How Much Would You Pay For A D-pad Pre-modded Gp2x?

[DaveC]

There are some of my beta kits floating around.

I have modded about 6 units so far with great results. A certain store may pre-mod units with my kit but we will see how that goes. The quantity made is kind of small right now though.

 

[MiL0]

I took apart my gp2x, cut up a snes d-pad and bought a dremel and soldering iron last weekend! I got the snes circuit board cut to the right size and was about to start cutting the space on the front of my gp2x so that the d-pad would fit when I thought I'd better practise my soldering skills.. it's been a few years! Suffice to say, I don't feel like I'd be confident enough to remove the existing gp2x joystick AND solder the snes d-pad circuit board on top. I don't mind using the dremel to cut the case but my soldering really isn't up to scratch.

I guess what I'm asking is if I supply all the bits, would someone be willing to do the soldering necessary to my gp2x? I'd take full resonsibility for any problems that occur but obviously I'd want to use/pay someone to do this who is fairly skilled!

 

[DaveC]

I took apart my gp2x, cut up a snes d-pad and bought a dremel and soldering iron last weekend! I got the snes circuit board cut to the right size and was about to start cutting the space on the front of my gp2x so that the d-pad would fit when I thought I'd better practise my soldering skills.. it's been a few years! Suffice to say, I don't feel like I'd be confident enough to remove the existing gp2x joystick AND solder the snes d-pad circuit board on top. I don't mind using the dremel to cut the case but my soldering really isn't up to scratch.

I guess what I'm asking is if I supply all the bits, would someone be willing to do the soldering necessary to my gp2x? I'd take full resonsibility for any problems that occur but obviously I'd want to use/pay someone to do this who is fairly skilled!

Well what you are doing is ALOT of work. I think the SNES pad is too big as well. The SNES pad also relies on certain thicknesses of plastic on the case, and precise placement heights of the membranes etc.

 

[MiL0]

I took apart my gp2x, cut up a snes d-pad and bought a dremel and soldering iron last weekend! I got the snes circuit board cut to the right size and was about to start cutting the space on the front of my gp2x so that the d-pad would fit when I thought I'd better practise my soldering skills.. it's been a few years! Suffice to say, I don't feel like I'd be confident enough to remove the existing gp2x joystick AND solder the snes d-pad circuit board on top. I don't mind using the dremel to cut the case but my soldering really isn't up to scratch.

I guess what I'm asking is if I supply all the bits, would someone be willing to do the soldering necessary to my gp2x? I'd take full resonsibility for any problems that occur but obviously I'd want to use/pay someone to do this who is fairly skilled!

Well what you are doing is ALOT of work. I think the SNES pad is too big as well. The SNES pad also relies on certain thicknesses of plastic on the case, and precise placement heights of the membranes etc.

hmm well I can probably pick up a NES pad and I've got an old GBA lying around which I guess I could use as alternatives.

 

[bacteria]

If you guys are so anxious try bacterias mod.

Buy?! My mod is free for all!

If you want to use D-pad tops, use the NES one or a GBA one, the SNES one is too big.

If you "can't wait and want to make your own" - You could, if you wanted, use a commercial D-pad top (as above), make a PCB yourself (strong card/plastic), use aluminium foil for the contacts, using plastic acetate to separate the contacts (see my sig on UBS project), stick the wires onto them (foam pads - stuck to motherboard, wires put in place, for the acetate construction to sit on) and job done (with a bit of experimentation) - for those people who have a D-pad, but are crap at soldering (like me). This saves having to keep shaving bits off the PCB so the case shuts - make your own to size.

 

[andyB911]

If you guys are so anxious try bacterias mod.

Buy?! My mod is free for all!

I think he actually said Try ;-)

Anyway... the stick on my MK1 is annoying me more than ever. The replacement cap started to go too low, so I put paper in the hole of the cap, and now it sticks up too far... and is surprisingly hard to get out again.

DaveC - I guess what I'm saying is that despite my limited skills I've turned the corner of desperation and would be really happy to buy a beta version of your kit and 'do my worst' on my gp2x.

If there are any beta kits left, let me know the cost to Blighty and I'll paypall you the money. As a bit of a soldering / modding novice, I'll be a good guinea pig to see how good the instructions are / how easy to go wrong.

Andy

 

[DaveC]

If you guys are so anxious try bacterias mod.

Buy?! My mod is free for all!

I think he actually said Try ;-)

Anyway... the stick on my MK1 is annoying me more than ever. The replacement cap started to go too low, so I put paper in the hole of the cap, and now it sticks up too far... and is surprisingly hard to get out again.

DaveC - I guess what I'm saying is that despite my limited skills I've turned the corner of desperation and would be really happy to buy a beta version of your kit and 'do my worst' on my gp2x.

If there are any beta kits left, let me know the cost to Blighty and I'll paypall you the money. As a bit of a soldering / modding novice, I'll be a good guinea pig to see how good the instructions are / how easy to go wrong.

Andy

Sorry to say this is not a mod for novices. You would almost for sure ruin your unit doing the mod.

 

[Nighty]

I just dusted off the gp2x; had a couple of busy weeks, and no time to toy around with it. But seeing as how I will be traveling to Spain again next week, with no Internet connection all week long, I decided to buy a new battery charger and stock up on games for the trip and the long boring week by the pool...

You know what I realized after playing tetris clones for about an hour?

THE ORIGINAL STICK SUCKS DONKEY BALLS!!!

Yeah, nothing new, but it's worth repeating since it's really really... that... bad... It's the biggest thing keeping me from playing the damn gp2x...

So yeah, here's another guy hoping for quick availability of these kits... Then at least, I could use the gp2x for more than just reading eBooks.


Oh, and another thing I noticed after playing Tetris clones for about an hour: my new battery charger is way better than the previous one. The batteries would've worn out already with that one...

 

[telengard]

Because of the stick I kinda lost interest in my GP2X for the longest time. But recently I've started using it again. Well at least occasionally...because unfortunately the stick problem is ever present... <_<

So I would definately buy a kit...but my problem is your 4th reason. I'm just not sure that I have the skills to do it. Some step by step information with pictures to look at would definately be nice. Give us a clue about the needed skills involved. But maybe you have guide somewhere already? I haven't read these forums in a while. Time to use the search function

I'm in the same boat. I gave up using and developing for the system due to the joystick. It's just plain frustrating for me. While developing I didn't need to use the joystick a lot so I plugged on for a good 2 months.

Once I started actually trying to play games I realized just how awful it is. (I have a version one). It's been collecting dust for a good 8/9 months now which is a shame because I was soooo excited about this thing. Folks have said the newer ones fix the diagonal bias (which I think is a big part of my issue) and a few other joystick related things. I was then even more disappointed that being an early adopter as they say wasn't the smartest move on my part. I do understand the difficulty in getting these fixes into the older versions.

DaveC did give me a heads up about the mod but I don't have the time right now to do it. As mentioned in a previous post, I'd also like to hear about other's experiences with it. It's not that I doubt DaveC's work, just curious. I have been following this subject though and will continue to.

~telengard

 

[yaustar]

telengard: out of interest, are you using the new joystick cap or the old one that came with the unit?

 

[xhyldazhk]

DaveC: My joystick simply went limp. I'm very, very interested in your kit...

 

[nubie]

DaveC: My joystick simply went limp. I'm very, very interested in your kit...

Sorry, the stock has been gone for at least a year to my knowledge, and the thread is 2 years old.

 

[quadomatic]

DaveC: My joystick simply went limp. I'm very, very interested in your kit...

Just do Bacteria's D-Pad mod. It's free and all you need is some minor soldering experience and some sandpaper (first soldering job i ever did)

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=43361

It's not a step too far from an actual d-pad mod either...you could just yank the pcb from a gba and the dpad from the gba and install that too.