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PS Hanami

YveltalGriffin

First Wii U Trimmer
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Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
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Location
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I built this Playstation 1 portable in one month for MGC 2023! I have no clue why it's taken me so long to make a Cutting Edge post for it. The build process (trimming, CAD work, assembly) is documented in my worklog.

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This is an old-school portable with lots of hot glue. I wanted crispy video quality, so it uses a Shinobi Scaler to linedouble the PS1's RGB to VGA. But other than that, it has no custom PCBs!

Features:
  • 181 x 91.5 x 30.25 mm, case printed in white PLA
  • Original PU-18 PS1 motherboard, cut in half, folded and rewired
  • 2S1P 3500mAh 18650s with "red board"— ~2.5hrs of battery life
  • Trimmed Xstation ODE by Robert Neumann (ramapcsx2) with push-push SD card slot and disc tray button
  • Shinobi Scaler running GBS-Control by ramapcsx2 for impeccably crisp integer scaled 480p VGA (scanlines in 240p mode!)
  • Dualshock controller with rumble, but no analog sticks. All buttons/triggers use orange squishy tacts
  • PicoMemcard+ with 16GB microSD for unlimited game saves
  • Beefy enclosed stereo speakers and PAM8803 amp
  • Wriststrap loop with official Sony Pocketstation strap! :awesome:
I wasn't kidding when I said this portable was old-school. It has some major problems!

Issues:
  • No volume controls
  • Power LED and reset button are not wired up
  • Latching power button is finicky and accidentally brushing it can turn the unit off
  • No heatsinks, so it gets nice and toasty after a while
  • The Shinobi Scaler uses luma as sync and sometimes latches onto composite video noise which makes the picture all noisy. A reboot usually fixes it
  • No graceful shutdown or smart BMS— the screen just stops working when the batteries get too low
Close-up pics:

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Size comparison with PS Vita 2000
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Internals
:

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As mentioned above, in order to fit the PU-18 motherboard into this small of a case I had to cut it in half and fold it. Lots and lots of magnet wire!

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Here are some photos to demonstrate the amazing video quality Shinobi Scaler provides with both 480i and 240p input.
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Here's a video showing the PicoMemcard+ functioning:

The green LED that shines through the shell is from the PicoMemcard+. It flashes red when saves are being written to the SD card. I think it looks pretty cool in low light, along with the LCD backlight bleed! Also, you can manage the memory cards via Xstation which is cool.
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Finally, here's a video showing the process of loading an audio CD after a game ISO, so I can play Vib-Ribbon with a custom song! This was the whole point of using an exotically-trimmed PU-18 since later, smaller motherboard revisions aren't compatible with Xstation or Vib-Ribbon!

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Mission accomplished!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 16, 2022
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Location
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It's a nice project, been waiting for a guide on this. I've got a pu-18 motherboard
 
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