[flagged]
Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
21–30 of 78 posts
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#22How long before someone goes all the way by designing a completely custom motherboard and transplanting the key components onto it I wonder? It's been done for older systems but the BGA parts in the Wii would be a challenge.
How does a typical smartphone SoC compare to the Wii in terms of processing power? Would one of those running an emulator be even smaller?
It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the Wii's CPU was 32-bit, 729 MHz, and single-core, and its GPU was a 243 MHz SoC. I briefly checked the Samsung Galaxy S lineup as a point of comparison, and it seems like the second one (from 2011) already smoked those specs. As for space, even without doing any modifications to the phone it's already about half the volume of this mini-Wii.
Of course that's really just sidestepping the challenge of "how small can you get an actual Wii".
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#23Since the GameCube controller connectors on the original Wii wouldn't fit cleanly on a build of this size, I use TRRS headphone connectors instead. Word of caution: many electronics are not designed for the shorts between connections which occur if you hot-plug one of those.
That's a very good point to keep in mind. I've seen that go wrong!
There are lots of connectors out there where the pins never short. The tricky thing is finding ones that can be plugged and unplugged often, while still being small. I've misused USB B connectors for this purpose; it's not common enough for someone to have the wrong cable to plug in, yet very easy to solder and to get the parts. There are also some circular connectors (M5, M6) where the connector on the device is decently small and the bulk tends to be on the cable side.
With a small crimper there are even more compact options which still handle many mating cycles, like Samtec's various Tiger Eye product lines.
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#24This reminds me a lot of BenHeck, back in the day he made all kind of cool custom portable XBox (original) and PS1 consoles
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#25Since the GameCube controller connectors on the original Wii wouldn't fit cleanly on a build of this size, I use TRRS headphone connectors instead. Word of caution: many electronics are not designed for the shorts between connections which occur if you hot-plug one of those.
Haven't touched a GameCube or a Wii in a long time, but didn't those things not support hot plugging GC controllers in general?
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#26Nintendo already salivating at the thought of a cease and desist because well…Nintendo.
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#27How long before someone goes all the way by designing a completely custom motherboard and transplanting the key components onto it I wonder? It's been done for older systems but the BGA parts in the Wii would be a challenge.
People already do the strange things, like VSA100 monsters:
https://www.zxc64.com/vsa100_based/0_62911_strange_god_agp_2...
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#28Since the GameCube controller connectors on the original Wii wouldn't fit cleanly on a build of this size, I use TRRS headphone connectors instead. Word of caution: many electronics are not designed for the shorts between connections which occur if you hot-plug one of those.
A design change which didn't quite make it into the final release only enables the 5V and 3V3 lines on the GameCube controller when the tip-switch on the TRRS jack is activated.
The short-proof approach/strategy would be to use small magnetic pogo connectors, but I really wanted to maintain compatibility with the GC Nano!
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#29Here's a similar project with a PlayStation 1 if people like this kind of thing: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/ps-hanami.6279...
Woah. I did not expect someone to gleefully saw the original mainboard in a bunch of fitting parts, the solder the severed links back together. That’s some next level stuff. Amazing!
Re: Short Stack: World’s smallest Nintendo Wii
#30Since the GameCube controller connectors on the original Wii wouldn't fit cleanly on a build of this size, I use TRRS headphone connectors instead. Word of caution: many electronics are not designed for the shorts between connections which occur if you hot-plug one of those.
Haven't touched a GameCube or a Wii in a long time, but didn't those things not support hot plugging GC controllers in general?
The stock GC controller ports place the contacts next to each other, rather than at different depths, so they won't connect controller pins to the wrong port pins or short pins together when partially plugged. (I do suspect the ground and/or power pins may be longer than data lines, to connect first.)