The Nintendo PC

[McClain]

I'm determined to take the shell of an NES and turn it in to a ROM PC, strictly for playing NES ROM'S. All I need is a small hard drive, a couple USB ports, a primitive 3D card, an old OS and a floppy drive(which I could easily fit in the bay door)... I'm gonna' do this. JUST YOU WATCH!

It's been done before and I've seen instructions on the net, but I'm gonna' do it my way. The cheap way. Hell yeah.

[Psycho Squid]

Interesting. I assuming you can still use the NES controller or do you have to modify that too? Well good luck to you.

[whoreable]

good luck fitting a video card in there. the only ones I have seen done used built in video, I would think any expansions cards (except maybe a low profile) would be much too tall to fit. Those completely integrated via eden boards would be the way to go.


Personally I would love to build a mame machine, using some real arcade controls and a similar monitor.
like one of these
http://www.geocities.com/sbspin/mame/

[Teenage_Zombie138]

i want i want i need i need! :love (yes im talking about the arcade/computer)

[timrpgland]

I'd love to put together a Metal Slug 3 arcade machine.

At least the MVS is cheaper but I don't know if it will ever happen.

[AChimp]

This would be a cool idea, but a motherboard with onboard video and sound support would definitely be required. I don't know of any computer older than a P133 that has both of those features.

The power supply is the biggest problem that I can see. You'd probably have to make it external... although I'm not sure what kind of gear an NES has internally for power regulation.

[whoreable]

There are plenty of boards with video and audio integrated but size is a major issue. I would use this board (http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=13-180-025-04.JPG/13-180-025-03.JPG/13-180-025-01.JPG/13-180-025-02.JPG) 100 bucks aint bad considering all you would need is the powersupply ram and drives.

it has an integrated 533, I think you can get em up to 1 gig. Not great for current gaming but defenetly enough for nes emulation.

You can probaly fix a micro atx powersupply in there too if you do it right.

an old laptop hd would be best, you can get converters to use on desktop boards.

You should also look up that hack so that you can attach old nes controlers to the parellel port and wire that into the front plugs.


I would consider doing one myself but I have enough computers and need to start saving some money.

[McClain]

Yeah... I tried to frankenstein an old Genesis controller to work with a USB. I was getting a sporadic signal so I think I can do it with the NES - an even simpler controller. THe wiring colors are a bit different but I can troubleshoot that one.
I thought about abandoning the idea for a TV card and just hooking it up directly to a computer monitor. Like everyone else said, space is my main concern, so building it sans a graphic card would save me a lot of space.
I think I'm going to have to take the case of my power supply, too. Damn it's gonna' be a tight fit. It's gonna' be worth it though.

[whoreable]

what motherboard you using? I wouldnt think you would be able to fix a powersupply case or not unless you had a mini itx board.

and remeber to be careful when taking that power supply apart..they hold a charge I believe.

[McClain]

That's exactly what I do have - 5??Mhz mini ITX. I don't actually have it yet, but I'll get it soon. And the power supply I'll have hasn't been used in quite a while. It's from the same computer I'm getting the mini ITX from. He checked it w/ a meter maid about a month ago and it was dead. I can only assume it still is. But based on the size, I'll still have to remove the case from the power supply.

Now all I need is a small hard drive. Like a laptop. I don't have one. And I read in a few tutorials that Windows 2000 is the best OS. I don't have that (legally).

[whoreable]

I am getting in the mood to do something like this. Personally I think I would try to boot from the network and not even put a hard drive in it, but then again I havent ever done that and would need to learn how. but that would at least make it alot cheaper...

[The Unseen]

I dont know what any of you are talking about. Im not computer talented :(

[Cap'n Crunch]

Sorry to bump this thread, but I found a pretty good site if anyone is still interested in doing this. I might learn some things about a computer to do it, or I'll pay my cousin to make it for me. :)

http://www.junkmachine.com/nintendo/members/tutorial.shtml