PMO-230L MO Drive DIP settings

 

These settings can be hard to find on the web, so I'm reposting them here for anyone who might be using one of these drives in their retro setup.

SW1 to SW3 are SCSI-ID

ID	SW1	SW2	SW3
0	OFF	OFF	OFF
1	ON	OFF	OFF
2	OFF	ON	OFF
3	ON	ON	OFF
4	OFF	OFF	ON
5	ON	OFF	ON
6	OFF	ON	ON

SW 4: Operation mode setting

ON: ICM mode

OFF: Original mode

SW5: Setting of PC to connect

ON: This setting is set for Macintosh series PC.

OFF: Other than Macintosh (PC-98 series / DOS / V personal computer, etc.), this setting

SW6: Device type setting

ON: MO device

OFF: HD device

Managing Large Playlists in Hiby OS

 If you're in the market for a modern PMP (portable media player), I can't recommend the Hiby line enough.  Their range of players cover every price segment.  The cheapest option, the R2, is also the smallest.

This portability comes at a cost though.  Creating and maintaining playlists on such a small screen is less than ideal.  It turns out the operating system (Hiby OS) utilizes the .m3u format for playlists.  This makes it extremely easy to transfer them from your computer to the R2, assuming of course, you're using the same directory structure for your collection.

I use the excellent software MusicBee to manage and play music on the PC.  First, create a test playlist (one or two songs max) on your R2.  This will ensure you know where to add your .m3u files on the sd card, and show the file pathing.  Pop your sd into the computer.  In the root directory, you should see a folder called playlist_data.  Now create a new playlist (or edit an existing one if needed) locally on your machine.  Once you are ready, export it and open this file with a text editor.  I recommend one with advanced features like notepad++ (for my example I'll be using this) or Atom.

The directory pathing will vary based on your setup.  In my case, the music is stored on a NAS, hence what you see above.  We need to edit every line so it matches the pathing in Hiby OS.  Thankfully this is easy to do with a proper text editing program.  For notepad++ the trick is holding ALT + Shift and using the arrow keys to select the text you want to change.

The pathing for Hiby OS is such that your music structure (folders and all) must be under the "a drive".  As you can see in the screenshots, \\FILEBOX\ has been replaced with a:\ across every line in the file.  Since you will have mass selected the beginning of every line at this point, you will only need a few key strokes to edit the entire file.  Now save your changes and move the .m3u playlist files to the aforementioned playlist_data folder on the sd card.  Boot up your R2 (with the sd card inserted) and navigate to the playlist section and choose the option to load.

If you followed these instructions (and the music directory structure of the sd card is matching your computer) the playlists should populate with the correct tracks.  Hope this helps someone out there!

I'd like to note I have only tested this on the R2 player, but in theory should work across all models since they run the same OS.

Hori FightingStick PS conversion

Something interesting I came across on twitter: These old Hori fight sticks have both the PlayStation (PS) and Saturn (SS) headers on the PCB.

I was searching for a good Saturn controller for my fighting games and this seemed like a cool project.  I purchased the cheapest one I could find, which ended up being the PS version.  It actually looked very similar to the first picture above, rust and all.

What was not mentioned in the tweet, is that these controllers come with at least two different PCB variants.  This is important to note, because the header wiring is reversed depending which one you have.  Mine was model 0888-31 (versus model 0888-100A).

CN2 is where the PlayStation cable was hooked up.  CN1 is the unused Saturn header.  I soldered in a spare Saturn controller cable which I sourced from a Gen 1 US pad - these are absolute shit so it won't be missed!  Unlike the 0888-100A PCB, pin 1 is white.  Stripping the controller cable was surprisingly difficult as they are very small gauge and have thread intertwined.  I then soldered on additional wire for slack.  I used the same colors except for the blue wire, which is now purple:

You can keep both controller cables connected, but I removed the PlayStation one as I intend to only use this with my Saturn.  Restoration is ongoing so I will save those pics for a future post - but the controller works!

8bitdo N30 Sanwa Mod

Almost forgot this blog existed 😅

Earlier this year I decided to swap out the components in my N30 - the stock ones get the job done, but are garbage in comparison to quality arcade sticks.  This is an extremely easy mod if you know basic soldering.

The default joystick is soldered to the harness, while the JLF I chose uses a connector.  So the wires have to be soldered directly to the micro switches like the stock unit.

You then need to cut three of the traces so each switch can be properly grounded.  Circles in red show where they have been cut (used an x-acto knife).  Here is the finished product:

The buttons are just drop in replacements, no modification needed.

BOM:

• 1x Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT-SK-VER
• 8x Sanwa OBSF-30

Hope this helps someone out there!