Legible SNES Schematics

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qwertymodo
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by qwertymodo »

jwdonal wrote:This is really cool! Thanks! Would you mind doing me a favor and renaming the files so it's easy to tell which picture belongs to which revision of board? :)
Done
Pasky
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by Pasky »

I forgot to say, I really would appreciate some legible schematics and thank you for your efforts. I'd also like to see some for the other revisions as well.
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jwdonal
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by jwdonal »

Pasky wrote:I'd also like to see some for the other revisions as well.
The schematics that I post will be for the 2nd revision of the console with a diagram of the 24-pin connector used by the SHVC-SOUND connector on the 1st revision board. I think schematics of the other revisions is much less useful since there is far less "resolution" into what is going on due to the merged components. But more (nintendo) power to whoever feels up to it! :)
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jwdonal
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by jwdonal »

qwertymodo wrote:http://db.tt/FqKWwx3n
These are really great. Thanks again!

--

On a side note, does anyone know where I could buy a (working) revision 2 console? It's incredibly difficult to find one since the rev2 and rev3 look exactly alike from the outside. I've emailed people selling them on eBay and asked if they could look inside for me but this is problematic for two reasons:

1) 99% of people don't have the required game bit to open the console
2) It's rather difficult to explain to them what I'm looking for on the PCB for people who are not engineering types.

I've also purchased a couple SNES' from local retro gaming stores and they were both rev3. And they don't want to let you open the console to look inside. Which is stupid because all I do is buy it, take it home, open it, and return it. Haha. Kind of a pain.

Am I absolutely correct that there is no way whatsoever to tell between rev2 and rev3 from the outside? Is there a way to tell by looking at the serial number??
Pasky
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by Pasky »

Revision 2 has the embossed eject button and serial lower than SN30xxxxx
qwertymodo
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by qwertymodo »

I'd be happy to sell the rev 2 console from the photos I took, but I'd have to check whether or not it works. Do you need the whole console/shell/etc, or just the PCB?
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jwdonal
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by jwdonal »

Pasky wrote:Revision 2 has the embossed eject button and serial lower than SN30xxxxx
Can you clarify a little? So if you look at the 2nd/3rd revision console in this image I posted: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/362 ... de_bot.jpg
Which revision would that be? A couple differences from what you describe are that the serial starts with UN instead of SN and the serial number also has 8 digits rather than the 7 digits you have shown (SN30xxxxx). Assuming you meant 8 digits and not 7, and assuming that the UN/SN designator doesn't matter then I would classify the console shown in the image as revision 2. Is that correct?
qwertymodo wrote:Do you need the whole console/shell/etc, or just the PCB?
I really only _need_ the PCB, but I'd _want_ to have the whole thing. ;)
qwertymodo
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by qwertymodo »

jwdonal wrote:
qwertymodo wrote:Do you need the whole console/shell/etc, or just the PCB?
I really only _need_ the PCB, but I'd _want_ to have the whole thing. ;)
Would you mind if I didn't bother to reassemble it? :P
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infiniteneslives
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by infiniteneslives »

Still need good pictures? It looks like my main unit is v2 based on the 2 rubber feet and embossed FCC.

If this is good enough to confirm that's the case I'll fully disassemble it and get good pics/scans.
Image
If you're gonna play the Game Boy, you gotta learn to play it right. -Kenny Rogers
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jwdonal
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by jwdonal »

Yep, that's the one! The more pics/scans the better! :)
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jwdonal
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by jwdonal »

Making progress. Finally got all the components, pinouts, and pin definitions done. I can't believe how much I've learned about the SNES architecture just by doing this alone. Pretty awesome. Here is a 1000ft view: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/362 ... gress2.png

Now I just gotta add all the traces, resistors, caps, etc... I think the most time consuming part is out of the way.
Last edited by jwdonal on Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
nocash
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by nocash »

jwdonal wrote:the actual schematic when printed to PDF (or whatever) is ultra-high resolution.
Please don't focus on high-resolution! A scale-able hires version would be nice, but the most important thing (for screen viewing) would be ultra-low-resolution, with very-tiny-but-legible font, and best in a minimalistic 1-bpp gif/png format (without antialising, just plain black and white pixels).
jwdonal wrote:I think schematics of the other revisions is much less useful
Yup, as a schematic, the 1chip-snes would be less informative (as you said, the details are all hidden inside of the chip). But the CPUN-A (160pin chip with CPU and PPU1 and PPU2 in one chip) pinouts would be interesting. Currently there's no info for people who want to do modding on the mainboard. If somebody would want to trace them out: go ahead!
hyarion
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by hyarion »

why not use the PCB revision names instead of those numbers?

SHVC-CPU-01 (1990): first NTSC revision, separate sound board
SNS-CPU-GPM-01 (1992), SNS-CPU-GPM-02 (1993), SNS-CPU-RGB-01 (1994), SNS-CPU-RGB-02 (1995): sound parts integrated on main PCB
SNS-CPU-APU-01 (1995): SPC, DSP and sound RAM integrated on the same IC (APU)
SNS-CPU-1CHIP-01 (1995), SNS-CPU-1CHIP-02 (1995), SNS-CPU-1CHIP-03 (1995): like the APU version but with CPU, PPU1, PPU2 integrated in one IC (CPUN)
SNN-CPU-01 (1997): Jr/Mini, reduced version of the 1CHIP version
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jwdonal
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by jwdonal »

nocash wrote:but the most important thing (for screen viewing) would be ultra-low-resolution, with very-tiny-but-legible font, and best in a minimalistic 1-bpp gif/png format (without antialising, just plain black and white pixels).
Hmm...I'm not sure exactly how to do that in an automated way (i.e. I don't want to have to maintain two different sets of schematics. I'll have to look into it.
hyarion wrote:why not use the PCB revision names instead of those numbers?
That is really awesome. I was not aware that anyone had figured out the PCB revisions. Thanks a lot for the info. I have added it to my previous post. :)
tepples
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Re: Legible SNES Schematics

Post by tepples »

jwdonal wrote:
nocash wrote:but the most important thing (for screen viewing) would be ultra-low-resolution, with very-tiny-but-legible font, and best in a minimalistic 1-bpp gif/png format (without antialising, just plain black and white pixels).
Hmm...I'm not sure exactly how to do that in an automated way (i.e. I don't want to have to maintain two different sets of schematics. I'll have to look into it.
It's called SVG. Render at high res, render at low res, it's still the same file, and it'll still look sharp as long as your coordinates are aligned to the grid.
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