The bench cheat sheet

Printable: NES controller-port bridge, v1b: drawing package TM-NESB-001 rev P (PDF); v1b as built, the checks called out on the photograph (PNG).

Generated by tools/cheatsheet.py. The pin numbers and signals are read out of the schematic, the harness colours out of the lab log, the breakout leads out of the bring-up tool's own table, and each chip's wiring out of the netlist. The only authored text is what each pin does on the part, which is the datasheet's, kept in one place in that tool and refused if the schematic names a pin differently. The same rows are sheets of the drawing package (tools/make-package.py). The head's hands (the Pi's jumpers, the PC817 and the relay) have their own: cheat-sheet-head.md.

Sheet: bench-v1b.

The controller port: pin, NES harness, breakout

Pin numbers are the ones moulded into this console's port housing and the signals are the schematic's, MEASURED 2026-09-09 (the supply is on 5, not 7). Harness colours from the lab log, step 1.1 (2026-09-08). Breakout leads rung out 2026-09-09 with the cable out of the console; the pad half of the cut carries the same five colours. Use the lead, not the colour rule.

pin	signal	NES harness	breakout lead	on the bridge
1	GND	brown	yellow	the GND rail
2	CLK	red	blue	R2-1, A1 D2 (INT0)
3	OUT0	orange	black	U1-1, A1 D5 (T1)
4	D0	yellow	green	U2-9
5	+5V	white	red	not used: the bridge runs from the UNO's 5 V
6	n/c	blue	not carried
7	n/c	purple	not carried

The power and reset breakout

Five ways straight through, colour for colour with the front panel's harness (docs/lab/06-breakout-map-power-reset.jpg), metered 2026-09-17. No way is ground: the front panel is grounded by its pad and housing.

pin	NES harness	breakout lead	what it is
1	brown	brown	power switch
2	red	red	power switch
3	orange	orange	reset, + side (4.40 V)
4	yellow	yellow	reset, - side, and LED
5	white	white	LED

The head's four jumpers

Four Dupont leads off the Pi's header, no breakout (2026-09-10). Header positions are the Pi's own numbering. No wire from here to the console: the Pi's ground reaches it through the UNO's USB cable only.

Pi pin	pos.	to	role
GPIO17	11	PC817 module INPUT +	reset, 100 ms high
GPIO27	13	relay module IN	power: high is on
5V	2	relay module VCC	the coil's supply
GND	6	PC817 IN-, relay GND	the one ground lent

The UNO ribbon

Nine Dupont wires from the UNO's digital header, colour per pin as read off the header (2026-09-11). The net and the far end come from the schematic.

UNO pin	colour	net	to
D2	blue	CON_CLK	J1-2, R2-1
D3	green	TRIG	R1-1
D5	yellow	CON_OUT0	J1-3, U1-1
D6	orange	PAD_LATCH	J2-3
D7	red	PAD_CLK	J2-2
D8	brown	PAD_D0	J2-4
D10	black	RCLK	U3-12
D11	white	MOSI	U3-14
D13	grey	SCK	U3-11

The scope: channels and the trigger

As wired 2026-09-15, each probe's landing given as a board column so it can be put back. Probe grounds on the right board's GND rail, which is the console's ground; probes on 10x. The DS1054Z has no external trigger input (MEASURED 2026-09-15), so the bridge's TRIG takes CH1, the channel held for the master clock until the mainboard is probed. Step 6.1 of the bring-up arms the scope on CH1 and fires TRIG at a latch.

input	signal	probe on	why
CH1	TRIG	R1 on the middle board: the resistor in row a from column 9 (the green D3 lead's housing) to column 6 (the red lead to the scope)	the trigger: 2.5 V rising at latch T, 5.4 V for 874 us (MEASURED 2026-09-15); the master clock's channel later, by turns
CH2	CON_OUT0 (latch)	U1 pin 1: right board column 34, the side toward U2 (rows f to j)	one pulse per poll, 3.6 us wide, 60.06 a second; a new lead 2026-09-15 evening
CH3	composite video	the console's video out, through the splitter	the picture the poll lands in
CH4	CON_D0	U2 pin 9: right board column 18, the rails side (rows a to e)	the byte the console reads back, pressed LOW: high through the eight bits for 00, low for ff (MEASURED 2026-09-15 23:00, which is how the two probes were told apart)
EXT TRIG	none	not on this scope	the DS1054Z has no external trigger input (MEASURED 2026-09-15: source EXT refused; the rear BNC is Trig Out)

U1: 74HCT04 at +5V

Hex inverter, six independent gates. HCT inputs switch at TTL levels (high from 2.0 V), which is why it sits on the console's NMOS OUT0 line: OUT0 high loads the register, so its inversion is the 165's active-low load. One gate is used. The other five inputs are CMOS and must not float: tie each spare A input to GND and leave its Y open.

pin	name	on the part	on this bench
1	1A	gate 1 input	CON_OUT0: J1-3, A1 D5 (T1)
2	1Y	gate 1 output, the inverse of 1A	/PL: U2-1
3	2A	gate 2 input	the GND rail
4	2Y	gate 2 output	no connection
5	3A	gate 3 input	the GND rail
6	3Y	gate 3 output	no connection
7	GND	ground	the GND rail
8	4Y	gate 4 output	no connection
9	4A	gate 4 input	the GND rail
10	5Y	gate 5 output	no connection
11	5A	gate 5 input	the GND rail
12	6Y	gate 6 output	no connection
13	6A	gate 6 input	the GND rail
14	VCC	supply, 4.5 to 5.5 V; 100 nF to GND at the pin	the +5V rail

U2: 74HC165 at +5V (the TI bag)

8-bit parallel-in, serial-out shift register: the pad's 4021 in a 74 package. While /PL is low the eight inputs A to H are copied into the stages as they are (it is transparent, so the byte must be settled before the load). With /PL high, each rising edge of CP shifts one place toward QH and pulls DS in at A. QH shows stage H, so H is the first bit out and A the eighth, which is why the pad's order A, B, Select, Start, Up, Down, Left, Right is wired H down to A. /CE high holds the clock off.

pin	name	on the part	on this bench
1	/PL	parallel load, active low: inputs copied in while low	/PL: U1-2
2	CP	shift clock, rising edge, when /CE is low	CP: R2-2, C4-1
3	E	parallel input E, the fourth bit out	Q_START: U3-3
4	F	parallel input F, the third bit out	Q_SEL: U3-2
5	G	parallel input G, the second bit out	Q_B: U3-1
6	H	parallel input H, the first bit out (QH after a load)	Q_A: U3-15
7	/QH	inverted serial output	no connection
8	GND	ground	the GND rail
9	QH	serial output: stage H	CON_D0: J1-4
10	DS	serial in: shifts into A after the eighth clock	the GND rail
11	A	parallel input A, the eighth bit out	Q_RIGHT: U3-7
12	B	parallel input B, the seventh bit out	Q_LEFT: U3-6
13	C	parallel input C, the sixth bit out	Q_DOWN: U3-5
14	D	parallel input D, the fifth bit out	Q_UP: U3-4
15	/CE	clock enable, active low: high inhibits CP	the GND rail
16	VCC	supply, 2 to 6 V; 100 nF to GND at the pin	the +5V rail

U3: 74HC595 at +5V

8-bit serial-in, parallel-out shift register with an output latch. Each rising edge of SRCLK shifts SER in at QA's stage; the stages are invisible until a rising edge of RCLK copies all eight into the output latch at once, which is what makes a byte atomic to the console: the 165 never sees a half-written byte. /OE low turns the outputs on; /SRCLR low clears the shift stages (not the latch). QH' is the eighth stage, for chaining a second 595.

pin	name	on the part	on this bench
1	QB	latched output B	Q_B: U2-5
2	QC	latched output C	Q_SEL: U2-4
3	QD	latched output D	Q_START: U2-3
4	QE	latched output E	Q_UP: U2-14
5	QF	latched output F	Q_DOWN: U2-13
6	QG	latched output G	Q_LEFT: U2-12
7	QH	latched output H	Q_RIGHT: U2-11
8	GND	ground	the GND rail
9	QH'	stage H unlatched: serial out for a chained 595	no connection
10	/SRCLR	shift register clear, active low: tie high to run	the +5V rail
11	SRCLK	shift clock, rising edge: SER into A, A into B, and on	SCK: A1 D13 SCK
12	RCLK	latch clock, rising edge: all eight stages to the outputs	RCLK: A1 D10
13	/OE	output enable, active low: low drives QA to QH	the GND rail
14	SER	serial data in, sampled on SRCLK's rising edge	MOSI: A1 D11 MOSI
15	QA	latched output A	Q_A: U2-6
16	VCC	supply, 2 to 6 V; 100 nF to GND at the pin	the +5V rail

Pulled at build time from nes-bench/docs/cheat-sheet.md; the repository is the one copy. The reports use some working words of their own: Words the reports use.