Saturn Laptop

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:26 pm

I figured I change this into a worklog, since I've decided to go through with the project. (Disregard the first couple of posts, as they are in reference to the original post.)

Since the motherboard is a beast and I have not nearly enough know-how to make it smaller, I decided a laptop-like portable such as the 360 one Ben made would be better suited for a Saturn. (Along with the answers given by the friendly people below.)

First thing was to get it to run without a lid, which I thought would be the simplest thing as all you need to do is tape something down, but for some reason it doesn't output video anymore. I'm not entirely certain that this is because of the tape though. Whenever I turn it on the CD spins, but all I get it a black screen.

I tried this on a TV which usually tells you if its not getting a signal, but it didn't. I also tried it on another just to be sure, and got the same problem. It works with my other Saturn on the same settings no problem, just not the opened one.

c_mon · Post by **c_mon** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:53 pm

Sure; as long as you know about the basics of hacking consoles and details about the SEGA Saturn system.

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:05 pm

One of our senior members, Segasonicfan, got really damn close with this project. The pictures are down for some reason. Anyways, he said it was a very difficult process, but if all you want to do is tie up some video lines and add a battery, it shouldn't be too tough at all.

Oh, if you do decide to try it, here's the A/V pinouts for the Saturn. Don't forget to keep us updated!

CTFan

So Many Kinds of Bagels · Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:52 pm

Shove the Saturn in a painted cardboard box, put a TV behind it, and take some deceptively scaled pictures. Bam! Saturn laptop.

I don't see any flaws with the concept. As long as you're not going for modern-notebook thin, it should work.

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:17 pm

So Many Kinds of Bagels wrote:I don't see any flaws with the concept. As long as you're not going for modern-notebook thin, it should work.

No, just small enough so its barely "portable".

CronoTriggerfan wrote:Oh, if you do decide to try it, [url=http://www.gamesx.com/avpinouts/saturnav.htm]here's the A/V pinouts

Awesome! Thanks. I'll be sure to let you guys know how its going once I get started.

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:30 pm

I've never felt both a profound sense of accomplishment and failure within such a small amount of time.

I took the tape off then separated everything to see if there was a problem with the motherboard, but it all looked ok to me. So I reconnected everything and low and behold it worked! I retaped the CD drive recognition thing and powered it up, and the same thing that happened before happened again. I took the tape off again, but it still doesn't work.

I'm going to go see if I might have something loosely plugged in or something.

segasonicfan · Post by **segasonicfan** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:22 am

yeah, I made one ages ago. I actually took it on the bus one day and it worked perfectly (I played some metal slug) but sadly there aren't any small versions of the sat out there so the thing was destined to be humongous. the pics are down now cause that was my ancient yahoo photos account and yahoo deleted all photo accounts from their server earlier this year (decided not to do photo hosting anymore).

Basically just try to get the model 1 Saturns b/c they run off only +5v (at 3 amps). The model 2s need 12v and -5v too if I recall, so you'd need something like a mini ATX or something to power it. Hope that helps.

-Segasonicfan

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 2:46 pm

segasonicfan wrote:Basically just try to get the model 1 Saturns b/c they run off only +5v (at 3 amps). The model 2s need 12v and -5v too if I recall, so you'd need something like a mini ATX or something to power it. Hope that helps.

-Segasonicfan

I'm pretty sure I have one lying around. Thanks for the tip!

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:50 pm

I finally cracked it open today. Looking at the disc drive I can't help but wish I could replace it.

A few things I'm hoping for:
- New, vacuum formed case
- Moving the CD Drive to the top half behind the screen (May be unbalanced, but with the batteries in the bottom half maybe not)
- Moving the batteries to the top half (Provided the CD drive doesn't work well there)
- TV Out
- Built-In Backup Cart and/or Modchip

I'm most likely going to use this screen, still looking for some batteries.