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Minigun Supergun - An Open Source Supergun

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T-Allen said:
Hey, I'm pretty new to the supergun area. I bought a minigun v2.5 already assembled to use with some arcade boards that I own, outside of a cabinet. I want the display to go to either a consumer TV
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or I have several old monitors like this https://www.cnet.com/products/envision-en710e-crt-monitor-17/. I understand the pinout for the 8 pin mini din, but this is where I get stuck. I have 8 pin mini din connectors. If I were to make a cable with component RCA outs to the TV could that be done without any additional circuit? I do have a GBS 8200 V4.0 so maybe that is the best way. Connect the RGB to match to pins 876, respectively. Then match pin 4 to the ground on the 8200 and pin 3 (sync) to either the H-sync or V-sync on the GBS 8200. I would not connect +5v pin 5 from the mini din since I will not be using SCART. I would not wire the sound through the video cable so leave 1 and 2 unconnected. I might prefer to wire up the RCA cables for the TV if that works, but if not, the GBS would be OK. Do you think I am heading down the right path and do you have any advice? Thanks!
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The 9 pin version can make use of the Genesis 2 component cable from HD Retrovision. It works VERY well.

That doesn't really help you with your 8 pin board, but just wanted to let you know.
 
@T-Allen if you buy a RetroTink RGB2YUV adapter you will be able to convert the RGBs signal from your minigun into YUV/Component (the Red/Blue/Green on your TV). Then you can also use the RGB2YUV box to convert any other game consoles or RGB era stuff into your CRT TV. There are lots of devices which convert RGB to YUV, but Tinky's stuff is good (he's a rabbit).
 
evilsim said:
@T-Allen if you buy a RetroTink RGB2YUV adapter you will be able to convert the RGBs signal from your minigun into YUV/Component (the Red/Blue/Green on your TV). Then you can also use the RGB2YUV box to convert any other game consoles or RGB era stuff into your CRT TV. There are lots of devices which convert RGB to YUV, but Tinky's stuff is good (he's a rabbit).
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Hey @evilsim may I ask which of the devices specifically from RetroTink or is the one you mention here (RGB2YUV) discontinued? Cheers!
 
Hi @Frank_fjs (and community).

First, thanks for all your hard "work". I'm very happy to see this open (source) project and applaud your choice. All my projects are open too (https://github.com/Cpasjuste), i do like people sharing knowledge and such :)

Now for the interesting part, at least for me.. :) I'm planning to build your DIN9 board (good idea on that) to be used with a "stereo modded" MVS (mvs1b). So the board will only require +5v, and i'd like to add a micro usb port to power it as we now all have some adapters laying around...

So First, i'd like to know if you see a problem with that. I mean, i know that a 5v 2/3a adapter should work with the "stereo modded" mvs1b, but do you see any problem which could occur with that ?
Next, i'm "playing" with EasyEDA for the first time, i placed a micro usb connector, but i'm not sure how (if possible, as all is already very optimized by you) to cleanly route it to +5v and gnd. Do you think it's possible (see pic)? Do you think you could add it in your "stock" design as it could be interesting for some mvs users (at least?)? I'm not even sure i did choose the best micro usb socket...

Thanks again and see you soon ! :)


Capture d’écran de 2021-01-06 09-56-42.png
 
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@cpasjuste interesting idea ! Are you talking about powering your MVS and the minigun via a 2/3amp powered USB cable ? If the routing is not possible via a traceon the PCB you could always jumper a wire from the USB socket to the 6 pin power input on the minigun I guess.. Not as elegant as nice thick traces though.

I have many spare blank 8 pin mini din and 9 pin mini din PCB's if anyone on this forum wants to DIY, or so some random custom install using a minigun PCB. Message me I am happy to share for very little + cost of postage. I still use my personal minigun ALL the time, as well as my cab's when I get a chance to get away from the kids :)
 
evilsim said:
@cpasjuste interesting idea ! Are you talking about powering your MVS and the minigun via a 2/3amp powered USB cable ? If the routing is not possible via a traceon the PCB you could always jumper a wire from the USB socket to the 6 pin power input on the minigun I guess.. Not as elegant as nice thick traces though.

I have many spare blank 8 pin mini din and 9 pin mini din PCB's if anyone on this forum wants to DIY, or so some random custom install using a minigun PCB. Message me I am happy to share for very little + cost of postage. I still use my personal minigun ALL the time, as well as my cab's when I get a chance to get away from the kids :)
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Yes, powering the MiniGun (and mvs board) with a common micro usb cable (and adapter) would be awesome to me :) This prevent the need of buying a dedicated power adapter and such. I could wire it manually yes, but it would be so cool if it could be done "natively" with the proper routing.


Edit: so, i added the required routing, but i would need confirmation that the traces are not to small (width) for vcc and gnd, and if i did choose the correct micro usb socket (it seems i can't find it on digikey for example). I'm also not sure if the "mounting" holes are automatically added on the pcb :D

Capture d’écran de 2021-01-06 11-35-46.png



Edit 2: i also have a few mistake when i load the "project" in EasyEDA. Some stuff are upside down and not correctly placed (THS7374 and the two switches, see pic). There is also "my" usb socket which is not drawn ?! Fixed, the models were wrongly rotated.

Capture d’écran de 2021-01-06 11-50-31.png



Edit 3: i did replace the usb connector by one that is available on digi-key (10118194-0001LF), but it seems EasyEDA doesn't want it to be there (see yellow cross) while i don't think there is any interferences...

Capture d’écran de 2021-01-06 12-17-00.png


Edit 4: i did invert vcc and gnd, so it's harder than i thought as i have to cross vcc and gnd traces :) I'll try to find a socket with gnd "at the bottom"...


Edit 5: ok, so here is the "final" design, i still need confirmation that all seems ok and that it should work :D I did also use bigger traces in this one. I still have a problem when doing a DRC, it show errors for the 4 usb socket holes (Object: Copper Area(GND), Object: Pad(), DRC Clearance: 0.254mm), but i dont think it's a problem..

Capture d’écran de 2021-01-06 15-25-16.png

 
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Honestly, not a good idea for a Supergun. Even if MVS boot with low current (A) from USB, the project lose the propose that is worek with every single PCB (excluding -5V jamma).
Plus, there's no power consuming standard for USB, so pleople may use a 0.5A or 3A and a accident can occur. Not safe.
 
Raph_friend said:
Honestly, not a good idea for a Supergun. Even if MVS boot with low current (A) from USB, the project lose the propose that is worek with every single PCB (excluding -5V jamma).
Plus, there's no power consuming standard for USB, so pleople may use a 0.5A or 3A and a accident can occur. Not safe.
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In fact you can still use the board "normally" as the 12v connector is still present, and for the amperage I would say it's the same on all usb powered devices. The rpi(s) for example require a specific one (> 2a for 3+). Also, I'm not sure that providing a lower amperage would damage the board, I guess it would just not power on ?
 
Raph_friend said:
USB C can supply 12V directly?
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Correct. It starts at the legacy 5V 0.5A. But can supply up to 20V at 5A, if requested over the USB bus. But it is a negotiation. Not all USB-C chargers/hosts support all voltages & amperages in the standard.
 
That's correct. The standard is called USB Power Delivery. I've actually been doing some testing with that.

The issue is that USB-C only has a single power output and a maximum of 5A. So if you use 12v as your input voltage and use a regulator/buck converter to get 5v you still only have a total of 5A excluding the loss on the conversion.

A lot of PCBs won't run (CPS2, S16, Midway etc) on 5V/5A

I don't think it's possible to run a Supergun on USB voltages for purely this reason but happy to be proven wrong. My consolized MV2 runs quite happily on USB-C and I'm working on converting other things at the moment.
 
xodaraP said:
That's correct. The standard is called USB Power Delivery. I've actually been doing some testing with that.

The issue is that USB-C only has a single power output and a maximum of 5A. So if you use 12v as your input voltage and use a regulator/buck converter to get 5v you still only have a total of 5A excluding the loss on the conversion.

A lot of PCBs won't run (CPS2, S16, Midway etc) on 5V/5A

I don't think it's possible to run a Supergun on USB voltages for purely this reason but happy to be proven wrong. My consolized MV2 runs quite happily on USB-C and I'm working on converting other things at the moment.
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Hi there!

I'm not sure to fully understand. For my use case (mvs1b with stereo mod @ 5v ~2a), are you saying it won't work ? I guess I didn't understand it correctly :)
 
cpasjuste said:
Hi there!

I'm not sure to fully understand. For my use case (mvs1b with stereo mod @ 5v ~2a), are you saying it won't work ? I guess I didn't understand it correctly :)
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Your setup will work, as long as you use a USB power supply that will provide that amperage. Original USB is capped at 0.5 Amps. So not all USB supplies will provide 2A.
 
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