Also this general schematic of Bacman's portable. Good reference for a start.
I started thinking about the enclosure and realized that since I'm a noob at portable console moding I shouldn't be pushing the boundries on space for the electronics. So I'm gonna look for a nice rectangular project box to build this thing out of.
My initial estimates are:
length: 10-12 inches
Width: 5.5-6.5 inches
Depth: 1.25-2 inches
Length is driven by the console itself which is at 6.5 inches, so I figure with some room on the side for controls, 10 to 11 is a good number. Width is driven by the PSone screen board, It's at 5.5 pretty snug and if I want some plugs underneath I should make it a bit bigger. The Depth is driven by the boards stack up as well as comfort in holding the portable.
I made a little mockup of the portable using length=11 inches, Width=6 inches, and depth= 1.75 inches.
You'll see in the pictures that I have a few switches on the bottom:
- Charging port: for charging the batteries, if I get smart I should be able to turn that into a charging/wall power port.
- ON/OFF/Charge switch: for turning the thing on and off as well as charge it. If I get smart, the charge option should not be needed, we'll see.
- Battery low: for making sure I charge them before my game shuts off on me.
- Headphone jack: obvious.
- Expansion port: for plugging in a separate tiny box I'll have to create for all 4 players, AV jack, and maybe even the screen controls. The last features is a maybe, pending how many of the 12 pins on that expansion port will be left. The port is from the PSone screen.
I've also done away with the L button, and might take off the D pad as well. I figure so few games use it that If I really need it, I'll play with an external controller.