Cyber Akuma

I never looked too much in the GBA8200 Control modifications because I always figured it would be a waste of money when I someday get a Retrotink X5, OSSC Pro (whenever that comes out) or something better.... but it's been years and I still can't really afford them yet, so I figured it would at least help to have a cheaper upscaler for now until I can get something better... if they ever come out. I have been watching several videos, reading the last few months of pages on the GBS8200 on the SHmup forums and read through the Wiki. Many of my questions got answered, but there is still a lot I don't fully get, especially with different people doing things in different ways. I am probably far over-thinking this, but I haven't done much soldering projects before so what I have to follow to the letter and what alternate options I have are still new to me. I mostly got information from the RetroRGB video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmfR0XI5czI And Mass Video Gamer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZftKgnI0gvM But I also viewed others like Long Island Gaming and Voultar's First thing I want to say is that I am by no means very experienced with soldering, about the most I have done is replace SRAM batteries in my carts, but the soldering does not look too difficult for this job with all the solder points being fairly large. Only worry is soldering to chip pins... and I think I might have the skip the capacitor mods unless there is an easier way than stacking them. The RetroRGB video shows him removing the power header (3 min mark on RetroRGB video), but says you can just solder to the bottom instead. Others seem to have kept it. Is there any reason to actually remove this header? Seems like it would be a lot easier to use an adapter (apparently the GBS8200 will come with one?) than to remove it and solder to the exposed holes. Seems like on top of the smaller 2-pin header for power, and the other is a larger 4-pin header for something called SDA and SDL (9:15 min mark on Mass Video Gamer video). All of this seem to connect to the WiFi board. Can I just get the proper headers for these and avoid having to solder those wires to the GBS2800 board? (I know I will still need to solder one wire to a chip pin, which would be the most annoying one, but I would like to avoid soldering as much as possible to reduce chances of breaking it). I also noticed that some board models seem to not have a connector soldered to P5, just P6, and some have the 4-pin connector on both. Are these just replicated versions of the same port and I can use P6 if P5 is not populated so I can just use a connector instead of soldering directly to it? And if so where would I find those? (I think it's called a PH-4A or a JST PH? Not sure). One oddity I saw in the Mass Video Gamer video is that he solders the power and ground for the WiFi module from the 2-pin header instead of the 4-pin one like almost everyone else does. Is there any specific reason for this? He claimed doing this is better? Is there a reason to do it this way or no? And speaking of the WiFi board, I found several versions of the ESP8266 cheaper than the one recommended by RetroRGB, and the WiKi if this is still up to date claims the "Wemos D1" and "NodeMCU" models are the ones to get. Any differences between these two models in function or performance? The one RetroRGB recommended is this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HF44GBT But it's the priciest one, and I found a similar one at Micro Center and Amazon for much less that appears to be the same device but for much less? https://www.microcenter.com/product/458078/adafruit-industries-huzzah-esp8266-breakout Or is that not a recommended model? I saw others on Amazon that claimed they were a NodeMCU one for even less, but I am skeptical if those are even authentic: https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Internet-Development-Wireless-Micropython/dp/B010O1G1ES I know that the WiFi board can cause interference. Is there a version that causes more/less than the others? Any recommended locations to place the WiFi board? I know that in Voultar's video he sort of set it on it's side near the J5/J6 port area (And many people on the Shmup forum thread seemed to start doing that method), but I don't know if I have the skills to do that, and it would require de-soldering the J5 port and I would really prefer to use a connector. That is, unless it would still be possible to mount the WiFi module on it's side while the connector is still soldered onto the GBS8200 board. I know I will still need to solder the other ends of the wires directly to the WiFi board, but using a connector for the GBS8200 side looks a lot easier, plus if I break the WiFi board from soldering it's much cheaper to replace than the GBS8200 if I break something soldering directly to that. And again, are the P5 and P6 ports the same port and I can solder the WiFi board to either, or are they different ports and I have to use a specific one? I could have sworn I saw some solder to P5 and others to P6 so I am confused. Moving on from the WiFi module, RetroRGB's video shows using a "Scart Cleaner" and said with that you don't have to worry about adding/removing resistors for SCART input over VGA port (Although that video showed a DVI version using a DVI to VGA adapter. Any real reason to get DVI over VGA and then a DVi to VGA adapter on top of that?), would that work or would I still need to add that resistor? I wasn't able to find any places in the US that sell them, only in the UK. Are there any US sellers of those? And if I would still need that resistor anyway, is there any reason not to have that resistor just soldered onto the SCART input? Any type of input, like from an old PC or other device, that I would not want the resistor on there? If so, can I just wire the resistor up to a switch to turn it on/off when needed? The Scart Cleaner seems to need it's own USB power though, the video claimed you can "wire power directly to the board". There is also the fact that the VGA to HDMI adapter that many use for this ALSO needs the same type of USB power. Would it be too much if I wired both of them to the board? I am not even sure what would be the best way to go about that. This was the main reason I wanted to use the P5/P6's power pins for the WiFi board if that is not a bad idea, so then I can use teh 2-pin power just for those adapters. Can I just split the cable from the 2-pin connector for that port that the GBS8200 comes with to both adapters? Or even split it three ways to the WiFi (if it's better to use this as the source), SCART, and HDMI adapter? Or would splitting it that many ways cause interference? What about splitting it to just the WiFi and HDMI adapter then? Another video I saw from Mass Video Gamer claimed that ribbon cable that all of them seem to come with can function as a SCART input if you wire the bare ends of the wires to a SCART connector. Is method better than using a Scart Cleaner to convert the SCART signal to the VGA input? Is there any reason not to go that connector's route vs the SCART-to-VGA Scart Cleaner route? Do I still need to add a resistor somewhere if I go with this method? And if this does work fine, are the any guides to how to wire that up to a female SCART port? I tried to Google for them but was not able to find an understandable one, the Mass Video Gamer video had a link to a pinout but it was not clear what wire goes where other than just the RGB wires. As for power supply, I could not find any recommended specs for one, not even on the Wiki. Other than getting one that outputs 5 volts instead of more/less I could not get a definitive answer on how much amperage I would need. Some claimed 1A is enough, some claimed 4A is barely enough for the board, and more if you also want to power additional components like a VGA to HDMI adapter. Can I get any clarification on how powerful a PSU I would need? The one One RetroRGB recommended is kind of expensive, and honestly? Looks like some cheap random PSU you would see on eBay shipping from China that I would not trust: https://www.amazon.com/Triad-Magnetics-Ac-Dc-Converter-External/dp/B00DEDN9BM Others seemed to recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/Powseed-Universal-Adapter-Household-Electronics/dp/B01MT5WVCG/ And others recommended just to use a USB to Barrel cable like this: https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Compatible-Notebook-Splitter-Speaker/dp/B07MCLGC8F/ Is using a USB PSU/USB to Barrel cable are a bad idea over just getting a PSU with the proper barrel connector? If they are reliable/not a bad idea I suppose I could also get one with 2-3 ports to power the other adapters instead of making them all pull power from the GBS8200 itself, would that make any difference in anything? Unfortunately, I don't think I would be good enough at soldering to attempt the mods that add additional capacitors to filter the signal even more, last time I tried to solder a wire to a surface-mount capacitor I wound up melting it off the board and having it stick to the iron, burning to a crisp. (I am already worried enough about the two wires I have to solder to that surface-mount component for the clock gen). Specifically, I am talking about the mods "Remove C11, optionally replace with 22uF (6.3V to 16V) electrolytic cap" and "Add 10uf / 22uf ceramic SMD capacitors in parallel to stock ones (x4) C23, C41(alternative: C43), C42, C48". How much do these mods effect the quality of the output if I am not able to do them? (I saw one example in the Wiki that you can solder them to the BOTTOM of the board to avoid stacking them on top of each other? This looks like it would be much easier and less risky to do, is this method viable? Any difference in quality? Or can I just remove those four caps and replace them with a single one that's higher capacity instead? Or did I mis-understand what stacking the caps does and this would not work?) And finally for software, the Wiki specifically mentions not to use any version of the "esp8266 by ESP8266 Community" library that is version 3.0 or newer as it breaks things, is this still the case or is this outdated info? I don't have a problem using 2.7.4 if that's still an issue, but I would like to use the latest if that has been fixed. Considering I don't really have much soldering/electronic work equipment other than some old cheap soldering irons and solder/flux, with the GBS8200, Power Supply, ESP8266 WiFi Module, Clock Generator, VGA to HDMI converter so I get HDMI output, and Scart Cleaner is it even still worth it as a budget upscaler until I can afford something like the upcoming OSCC Pro or upcoming 4K Retrotink or whatever else might come to compete with those? Or am I starting to make the costs pile up to the point where it's not really a good value over others at this point? Also wondering if I should just get the one from Chipnetics. I kind of really want to try building my own, but I also worry about screwing it up, and likely not being able to do the two mods where you solder caps I mentioned to make it better quality, although I don't know if that one has those mods applied. (Also claims it has a "sync seperator and cleaner", not sure what that mod is or if it would give me problems with anything.) Speaking of building it myself, are there any places in the US still selling a cheap casing/cover for it? Most links for cases I found were dead. Ouch, this post ended up being far larger than I expected... and I even cut out a few questions that I was able to find out the answers to. Is there anything else that anyone can tell I may have missed that I should also know about this?

Hmm... I suppose that's an option. How well does the save backup/restore feature even work? I know, most of those devices I mentioned have the primary purpose of dumping carts, the save backup/restore feature is more of a bonus due to it already being able to dump the cart itself anyway. I want to backup my saves though, not just keep the battery going.

I have a N64 and PS1 Dex Drive actually. The issue with that though is that it only lets me backup N64 memory cards, many of the games saved to the cartridge itself, not to memory cards. And you misunderstood, my issue is specifically with the Retron taking OTHER'S emulators, many of which are released under a non-commercial license, and selling them, making a profit off of other's work without giving the creators a cent. I don't have an issue with emulators themselves.

Those batteries don't last forever, and I can't keep track of all my batteries to replace them... not to mention one mistake during replacement and poof it's all gone. But I can't find much ways to actually back then up. Mostly games older than N64, but if I could also add N64 in there as well that would be very helpful. I don't really need to worry about GBA and later since those are easy to backup. I can't see to find any reasonable options for N64 and older however: Retrode ceased production long ago and is no longer being made, the only retailer has been out of stock forever. Used ones go for absurd amounts on ebay. Sanni's cart reader is only available as a parts list and schematics, I have ZERO electronics or soldering skills. I can SOMETIMES replace the save battery of a cart or extend a wire, that's about it. I definitely cannot put together a circuit board just from schematics and a parts list. A Retron would be very expensive to just use as a save backup device, plus I really don't want to support them since that thing is just a bunch of Android emulators, many of them without a commercial license, being sold for profit. Do I have any options before my saves are gone? Assuming not all of mine are gone just yet.

AFAIK, it's a standard 3.7 volt Li-Ion battery, I don't believe it has any sort of chips or protection, though it does have a connector, but I am pretty sure that is standard too. Random ebay listings have the same issues as buying on Amazon that I mentioned, if not moreso.

Sony's stance on the batteries in their PS3 controllers is simple: If it dies, then you need to replace the whole controller. Anyone who has taken more than 2 seconds to look into this though knows this is nonsense and one can easily replace the battery..... issue is, since Sony's stance on it is "It's not user-replaceable", they don't sell replacement batteries.... which means you have to rely on a 3rd party to get one. And the issue with THAT is that nearly all of them are garbage. Tons of replacement batteries on Amazon and other sites... but many of them have reviews of people complaining the battery overheats, or didn't last half a year, or plenty of other such problems. Sure, the majority of reviews might be 5/5 or 4/5... but nearly all of those were written nearly immediately after getting the product, not after they have had the product for a while. It's a total crapshoot... with the odds not being in your favor... if any 3rd party battery you find is decent quality or not. That's why I am asking here. Is anyone aware of any DS3 3rd party batteries that are actually good quality and reliable?