A multi console project from a newbie.

[Psychobob]

I’m looking for a suitable direction to be pointed toward in order to start me off on a grand old, and likely impossible, project.

I have no electrical experience whatsoever, and it would appear that Bens work has nothing in common with what I intend to do, so his book will be of little help to me.

Most people here will probably tell me to start out simple, but I’m the type of person who likes to learn as I go, so please don’t tell me to practice.

I want to build a multi-function console comprising the: Mastersystem, Megadrive, 32X, SEGA CD and the SEGA Saturn. I’d like the SEGA CD and Saturn to run off the same CD drive, while the other consoles will run off the same cartridge slot. All the systems will use a universal joy pad.

I’ll need knowledge on how each system operates, and I would appreciate it if people could recommend any places that have documented the hardware (circuit diagrams and such) and what everything does. I’d also be grateful to know if I can build these consoles with smaller or alternative components.

As regards to time, I aim to make this an ongoing project that will teach me as I go, and because time is no issue I can stream funds to the project, rather than setting myself a budget (although I don’t aim to spend like mad).

The design of the console is what I’d consider bold. Since the look of the console is about the only thing I know how to do at this stage, I’ve given it some thought. The console is going to be large, not because it needs to be, but because I want it to command a presents. I’d estimate a meter in height, and half a meter in width and depth.

I can scan some crappy doodles of the overall look at a later date.

[cennar]

same CD same cart slot eh? well thats a custom CD mount motor assembly and cart slot.. altogether the cart slot is the most practical thing you could make, a sega gen with 32x plays so far bouth, now your going to want master system to eh? well i supose there was a master system base converter (not to be confused with a step up/down power converter) but im sure you could do the Cart slot just not much to do about that CD mount unless you know how to aline two lazers on the same mount with one motor, so i think its possable with origanal hardware, but not likly to happen from itehr you or me. If i where you i would aslo add the dreamcast, all that emulation, and sega history would make a great lump of a console experiment

oh and there is no sega Cd or saturn emulator for the dreamcast so thats no good , but you could make a new mount so you could put say one disk in and an other on the roof of the CD lid so it looks like there is only one disk mount but when you open the lid there are two

[Psychobob]

same CD same cart slot eh? well thats a custom CD mount motor assembly and cart slot.. altogether the cart slot is the most practical thing you could make, a sega gen with 32x plays so far bouth, now your going to want master system to eh? well i supose there was a master system base converter (not to be confused with a step up/down power converter) but im sure you could do the Cart slot just not much to do about that CD mount unless you know how to aline two lazers on the same mount with one motor, so i think its possable with origanal hardware, but not likly to happen from itehr you or me. If i where you i would aslo add the dreamcast, all that emulation, and sega history would make a great lump of a console experiment

oh and there is no sega Cd or saturn emulator for the dreamcast so thats no good , but you could make a new mount so you could put say one disk in and an other on the roof of the CD lid so it looks like there is only one disk mount but when you open the lid there are two

Thank you. Now remember I know nothing about this sort of thing, but in regards to the CD drive thingy, why carn't I just use one laser instead of two?

And could you, or someone, provide me with websites that detail the hardware for each of the consoles I aim to bulid this project from.

Would it just be better to house standalone consoles in one chassie, than try to run them off the same CD drive/slot/whatever you call the place where the disk goes?

[Kurt_]

I won't tell you that's impossible, it's just extremely ridiculous. If you want all that, just get a comptuer and an emulator. Save your money and space.

Do you have any idea how big that thing would be? Maybe the statue of liberty could use it as a handheld, but that's about it.

As for using the same cart/cd slot, that's easy. Simply wire the systems to the same cartrdige slot/cd drive, and have an switch that switches between the curently activated system. As long as all 15 or so of your systems have the same basic cartrdige orientation.

If they're different you're screwed in that regard.


Like the nice old ING direct guy says:

Save your money!

[GamingRev]

Yeah it would be quite big, read a little next time.

[gamemasterAS]

yah i dont know much about portables but if you have no expeince in this sort of thing then maybe try a noac. im not saying start out easy or simple but htis might be more reasonable. so make your super system that will probably tip you over i would love to see it im serious. i want to see a multi cart slot and muti cd slot i think that would be realy cool just saying its not that posible.

[timmeh87]

obviously he does not intend this to be protable.


as far as using the same cd drive for both systems though...
i know nothing about the two systems in question, but im going to assume that they are as different as say, as ps1 and a ps2. in that case, even though they can read the same discs and operate in the same way, it would be almost impossible to get both systems to run off the same drive. you see, most of the components in the drive (laser, motors... switches) are just components, and only that. unlike a PC cd drive, which has the controller board included and a standardized interface, all the control hardware is directly on the system's motherboard, and customized specifically for the drive that is in the system.

so you would have use the drive from the system with a better drive, and have to make a sort of hardware emulator board to allow the other one to control the drive.

and dont think you can get off easy and just hopefully do a hack job with some wires and two resistors. the stepper motors in there probably have different degrees-per-step values, the laser is probably a different wattage, and in general there is absolutely no cross compatability. building such an emulator board would requre an advanced knowlege of circuits and microcontrollers, as well as fluency in at least one low-level language (C counts). it would take years for one person with limited free time to get it working properly

now, thats the worst case... for all i know the two systems use the exact same drive to save on costs or something like that... in that case... it would still be hard, but not impossible.

not to discourage you, just maybe using two drives would be an easier idea (if the thing is going to be that huge anyhow, i dont see why not)

[Nicholai]

I won't tell you that's impossible, it's just extremely ridiculous. If you want all that, just get a comptuer and an emulator. Save your money and space.

Do you have any idea how big that thing would be? Maybe the statue of liberty could use it as a handheld, but that's about it.

As for using the same cart/cd slot, that's easy. Simply wire the systems to the same cartrdige slot/cd drive, and have an switch that switches between the curently activated system. As long as all 15 or so of your systems have the same basic cartrdige orientation.

If they're different you're screwed in that regard.


Like the nice old ING direct guy says:

Save your money!

Hey, I think even someone with no electrical experience could know that it will never be portable.

[Wayne Venomous]

Seems a little ambitions for a "first" project.
Why not try something nice and simple to get a feel of how things work like a cheap Nes on a chip based 10 in 1 joystick or even a Sega Genesis on a chip system (like the Sonic plug & play) or similar system and take it from there?

[cennar]

I won't tell you that's impossible, it's just extremely ridiculous. If you want all that, just get a comptuer and an emulator. Save your money and space.

Do you have any idea how big that thing would be? Maybe the statue of liberty could use it as a handheld, but that's about it.

As for using the same cart/cd slot, that's easy. Simply wire the systems to the same cartrdige slot/cd drive, and have an switch that switches between the curently activated system. As long as all 15 or so of your systems have the same basic cartrdige orientation.

If they're different you're screwed in that regard.


Like the nice old ING direct guy says:

Save your money!

quite right, I think its posable just i dont think you have the skills to chop up a bunch of CD mounts and make your own

[ValiantVenality]

I know one thing you could do tape all of the things together. Even though thats a crappy idea it would save you money but not space.

[Psychobob]

Wow, I kind of forgot about this whole topic, it slipped my mind.

I’ll tell you this, if I wanted to save on money I wouldn’t be building this thing, and if I had limited time then your all right, it would be stupid to attempt such a thing. However five years is the minimum timeframe I’m allowing for this project, and I thinks that’s plenty time to get a grasp on electronics.

I’m not building this thing because I desperately want to play it, if that were the case then I’d have bought each console by now, I just want to learn whilst building something grand at the same time. All I ask is that before people start telling me what drives to use, or the optimum casing size, they could offer me some external links to websites that detail the hardware setup of each of these consoles, and an ‘electronics for dummies’ site would be nice too. I want to work from the ground up, not plunge in the deep end and start discussing things I have yet to comprehend.