Does the use of the external control board need to have the RPI?

Peabo wrote on 2025-04-11, 00:50:

Does the use of the external control board need to have the RPI?

No -- the external control board does not need an additional Pi Pico. The only reason you would want an additional Pi Pico is if you want the HTTP control interface instead.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-03-21, 17:13:

Looking more-or-less ready to go. These pictures are just a test mount to make sure the footprints for everything is good, nothing is actually wired up for real here.

I've added some chamfering to the inside of it so that the board will slide into the tray a little easier, and so it's easier to screw down.

There are two versions of the drive mount -- one that takes tactile switches, and another that takes SPST-NO pushbuttons. See below for the parts needed for each.

Just printing it....

Ever thought about splitting this into two parts so the front panel could be printed face down for a smoother surface and later screwed or glued to the main part?

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-04-11, 12:48:

Just printing it....

Ever thought about splitting this into two parts so the front panel could be printed face down for a smoother surface and later screwed or glued to the main part?

I've tried a couple of things -- PrusaSlicer has a function where you can add studs to a cut surface for a press-fit -- but so far, this has been the best solution I've come up with. Not saying it can't be done, of course, but I'm going to need to dig out a few extra brain cells as my mental capacity has been a bit reduced this week 🤣

mbalmer wrote on 2025-04-11, 04:23:

Peabo wrote on 2025-04-11, 00:50:

Does the use of the external control board need to have the RPI?

No -- the external control board does not need an additional Pi Pico. The only reason you would want an additional Pi Pico is if you want the HTTP control interface instead.

Thanks, that wasn't clear. I received the final parts for the control board today and assembled it. Works like a champ. The encoder I bought does do 4 or so indents before changing, but not too annoying. It beats having to change out an SD card or use the web interface to change an ISO.

I've tested .iso and bin/cue so far with no issues. Doing great on this project, thanks for all the effort

So far I've tested over 100 CD images - 4 refused to load & 2 it gave read errors at boot or while playing (obviously I didn't play each game for hours so there may be more) but these might be bad images or may be corrupted in some way. I'll rip them from my own media.

I'll post my Excel file here when I've tested enough and after I've tried other images to see if it's inherent to the ZuluIDE or just a problem with the ISO or BIN file.

Is it planned to sell ready assembled devices already mounted on a front panel ready for use?
That would be nice for people lacking time or construction skills or whatever reason.

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-04-11, 12:48:

Just printing it....

I think it came out just nice. But I still think the printing job would be faster and result in a better front panel texture if the front panel could be printed separately.

crusher wrote on 2025-05-06, 06:37:

Is it planned to sell ready assembled devices already mounted on a front panel ready for use?
That would be nice for people lacking time or construction skills or whatever reason.

Yes. That's ultimately the plan, is to provide them pre-assembled with a drive mount. The revised control board is essentially done, along with the drive mount designed to fit that board, and they should be made available for sale here relatively soon.

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-05-06, 07:02:

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-04-11, 12:48:

Just printing it....

I think it came out just nice. But I still think the printing job would be faster and result in a better front panel texture if the front panel could be printed separately.

You can try printing it face-down on the bed; depending on how your printer handles bridging it may be able to do the hex pattern without supports at all. That would get you a cleaner front bezel.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-05-06, 20:26:

Yes. That's ultimately the plan, is to provide them pre-assembled with a drive mount. The revised control board is essentially done, along with the drive mount designed to fit that board, and they should be made available for sale here relatively soon.

Wow, that sounds great! 😀
Thanks for the info.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-05-06, 20:32:

]
You can try printing it face-down on the bed; depending on how your printer handles bridging it may be able to do the hex pattern without supports at all. That would get you a cleaner front bezel.

I do that trick a lot. Works well for getting a cleanfront face. But instead of hexagons, consider circles or a large inverted parabola. Printers usually handle that better.

Is there any chance that ZuluIDE's PCB will be merged with the DAC board into one single PCB? Thanks.

Does anybody has and can kindly share an empty ZIP image for ZuluIDE but larger than the 100Mb which can be found on internet? Or tell how such image (is a .img not a .iso) can be built? Having just installed ZuluIDE on a Roland SP-808 and being locked to 100MB space on each SD is quite frustrating.... Thanks to everybody wish to help me.

I've just ordered mine.

YOLO.

I will report back once I get to try it.

I'm currently using it well. Thank you for such an amazing project.

I'm leaving this message to share one suggestion.

There seems to be a delay in recognizing files through the web interface.
However, It would be very helpful if a file list could be pre-generated.

It looks like the system re-scans the list every time power is applied,
and because of that, the order also appears jumbled.
This could be quite inconvenient, especially when using high-capacity SD cards.

If the system were designed to generate a file list in advance,
it would only need to reload when files are changed.
This would make everyday use much smoother.

rusth wrote on 2025-06-02, 05:23:

I'm currently using it well. Thank you for such an amazing project. […]
Show full quote

I'm currently using it well. Thank you for such an amazing project.

I'm leaving this message to share one suggestion.

There seems to be a delay in recognizing files through the web interface.
However, It would be very helpful if a file list could be pre-generated.

It looks like the system re-scans the list every time power is applied,
and because of that, the order also appears jumbled.
This could be quite inconvenient, especially when using high-capacity SD cards.

If the system were designed to generate a file list in advance,
it would only need to reload when files are changed.
This would make everyday use much smoother.

I have not tried the WEB UI addon yet, only done summary testing, but that seems like a useful suggestion. I You should consider opening an issue on the Github to suggest that.

EDIT: My brain was not fully booted.

elopi wrote on 2025-05-14, 04:58:

Does anybody has and can kindly share an empty ZIP image for ZuluIDE but larger than the 100Mb which can be found on internet? Or tell how such image (is a .img not a .iso) can be built? Having just installed ZuluIDE on a Roland SP-808 and being locked to 100MB space on each SD is quite frustrating.... Thanks to everybody wish to help me.

Extract & rename .z2 to .img