Author:
Alberto Covarrubias
The GameLink Port
is the key to complete the VirtualE project for one reason, is the communication
port between VB and an external device, like PC. This document explains
how to build a homemade cable to perform this interface, to define some
questions and to invite anyone who is interested on this project, to take
some of this ideas and help.
How to make this wire?
The idea on where can we find a piece that
fits on the GameLink port cames to me when I saw a SNES picture in one
webpage. I began to remember that the AV cable had some similar parts
and I ran to my N64 to check if this piece could be helpful.
The surprise I found is that the edge of
this cable fits in height, but not in width with the VB GameLink port,
so, here is the beginning on how we can modify the AV Cable to fit.
The components we need are:
- A SNES or N64 Audio/Video cable. (this
piece will be mutilated so take this on mind before you attempt to continue).
You can find this piece for up to $3 USD at any game store, or if you
don't care about playing your SNES/N64 with an RF Switch cable... then
go ahead.
- A cutter or knife
to cut some plastic parts of the AV.
- Optionaly A sandpaper to polish some parts to make the piece as perfect
as possible.
Details
The steps to make the link plugin are:
1. First of all, check that the AV has at least 6
pins to be sure that your plug will work; if not, you can continue taking
in mind that you'll need to make at your own a substitution for those
pins, using either a cooper wire or a small cooper plate. My AV had 8
pins so I didn't need to make this parts, but you can use you imagination
if you need to do so.
2. Remove the big piece in the middle which covers
the inside components of the AV. Use a screwdriver on every corner arm
to remove this piece, or you can use brute force. I recomend the screw
because you can go back or you can store you piece for the future (you
never know if this piece will help you later). The plug part of the AV
is very important, so be careful and harmless with this piece. If you
mess it up with this piece, your attempt to make this plug will be over.
3. You will notice that the plugin has the wires
directly from cable to pins in the AV plug, so the next step is to remove
the pins on the AV plug to issolate the plug. Also remove the pins carefully
because this pieces are also very important. You can use again your screwdriver,
a small nipper, or whatever you want that keeps these parts safe of the
next step.
4. This is the most important step because if you
don't have precision here, all your work will be vanished. We will perform
here 2 complete cuts to convert this 12pin in a 8pin plug. I repeat, the
precision here is really important, so I recomend to see you plug in the
front, identify where are all pins and make the cuts based on the first
diagram below and on you own calculation. The green part on the diagram
shows the 2 parts that joined will bring us a plug for the gamelink port,
the blue part is the tolerance of our cut that can be polished and the
red part must be removed on both cuts. The second picture explains this
process.
5. If you're in this step, then everything is ok
and you've in your hand both pieces. Now check if this 2 joined pieces
fits with the VB Gamelink port, if they don't fit in width then you'll
need to continue the polish until they fit, you can also polish the upper
and lower parts of the plug if they don't fit in height.
6. Finally, put the pins on the holes and your plug
is ready for any electronic issue. You can solde to a PCB, a parallel
port or what ever you've in mind. The plug shall be as the following picture.
I hope this idea helps to find
out the complete pinout of the Linkport and I also hope to modify this
document with the complete information on all this stuff. Please write
to virtuale98@yahoo.com for any comments or questions.