New forum dedicated for handhelds?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:01 pm

Indeed, you can't keep out a handheld section and keep in the arcade section.

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:45 pm

No. It's unnecessary, and it's a bad idea to spread the forums too thin.

There's only a few things I can think of that involve factory portables, and they're all fairly basic and can go in existing forums:

Case LEDs
Case mods
Afterburner / transverter installs
Firmware tinkering

The first two can go in the case construction forum, the screen mods can go in the screens forum, and firmware discussion can go in Tech Q&A. If we add a dedicated handhelds forum I think we'll see the same handful of subjects come up over and over again.

I believe arcade machines are a whole different animal, because of the vast amount of hardware out there, JAMMA hacks, connecting screens to PCs, and of course from-scratch cabinet builds.

Ecksem Diem · Post by **Ecksem Diem** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:50 pm

I voted in favor of creating a forum for handhelds, but I have a question: Where the hell is anything pertaining to the Sega Saturn supposed to go? I know it never really comes up, but it'd still be nice to know where exactly it belongs. Should things pertaining to it be posted in the Genesis/CD/32x forum? If so, I think that forum's title and/or description should be amended to reflect inclusion of the little black box everyone forgot.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGG STARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!"

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:54 pm

bicostp wrote:No. It's unnecessary, and it's a bad idea to spread the forums too thin.

There's only a few things I can think of that involve factory portables, and they're all fairly basic and can go in existing forums:

Case LEDs
Case mods
Afterburner / transverter installs
Firmware tinkering
The first two can go in the case construction forum, the screen mods can go in the screens forum, and firmware discussion can go in Tech Q&A. If we add a dedicated handhelds forum I think we'll see the same handful of subjects come up over and over again.

I believe arcade machines are a whole different animal, because of the vast amount of hardware out there, JAMMA hacks, connecting screens to PCs, and of course from-scratch cabinet builds.

So where would projects such as the Big Boy Advance go? I bet the only reason there aren't more projects like that, is because people feel discouraged to posting them here, I mean, you don't have a forum for it, so you obviously don't care about them.

Sure doesn't seem like a site dedicated to portables likes the existing ones.

Ecksem Diem · Post by **Ecksem Diem** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:48 pm

Jesus, you're being dire. Anyone on this forum with a large-scale portable mod that's doing more than just passing through would know to ask a mod (no pun intended) where they should post it (or should know, at the very least, considering that the mods make it very clear that they'll help you out with pretty much anything in regards to posting).

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:18 pm

If you make a portables section, it's going to be pretty much useless because hardly anybody's gonna visit it so it won't be much help. That's kind of why I don't ask questions in the arcade forum, it's too diluted. If this was a 10,000+ member forum it'd be fine, but no.

DK · Post by DK » Mon Oct 08, 2007 3:09 pm

I'd love one, so many portable hacks I'd like to try but I feel there's nowhere to put them.

We lost Bibin's backlit GBP to Portable Haven because we didn't have a portable section. I think so anyway, better ask him

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 6:07 pm

daguuy wrote:If you make a portables section, it's going to be pretty much useless because hardly anybody's gonna visit it so it won't be much help. That's kind of why I don't ask questions in the arcade forum, it's too diluted. If this was a 10,000+ member forum it'd be fine, but no.

See, there's the problem with what you're thinking; people WOULD go and visit it, as we've got a plethora of handheld-related threads all over the place. If anything, I'd almost advocate combining the dead Arcade forums into an Arcade/Handheld forum.

bicostp wrote:I believe arcade machines are a whole different animal, because of the vast amount of hardware out there, JAMMA hacks, connecting screens to PCs, and of course from-scratch cabinet builds.

I'd agree with that statement, but the problem is, no one even goes in there anyways; seeing as a handheld forum would get far more traffic and be useful, I don't see why it's not justified.

It's like Valium pointed out: Where do projects and full-fledged hacks like the BigBoy Advance and others go? We have a total of, what, 2 Dreamcast portables now? But that forum is still kept alive. Sure, benheck is about portablizing, but the old header for the forums used to read "Videogame Hacking" for ages. I'd say portables fall under that category.

CTFan

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:27 am

I'm not sure why anyones against this move, its not like you'll be forced to go to the new forum..

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:36 am

I like the idea of that. Not only would that make me a part of benheck history (I was there, people, I was there!) but also it would be a nice place to discuss popular consoles such as the atari lynx and the v-star pocket!

But seriously, there are a fair amount of posts about these and a new forums would not only put everything in one place, but also get us more projects here! (I mean who wants to do a project when they can't even put it in a proper forum)

Would handheld homebrew belong to that forum? Cause there's some of that alright.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:13 am

So far, 51 votes, 70% say "yes" to a "Handhelds forum". 51 votes represents quite a chunk of active members on this forum.

Here's an incentive - for one of my next projects, once the firmware patch is sorted out to fix tv-out properly (quite imminent I understand), I intend to do a large mod for the GP2x, as mentioned before. I was quite active on the GP2x forum (also "Bacteria" there too BTW).

If there is a "Handhelds forum" I can detail my project development in that...

Perhaps also, my BigBoy Advance project (my first real attempt at such a project) could be migrated to that forum as it would belong there?

I am also tinkering at the moment with modding my old Compaq Ipaq 3660 PDA, the lithium battery died so it only runs via USB, I have opened it up and if I can, intend to run it off more powerful batteries (1 hour on the Ipaq sucked) and make the buttons work better within a home-made case. Again, I can only do this in a Handheld forum (ok I know a PDA isn't a game system, although it does run emulators and is a Handheld, but it will still be a good mod).

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:20 am

And I am currently considering making a gameboy (advance?) to a console as next project.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:50 am

Kyo wrote:And I am currently considering making a gameboy (advance?) to a console as next project.

Excellent.

If you need any advice (look in my guides first, the answers may be there), please ask. It is a worthwhile mod to incorporate.

Felino · Post by **Felino** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:21 am

This really is streatching it too thin guys, we need to make our users want to sign up.

We always seem to get 20+ guests in here all the time.

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:19 am

more forums = more users

Nobody likes asking a question if there isn't an appropriate forum for it. And users with these kind of questions won't sign up.

benheck.com Forums

New forum dedicated for handhelds?

Should there be a dedicated forum just for commercial handhelds? (DS, PSP, GP2x, etc.)