The PS2 Slim plan

[Cwazywazy]

I know it's not a PC, but whatever.

 

I bought the thing for $15 at a pawn shop yesterday and after confirming it works I ordered some things for it. Wireless controller and power supply. (I tested it using my battery pack.) I took it apart when I discovered a plastic film over the thermal pads.. (http://i.imgur.com/5IR5HKG.jpg here it is with half peeled off.) I fixed that issue and now I've got some ideas for it. I think I'll start by trying to solder in a USB SD card reader so I can load games onto one. (Including my favorite PS2 game which I still have, Test Drive Eve of Destruction.)

 

My goal is to have an awesome gaming/media hub that looks completely stock from the outside. Meaning no huge hole hacked into it as a "cooling mod" or USB HDD laying on top of it. I also would prefer not to have a ton of cables coming out of the back or front of the thing. I'll have the PS2 board for playing PS2 games and such, but then I'll have something else inside it for media and game streaming. Stuff like that. I have a Pi B which seems like it'd fit fine if I cut out the plastic that goes around the spinny part of the disk reader in the top cover. Then I'd have HDMI and USB extensions to the front/back of the console. Speaking of HDMI I'd like to get an HDMI converter for it and stuff it inside somehow. Thoughts?

 

[wyattzx]

With the advent of Broadwell chips, I could potentially see people building HTPCs inside of PS2s. That would be amazing. 

[Cwazywazy]

With the advent of Broadwell chips, I could potentially see people building HTPCs inside of PS2s. That would be amazing. 

Thing is, I don't want to get rid of the stock PS2 board. I'm sure I could build one and emulate PS2 games, but I don't want to for this.

[wyattzx]

Thing is, I don't want to get rid of the stock PS2 board. I'm sure I could build one and emulate PS2 games, but I don't want to for this.

Oh, I was just thinking of a different idea. Like "ways to use old PS2s."

[Cwazywazy]

Oh, I was just thinking of a different idea. Like "ways to use old PS2s."

Well.. I do have a PS2 phat lying around..

 

Got any ITX board you could part with?

[Gikero]

Well.. I do have a PS2 phat lying around..

 

Got any ITX board you could part with?

I am wanting to do this with a Xbox.

[Gikero]

The top right, it looks like a Raspberry Pi logo.

 

Edit: I am such a doof.

[HassanHD]

Now I want to do something... although I have never done something like this before.

[Cwazywazy]

So I got my wireless controller, memory card, and power cord. Tested it playing my favorite game (TD EOD) and it works pretty well. Only problem is I was using component (The RGB one) on a big flatscreen. Holy blurriness batman. (My HDMI adapter should arrive sometime next week. Hopefully it'll be at least the quality of composite.)

[Cwazywazy]

Put the wireless controller adapter and 128MB memory card on the inside.

 

[fringie]

With the advent of Broadwell chips, I could potentially see people building HTPCs inside of PS2s. That would be amazing. 

I want to do this, first I need an excuse to do this though .

[Gikero]

Put the wireless controller adapter and 128MB memory card on the inside.

 

 

Is the controller port still useable? Guessing not.

[Cwazywazy]

I threw it back together last week and I've been playing Test Drive Eve of Destruction. Nearly completed the career. I'm listening to it by having the audio jack on the HDMI adapter go into my PC's mic port and there's some interference coming from the HDMI cable. It's covered up by the game music and sounds but it's still pretty annoying.

[Norman_the_Owl]

With the advent of Broadwell chips, I could potentially see people building HTPCs inside of PS2s. That would be amazing. 

An itx board is about 3 mm too big to fit into a fat PS2 case.

Even if it were big enough, you'd have to remove a bunch of supports.

 

I was gonna do a build in one, now my dreams are crushed

[wyattzx]

An itx board is about 3 mm too big to fit into a fat PS2 case.

Even if it were big enough, you'd have to remove a bunch of supports.

 

I was gonna do a build in one, now my dreams are crushed

For now, anyways. As we push towards smaller, lighter, and more efficient, we could potentially see it happen. Hell, Linus mentioned it on the WAN show last night. Just wait for a new boards that's even more dense, and we're golden!

[Norman_the_Owl]

For now, anyways. As we push towards smaller, lighter, and more efficient, we could potentially see it happen. Hell, Linus mentioned it on the WAN show last night. Just wait for a new boards that's even more dense, and we're golden!

 It's not gonna happen. It just doesn't make sense. 

 

I actually just got a great deal on an ITX board, i'll probably do a build log or something.

[wyattzx]

 It's not gonna happen. It just doesn't make sense. 

 

I actually just got a great deal on an ITX board, i'll probably do a build log or something.

So a board smaller than ITX isn't going to happen? Why not? Why did mATX happen? Why did ITX happen? We can get smaller, and we will. In time. There's no denying that.

[Norman_the_Owl]

So a board smaller than ITX isn't going to happen? Why not? Why did mATX happen? Why did ITX happen? We can get smaller, and we will. In time. There's no denying that.

Well the form factor doesn't makes sense. You have to fit a full sized socket, a PCIE 16x slot, etc. etc.

Also DDR4 memory slots are like 155mm long, an ITX board is only 170. We can't really get much smaller.

 

We'd be sacrificing a lot to get smaller. Moores law says things will get faster. Which means smaller things will also get faster, but they'll never be as fast. There are too many compromises for things such as customizability, etc.

 

As for OP, a thought just occurred to me. Do those USB ports on the PI actually fit in the case? The slim really is slim, it seems like it would be really tight

[wyattzx]

Well the form factor doesn't makes sense. You have to fit a full sized socket, a PCIE 16x slot, etc. etc.

Also DDR4 memory slots are like 155mm long, an ITX board is only 170. We can't really get much smaller.

 

We'd be sacrificing a lot to get smaller. Moores law says things will get faster. Which means smaller things will also get faster, but they'll never be as fast. There are too many compromises for things such as customizability, etc.

 

As for OP, a thought just occurred to me. Do those USB ports on the PI actually fit in the case? The slim really is slim, it seems like it would be really tight

May I point out to you that sixty years ago, a standard "Computer" was about the size of the average living room. They were massive, and can't do nearly what your phone can do today. You don't necessarily need a standard design for these things, in regards to it becoming a mainstream form-factor. In fact, Raspberry Pi is a good example. Imagine it, but a bit stronger, and bigger. That's a definite possibility, and you could fit probably half-a-dozen of them inside of an original PS2. Now imagine one six times as powerful, and you've got yourself a nice machine already. It's possible, and it will happen. It's just a matter of time. This isn't debatable. If I told you five years ago, that phones would have 1440p screens, you wouldn't believe it, you'd say we'd have to sacrifice a lot for it, and that it would never work. Well it does work. Quite well, to boot.

[Norman_the_Owl]

May I point out to you that sixty years ago, a standard "Computer" was about the size of the average living room. They were massive, and can't do nearly what your phone can do today. You don't necessarily need a standard design for these things, in regards to it becoming a mainstream form-factor. In fact, Raspberry Pi is a good example. Imagine it, but a bit stronger, and bigger. That's a definite possibility, and you could fit probably half-a-dozen of them inside of an original PS2. Now imagine one six times as powerful, and you've got yourself a nice machine already. It's possible, and it will happen. It's just a matter of time. This isn't debatable. If I told you five years ago, that phones would have 1440p screens, you wouldn't believe it, you'd say we'd have to sacrifice a lot for it, and that it would never work. Well it does work. Quite well, to boot.

I'll try and keep this quick, we're derailing OPs thread.

 

By the time the Pi is 6 times as powerful, our power requirements will also have sextupled. It just isn't practical and won't be able to keep up

[wyattzx]

I'll try and keep this quick, we're derailing OPs thread.

 

By the time the Pi is 6 times as powerful, our power requirements will also have sextupled. It just isn't practical and won't be able to keep up

Our power requirements are going down, not up... Compare, for example, the power requirements of the Kepler GPUs, to the Maxwell GPUs. Look at the wattage on Broadwell chips. It's going down, and not up. 

[Norman_the_Owl]

Our power requirements are going down, not up... Compare, for example, the power requirements of the Kepler GPUs, to the Maxwell GPUs. Look at the wattage on Broadwell chips. It's going down, and not up. 

I meant processing power