Dialled things back a little while waiting for all of last week’s purchases to arrive. Yet there are still some awesome things on the way.

First up we have the Sega Genesis Nomad. Essentially a handheld Mega Drive.

I’ve also ordered a battery pack to go with it. Sega’s original Nomad manual says the detachable battery compartment takes six AA batteries and confirms that the Genesis 2 AC Adaptor and Game Gear AC Adaptor can both power the system.

I also picked up two replacement screen fronts because the Nomad I’m getting is quite scuffed and scratched.

Other purchases include a boxed Dreamcast Mouse, although I’m not sure whether it is a PAL version, a few ISA Ethernet cards for the Amstrad Mega PC, a 3.6 V 60 mAh NiCad battery for the Mega PC’s 386SX motherboard, and a bunch of DC-DC step-down converters for the Saturn external PSU project.

Then there is the PicoPSU-80. These are interesting. It takes a regulated 12 V input and generates standard ATX power rails for lower-power PCs, which is broadly the same DC-DC conversion idea I’ve been exploring for the Saturn external PSU.

I’ll be running it through an adaptor cable to convert it to the AT-style power connection used by the Mega PC and testing it as a spare PSU. AT power supplies are really hard to find these days, especially weird non-standard ones!

I am still waiting and hoping to receive the DS1287 RTC chips and the 4 GB DOM ordered for the Mega PC. Hopefully this week is their week.

Interestingly, one of the faulty Saturns that arrived late last week appears to be a VA0, the first Saturn motherboard revision. At first glance it seems to have a worn optical pickup while the PSU appears healthy.

More testing required!

Sources