Creating game console

[spooner]

Hello!

I'm thinking about building a portable game console out of Picaxe/arduino chips. I also have the maximite basic computer kit (look it up, it's tiny!)
I do know a fair bit about electronics and that so I should be able to get started when time is available, but does anyone have ANY ideas about the design that be electronic or even just the shell?

At the moment I'm considering maybe a Dos based console not 100% sure yet, otherwise custom os...
the console will have to be constructed from veroboard as I don't have etching tools, but I'm good at soldering so it won't matter


But the main thing I'd like some advice on is the body, control layout and the battery pack, I'm thinking something rechargeable, I do have some sla it's a small one but while it's perfect in the sense of providing sufficient power it weighs a TON!
The PICAXE chips can run off 3-4.5v and my screen needs 12v (it's a car reversing camera screen) Hopefully I'll be able to modify the screen to run off 3-4.5v

The size isn't everything-I don't mind a brick console but I would like something maybe 2-3cm thick and it must still be portable!
Also, should I go with a ds style folding screen or psp style?

I don't care how long it takes, I have spent over a year on one project (which I am still working on...)
Thanks!!

[billysastard]

Hello!

I'm thinking about building a portable game console out of Picaxe/arduino chips. I also have the maximite basic computer kit (look it up, it's tiny!)
I do know a fair bit about electronics and that so I should be able to get started when time is available, but does anyone have ANY ideas about the design that be electronic or even just the shell?

At the moment I'm considering maybe a Dos based console not 100% sure yet, otherwise custom os...
the console will have to be constructed from veroboard as I don't have etching tools, but I'm good at soldering so it won't matter


But the main thing I'd like some advice on is the body, control layout and the battery pack, I'm thinking something rechargeable, I do have some sla it's a small one but while it's perfect in the sense of providing sufficient power it weighs a TON!
The PICAXE chips can run off 3-4.5v and my screen needs 12v (it's a car reversing camera screen) Hopefully I'll be able to modify the screen to run off 3-4.5v

The size isn't everything-I don't mind a brick console but I would like something maybe 2-3cm thick and it must still be portable!
Also, should I go with a ds style folding screen or psp style?

I don't care how long it takes, I have spent over a year on one project (which I am still working on...)
Thanks!!

well i dont know what you are aiming for, some kind of emulation system or do you plan on writing your own games?

certainly if aiming at emulation then linux seems to be the choice of many small open source consoles.

i'd go with a clamshell (or at least something like the atari lynx 1 screen cover / sun visor) simply because that design whilst a little harder to make offers so much better protection not only to the screen but the controls too, maybe consider using a gba sp as the base unit?

[spooner]

hello again billysastard!
Making a system that emulates exisiting games would be good if I was able to get hold of an old gba or old system like that and then create a component diagram with which to create my system. there are gba emulator consoles CHEAP on ebay so I could use one to get the circuit diagram.Or gut! anyway, I have a couple of ideas
1.What do you mean by using the SP as a 'base unit'? do you mean get the guts out
But that's a cool idea, if sp has av out then I can remove that tiny screen and use a nice 3.4' composite!!!(the car reverseing camera screen)
(and make some kind of custom case perhaps outta perspex with an after glow or led mod)
Once that was done if it's possible to put linux or some sort of homebrew on an sp then i could have it setup with the gameboy OS and linux. And if the gba sp has a crystal driver then could overclock it, and have a completely awesome widescreen gameboy... That is a great idea!!!

2.Originally when I was posting I was thinking of using a little BASIC computer i have as the core because you can run the old dos games off it ( free from the internet)The main problem with this is that I would need a keyboard to play the old dos games,that's not very portable is it!!! I'd have to create a program in basic which i could THEN run my own games off. It's possible...but not very practical!

3.the other way is starting from scratch to build a PIcAXE based console and then creating my own operating system and games... then that way I can specialise it the way I want to run the stuff I want!
Only thing is is that Picaxe chips/arduino can only really produce some VERY simple graphics (pacman style) It has been done with lcd screens but many use led matrixs. But i do want lcd. or both...
so gba could beat those graphics any day!

At the moment I'm with idea 1 and 3, the dos computer seems like a waste of space when I'm going to run operating systems on operating systems!

What would you do out of these three???
P.S; I think a clamshell design is the way to go, not only because it offers protection but because I can have the screen in the top half and have the WHOLE BOTTOM HALF just for the guts and battery and controls... So thanks for reccomending that, I think it'd be worth the effort...

[billysastard]

hello again billysastard!
Making a system that emulates exisiting games would be good if I was able to get hold of an old gba or old system like that and then create a component diagram with which to create my system. there are gba emulator consoles CHEAP on ebay so I could use one to get the circuit diagram.Or gut! anyway, I have a couple of ideas
1.What do you mean by using the SP as a 'base unit'? do you mean get the guts out
But that's a cool idea, if sp has av out then I can remove that tiny screen and use a nice 3.4' composite!!!(the car reverseing camera screen)
(and make some kind of custom case perhaps outta perspex with an after glow or led mod)
Once that was done if it's possible to put linux or some sort of homebrew on an sp then i could have it setup with the gameboy OS and linux. And if the gba sp has a crystal driver then could overclock it, and have a completely awesome widescreen gameboy... That is a great idea!!!

2.Originally when I was posting I was thinking of using a little BASIC computer i have as the core because you can run the old dos games off it ( free from the internet)The main problem with this is that I would need a keyboard to play the old dos games,that's not very portable is it!!! I'd have to create a program in basic which i could THEN run my own games off. It's possible...but not very practical!

3.the other way is starting from scratch to build a PIcAXE based console and then creating my own operating system and games... then that way I can specialise it the way I want to run the stuff I want!
Only thing is is that Picaxe chips/arduino can only really produce some VERY simple graphics (pacman style) It has been done with lcd screens but many use led matrixs. But i do want lcd. or both...
so gba could beat those graphics any day!

At the moment I'm with idea 1 and 3, the dos computer seems like a waste of space when I'm going to run operating systems on operating systems!

What would you do out of these three???
P.S; I think a clamshell design is the way to go, not only because it offers protection but because I can have the screen in the top half and have the WHOLE BOTTOM HALF just for the guts and battery and controls... So thanks for reccomending that, I think it'd be worth the effort...

check somewhere like dealextreme for emulator consoles, they will run most older systems, psx and often arcade too, you can also buy "replacement" cases (ie empty shells) i'm thinking if you want widescreen and good battery pace the a nds or dslite shell would make a good base unit, none of the gb/ ds units have tv out but a dremel would cure that at least as far as making a hole is concerned, although many of the emulator systems do have tv out so you could rob one from one of those.

[spooner]

Yes I'll have a look at that site and see what I can find!

The case I will probably have to make myself, as it will likely be a bit wider and fatter than a dsl

Ok just had a look.... there is some great stuff on there, so i'll remember that site, I saw one of those mp4 game 10 million in one things-in other words, a fake, limited psp... It claims that it can play nes games and stuff like that.It's 40 bucks though, and I think i've seen something similar on ebay for 28 dollars, so I'll check first. That would be a good base unit thouh as you say, so I might gut one! Plus it has tv out HOORAY! But if I get one the thing is it already has a 4.3' screen, so I either won't need the car screen, have 2 screens, or, depending on the quality of the console screen, I'll remove the console screen and use the car screen!!! (confusing...)
The other thing I saw was this thing called an nj console it had 6o games built in and was 12 bucks with tv out HOORAY! I don't think that you can actually put games on there though, but it has a tiny screen so I could put the widescreen on it.
UNLESS I can possibly hack it to load MY games... it has only 16mb of dram though

Anyway, the easiest way to do this is too gut a cheap console, PiCAXe is limited for game consoles
So the nj or the fake psp???

What are those dingoo things like?? someone said theirs was good techinally, but very unreliable....

[billysastard]

Yes I'll have a look at that site and see what I can find!

The case I will probably have to make myself, as it will likely be a bit wider and fatter than a dsl

Ok just had a look.... there is some great stuff on there, so i'll remember that site, I saw one of those mp4 game 10 million in one things-in other words, a fake, limited psp... It claims that it can play nes games and stuff like that.It's 40 bucks though, and I think i've seen something similar on ebay for 28 dollars, so I'll check first. That would be a good base unit thouh as you say, so I might gut one! Plus it has tv out HOORAY! But if I get one the thing is it already has a 4.3' screen, so I either won't need the car screen, have 2 screens, or, depending on the quality of the console screen, I'll remove the console screen and use the car screen!!! (confusing...)
The other thing I saw was this thing called an nj console it had 6o games built in and was 12 bucks with tv out HOORAY! I don't think that you can actually put games on there though, but it has a tiny screen so I could put the widescreen on it.
UNLESS I can possibly hack it to load MY games... it has only 16mb of dram though

Anyway, the easiest way to do this is too gut a cheap console, PiCAXe is limited for game consoles
So the nj or the fake psp???

What are those dingoo things like?? someone said theirs was good techinally, but very unreliable....

i believe that they now changed to a new url just dx.com so easier to remember

i hadnt heard about the dingoo being unreliable, i do know its more powerful than most and can be hacked for linux.

[spooner]

ok then....
at the moment the best thing to use is an old gba or cheepo emulator console . perhaps some ipod batteries would power it decently 3-4 hours if wired in paralell to up the current and series to increase the volts. Then I could hook up a few sd sockets and maybe a laptop hd though usb/sd if I can find one around...but laptop hard disks tend to chew battery life, so an usb hard disk draws about 500ma thats not bad considering your'e getting 100-500gb of storage
are there good games for those emulator consoles?
let me know if you have any ideas....
thanks

[simian raticus]

I DON't have time for any games this time! I must work! My wife is pregnant with JACK BECKHAM!