I built this to support a couple NES peripherals I'm working on. It's a simple adapter which allows you to use a 40-pin IDE cable with the NES Expansion port. That way you can hack an IDE cable into the breadboard of your choice and you're ready to start testing your own hardware. I excluded the Audio In, Audio Out, Video Out, Unregulated VDD as well as the duplicate pins for a grand total of 39 pins to match the IDE cable pinout. All digital signal pins are passed through.
If anyone is interested in one of these for their own hardware project, I had two enhancements in mind. One, add a 3.5mm jack to the board for Audio In. Two, put a jumper on the board so the user can select between 5v and the unregulated DC line. I've found that running my peripheral off the 5v line can cause the 7805 on the NES mainboard to heat up drastically. Running a peripheral (mine is 3.3v) with a switched regulator off the ~8v unregulated DC line helps quite a bit.
I took these shots while dry fitting it prior to soldering everything together. If you look closely you'll see that the EXP connector is in fact a cut up ISA slot. Finally found a reliable way to reduce the outer wall thickness (to ~.025") as well as separate the two sides (for .125" width) without any damage to the pins. The connector fits snugly into the EXP port and provides sufficient tension to avoid becoming dislodged. If you decide to cut your own, a digital caliper is a must have. I used this as an excuse to finally get one.
If anyone is interested in one of these for their own hardware project, I had two enhancements in mind. One, add a 3.5mm jack to the board for Audio In. Two, put a jumper on the board so the user can select between 5v and the unregulated DC line. I've found that running my peripheral off the 5v line can cause the 7805 on the NES mainboard to heat up drastically. Running a peripheral (mine is 3.3v) with a switched regulator off the ~8v unregulated DC line helps quite a bit.
I took these shots while dry fitting it prior to soldering everything together. If you look closely you'll see that the EXP connector is in fact a cut up ISA slot. Finally found a reliable way to reduce the outer wall thickness (to ~.025") as well as separate the two sides (for .125" width) without any damage to the pins. The connector fits snugly into the EXP port and provides sufficient tension to avoid becoming dislodged. If you decide to cut your own, a digital caliper is a must have. I used this as an excuse to finally get one.