PacManPlus Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 (edited) I know this has been done before, but I kind of got this idea when I was cleaning, and happened to put a broken 6 switch next to an AOpen Core Duo Mini-ITX motherboard... I kind of stared at them next to each other for a sec... I knew I could fit the motherboard in there (albeit without a DVD drive) so I got to working... The difference with mine is that I wanted to have a non-keyboard stand-alone console unit (that the switches and 2600 joysticks will work from), so I knew it would have to include an I-Pac. You can see the issue I had with the case easily cracking (at the A/V connectors and over the ethernet connector). I had to use a lot of Crazy Glue to get it back. I know better now for next time. The annoying thing is after I went searching the internet for an ethernet connector that can screw in to a plate, not finding one, and ended up using the one you see in the picture (gluing it in place). I then came across this site while looking for something completely different: http://www.datapro.net/catalog/panel-mount-cables.html (It's the third item up from the bottom) I also replaced *all* switches with the momentary ones (like the 'Start' and 'Reset' switches). This way I can use them all connected to the I-Pac for emulator functions. The last thing I have to put in are the fans. I ordered three 20mm fans that I will fit in the cart port (covered by black mesh screening). I also added the LED by the power switch. Specs: AOpen Mini-ITX motherboard (MoDT Flex 945) with 1.6Ghz Intel Core Duo CPU 80Gb Hard Drive 1.5Gb Memory Windows XP Pro I-Pac connected to joystick ports 2 USB external connectors Ethernet connector S-video / Composite, Audio connectors I am running MAMEWAH with MAME, Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 emulators, Odyssey2, Visual Pinball, and Vectrex emulators as well. I can also surf the web with it (If I use a USB keyboard & mouse) Here are the pics: The first three are taken without the hard drive mounted (front, back, and top) The next two are taken with the hard drive and all cables mounted (front and back) Edited July 24, 2007 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Cool. Now just run a Coleco emulator (or 5200, or 7800 or whatever) and freak people out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Surely you need to fake up a Windows XP cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 Surely you need to fake up a Windows XP cartridge. Wow - I didn't even *think* of that... That's a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchysuperman Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Cool. Now just run a Coleco emulator (or 5200, or 7800 or whatever) and freak people out. Surely you need to fake up a Windows XP cartridge. Those are both great ideas! Very cool project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 (edited) Cool. Now just run a Coleco emulator (or 5200, or 7800 or whatever) and freak people out. Hey Greg: Thanks - that was my intention all along @crunchysuperman: Thanks! Edited July 24, 2007 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Soldier Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 (edited) Awesome, I'd love to do something like this. Edited July 24, 2007 by Ghost Soldier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 What functions (if any) do the original switches control? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 I haven't set up the emulators just yet, but: Front End: Select: Scroll through games Reset: Select game Color-BW: next system Difficulty (left): Page Up Difficulty (right): Page Down (The joysticks will also do some of these functions) MAME: Select: 1-Player Credit Reset: 1-Player Start Color-BW: Pause Difficulty (left): 'F3' (game reset) Difficulty (right): 'Shift' function for Select & Reset so they become 2-Player Credit and Start Atari 2600 & 7800: All switches will be pretty much their native functions. Atari 5200: Select: the 'Reset' button on the player 1 joystick Reset: the 'Start' button of the player 1 joystick Color-BW: the 'Pause' button on the player 1 joystick Difficulty (left): the '*' key Difficulty (right): the '#' key Vectrex: There's only one console button: Reset, although the missing three buttons on the controller might come into play here Odyssey2: Haven't decided yet, although most likely 'Reset' will be mapped to the '1' key ... so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 This is a really cool idea. It does need something in the cartridge slot though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 Thanks - The three small fans are going to go in the cart port (the heat sink next to the CPU gets pretty hot). I will then cover the cart port with some black mesh (not sure eactly what yet) to 'hide' the fans somewhat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SINGLE TOOTH Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Nice... How did the case get all cracked where the ports are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 Thanks It happened while drilling the holes for the connections - it just shattered. I keep forgetting that I'm working with 30 year old plastic... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telengard Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Very cool project! The IPAC is a nice little interface board. I've been considering doing something like this for quite a while. Just can't find the time. I'll be interested to see how you interface the difficultly switches w/ an emulator like z26. ~telengard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Franzman Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 (edited) How did the case get all cracked where the ports are? It happened while drilling the holes for the connections - it just shattered. I keep forgetting that I'm working with 30 year old plastic... Plastics can be tricky, but 2600 cases aren't usually that brittle unless you're working in sub-freezing temperatures. You need a drill bit that's not too sharp, or it will grab and try to cut too much material at once. But it can't be super dull either, or you'll have to push too hard (usually not a problem with plastics unless the bit's so dull that it would be useless on metal). If you have a step drill (a.k.a. Uni-Bit, Cobra Bit, etc.), use that instead of a regular steel twist drill, and drill from the inside outward if possible. Step drills don't grab like twist drills can in soft material. But they do tend to bevel or gouge the edge of the hole on the side you're drilling into when the next step above the size you want the hole to be touches the surface. If you don't have a step drill, try clamping some thin scraps of wood or other thin, soft material on both sides of the piece you're working on. Edited July 27, 2007 by A.J. Franzman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the tips, A.J. I don't have a step drill, but maybe I'll pick one up if they are not too expensive... If I should do another one I will definately take your notes into account. And I may actually do just that (at least for the bottom half), because I'm not happy with the cracks in this one. Bob Edited July 27, 2007 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchysuperman Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 A small carbide burr (Dremel bit) works very well also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 Curious -- what did you do with the VCS motherboard??? (or was it a non-working unit?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 28, 2007 Author Share Posted July 28, 2007 (edited) @Crunchsuperman - thanks, maybe I'll try that as well @Dauber - It was a non-working unit, but all is not lost; I was able to use the cpu, TIA and the other chip for the tiny 2600 clone that 8bitdomain put out a while back. @telengard - You've picked up the fact that they have to work a little differently because I replaced them with momentary switches I'm pretty sure I'm using the Color/BW switch as the 'shift' key for the I-Pac, so I'll have the difficulty switches 'unshifted' as 'B', and 'Shifted' as 'A'. Bob Edited July 28, 2007 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 Truley awesome Bob, I was thinking of doing something similar with my dead 400, using a keyboard, but the I-Pac has really got me thinking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks - The three small fans are going to go in the cart port (the heat sink next to the CPU gets pretty hot). I will then cover the cart port with some black mesh (not sure eactly what yet) to 'hide' the fans somewhat. Myself, for aesthetics, I would consider heavily venting the bottom side of an empty cartridge, covering the vent holes with the aforementioned mesh if necessary then attaching it as though it were a plugged-in functional cartridge. I'm assuming that there's not enough heat anywhere to affect the plastic cartridge shell. Regarding the black mesh: a sound engineer once told me that a good rule of thumb for speaker grille cloth is that if you blew cigarette smoke at it, the smoke would go through. That statement leads me to believe that speaker grille cloth might work to cover your vent without too much restriction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 30, 2007 Author Share Posted July 30, 2007 Great idea! I'll give that a try Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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