DIYing a plug that fits the PlayStation's parallel port to boot from a ROM - part 14

from Michal's blog

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Subarticle of DIYing a plug that fits the... | PlayStation development | Published 2022-03-13 16:28:53 UTC

So, I fixed the 5 broken pins. But guess what? Another 5 pins (which worked completely fine before) started to act up! So I even fixed those, but some still remained broken and some other unrelated pin all of a sudden started bending its matching pin inside the console's connector! Words cannot describe my frustration that I am experiencing right now.

Anyway, what do I do now? I need the connector to be at least somewhat stable so that the PlayStation can execute code from the ROM, but clearly this won't do.

For the time being, I guess I'll just try soldering the ROM directly to the motherboard's pins. If that works, then I have multiple paths to take:

  1. Continue trying to get this stupid connector to work – painful
  2. Buy some legit connectors (from Cybdyn or DigiKey) – expensive
  3. Desolder the PlayStation's 68 pin connector and replace it with a readily available 2x20 pin pin header with 2.54 mm (0.1") pitch – actually might not be terrible

I'll just leave it at that. If I decide in the future to axe the project, remember that all of the project files (3D models, videos, PCB schematic & layout) are available in this thread in case anyone is suicidal enough to attempt to do this at home.

Sorry to everyone who was looking forward to a fully functional homebrew PlayStation Parallel I/O connector, but as I've already said, there is a reason why nobody has ever dared to do this.


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MottZilla (Archived from PSXDEV.net) | Posted on 2022-03-13 22:36:10 UTC

Weren't you using old capacitor or resistor leads as pins though? Using something more appropriate would solve that issue.

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