Mini-Itx Console Emulator - How to do Admin buttons?

[Jakobud]

I've seen a dozen and a half people who have stuffed Mini-Itx boards into an old NES and then use USB-retrofitted NES controllers for it.  I've been thinking about doing something like this, but what do people normally do for admin buttons?  Like Exiting the game, shutting down the system, etc?  Ideally I'd want to avoid having a keyboard sitting out.

[Howard_Casto]

Well you could probably get away with using Macros.....  Most emulators don't support them, espeically with joystick input, but you could just use ahk or something similar to rig it up.

Holding select and pressing start could exit... that's the only admin button you really need btw.... if you press "exit" in the fe it should shut down the system.

You just need to make sure that the button combos you use are never used inside a game.  Select and Start might not work because a few cheat codes might actually need select and start.  You could do a triple combo like Up+Select+Start=esc

[Le Chuck]

Rig the Nintendo reset button to exit the game and FE and the power button to, ya know, power.  If running arcade games then coin and p1 are select and start.

[opt2not]

Setup Xpadder.
http://xpadder.com/

It gives you shift functionality. For example you could set it up to hold down the "Start" button and hit "Up" on the d-pad to exit.  Or whatever combination you want. Add as many shift functions as your heart desires.
Great tool for a minimalist's setup.

[Jakobud]

XPadder looks pretty good.

Also I like the idea of rigging up the Reset and/or Power button.  What would I rig them up to?  Would I need to get a keyboard encoder just for those two buttons?

[Howard_Casto]

XPadder looks pretty good.

Also I like the idea of rigging up the Reset and/or Power button.  What would I rig them up to?  Would I need to get a keyboard encoder just for those two buttons?

Huh?

I mean shouldn't it be obvious?  Computers have power and reset buttons as well. 

Also keep in mind that on any computer running win xp and up you can set the power button on a pc to shut down windows when clicked.  This sends a "shutting down" message to all open applications, so if the fe of your choice is coded properly, it'll shut it down cleanly as well.

Your going to have to modify the power button though.... it's a toggle button on the NES and you need a regular pushbutton.... it should be as simple as clipping/removing whatever internal latch the button uses to hold it in the on position.  You can wire the power light up to the mother board as well. 


I mean you COULD go to all the trouble of wiring up the reset button to something else, but it's only one button and it's all the way over at the console.  How often do you reset in-game anyway?

[ark_ader]

I've seen a dozen and a half people who have stuffed Mini-Itx boards into an old NES and then use USB-retrofitted NES controllers for it.  I've been thinking about doing something like this, but what do people normally do for admin buttons?  Like Exiting the game, shutting down the system, etc?  Ideally I'd want to avoid having a keyboard sitting out.

Remember the idea of having your Nintendoh Entertainment System case is where you are going to perform your productivity. These projects like this are supposed to be more form than fit.



So you will have to experiment as you go.  Like Howard said:

 

How often do you reset in-game anyway?

[Le Chuck]

XPadder looks pretty good.

Also I like the idea of rigging up the Reset and/or Power button.  What would I rig them up to?  Would I need to get a keyboard encoder just for those two buttons?

To use reset to exit game, which would be awesome, you would need a joy hack or encoder but +1 to direct board hook up for power.

[Howard_Casto]

To use reset to exit game, which would be awesome, you would need a joy hack or encoder but +1 to direct board hook up for power.

Yes because having a button clearly labeled "RESET"  that in fact exits isn't a bad idea at all.  That won't confuse literally everyone who tries it.   


Seriously though it seems like having such a commonly used button as the exit button all the way over at the console instead of mapping it to the gamepad would be very inconvenant. 

[Le Chuck]

To use reset to exit game, which would be awesome, you would need a joy hack or encoder but +1 to direct board hook up for power.

Yes because having a button clearly labeled "RESET"  that in fact exits isn't a bad idea at all.  That won't confuse literally everyone who tries it.   


Seriously though it seems like having such a commonly used button as the exit button all the way over at the console instead of mapping it to the gamepad would be very inconvenant. 

Almost as inconvenient as getting up and putting a new cartridge in to change games?    I think saying "hey, use reset to change games" will go over a lot better than "if you wanna change games you need to press down, up, select, and B all at the same time"

[Howard_Casto]

You are wrong on that.... anyone who's played the SNES knows that it's a nintendo standard to press select +start to exit a level.....  if the same is done on a NES pad it won't be too much of a stretch for people to get the hang of it.

And aside from that the whole point of putting a computer in a nes is so you don't have to get up to switch games.  If you have to get up to exit games then it defeats the purpose and you should just leave it as a nes. 

[Le Chuck]

When I was a kid I sat right by the box and played staring straight up and the screen.  That way I didn't have to get up... of course I also had to blow on the carts to get them to play half the time and who the hell wants to replicate that?  I can see your point, but it does seem a shame to let that button go to waste.  Let's just say if I built one of these you can be sure my kids are going to be all pissy that they have to get up to change games... or maybe they'll just sit infront of the tv like they do anyway.

[Howard_Casto]

That's VERY bad for you eyes man.  I'm suprised your parents didn't make you sit back.  Your nes couldn't be moved far from the tv due to the cables, so everybody I knew sit pretty far back from the nes itself.  I've gotta think this is pretty universal as well... that's why they started putting power buttons on the controllers. 

The reset button wouldn't be wasted... it would be wired to the computers reset.  So you know, the reset button actually resets and the power button actually turns things on.  (How novel! )

That being said it isn't our box, so our argument is rather pointless anyway.  Haven't heard from Jakobud for a while.... maybe we scared him off?

[Jakobud]

Nope still here!  Regarding the power/reset buttons, yeah obviously could hook them up to the mobo power/reset buttons.  I was asking about using them to exit or reset the game you are in.  I like that idea but a dedicated joystick hack or keyboard encoder just for 2 buttons sounds like a pain, especially considering the lack of space in the console.  The XPadder solution is definitely the easiest.  Thanks guys.

[Howard_Casto]

On a somewhat related note, I sure wish the console emulator guys would implement some sort of home menu that optionally pops up when you pause the game.  That would make things a lot nicer. 

Like if you held pause in a NES emulator for 5 secs you would get a little menu (controllable by your gamepad mapping of course) like:

***************************

*PAUSED*

Load State
Save State
RESET
EXIT

Disable This Menu (Press St +Sl+A+B to Reactivate)
****************************


Then you could use an emulator with just the standard gamepad it came with.  And for people that don't like the context menu, or want to use a slo-mo controller or something they can disable it and the emulator behaves normally.

[Le Chuck]

+100 to the above.  Need to find which emulators are still being actively developped and drop the hint to their devs

I think ZSNES and FUSION are still alive.

[Enforcer407]

I know it's been a bit since the last post on this but I thought it was pretty ironic. Not 2 weeks ago, I built one of these "PC's in an NES" for a friend of mine and the Reset/Power button was one of his biggest concerns.

What we ended up with was wiring the Power Button to the MoBo for power (hooked the LED up to it as well) and then left the Reset button alone. His main goal was keeping the unit as "NES as possible". We left the two front controller ports alone but we intend to wire them up as well so he can plug his NES controllers into the front and have them recognized as USB controllers.

I only make mention of this because my friend had thought he could wire the Reset Button to something on the MoBo to reset the game he was in. When I tried to explain it to him that it wouldn't work, he tried to argue the point with me. But, I now intend to show him this thread and let him see that all of us have come to the same conclusion...Xpadder for the win. Heh.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

On mine I wired the NES power and reset buttons to guess what.. Power and reset of the motherboard.

Just use xpadder and some shift functions for your admin stuff.