Ideas for a portable, but don't know much. Help?

[kingkholera]

Let me start off by saying "hello" to you all, as this is the first time I've posted anything here. I've lurked on these boards before, mainly to see the cool stuff that everyone puts together, and now I'm thinking that I want to make something as well. However, I don't know where to start about learning this and that about portables. Does anyone know a good place to start? I'd particularly like to work with the Gamecube, so if anyone has some good places for that, I'd be interested in such things as well. I tried searching the site for various terms, but I can't seem to find anything relevant to my needs.

[exploding.monkey]

NES or the SNES. GameCubes are apparently a bit tricky.

[XCVG]

Agreed. NES or SNES is a good first project, N64 can be done too if you are careful and take your time.

[kingkholera]

I say Gamecube because they're easy to come by (a gander at Gamestop shows me a good supply of cheap used ones) and I'm not really afraid of taking on a steep challenge. But, if you insist that a simpler console is better, then I guess a portable NES will have to do. Any recommendations on where to start?

Thought: What's cool about a 360 Laptop? I mean, looks aside, it still has to be plugged into a wall. With such limitations, you might as well not mod the 360 in the first place.

[Twilight Wolf]

With a 360 laptop, you've got the whole Xbox 360 and screen setup in one convenient package. All that you need is an electrical outlet and you're gaming.

[Sparkfist]

If you are new and you're not a veteran with a soldering iron I have two suggestions. A NOAC (NES On A Chip), and as others said the SNES. Both are stupidly easy to do. It's basically connect batteries to the DC input, solder A/V from a screen to the board's A/V out, throw it in a case and you're done. You don't need to do any changing to the hardware, change the position of the cartridge slot, or CD-ROM. And their small enough you can find easy a case to put it in.

GameCube is best a third or fourth project. You don't want to just rush into something that is a big and complicated as it is. If you feel really sure of yourself you can try it after practicing soldering and be sure to checkout Gamelver's thread about his portable GameCube. Be sure to think things out, as a project like the GameCube can add up quickly, in both time and money.

-Sparkfist