Posted Jul 21st 2008 2:30PM by Caleb Kraft
Filed under: handhelds hacks, home entertainment hacks
[GonzoMPM-1] Has gutted an NES knock off called
Super Joy III and
crammed it inside of a light gun. Inspired by a daughter that loves duck hunt, he wanted to consolidate the package and make it more portable. He's managed to pull off some nice finish, it look almost professional in the picture above. The unit is powered by 3 AAA batteries in the handle. The game system works just fine, and he claims that the controls are actually more responsive now. The light gun works as well if you have a CRT television around.
You many notice that there is no cartridge slot. There really isn't a need for one in this mod. The Super Joy III comes equipped with 76 games on the board. He notes that he can make an external cart at some point, but may leave it off in favor of the compact design.
While he acknowledges that this is not a completely self contained gaming device, we feel it earns honorable mention for being cool.
[via
technabob]
Posted Jul 18th 2008 7:36AM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, home entertainment hacks, portable video hacks, daily
Today, [sprite_tm] let us in on one of his
pet projects. This is an inexpensive portable game platform runs about $50 and happens to use an ARM CPU and a 320x240 color LCD. Because it's so cheap, he's been working on reverse engineering the thing and there's already a proof of concept
homebrew version of Pong out for it.
Update: Yeah, yeah - title's fixed.
Posted Jul 17th 2008 4:20PM by Caleb Kraft
Filed under: handhelds hacks, playstation hacks
[Codejunkie] has written up a great explanation as to why we mod. He's specifically talking about the Sony PSP, but many of the points he makes carry over to any modding. Though the "why" question may seem like a no brainer to most of us, we do hear it a lot. We strongly suggest you take a few moments to
read his article.
Who hasn't been asked this question? We all have different reasons to mod things. Some people do it to make improvements, some people do it just for the fun. He lists some of the more practical reasons and makes some insightful comparisons.
For example, he likens some modding to making personalizations to your car. Has anybody asked why you put a custom shifter knob on? No, because we are used to this, just as they are used to being locked out of their electronics. He also talks about products that are crippled from the factory. We've
covered this situation on Hack a Day before. Is it wrong for you to want your product to function to its built in potential?
He covers a few thoughts on homebrewing software for the PSP as well. There's no reasonable explanation for why you shouldn't have full control over something you own.
Posted Jul 15th 2008 10:50PM by Jimmie Rodgers
Filed under: handhelds hacks, playstation hacks, portable audio hacks
DSPmusic.org has just released the latest version of its homebrew PSP music sequencer
PSPSeq 3.0. With PSPSeq you can create songs with up to 16 independent audio tracks, use WAV audio clips of your own and then modify them with a number of settings, or even use some of the built in synthesizers to generate sounds. There are strong looping and recording features as well. If you are into homebrew music apps on the PSP, then this will give you a strong offering of features. We had a chance to catch up with the author, [Ethan Bordeaux], and ask a few questions. You can check out the short interview after the break.
Continue reading PSPSeq 3.0, PSP sequencer release and interview
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 4:15PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: gameboy hacks, handhelds hacks
Fresh off the tips line, [Jake] sent in his
portable NES project. We've seen quite a few portables, but we love that the entire thing is built into an old NES cartridge. It's got 99 games and some clever control placement. Three N cells nestled in the former connector slot power the system. You can see more pic over at
[Ben Heck]'s forum.
Posted Jun 18th 2008 10:15PM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: handhelds hacks
Ben Heck has just wrapped up his latest project, a
portable Atari 7800. He had meant to do this a long time ago, but lacking experience, the complex looking circuit board scared him off. It features a seven inch display, rechargeable batteries, combination driving and paddle controllers, plus AV out. The console was built by request and just like his other pojects: he's not shy about showing you how it's put together. Look for a making-of coming soon.
Posted May 13th 2008 10:00AM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, daily
[PKM] decided to
breathe new life into a Psion 5mx handheld. He slapped linux on it, added a wikipedia dump to a CD card, and voila: pocket wikipedia. It's the closest thing to an actual hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy I've ever seen. So long and thanks for all the fish!
Posted Apr 8th 2008 10:36PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, misc hacks
[bunnie] is one of the main people behind the Chumby, and even he can't resist modding the things. He decided to outfit one with a
larger LCD - using a stereo microscope to do the really fine pitch work - and a laser cutter to create a custom bezel for the finished piece. The new LCD is still a touchscreen and allows the Chumby to display 640x480 resolution over the stock 320x240. The mod requires a few parts, but the ultimate difficulty is caused by the surface mount connectors. If you'd rather have some software fun, you might want to check out [bunnie]'s Chumby
wifi sniffer.
Posted Mar 19th 2008 10:56PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, laptops hacks, misc hacks
[Jim] sent in
this interesting laptop modding project. He started with a Spectrum ZX and a Toshiba Libretto 110. The libretto kept its brains, but the lower case and keyboard was replaced with the ZX hardware. Since both machines use matrix style keyboards (but different matrix layouts) he was able to create a passive adapter circuit to match things up.
Posted Feb 20th 2008 9:16PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: handhelds hacks, misc hacks
[Dev] sent in an interesting
blog series on hacking Amazon's kindle. [Igor] has documented getting a console, the bootloader and more. Even if you don't have a Kindle to hack on, it's a good overview of hacking similar devices. He used a cell phone cable to build his interface, but I suggest getting familiar with the
MAX232 family of semiconductors for cheap rs-232 to ttl converters.
Posted Dec 10th 2007 9:41PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: gps hacks, handhelds hacks
[dgoeken] sent in his
Magellan 3100 hack. The device runs Windows CE 5.0, and mounts as a standard flash drive. Since everything is easily accessible, it's just a matter of replacing and modifying the appropriate files. According to the GpsPassion
message board, some are finding his guide useful for other models of Magellan GPS. So far he's added a file manager, media player and upgraded the Points of Interest file. The site is slightly bandwidth challenged, so I've mirrored his hack process
here.
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