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Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 10:10:04 am

Title: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 10:10:04 am
So its been a while since I've played with this stuff, but ....I'm back :D    I used NES shell of course, a ASRock E350M1 AMD E-350 APU, 2gb of ddr3 memory, and a pico itx powersupply.  I have xp home loaded and all roms copied, still trying to figure out what front end to use.......I've been out of the game for a bit, so.....bit of a learning curve.  But here are the posted pictures, I think mine is just a little different from ones I've seen because instead of the front controller ports being rewired, I converted the entire panel into front USB ports. 
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/995252_10152143652511019_1551504247_n_zps7409ae80.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/995252_10152143652511019_1551504247_n_zps7409ae80.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1488131_10152143652576019_1085454373_n_zps8ee3a15f.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1488131_10152143652576019_1085454373_n_zps8ee3a15f.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/536854_10152150683631019_1419955223_n_zps11c08867.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/536854_10152150683631019_1419955223_n_zps11c08867.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1488317_10152150683826019_1149804652_n_zpsbc4fa3d8.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1488317_10152150683826019_1149804652_n_zpsbc4fa3d8.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/536854_10152150683631019_1419955223_n_zps11c08867.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/536854_10152150683631019_1419955223_n_zps11c08867.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1470298_10152150683726019_15264283_n_zpscdaf8f3c.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1470298_10152150683726019_15264283_n_zpscdaf8f3c.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1474635_10152150721001019_10002906_n_zpsb4f838b0.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1474635_10152150721001019_10002906_n_zpsb4f838b0.jpg.html)
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1477913_10152150721101019_24817332_n_zps36419439.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/1477913_10152150721101019_24817332_n_zps36419439.jpg.html)

Look forward to any feedback or insite on front ends to use
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: dgame on December 10, 2013, 10:48:36 am
What emulator(s) are you going to use?

I use MaLa for MAME: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,81073.0.html (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,81073.0.html)
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 11:48:47 am
I'm thinking FCEUX, have to test to make sure my APU is fast enough to run roms at full speed, my rom set is probably like 5 years old so......should be fast enough
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: 404 on December 10, 2013, 12:09:08 pm
shouldn't have any problems running nes on a setup like that unless you are running an emulator with custom visual filters.

Out of curiosity, what are you going to do with the nes that was once housed inside?
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 12:21:58 pm
I just have all the parts sitting in a box, figured I'd give to anyone that wanted, I still have controllers, power adapter and everything, it all worked before I got dremel happy
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 12:23:59 pm
I actually was thinking of getting a dead game (prefer like the gold zelda game) and gutting that to put in the opening when you open the door, to make it look more old school.  Just a thought
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: Superfrog on December 10, 2013, 01:32:09 pm
nice project  :cheers:

Maybe a dvd drive in the cartridge door  :angel:
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 01:40:14 pm
I thought of putting my mini dvd drive there, but honestly, after I loaded roms and OS, what would I really use drive for?  Plus my drive is usb anyway.  I was thinking of just making it look like there was a game sitting in there, my buddy says he has a dead game I can go dremel crazy on to and basically just glue it to the lid :D
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: yotsuya on December 10, 2013, 02:54:39 pm
I'm hoping to build the same thing soon as well.

Subscribed!
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: Vigo on December 10, 2013, 03:02:51 pm
Looking good, what you gonna use for controllers?
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: 404 on December 10, 2013, 03:13:13 pm
I just have all the parts sitting in a box, figured I'd give to anyone that wanted, I still have controllers, power adapter and everything, it all worked before I got dremel happy

if you are on the verge of tossing it, I may be interested. I was actually offered one of those aftermarket ppu addons but I wasn't about to gut a perfectly good nes to do the mod.
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 10, 2013, 05:05:31 pm
You can totally have the box of parts, just pay shipping :D  For the controller I used : http://www.amazon.com/Classic-USB-NES-Controller-PC/dp/B002YVD3KM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386712732&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+nes+controller (http://www.amazon.com/Classic-USB-NES-Controller-PC/dp/B002YVD3KM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386712732&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+nes+controller)     I'm thinking I may have it do SNES too, so I'll get the SNES controllers as well.  I did change things up, Setting up Hyperspin now and using Nestopia as a emulator
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y412/radarmike2003/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/20131210_170109_zps8c7f6a85.jpg) (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/radarmike2003/media/Nintendo%20NES%20conversion/20131210_170109_zps8c7f6a85.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: smalltownguy on December 10, 2013, 08:22:09 pm
Cool thread. Subscribed!
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: 05SRT4 on December 11, 2013, 07:14:05 am
How is the heat situation?
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 11, 2013, 10:51:18 am
According to AIDA64 with door closed, things are running hot, looks like 54 degrees so.......I'm going to have to look at cooling options...........
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 13, 2013, 01:43:33 pm
So...no matter what I do, I cant get hyperspin to work right by using the controllers only.  If I go into nestopia and select each game, the controllers work just fine, but not through hyperspin, I've tried setting, resetting, reassigning controller keys, disabling keyboard, disconnecting keyboard, nothing works, so......now I'm looking for another FE to use.   I wouldnt mind MaLa but I want this to be a dedicated Nintendo system and it keeps asking for MAME info
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: 404 on December 13, 2013, 01:52:59 pm
So...no matter what I do, I cant get hyperspin to work right by using the controllers only.  If I go into nestopia and select each game, the controllers work just fine, but not through hyperspin, I've tried setting, resetting, reassigning controller keys, disabling keyboard, disconnecting keyboard, nothing works, so......now I'm looking for another FE to use.   I wouldnt mind MaLa but I want this to be a dedicated Nintendo system and it keeps asking for MAME info

running a 64 bit OS?

its a known bug with hyperspin and HID controllers on 64 bit OSes
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on December 13, 2013, 01:55:55 pm
no running just xp home
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: 404 on December 15, 2013, 06:35:58 pm
no running just xp home

very strange. I know there was a known problem with HID controllers not working in hyperspin but it only seemed to affect 64bit OSes. Hyperspin is also my frontend of choice so it's going to be a little tricky to come up with something as presentable as HS.

If you decide you ever want to go in the complete opposite direction, you could always use mala or mamewah and make a completely minimalistic theme to run your nes games. Perhaps a green and white menu just like the playchoice 10 had.
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: dgame on December 16, 2013, 11:12:05 am
There is a 16:10 Nintendo Playchoice themed layout for Mala here:

http://www.antolinxxl.cu.cc/artmala10.html (http://www.antolinxxl.cu.cc/artmala10.html)

(http://www.antolinxxl.cu.cc/imagenes/mala/mplaychoice.jpg)
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: MnMCaputo on January 07, 2014, 06:16:47 pm
Back to finishing this up now, finally loaded MaLa and mame but am not using the mame app.  Just didnt want it to keep popping up saying that I needed it.   Got SNES controllers for Christmas so will trying to configure MaLa to work with either the NES style controller or the SNES controller.   Man, I'm out of practice with this stuff :D
Title: Re: Nintendo NES itx project
Post by: kahlid74 on January 08, 2014, 10:44:31 am
Nicely done.  I've seen a few retrofits of old consoles with new parts and love them each time.