Upcoming Projects!

Lately we have been flip flopping between a few projects and finally have a path thanks to a few funny circumstances. After taking apart a few of the PCs around the house I've realized that I will be breaking the unspoken Netflix rule with my girlfriend, said rule being that she is always able to watch it in our bedroom and in the living room. As I value my life, brainstorming solutions was first and foremost on my mind.  Well, my mother has an old roku box she doesn't use, so that's one problem solved. Now onto why you care about all of this.

I am taking the huge living room pc out to use in our console project you will read about below. Now I could put in a roku box or something similar but what fun would that be?! We have been tossing around the idea of modding an original NES and it seems like there's no time like the present! Originally it was going to a fully masked box with custom boot screens and Hyperspin running in a shell. However this Netflix-for-my-girlfriend problem presents another layer of complexity.

The challenges from the original design are:
-it needs wireless
-it needs to be able to switch between HS and Boxee (the media program I choose) with either a NES controller or a windows media remote.
- it needs to have said USB remote sensor plugged in.

I chose a Zotac G43 Mini ITX motherboard, which has a built-in wifi card,  Some of the reviews say the wireless is pretty much shit, but we're going to have to take a gamble on it.  I believe I can just put Boxee in Hyperspin as if it was an emulator, I just hope exiting out will be just as easy.  And finally, I will just have to run the USB cable for the remote sensor inside the case, as I do not want any USB ports showing on the NES.

Ok, we have a plan!  I went out and bought a dremel to remove all of the inside plastic of the NES that we don't need.  Below are before pictures.  I know we still have to remove all of the stickers from the 80s that are on there, and most likely re-paint the entire case.  By the way this is the original NES that we grew up with, received on Christmas 1987 and it is what started us on this long, long road.

So far, the mobo and CPU fan (low profile) has been ordered, as well as the USB NES controller ports.  The small power supply (called a pico PSU) has not been for complete lack of funding.  But at least with these parts we can get going on the configuration and aesthetics of the outside.

I am not going to get into the consolebox project right now, sooooooooo to be continued!