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| Hack Like Heck Project Progress | Hack Like Heck - Andrew Miller - MilLs Dj - The Ultimate Portable (1972 to 2012, 50+ Gaming Systems, Movies, Shows, Music, Apps, and around 100,000 Video Games, All In 1) |
Name: MilLs Dj
Element14 Community member since: March 23, 2018
Noteable Portable :The 64 Boy Micro - The World's Smallest Portable Nintendo 64, and about 30 other portables
Project for Hack Like Heck: The Ultimate Portable - 1972 to 2012, 50+ game systems, movies, shows, music, and around 100,000 video games all in 1.
Get those votes in guys! Thanks to all friends, family, and fellow modifiers that have voted so far!
(4/4/18) Project DONE. here's a bit of the work in photos and some description of the steps taken for some of the questions of "how does that work" Be sure to check out the video; Like, and Share it!
Well everyone, here it is! I explain basically everything in the video but here are some repeated and other specs and notes on the project. Photoshoot time!
Wii
Nintendo 64 PC Engine, Turbo Graphx, Turbo Duo
Virtual Boy NES/Famicom 
SNES Genesis/Mega Drive/32x
SEGA CD SEGA Master System
SG-1000 GameBoy
Atari 2600 Atari XE/ST/800XL
MAME/RetroArch NEO GEO/CD
Capcom Play System 1&2 Amstrad
Amiga VectreX
This wasn't all the sections, but you get the idea of alot of games and systems...
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
Watch the video, Its well detailed. Here are some other things I may have missed!
The Ultimate Portable measures in at 9 ½ x 4 ⅞ x 1 ⅜ and as you can see on the front, every little bit of space is utilized! This portable is jam packed with so many electronics it’s insane. I had some space left at the top left by the batteries, but that is because I trimmed a bunch (that wiimote not so much, I'll have to find a better way to make that smaller) ran all the wires the best way I thought. The Wii is located at the bottom left but you can’t even see it because there’s so many wires in this. If you look closely enough, you can see I used 34 gauge wire for a lot of it, and a ton of wires are organized electrical tape and wrapping magnet wire.
The four controllers process explained!
I said before how there is a Gamecube controller, wiimote, nunchuck, and classic pro controller inside. If you connect all together, there will definitely be an issue. The brains of each board get so confused and random inputs are pressed without being pressed, even when all but one is turned off. It was chaos trying to figure this out, and the only result I could find was have power, ground, and every single input. That would mean about 50 switches…so no. I took the IC route and found this chip (1ACEC2T CBT3384A). Datasheet basically says 5v in, GND, and in outs, but there are 2 voltage in points that when fed, it disconnects the pins. When powered, the internal switches bridge and connect, when off, they’re disconnected. I still had to use 3 of these ICs inside, cause the input amount and controllers. This is also how I can switch the D pad Settings on the system to change from holding the wiimote vertical to horizontal. Heres one of the ICs. The blue light on the top right of the system near the abxy buttons shows blue for game cube, green for wiimote, and flashes when syncing internal wiimote.
Once the DPDT switch that powers gamecube controller or Wiimote is set to Wiimote, I press a buttn, and the wiimote syncs. If not I have the wii system and internal wiimote sync buttons on the bottom to connect it (and external remotes), the 3.1v going to the wiimote is sent to the 3way DPDT switch, and a data line to send to either the nunchuck or classic pro controller. To avoid any power confusion and glitchy controller cpus, I had 2 forms of GND in the System GND, Universal and Wii Controllers GND.
The Control Box
All my portables have a control box for playing the system on the TV like it would as if it were unmodified. It’s a quick and easy pinout for this and expands the gaming horizon back to the classic view of how it was made to be played….or maybe I don’t wanna go outside and play like a couch potato today ok ?
I can sync wiimotes wirelessly and the other usb port on the system itself for connecting usb controllers, so there are only gamecube controller ports to use.
The Case
I measured all the components and developed support on the inside structure of the case to easily load. A lot of people vaccum form, cut the actual parts of plastic they need that house buttons and components and epoxy it on then sand, but this portable is the first of many. Now that the main case is on file, I can adjust it to be easier to make the next one. Once it is perfect, I can just say to HACK with it and press print on the 3D printer and boom, a case. (and paint the way I want it too) This is Prototype 1. Definitely making more.
Specs
Holds built in movies, tv shows, music, games, and apps like Netflix, hulu, and internet.
7 inch Raspberry Pi “touch” screen
WiFi
Bluetooth (Connects wiimotes and Bluetooth controllers)
Rechargeable
3 Speakers
Complete Wii motion sensitivity
Battery life is ? Hours (last for at least 3, I havent timed this)
5v Fan and heatsink for cooling
Painted 3D Printed Case
2 USB ports
Built in 2 TeraByte Harddrive
Built in SD Card
Built in Gamecube Memory Card ( games saved on Harddrive too)
Internal Clock
Custom menu for game selection
Menu music originally composed (chipmusic, by who else but MilLs Dj )
4 Controllers Built in!!!!
Screen/audio controls (not just your brightness and contrast controls)
Headphone jack
Low power indication ( controls start to glitch around, better save quick or plug in!)
Wii sensor bar built in
Hibernation mode
Control box put for 4 external players and tv output
Stylish curves
User manual for Software
User manual for Hardware (how to operate the buttons and things and stuff)
Controllers/Controls on portable worth noting
Gamecube
Wiimote
Numchuck
Wii Classic controller pro
….
Reset Button
Wii Bluetooth Sync
Dual shoulder buttons
GameCube style joystick
6 shoulder buttons (TRIGGERED)
3ds slider
wii sensor bar
...you can also attach or sync... keyboards, a mouse, usb, bluetooth controllers, usb controllers.
Game systems that can be played on the portable!
Wii
GameCube
N64
Virtual Boy
SNES
NES
Famicom
PC engine
Turbo graphx
Turbo duo
Vectrex
Sega Cd
32x
Genesis
Master System
SG-1000
Atari 2600
5200
7800
800XL
XE
ST
Gameboy Advance
Gameboy color
Original Gameboy
Neo geo pocket
Wonderswan
Gamegear
Cavestory (NX Engine)
Colecovision
Creativision
Intelvision
Odyssey
Odyssey 2
MAME
Retro Arch
Neo geo
Neo geo CD
Capcom play system 1
Capcom play system 2
PlayStation 1
MSX
MSX 2
Sinclair zx spectrum
Commodore 64
Tandy color Computer
ScummVM
Amstrad
Amiga
Apple 2
Dragon 32
Vg 5000
Special Thanks and Credit
I can’t take all the credit! I didn’t make wiiflow. Shout outs to wiiflow software design team, Abz, Maxternal, Bobby on Youtube, and Various fellow modders on sites like Youtube, BitBuilt, and ModRetro. Thank you all.
Songs used
- Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine 2 Player Vs. Mode theme
- Lil' Uzi Vert - All my Friends are Dead
(my songs, 3 haven’t been released yet, but check out more songs by me here! https://chipmusic.org/MilLs+Dj )
Believer
RoBoTiCal
Facing the Wall in Bed
Feelin’ Alive
Like a Kid Again
Any questions, ask me, I probably have the answers 
And follow me on Instagram! mills_dj
And facebook and youtube
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000879936046
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw9qlCJwbLPzh2SegK681yg?view_as=subscriber
Thank you Element 14 community, I am new to this site and I would love your vote to carry on the legacy. With builds like such, I know I’d keep it more than interesting!
(4/2) More sneak peak photos, stay tuned.
(4/1) I'm submitting the video today, its just under the 18 min limit, but it is FULL of intense goodies explaining the whole project, credited sources of help for the project, and what I had to do to build such a portable. Here's another sneak peak, this is the wii board trimmed and wired to fill my requests of playing so many different types of games. I'll post again soon, remember to vote for me to see more portable greatness!
Wii board no trim vs my trim, and then all the parts wired up!
SNEAK PEAK OF THE GUTS AND GLORY (3/31)
Stay tuned for the final video of it all!
More about the contestant:
A Brief history of my experience becoming a portablizer is me starting to build with Legos and make Domino tracks as early as age 5. It wasnt until I was 8 years old when i picked up my first soldering iron,
and burnt myself.
I quickly found a passion for taking everything that was electronic apart to see the guts and glory (butchering tons of remote controls basically).
I grew up playing Nintendo 64 and Original Gameboy/Color games with my older brother; also played the Genesis, but that was more his style.
It got to a point where I played too much and I became a basement dweller. My parents told me, "Stop playing so many video games!"... so I started building video games (Best loop hole ever).
Taking this route with electronics was very different from the knowledge my parents and siblings had. My brother played, but had no interest in building, my sister and mother were not into it much at all, and my Dad, being the very intelligent man that he is, barely knew how to turn TV with a Comcast box on. I helped with computers, electronics, and appliances around the house for them; and still do.
Highschool had no programs with building video games hardware wise, the closest thing was wood shop and Visual Basic. Everything that I learned was from researching, experimenting, and/or creating myself; with appropriate credit given to various online sources and teams. Since it was a small school district, I found very little friends that could even understand a fraction of the creations I was constructing.
This is actually one of the first times I'm using a forum too. I only posted very little to Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and chipmusic.org (for chiptunes), and even now I don't post much. I mainly build for the absolute passion of doing so.
This contest interests me beyond belief and it saddens me I didn't find out about it sooner. I want to show that creativity and expressing passions is never the wrong thing to do, even when surroundings seem limited. I went from playing video games to building, hacking, coding, developing, and creating them. I even make music with them! I know everyone has ideas, but not everyone applies them to become real. That's the legacy I'm carrying on here at Millersville University and what I see should continue after Ben retires on his show. With what i know from before and double major,I intend to continue building past what is seen as "impossible" and show that if I can, we all can.
After everything, it's not about recognition or prizes. It's about the Thrill of the Build.
~MilLs Dj
Want to know more? Ask in the comments below and tag millsdj!
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