Anyway, I thought I would give you guys forward warning of my next, and what I consider to me my ultimate console project system.
My next project? I will make a universal and interchangeable multi-system. My idea is that I will make a case in two halves, one part will house purely the PSone screen, all the buttons (including extras for the various systems), D-pad and joystick (the joystick will be a pain due to size). This will be made as slim as possible.
The other half will be the console itself, which will slot onto the screen half - on top of it (hence both parts of the system need to be as slim as possible, so the overall height is fine). This will mean using a male connector with about 30-40 pins from the screen (I need to work out precisely how many), and each console top connecting into the case construction from a male plug. I will use these pins to connect directly to the different power voltages, negatives and common wires, joystick and D-pad connectors, buttons, video lines (RGB/composite), audio, etc - everything in other words to connect a console to power, screen, speakers and controls.
The idea is that I can have one case with one PSone screen, buttons and controls to use on whatever system I throw at it. I make the console top part as slim as possible, and it slots into the main casing. I also want the whole of the game cart to be held internally rather than sticking out of the top or back of the console - although the N64 will need a "bump" in the case to take the 20mm thick cart.
Hard to describe the project, I hope you get a feel for what I am describing. I could have waited before announcing this project to after I have worked out measurements more precisely, especially as it is a very challenging one, but I thought it would be more fun to announce my intentions for the project first and gauge reaction. I will start the project in the N64 section (as part one of the project will be N64) and give a full guide with progress pics, as before.
I intend to make this system with removable flat systems for the N64, GBA (remove it from old project yet again!), MegaDrive and a good TV plug'n'play system I have. Four projects in one - interchangeable! I might go for a fifth system for the fun of it if I complete the rest - SNES too.
I will, when I start this project, be starting with the N64. Preliminary calculations indicate the system may finish at a reasonable height - top of case: 2mm, PSone screen and mobo and lee-way: 11mm, back of screen case: 2mm; top of console case: 2mm, N64 system, including completely enclosing an N64 cart (plus N64 mobo, controller, fan, heatsinks, wiring, memory card, expansion pack, etc at: 13mm, bottom of console case: 2mm. This totals 32mm in total thickness, although the part containing the N64 cart and cart slot internally will need to be 20mm thick (extra 7mm in addition to the 13mm for the system electronics) but as this will be in the middle of the case at the end so isn't important - or better still, I make a recess in the screen half to allow for this, so there is no "bump" in the casing! The only problem issue will be that the N64 joystick is fatter than 1mm thick, so I may need to see what methods or alternative joysticks I need to use to have a thin one so I can mount it 11mm or less height with the screen.
The N64 system should end up a total of 32mm which is comfortable to hold, the GBA and plug'n'play alternatives above should be closer to the 30mm mark or maybe a bit less still.
The N64 part of the project is the hard part of this project so I will do it first; if my calculations are right and I can make the N64 part as slim as I think I can, then the rest of the project is plain sailing. Make no mistake, this is an ambitions project with an extra layer of issues, problems and forward planning attached - quite a challenge, including case making. If my calculations are off my as much as 5-8mm then the case will be too high to hold properly and there is no further point in pursuing this idea - I will make separate projects instead then which I know can be slim enough.
If I fail to make this project viable, I can easily revert to making a slimline N64p, which is not a problem if this happens, I do however want to make something more "click'n'play" and unique, like this project could be; and with this design, only need one screen for everything rather than one screen per system, which is quite expensive.
If the GBA converter isn't used would you consider selling it to me?