Updated November 18, 2003
What's EmuBox?
With the coming of X-Box, the line separating PCs and consoles is beginning to blur. And with the advent of console emulation, that line is even being crossed. I thought it'd be cool to have a dedicated computer on which you could replay your favorite consoles. Thus EmuBox was born.
What's Emulation?
There are many websites out there that focus solely on emulation. Basically, an emulator is a piece of software on one platform written to emulate the hardware of a different platform. For more information, see a dedicated emulation site like EmuHq
What's in the EmuBox?
Hardware:
Currently I have a Tekram S381-M motherboard, which is Intel i810 based. So that means it has onboard sound and video. I needed TV-out so I'm using a Diamond DM975 PCI video card with TV-out capability (S-Video, and RCA composite (it also has "Tuner In", "Camera In" but i don't know what those are for. They look like mini-din connectors)). There's an el-cheapo NIC too for network connectivity. CPU is a Socket 370 Celeron 466 Mhz. 128MB of RAM. Harddrive is an el-cheapo 1gigabyte Quantum. CD-ROM is a Matsushita 8X drive. Power supply is a small 145 watt which is the same form factor of the eMachines PS. Model HEC-145FC. This is all sitting in a custom transparent acrylic case. 10.75"W X 5.75"H X 8.5"D
***UPDATE: NOVEMBER 18, 2003**
Emubox recieves an upgrade! There were some slowdown issues in some of the NEO GEO games, so to fix this, I upped the CPU to a Celeron 566@600, and also threw in a bigger 8GIG Harddrive so I could fit ALL my roms on the harddrive rather than on CD. And the TV out on the video card was craptastic at best, so I ditched the video card altogether and am just using the motherboard's onboard video along with an AVerMedia AVerKey300 Gold converter box. This thing provides very good TV-out and even a zoom function when things get hard to read.
Software:
Win98 SE, SNES9x, NeoRageX, and DpadPro 5.0 to drive the gamepads, and Sasami2k for video playback
***UPDATE: NOVEMBER 18, 2003**
Now running Win2K and PSXPad
So what will you be able to do with EmuBox?
Well I'll be able to play any SNES, and NeoGeo rom out there. That's all I have on the harddrive right now but I plan to get a Genesis, NES, or any other system emulated on the EmuBox. Who knows, maybe even Playstation?
I'll also be using the EmuBox for watching DiVX movies on my TV.
What have you done so far?
See my log.
Objectives:
- Bring console emulation gaming away from the computer desk and into the living room, where it belongs (big couch > than cheap Ikea computer chair)
- Use TV-out capabilities to display games on any standard television (27" TV > tiny-ass monitor)
- Create custom case which is to be relatively compact and aesthetically pleasing (to me)
- Use only standard, off-the-shelf PC components for ease of repair and upgradability (that and I'm a cheap bastard)
- Use genuine console game controllers to utilize user familiarity and maintain emulation accuracy (and i had a bunch of SNES gamepads lying around)
NEW! Tutorial on how to make the SNES controller adapter for the parallel port.
Work log - Updated whenever I feel like
Latest version of my autocad plans - I'm no autocad expert so don't flame me for my crap technique.
A ghetto-looking diagram showing how the top and front panels are attached
All the stuff on this site is copyrighted © 2000 Me or something to that effect...
I'm lazy
I miss the A-Team
