PS2P: The Saga Begins.

[pdbq]

Hello all you fine young (and old) hacksters. I've lurked around the portable modding scene for quite some time now, but never had the drive (or funds) to get serious (a.k.a actually mod something [sorry for the excessive use of parenthesis here...]).
Anyway, I've decided that I would like to make a portable device (even though that whole "funds" part is still in progress), and seeing as that I already have a "fat" Playstation 2 lying around, well, that's my weapon of choice.
I've never touched a soldering iron and have never built anything of this sort whatsoever. But before you give me the "Oh no! You should start on something simpler before you work up to this you're going to break your yadda yadda yadda-" I just want to assure you that I do not care. I have had this old thing for... Well forever. At least 5 years, possibly 6. Trust me, I could use an upgrade, and if I break it, it will give me an excuse to buy a PS3 (or Xbox360), or sell my 60 plus games and buy some turntables . Please save your breath and instead encourage me, because I'm going through with this negative response or not.

On to the nitty gritty.

Here are some general specs I'm aiming for-

- Portable (Duh)
This means I will be able to play with it for at LEAST 2 hours without a battery change.

- Embedded Controls/Screen (Duh as well, would be sort of pointless without these.)

- Rechargeable Batteries (Also Duh)
Not going to spend all the extra on new batteries as well as killing the environment at the same time .

- Option to run off of AC power
So I can just bust out a plug and hook it into the wall if I want to play for extended periods at home.

- 1 Controller slot, 1 Memory slot
So I can actually play the games where I need the real PS2 Controller, and Guitar Hero of course . (Plus I can hook up my multi-tap for multiplayer! Righteous. Haha)

- A built-in or add-on stand
So I can actually see the screen while holding said controller...

- The three prong slot thingy (Can see every single person reading this facepalm.)
Basically I want to still be able to just plug this sucker back into my wall and my T.V. and play my PS2 like I normally would. So I'll need to keep the A/V output intact.


Does this sound like a hell of a lot of work? Yes. Will it be easy? No. Is it even possible? Who knows. Can I do it if it is possible? Doubtful. Will I break my PS2? Probably. But dammit, it'll be fun. So I'll be updating you guys here periodically with my progress, as well as any questions (yes, there will be lots of those, haha) regarding my haphazard attempt at creating the pdbqPS2p. (Try saying that 5 times fast).

Thanks for taking the time to read this and wish me luck.

[ME225]

yea I think you can do it I'm working on my first portable and its going pretty good. If you just take your time you'll be alright. Im in the money problem too so I haven't gotten as far as a would have liked. Good luck

[bacteria]

No reason you can't do it (although I don't know the voltages needed for a PS2 fhat vs PS2 slim as I haven't looked into it). What I do know though is that the PS2 slim is far better for making into a portable as it is dramatically smaller than the original PS2, which means the final system will be far slimmer and far lighter. Weight is an issue in a portable, as is size. You can buy PS2 slim consoles cheaply these days at boot sales.

No reason you shouldn't tinker with the system you have, learn from mistakes, then if you like the result, get a PS2 slim and rework that part of the project.

Easy way to gain respect on this site is to post lots of pics as you go along with your project and document what you do; it also allows others to help steer you on track if you show signs of falling into a hole; or offer advice (this is a forum after all!).

[Bigmac]

No reason you can't do it (although I don't know the voltages needed for a PS2 fhat vs PS2 slim as I haven't looked into it). What I do know though is that the PS2 slim is far better for making into a portable as it is dramatically smaller than the original PS2, which means the final system will be far slimmer and far lighter. Weight is an issue in a portable, as is size. You can buy PS2 slim consoles cheaply these days at boot sales.

No reason you shouldn't tinker with the system you have, learn from mistakes, then if you like the result, get a PS2 slim and rework that part of the project.

Easy way to gain respect on this site is to post lots of pics as you go along with your project and document what you do; it also allows others to help steer you on track if you show signs of falling into a hole; or offer advice (this is a forum after all!).

I'm also pretty sure that the ps2 slim uses a lot less power. Its pretty significant.

[collinE]

Hardest part will be getting a battery for it with limited funds (as they can be expensive). I'm looking forward to seeing this as we've seen some xbox portables and I can't imagine this being bigger than those or suck as much power.

Try getting a 7" widescreen LCD for it so that the size of the portable doesn't dwarf the screen. Good luck!

[SonyPortableizer]

I have a Beautiful 8 inch screen I could sell you in Perfect condition, other then its out of its case
Oh yea, its RGB-And looks nice, no greening etc.

[ian2120]

Good luck using a fhat one.

You will get plenty of credit for making one that's good, but I would recommend a slim. Maybe trade with a friend?

[pdbq]

Thanks for all the advice guys (and gals).
I PMed SonyPortableizer about the screen, and started to disassemble my PS2. I don't have the time or money right now to go searching for a slim, and don't know anyone with one.
So here are some first pictures.


Woah, dusty. xD. Lol, good thing I don't have asthma.


CD/DVD Drive.


The motherboard.


Look, my portable is finished!



Well, it's not much, but the longest journey starts with a single step, right?

(Plus I didn't break anything, so, that's always good.)

[SonyPortableizer]

I have a Slim...

[pdbq]

So. For the first order of business, I need to connect this thing to power.
(And no I'm not going to be asking for help on every single little step.)

What does the fat PS2 run off of? I recently bought Ben's Book, and it says that the PSOne runs off of 7.2v. Is the fat PS2 the same? I've done a quick google search as well as searched the forums but can't see anything. Also, how many milliamps does it output? So I can judge the proper mAh battery to buy.

[hailrazer]

The only posts I could find anywhere said it's 12v.

But it should be easy to check with a cheap $5 multimeter.

[cody27]

So you want it like on this portable it has the inbuilt controller connected to the player one slot, the player 2 slot showing and the memory card slot moved down to where the player 1 slot used to be. http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=20014

[CMTony]

thats the kinda thing that IM trying to go for with MY ps2p... im not sure how the hell ima do it but... so far i've got $10... (AUD) i have one major problem... i can't find someone with a PSOne LCD screen!...

[evilteddy]

Unfortunately the ps1 screens are pretty rare in Australia. For my N64 portable I paid $100 for the screen from the UK but they don't have the screens from there anymore. I was lucky and got one from Melbourne for $35 dollars on ebay with an included ps1. I hope to make a ps2 portable out of it sometime too.

I just want to say that I think you should switch to the slim console for a few reasons-
-you get a much smaller motherboard, a tick for portables.
-you can run it off 7.2V which is the same as a psone screen.
-It draws less power than the original ps2.
-Because of the above two points you can get a nice camera battery to run it.
-there is much more information about modding the slim ps2.

I do realise that a used slim ps2 at ebgames costs $135AUD but there is much cheaper consoles to be found.

Anyway thats my two cents.

[CMTony]

really?... you got a cosole with a screen for 35?... i saw at cash converters there was one like that for $115 or something like that....

JEALOUS!

i have both the fat and slim... what u reckon i use... i mean my fat i never use now cause the slim is the shizz... that and i broke it... i pulled the power ribbon cable off rofl!