My NOAC portable design and all its problems! Suggestions?

[Seaniccus]

I saw G-Force's NES mini, and loved the idea, but I had a few changes I liked. Before I thought it all the way through, I wound up drawing an idea up in illustrator (and it took forever because I forgot how to use it!)

This is the design, i'll tell you what I think is wrong, and I'd love it if you helped!
(On two differnt hosts at the request of kyo)


Initially, it's not to different than G-Forces design. The biggest change is that I moved the cartridge slot because I think it would be more comfortable. And obviously, I added a screen to try to make it portable.

Problems? You betcha.
First, I have no idea how much extra wiring the screen setup would take. The screen size I used for the drawing was from my DS, which as I understand, is not a screen that can be used with these projects (Shame, it's the prefect size for this and I can get them for about 15.00) And even that screens not much bigger than the controller itself. I would need to make the "lid" bigger, I think. What I have drawn is in a relativly small space, and the "hinge" idea just make it worse. One MIGHT be able to fit what they need in the space to the left and right (speaker area?) but who knows? Not I.

That's not even the biggest problem, and I didn't even think of it until I uplaoded the image -- Where the hell would I put the battery?

I really like the design though, and even though my hopes are dim, i'd like to make it work. I don't really have much more room to work with than Ben's NES Micro, maybe less. I was thinking about making the controller "bigger" and have a little bit of area extend below the cartridge, but I didn't draw it because I'm lousy at illustrator.

So I ask the experts - is this at all, in any way, remotely possible, and if so - what changes would I have to make to MAKE it possible?

[Kyo]

The imagehost you're using doesn't allow direct embedding. Use Leethosting.

Viral Marketing aside, The ideal situation would be Composite, Sound, Ground, and Positive as all the wires you need to connect between the parts
The batteries, there are really flat and small batteries in portable DVD players. Li-ions. Mine for example are two really flat and also small 2600mAh 3,7V batteries. If you could get your hands on the same model one could go behind the screen, the other one behind the controller. For that to work your NOAC would have to be TINY tho.

Looking at it, it seems rather impossible. Also, this would be much smaller than the NES Micro. So yeah, I would seriously consider a bigger redesign.

[Seaniccus]

The imagehost you're using doesn't allow direct embedding. Use Leethosting.
Looking at it, it seems rather impossible. Also, this would be much smaller than the NES Micro. So yeah, I would seriously consider a bigger redesign.

It imbeds fine to me. In fact, the Something Awful forums use waffleimages to imbed pretty much everything, but to appease the masses:




Yeah, I'm not too sure about space. As I said, G-force fit a noac into a controller, and I WAS planning on making the controller "Fatter" to have a bit of plastic around the cart slot, but I'm just not sure I can fit the batteries, screen, and speaker into the spare area. The "lid" probably won't have enough room, but i'm still pretty interested in trying it.

It doesent say on the page, but does anybody know what kind of NOAC ben used for the NES micro?
I know the Juper Joy III can be made small enough to put into a controller if the AC plug and 2nd controller port are moved to an external junctinon box, but what else can be made that small?

[Kurt_]

May I suggest something?

If this is your first portable, unless you're good with soldering and have the proper equipment, you may want to go with something that already has a 72-pin slot, or stick with the Superjoy 3's built-in games.

If you live in Australia or Europe where 60-pin NES games are sold, I suggest to you the following:

Keep the cartridge slot on the Superjoy 3, slide it back, and fit the bulk of it underneath where your screen goes.

Also, hinges aren't fun to make,so unless you're cool with door hinges or other small metal hinges, you may want to rethink that idea as well.

Where do you live? I'll draw you up what I think you should be aiming for in a first project.

[Kyo]

For me it just says "NO LINKING FROM THIS HOST " in form of a really small image.

Anyhow, yeah don't try going for the 'optimal' hard thing at first. Go easy, learn, and then it'll be much easier for you. Also, what Kurt_ said about the hinges.

[Seaniccus]

Yeah, I pretty much recognize that the idea of hinges is sort of absurd. Very hard to do.

I live in the USA. I actually am very good at soldering, so i'm not worried about replacing the connector, but you are right, this really isent a great idea for a first project. Mostly I had the idea and wound up drawing it in illustrator, and liked the end result. In short I guess, this would be my ideal NESp, possible or not. I wish I could build this, but I probably cant.

Kurt, i'd be happy to see your "first project" draw up if it wont take you long. My first step is actually getting a NOAC. I checked the local flea maket this last weekend, but the guy that ussually has that sort of thing didn't show up on account of rain, so i'll try again this week.

There are some places they are easy to get online, but I hate paying for shipping, it drives up an otherwise reasonable price, ussually -- which is another reason i should start with a simpiler project - i'm sort of on a budget. I've also been thinking about making a nesp out of an NES Advantage controller, but i'm not sure yet - I'll have to find I spare, and then i'll have to come to terms with destroying a great controller!

[bicostp]

It imbeds fine to me. In fact, the Something Awful forums use waffleimages to imbed pretty much everything, but to appease the masses:

It works for you because you already have the image cached. And it works for the SA forums because of this:

Image hosting for the Something Awful Forums.

The only thing I am concerned about with that design is the cartridge. You'll probably want some kind of holder or bracket to keep it in place because all the stress on the connector can't be good for it. (Can't bumping the cart also cause gameplay issues?)

[Seaniccus]

Image hosting for the Something Awful Forums.

Doh. I didn't know they could block it.

The only thing I am concerned about with that design is the cartridge. You'll probably want some kind of holder or bracket to keep it in place because all the stress on the connector can't be good for it. (Can't bumping the cart also cause gameplay issues?)

Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing from the start. I wound up not drawing it in illustrator because I got REALLY fed up with illustrator.

I'm not exactly sure how I would do that though - I guess i would build a new "bottom" for the NES controller that includes a place for the slot? I'm not sure how to do that, short of paying a plastics shop to do it for me. If I ever try to build this crazy thing I guess i'll ask around in the case forum for suggestions.

It's still tempting, even though its prolly out of my skill range.
You might just see a post in a few weeks with a bunch of sad broken parts vaugly duct-taped together to look like that picture.

[Kurt_]

If you find a superjoy for cheap, buy two. I can tell you that you can get one easily off a buyer verified by Turbo and Me for $23 dollars shipped. From here:

http://www.ioffer.com/i/POWER-PLAYER-76000-8801727



Excuse my drawing skills. I'm not the artist you are. Using a hipgear screen and putting it above the NES controller, you can easily make a NESp. The NOAC will fit vertically behind the screen guts, and the cartridge slot can come out the bottom. Even though the cartridge isn't plugged in. (If you're that confident in your abilities. It's not a straightforward pin 1 to pin 1 thing. I'm a little confused about it too.)

Do you kind of get what I'm saying? It'll be more clear if you look up pictures of the hipgear/intec (I'm using an intec) and Superjoy 3. Except the batteries are currently lacking a place to go. I'm thinking it would go in the remaining space above the cartridge, or on the back.

The problem being that you can't play built-in games while a cartridge is inserted. Maybe switching the screen and controller would make it holdable without a cartridge.

[Seaniccus]

If you find a superjoy for cheap, buy two. I can tell you that you can get one easily off a buyer verified by Turbo and Me for $23 dollars shipped. From here:

http://www.ioffer.com/i/POWER-PLAYER-76000-8801727



Excuse my drawing skills. I'm not the artist you are. Using a hipgear screen and putting it above the NES controller, you can easily make a NESp. The NOAC will fit vertically behind the screen guts, and the cartridge slot can come out the bottom. Even though the cartridge isn't plugged in. (If you're that confident in your abilities. It's not a straightforward pin 1 to pin 1 thing. I'm a little confused about it too.)

I get what you are saying. In your version of the picture the Cart is not "plugged in," it's just sitting there right? I still would like to move the cart slot to one that is "in line" with the controller, I'm not too fond of the "L" shape most of the NESp's have when the cartridge is plugged in. I really like how it sticks out in Ben's Micro, and i'd like to mimic that. And yeah the HipGear screen is just about the perfect size for me, I saw it on ebay yesterday, so I think that's the right choice.


As for the drawing, thanks for the compliment, but most of it is TRACING. THe Cartridge is traced from a picture, the hard part was the controller, which I had to do "freehand" in illustrator. Adobe Illustrator itself deserves a lot of credit for being a pretty decent program - it would look a lot better if I knew how to use it properly and I coudl get coloring to work right. (that's why the bottom of the controller is transparent.

[Kyo]

I suppose you could make the lower L part (screen, slot) moveable (with hinges)

Like, it's like this when you're not playing:

###
###
#

and like this, when you're playing:
######
#====

==== being the cart.

[Kurt_]

That would be folding the guts in half.

[Kyo]

That depends on the size of the guts. Just trying to make it fit in a pocket.

[Seaniccus]

No wait, I misuderstood the drawing before. I'd LIKE to make it foldable, but I probably won't be able to pull it off. Making the hinges would be hard, i'll see what my options are when i'm building it - the case is the last thing to do anyway.

It looks like i'm going to have to go trough the conact you listed before, because my local guy hasent showed up at the flea market for a few straight weeks now. I don't know what happened to him, but I don't have an easy source of NOACs anymore.

[Seaniccus]

I gave the flea market ONE more shot, and it turns out a big Game/Movie retailer is only open on Saturdays - They had a SuperJoy III going for $20.00 each. It seemed fair, becasue I can't find them online easily, and if I could i'm sure it would be more than 20 after shipping, so I picked one up.

Now I just need a 72 pin to replace the famicom cartirdge connector with (I plan to replace it altogether, wiring a new one in like Ben did, but I hope to get a full connector instead of two floppy connectors) and a screen and I'll be set to make the insides for the portable! Too bad screens are so expensive, I don't think i'll be able to find one for under $20.00. A man can dream though.