Nes PC

[legacy2k]

hi all

iv not been doing much modding lately up til the last 2 weeks...

now i know this has been done before and for some of you might seem abit old but its a challenge for me to get on with

my aim here is to take a nes, and put a pc inside the thing, pretty simple BUT.. i wanna wire the joy pads up to the paralell port in order to use the original ports on the front and play emulators with the original pad, also my other main aim... is simple, keep it looking like a nes! and sounding like one, no stupid fans or noisey drives etc

so lets begin...

heres my nes all bored and doing nothing (the actual hardware doesn't work so don't worry im not wreaking a classic)

nes hardware removed and the mounts taken away

original power/reset botton PCB left intact and soldered the motherboard connections on for reset, power and the good old red LED

Old skool!!! testing the bottons etc on my other pc

Laptop CD Rom attached to the top end of the case, i know this isnt very pretty but it will be out of sight and it saves me hacking away at the case to mount things...

cd in place

coooooooooooool!

50 pin laptop cd cable to IDE converter!

old PCB mounts cut down to size and drilled to fit mobo screws

im now at the stage of waiting for parts... these are the parts iv ordered and waiting on..

90w Picopsu and inverter box

VIA EPIA motherboard (mini ITX) only 533 mhz but plenty for what i want it for + passive cooling so keeps it nice and noiseless just like a NES

40gb toshiba 5400RPM laptop hdd (got that very cheap!!)

50 pin cd rom cable

laptop to 3.5" hdd converter

il update once the stuff arrives, any ideas welcomed!

cheers!

 

[Bungral]

Nice mate.. I haven't actually seen it before but as ya say no doubt been done. Top bombing for taking it on though and a couple of nice ideas already.

When you expecting the new parts?

 

[legacy2k]

cheers bud! 3 forums iv put this on now and not yet one reply haha you're the first!

ordered them via ebay so not too sure, hope to have all the bits by the weekend

 

[Pseudonym]

I've wanted to do this one for ages. Then have it as an emulator box.

On other ones i've seen, it's got too hot for passive and they needed a fan.

Good luck with it though. Cant wait to see the finished article.

 

[Ham]

This has to be one of the best ideas ive seen in a while. Good luck with the build man

 

[legacy2k]

yeah i had heard of that too, im going to see what happens i want to keep it nice and silent just like a nes would be iv seen people put usb where the front joypad ports are which to me seems pointless as then its basically a pc in a nes, im trying to stealth it out

someone walks into your room and says, dude u have a nes? im like yea... not just a nes.... haha

just trying to keep it retro and as original as possible really

cheers for the replys guys

edit: thanks Ham! i will keep you all posted!!!

 

[nepas]

i like this and will watch closely as i have an old ps2 sat upstairs and may do something similar

 

[Bungral]

cheers bud! 3 forums iv put this on now and not yet one reply haha you're the first!

ordered them via ebay so not too sure, hope to have all the bits by the weekend

Thats because this forum rocks

Well no doubt you will end up with all but one as it from ebay.. Probably the bit you want the most.

Anyway keep us posted with updates

 

[legacy2k]

lol here's hopeing i do get all my stuff

cheers for the positive feedback guys!

 

[legacy2k]

seeing as im still waiting for the stuff and im ill at home and very bored... (never know i may get something this morning) lets take a better look at my motherboard/cpu/ram

Tech Spec:

# Processor VIA C3/EDEN EBGA Processor

# Chipset VIA PLE133 North Bridge

# VIA VT8231 South Bridge

# System Memory 2 PC133 DIMM sock

# Up to 1 GB memory size

# VGA Integrated AGP 4X Graphics

# Expansion Slots 1 PCI

# Onboard IDE 2 X UltraDMA 133/100/66 Connector

# Onboard LAN VIA VT6103 PHY 10/100 Ethernet

# Onboard Audio VIA VT1612A 2 channel AC'97 Codec

# Back Panel I/O 1 PS2 mouse port

# 1 PS2 keyboard port

# 1 VGA Port

# 1 Parallel

# 1 RJ-45 LAN port

# 1 RCA port (SPDIF or TV out)

# 1 S-Video port

# 2 USB 1.1 ports

# 1 Serial port

# 3 Audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in

# Onboard I/O Connectors 1 USB connector for 2 USB 1.1 ports

# 1 CD Audio-in connector

# 1 FIR connector

# 1 CIR connector

# 1 PS2 connector

# 1 CPU/Sys FAN

# 1 Buzzer

# ATX Power Connector

 

[legacy2k]

im saved from bordom!! some parts arrived today!! not bad for ebay!

40 gb toshiba 2.5" hdd, power splitter and PicoPSU 90watt + inverter

fitted the plug where it would originally be placed!

fitted the power splitter to the PSU

the 40 gb hdd looking very new!!

hdd fitted under the cd rom in antistatic material (just to be safe and not leave residue on the PCB from the tape)

all fitted and secured again not very pretty to look at but it works

managed to get the 50 pin to IDE converter to go directly into the cd rom drive so no need for that 50 pin cable!

and now just a couple of pics of the items in there new home

coming along nicely

also did a little test of my CD rom drive video can be seen below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO5V6ZYVCc4

 

[Pseudonym]

Cool beans that it's working.

Is it completely safe to cover your HDD in all that spaf? I seem to remember there being a hole that you shouldn't cover.

 

[legacy2k]

yea hard disks have breather holes iv made sure that has plenty of room to breath (hence why half of the hdd is hanging off the cd and why its set to the side rarther than the same way as the cd rom)

i really want my motherboard but iv gotta feeling that, that is going to be the longest thing to actually arrive

 

[Bungral]

Cool beans that it's working.

Is it completely safe to cover your HDD in all that spaf? I seem to remember there being a hole that you shouldn't cover.

Could get warm but its only spinning at 5400 so should be alright I'd imagine.

 

[legacy2k]

with any luck yea, just down to giving it a try and see really

iv gotta feeling that im gunna need ot add a case fan in there too as all that passive cooled stuff in such a small space is going to get very warm

we shall see

 

[Kerotan]

Crackin Project you got goin on there, it's pretty cool to see someone attempt something like that, you can fool the more gullible into thinking you got windows running on a SNES! Good luck with it all, as other people have said watch out for the heat and you should be fine.

 

[legacy2k]

Crackin Project you got goin on there, it's pretty cool to see someone attempt something like that, you can fool the more gullible into thinking you got windows running on a SNES! Good luck with it all, as other people have said watch out for the heat and you should be fine.

haha im so going to try that

"hey lads check it out iv got XP running on a nes!!!" some sucker would fall for it hahaha

 

[Pseudonym]

I wonder if you could dremel off the top of an old cassette and use it to hide the CD drive when the flap is open.

Might add to the (sur)realism.

 

[legacy2k]

motherboard!

lets get going!

Mounts Fitted

mobo fitted to mounts PSU put in

Getting there...

finshed! well... almost...

things to do:

fix LED as its not working for some reason

CD rom needs replaceing or sorting as its not running right (tryed booting from a cd but no luck )

need to get a new top end of the case as that cut for the mobo plate is terible!!! impatience got to me i think

 

[legacy2k]

little video of it running a boot cd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RfgJQmSIas