Bob

PC Engine Ribbon Cable Replacement

PC Engine consoles are a two-piece design, with the main motherboard bolted to the bottom shell and the HUCard slot bolted to the top.  These two pieces are mated together using a ribbon cable, with each of the 72 pins soldered directly to each board.  These cables have started to fail and replacing them is a massive pain…until now!  There’s now an open-source design that allows you to install pin headers and two PCB’s connected by a modern ribbon cable to connect both boards.  You can purchase a kit directly, or make your own:

Purchase yours here:  https://shop.modinfrance.fr/en/home/56-pc-engine-ribbon-cable-replacement.html
Installation Instructions / Open Source Files:  https://github.com/ModInFrance/PCE-Ribbon-Cable-Replacement

I absolutely love seeing repair kits like this and am extra grateful to see this both be available for purchase and open sourced.  I’ve run into a few PCE’s with cable issues and I think this is an excellent fix.  I’d also love to see a replacement HUCard board someday as well, since I’ve seen those crack over the years.  Honestly though, just having this kit is a big help to people and I’m happy to see it released.

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