epia-based NES-PC

Show off your quiet rig.

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necrosaro
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:27 pm

epia-based NES-PC

Post by necrosaro » Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:58 pm

This is my first post to the SPCR forums, I guess the promo was enough of an incentive for me to register. Anyway, here's some pics of a little project of mine:
http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/~wgj3/nespc/
it's a VIA mini-itx epia 800, a generic (lite-on i think?) laptop DVD-rom drive, fujitsu mhr2030at 30gb laptop hard drive, fanless internal/external power supply from a morex cubid case, and a bunch of extension adapters to route the cables to the outside of the NES case. The DVD drive sticks out the cartridge slot, video (composite connector) and audio (1/8" headphone jack) out the side, ethernet, power, and ps/2 keyboard out the back, and USB out the sides (I use USB mice). There are also working LED and power/reset buttons. I also hooked up the left NES port on the case up to the parallel port, so that I could use a working NES controller, a SNES or PSX controller with the help of some dongles, and 4 SNES controllers with the help of a dongle and multitap. I was going to add VGA or S-Video extension to the right controller port (via dongle), or I was thinking about putting the VGA through the recession out the back of the NES case, but i ended up taking the entire thing apart and my brother started using the epia for music stuff so he stuck it in an amp case. I've since purchased an epia-m, but the power connector is on a different side of the motherboard and i haven't yet spent the time to figure out how to fit everything properly in the case with the new positioning.
I have some more pictures around somewhere if anyone else is interested. I can also take some pictures of the amp case, or the quick and dirty poor man's EPIA-M case that I put together that I made out of the retail epia-m box itself because I had about 20 minutes to put the computer in something to bring to a friend's house and show a divx video. Only problem was that in such a tight case without any extra fans, I think the northbridge chip got too hot and was crashing the computer about a minute into entering windows xp, so I had to play the movie with the box opened on the top anyway for it to work properly.

sporkwunderkind
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2003 8:18 pm
Location: Prescott, Arizona: USA

interesting

Post by sporkwunderkind » Mon Jan 27, 2003 8:34 pm

I'm working up to constructing a system built on the EPIA M9000 platform... I've never built a PC before, but this kind of project is irresistible. I need something quiet and small, that I can carry around easily and plug into the monitor, keyboard and mouse at work or at home.

What were the main challenges in putting your projects together? Is there anything on these mobos to watch out for?

Ralf Hutter
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 8636
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2002 6:33 am
Location: Sunny SoCal

Re: interesting

Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Jan 28, 2003 4:28 am

sporkwunderkind wrote:I'm working up to constructing a system built on the EPIA M9000 platform... I've never built a PC before, but this kind of project is irresistible. I need something quiet and small, that I can carry around easily and plug into the monitor, keyboard and mouse at work or at home.

What were the main challenges in putting your projects together? Is there anything on these mobos to watch out for?
I'm not trying to sound silly but have you ever considered a notebook computer? Almost anything you can currently buy, even a low-end Celeron or PIII-M would blow the doors of an EPIA and would be very quiet. Most notebooks also have connectors for external monitors, keyboards and a mouse so you could plug it into your own stuff at home or work.

sporkwunderkind
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2003 8:18 pm
Location: Prescott, Arizona: USA

Not a bad idea

Post by sporkwunderkind » Wed Jan 29, 2003 5:33 pm

A notebook would be great, if it weighed <2.5 pounds, ran basic office software + photoshop, had USB 2.0, a NIC and decent sound output... and cost <$300. I'm broke, and whatever I get needs to weigh very little, as I get around on a bicycle.

I keep looking around for a miracle deal on a subnotebook, but I'm betting that with these specs in mind, it will be more practical to build a little PC to schlep around.

Thus far, my guiding inspiration is the Breadbox PC posted elsewhere on this site.

Gxcad
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 429
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA
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Post by Gxcad » Sat May 03, 2003 3:15 pm

Besides, wheres the fun in buying a notebook? Making a NES pc or breadbox pc is way more fun, more rewarding, and far more impressive to show off:D. Unless I REALLY needed the additional features of a notebook PC (even smaller size, even lower power consumption, ability to run on battery), I'd build the EPIA over a notebook anyday;).

-Ken

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