on Mouser and Digikey rather than a questionable one I found in my collection for the ease of others.

 

[obitus1990]

Same file as above, exported to Gerbers from the .json format in the original archive, in case anyone is interested

 

[Nearlylogical]

This is the final revision before I order a prototype, unless someone notices something wrong with the board. It's basically a completely new hat. I also had to make a few minor changes to the minigun itself. I'm still not completely happy with the stand off hole situation, and my trace routing is making me more and more nervous. Especially on the Minigun itself, everything is super compact. Frank did a very good job fitting everything in, it earns the Mini part of it's name.

Changes to Minigun

• I was worried about it only sitting on 1 standoff and 2 headers so I added a second stand off hole. It was hard to find a good spot on the minigun board for the hole though so it's still a bit awkward
• Added sound to the Video header to make it an AV header. Uses the sound off of the 3.5mm jack so it should turn off when headphones are attached
• Switched a 1x4 pin header to a 2x3 pin header and moved the header close to the 3.5 mm jack.
• Removed the power header and instead used the power header between the controller ports
• rerouted the RGBS traces a little bit to allow the signal to be forked to the AV header

Changes to the AV Hat

• Added Left and Right Audio RCA connectors for sound output.
• Moved all the RCA connectors to the front, they will be over the controller port. S-Video is still to the side
• Added a top level and bottom level GND plane for the AV connectors.
• Redid the component layout and all of the traces.

 

[djcalle]

Hi all, wondering if anyone has made a standalone board with only the RGB circuitry. Something that would be useful to use SCART tvs in a real cabinet?

 

[Pap]

This is the final revision before I order a prototype, unless someone notices something wrong with the board. It's basically a completely new hat. I also had to make a few minor changes to the minigun itself. I'm still not completely happy with the stand off hole situation, and my trace routing is making me more and more nervous. Especially on the Minigun itself, everything is super compact. Frank did a very good job fitting everything in, it earns the Mini part of it's name.

Changes to Minigun

• I was worried about it only sitting on 1 standoff and 2 headers so I added a second stand off hole. It was hard to find a good spot on the minigun board for the hole though so it's still a bit awkward
• Added sound to the Video header to make it an AV header. Uses the sound off of the 3.5mm jack so it should turn off when headphones are attached
• Switched a 1x4 pin header to a 2x3 pin header and moved the header close to the 3.5 mm jack.
• Removed the power header and instead used the power header between the controller ports
• rerouted the RGBS traces a little bit to allow the signal to be forked to the AV header

Changes to the AV Hat

• Added Left and Right Audio RCA connectors for sound output.
• Moved all the RCA connectors to the front, they will be over the controller port. S-Video is still to the side
• Added a top level and bottom level GND plane for the AV connectors.
• Redid the component layout and all of the traces.

sorry im also quite fresh here, so the minigun is not outputing audio on the din8/din9?

 

[the Goat]

sorry im also quite fresh here, so the minigun is not outputing audio on the din8/din9?

Minigun outputs audio on the mini din 8/9 as long as there is nothing plugged into the 1/8 inch audio jack.