Physically SMALLEST computer for MAME?

[Dougmeister]

Build-it-yourself or already made.

Any threads or links?

Would have to support composite video out.

Thanks.

[ginno]

A Laptop?

[Dougmeister]

A Laptop?

Nah.  Needs to be cheaper.

[Lilwolf]

look at the via boards on ebay.  I got a mini-itx motherboard for 40 bucks... Of course, its only 533mhz... but its fanless and low power and small.

I'm still waiting for the nana-itx's to come out.  They are starting at 1ghz+ and are about 4 1/2 x 4 1/2.  Thats pretty small for a computer thats pretty feature complete.

[Minwah]

Dreamcast?

[Dougmeister]

Dreamcast?

Yeah, I thought of that.  I have one at home and tried getting DCMame to work a long time ago.  May have to try that again.

Not looking forward to hacking the controls, though.

It *would* be the cheapest solution for me, though, and has a very small footprint.

[Minwah]

Not looking forward to hacking the controls, though.

It's not so bad, I did two not long ago.

I've never tried any emulators or homebrew stuff tho, aside from Beats of Rage.

[Dougmeister]

It's not so bad, I did two not long ago.

Know of any step-by-steps to help me through the process of hacking a DC controller to use with standard BYOAC joysticks & buttons?

[SOAPboy]

Mini Mac

[pmc]

Know of any step-by-steps to help me through the process of hacking a DC controller to use with standard BYOAC joysticks & buttons?

There used to be several out there, but their numbers have dwindled. Search the consoles section for refrences and discussion as it comes up a couple of times a month.

I'd like to compile mirror some of those old DC controller hack pages, but I've discovered that when the sites go, so do the responsiveness of the original admins. 

-pmc

[Mr. Bubblehead]

I remember several years back seeing some all-in-one computers that were the size of a "thick" keyboard, the keyboard was full-size, with all the computer guts underneath - you just plugged in your monitor.  Also it seems that there was a computer that was a "cube" about the size of a couple drive bays, you plugged in your monitor, mouse, and keyboard.  A quick Google search didn't turn up any info on these, though, sorry

[Minwah]

Know of any step-by-steps to help me through the process of hacking a DC controller to use with standard BYOAC joysticks & buttons?

Here's one:

http://www.darkravenwind.com/cdvision/madcatz.htm

[Samstag]

I remember several years back seeing some all-in-one computers that were the size of a "thick" keyboard, the keyboard was full-size, with all the computer guts underneath - you just plugged in your monitor.  Also it seems that there was a computer that was a "cube" about the size of a couple drive bays, you plugged in your monitor, mouse, and keyboard.  A quick Google search didn't turn up any info on these, though, sorry

You're probably thinking of the Cappuccino mini PC.  If you look around I'm sure you can find it much cheaper than that.  I'm pretty sure they were several hundred cheaper when they were brand new.  That was just the first place I found one.

Here's a pic of my ITX-based mame/nes/genesis/etc box and wireless controller.  It has composite and S-video outputs and is pretty handy to take on trips.

[Jess--]

have a nose around for Single Board Computers (or SBC)
I use one in my car for satnav / entertainment / solitaire while in traffic jams etc, the dimensions are identical to 3.5" hard drive, it has composite out, and uses a 1ghz PIII cpu.

The whole machine including hard drive, psu, and mini pci lvds video card is around 1.5 times the height of a 3.5" drive and the other dimensions match a 3.5" drive. Dont think it could be made much smaller

Think from memory the manufacturer is Kontron

[fiscap]

AOpen's Pandora might make a nice little machine for a small Mame cabinet - supports DVI, S-Video and YPrPb.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=249

[Silhouette]

Here's a pic of my ITX-based mame/nes/genesis/etc box and wireless controller.  It has composite and S-video outputs and is pretty handy to take on trips.

That's hot. Is that a custom case?

[elvis]

http://www.mini-itx.com/

Plenty if ideas there.

[Samstag]

Here's a pic of my ITX-based mame/nes/genesis/etc box and wireless controller.

[Clonedsheep]

This is the smallest i have seen. http://arcade.laweb.nl/PocketGalaga/

[mo1e]

what that is tiny i guess theres no limit to size

[HaRuMaN]

Not looking forward to hacking the controls, though.

I do still offer a Dreamcast control hacking service, if you don't feel comfortable doing them yourself. 

[Lilwolf]

btw, is cost a factor?  there are a lot of super cool small computers out there... but expect to pay a premium.

industrial computers are very small, don't need fans, and are slower then todays computers but very very expensive.

But this one might do for you

http://cgi.ebay.com/Smallest-Desktop-Computer-5x6x2-Inches-Windows-XP-Pro_W0QQitemZ8707064711QQcategoryZ80193QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There is another company that has one with touchscreen on it.  It was super cool and cost about 2k.  I dont remember the name though sorry

[Dougmeister]

Elvis, thanks for the link to mini-itx.com.  Interesting reading there.

btw, is cost a factor?

[NiN^_^NiN]

Get a EPIA MII 6000E its a 600mhz Fanless motherboard thn buy a Morex 80w PSU thats fanless aswell then use the builtin Tv out port plugged into a sony PS1 screen and u have a small semi cheap and silent setup

[Dougmeister]

Get a EPIA MII 6000E its a 600mhz Fanless motherboard thn buy a Morex 80w PSU thats fanless aswell then use the builtin Tv out port plugged into a sony PS1 screen and u have a small semi cheap and silent setup

Will keep an eye out for those, but the EPIA MII 6000E seems to run around $200 US.  I was hoping to go cheaper than that.

[Lilwolf]

This is the one I got

Link

And it works fine.

[Abomination]

This is the smallest i have seen. http://arcade.laweb.nl/PocketGalaga/

Wow, I want that lol

[NiN^_^NiN]

You can get cheaper and older Epia motherboards but they are pretty crap multimedia wise they should be fine for mame tho

But for video playback u really need a MII series board cause of the new chipset thats used the older boards like the SP1000 or something like that are really crap

[Lilwolf]

I'm using mine with mp3s and it does fine.  I haven't tested them with much else.   Mame it does well on old games, but don't even consider it with much else.  I would put the 533 in the 450 range in comparisons.

[brain21]

The only problem with these really tiny PCs is that you won't be able to play some newer games.  I don't know exactly what the limits are, but the reason is because the video chipsets are not the most robust, and they use shared memory (the video memory is shared with the PC memory & vice-versa).  Where the limits are, I don't know.

Personally I would go for a mini-itx or something similar with a single PCI (or agp) expansion slot.  You can throw a cheap GeForce 5200 PCI or something like that in there and not have to worry about those problems, or find an older ATI card w/ TV out (like a 9250 based or maybe even a 9600-based PCI card and you get the TV out as well.

Also the speed of the CPU, IIRC is a little bit confusing.  For example the VIA EPIA MBs with the 1GHz cpu will not have the benchmarks of a celeron 1GHz, or the equivalent AMD.  It's slower.  More like the equivalent of a Pentium *I* 1 GHz CPU (which obviously doesn't exist, but it gives you an idea) rather than a P4, etc.

On the plus side with many of these cooling is not an issue with them like with a regular PC CPU.  They dont run as hot and are designed to be enclosed in small spaces.  Usually the fan that is in those tiny cases is plenty.

They tend to be a bit pricey retail, but good deals can be found on eBay for these.

As someone else pointed out, go to mini-itx.com and look at all of the projects, and read up on the different boards/cpus etc.  There are some REALLY cool projects up there!

Brain21

[sixcoin]

how about the new HP "slimline"  only $500 and they are 4.375" W x 13.125" D x 9.75" H with a 200gb hdd and 1.5ghz
http://www.hpshopping.com