Hard Drive idea

eevilcheese · Post by **eevilcheese** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 9:25 am

after seeing flash2advance and the psp run emulators, i have been thinking, is it possible to make something to the effect of a portale hard drive that could only play emulators or someting....would you need to construct your own OS. maybe you could use a microdrive for the hard drive.

i was wondeirng because i would like to play all of those emulators i have.

Post by **bicostp** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 10:45 am

Well you could buy a Mini-ITX motherboard, and put all your emulators on it... maybe put it in an NES case with the CD drive behind the cart door.

(This would work with basically any PC, the only reason I suggested the Mini-ITX is because it has composite-output.)

Actually I'm doing something like this right now; I have my laptop hooked up to the TV with a PC-TV bridge connected to the external monitor port.

scherzo · Post by **scherzo** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 10:59 am

You could replace the hard drive with this:

It's an IDE to CompactFlash converter. You basically throw something like a 512MB CompactFlash card on there and it will behave exactly like a 512MB hard drive. You can format it however you want, with whatever file system you want. Plus access times are much faster since this is solid state. This, combined with a Mini-ITX mobo and a power supply that takes DC, and you've got a portable PC.

You could probably install a very minimal Linux distro on there and then make your own interface program that functions only with the input of a controller.

As for a screen, you could do this mod using a PSOne screen:

http://www.bit-tech.net/article/136

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:00 pm

interestin with the compact flash thing........how much does a good mini itx mobo cost?

Post by **Sparkfist** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:07 pm

Go to the store at mini-itx.com. I've see the prices many times and they go from about $100 all the way to over $250. It depends on the type of processor (Via or Intel), what speed, power input (some have builtin DC coverters), is it air cooled or fan and last is speed. For example the lowest price on is a Via chipset running at 500MHz (or 800 cant remember), need external power supply and is air cooled.

They also sell the Compacflash card adapter shown above. The case and a good screen (PSone) is on you.

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:09 pm

oh ok great thankks !!

eevilcheese · Post by **eevilcheese** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:42 pm

actually, my idea was to have a REALLY big hard drive, i mean a real computer hard drive(I.E. 40gb), and put it in a case with a processor, etc, and make it portable.

though this may be a pipe dream however. if someone figures out how to make this, i would be happy to pay for the expenses and 30$ for the person.

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:43 pm

pcp!! mini itx mobo enough to run some decent emu and a hdd and maybe even a dvd drive along with a psone screen!

eevilcheese · Post by **eevilcheese** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:56 pm

*o* wrote:pcp!! mini itx mobo enough to run some decent emu and a hdd and maybe even a dvd drive along with a psone screen!

youll have to forgive me, im new at this thing. so you could possible make this with only a mini tx and a ps1 screen?

could i make use a smaller screen to save space (i.e. an old portable tv)?

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:57 pm

aslong as the board has a composite out.

there are a few threads about this in F42

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:04 pm

Well you could always buy a laptop...

But if you wanted to build iot yourself, you'd want:

-a Mini-ITX motherboard www.miniitx.com
-a strong battery (perhaps a replacement laptop battery)
-a laptop hard drive
-a laptop-to-standard-IDE adaptor
-a mini USB keyboard
-a USB gamepad
-a PSone screen with a VGA mod
-and the biggest project case RadioShack has

Put all that together and you have a PCp.

Yes you could use a pocket TV screen for the comp screen, but it will be impossible to read any windows or DOS text.

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:06 pm

A P3 laptop could work, they go for 200-300 at the most, off of ebay. Its the difference of a jerry-rigged 1ghz machine and a sleek 700-850mhz laptop, the latter being cheaper and more effective in the long run.

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:11 pm

And if you really want to play your emulator games on a TV, buy what's called a "PC-TV bridge". It connects to your monitor port and it lets you display the game on the TV through composite or S-video.

I have one, it's great!

(sure it's 10 years old and it only goes up to 640x480, but that covers everything from PONG to N64!

)

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:41 pm

Hmm, maybe I can clip a PSone screen on the back of a Mac Miniâ€¦

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:47 am

What does this have to do with The Book, can I move it?