Even Huger MegaDrive Modification Project
I'm also working on a project involving the Sega MegaDrive. It's actually the US Model 1, but I prefer the name MD over Genesis.Here's a rundown of the features ..
The PCB is mounted with wood screws into a wooden box. This box is attached via hinges to another identical box housing a PC with a 450 MHz CPU, 64 MB PC100 RAM, a VooDoo 3, 100 MBps ethernet, onboard audio, etc. The box closes with 2 latches, and can be carried by the 2 handles on top, one on either half of the box.
Inside the machine is a metal shelf mounted in a groove in the wood. On this, w/ velcro, are 2 switches. One is a 2-position toggle switch to turn the machine On/Off. Another is a moment switch to reset it.
The CPU is wired up to a small board containing oscillators to feed different clockrates to the 68000, and a halt switch on the front panel halts the chip so you can change speeds while the machine is running. On the front of the box will be either a keylock switch (using a key, of course) to toggle between clock speeds for the 68000 (main CPU). The clockrates I am going to use are the original 7.6, then the additional ones 10, 12, 13.4, and if the CPU can handle them, 15 and 16 MHz.
Also mounted in front is a very bright red LED. In the back of the machine is an 80mm fan, the clear variety with occasionally-blinking green LEDs. A small heatsink is mounted on the VDP, as it tends to become reasonably warm during gameplay. This is to improve stability when overclocked. The heatsink is also grounded to block out RF interference to the VDP.
On the back of the machine are 3 RCA ports. One for Left and Right channel audio, and one for Composite video. There's also an RF port for older displays. I'd add RGB if I had any RGB monitors.
Written on the front is MEGADRIVE GENESIS in hiragana. The theme of the machine is to look, basically, like an old 1970's homebrew computer project. The parts are newer, of course, but the box was from an ancient Electronics Education Set sort of thing .. very, very old. So it looks extremely vintage. I might use a black standard fan instead of the clear LED one, it'll depend on how retro it looks in operation.
Oh, by the way, the MegaDrive runs off of PC power from a molex connector. This way there is more than enough amperage to drive all the extra components, and no second power adapter's needed, just the standard PC cable.
What do you think? I've got this project about halfway complete now. I just need to get a couple of parts before I finish it up.
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