SNESFAN
Retro game fanatic
TLDR; take a lower power small form factor pc with a sole purpose in life to be console emulation.
So I officially started my project over the weekend. I've had the idea for several years now, I wanted to make a gaming console that emulated other gaming consoles. I know this is currently possible with the Wii and Xbox and PS3, all to certain extents but all the available software for it was generally crappy and less than perfectly emulation, leaves an incredible amount to be desired in the overall compatibility and fluid UI. It forces you with half assed controller options, using only officially supported controllers that are maybe non-ideal for the current game that is played. So what I did may seem kind of like a "well duh, what's so great about that option" but I don't really hear much about it outside of gaming cabinets and arcade machines and stuff like that.
First I found a form factor computer that I liked
It's the ASUS CS5111-AP007 in case anyone wants to follow along at home. Cost me about 400 I'm sure you can find one cheaper on ebay or get something similar
reasons why I chose it.
+looks kinda like the newest xbox 360
+small (size of xbox 360)
+built in hdmi port
+extremely quite (almost non-audible)
+quazi beefy specs for price (2.5Ghz dual core 64 bit, 4gb ram, Intel Gma X3500 GPU)
+built in 750GB HDD
+front facing USB ports
Find a good frontend software for emulators. I chose hyperspin for those who aren't in the know it's an arcade cabinet themed emulator frontend.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/XyIDeUE9aGk?feature=oembed
hyperspin, while not extremely hard to setup is a pain in the ass to find the correct roms for the naming convention and crc hashes, look for the "no-intro" sets as a word of advice. If you don't you're in for hours of .xml editing and that sucks... a lot. Most of the default emulators don't specifically work right out of the box and you have to configure each emulator to the specific joypad you are using. If you have one controller then that's no problem, but if you are like me and want to be able to plug in 2-3 different types of usb controllers you might need a joypad->keyboard program. I would highly suggest the use of this program.
joy2key
http://electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm
I used windows 7 as my OS as I'm the most familiar with it, and believe it or not, after testing I found the best hardware compatibility and more mature emulators with windows. Plus hyperspin is also windows only and closed source, and native support xbox controller and configuring my hdmi output did just work, that helped a bit with that decision.
anyway, after a couple hours of tweaking settings and hours filling up my HDD with all my roms and cd rips I have a 80% complete console emulator console that turns on about as fast as my xbox, plays at 1080p output and is capable of emulating everything from a comadore64 up to a ps2, I haven't tried the wii emulator on it yet but given it's gpu I think that's just a tad past where I have to draw the line.
I plugged it all up, I have the power brick plugged into the wall, 1 hdmi going from my "console" to my TV and 1 conroller cable sticking out the front, it boots, goes straight into hyperspin. I plug in the controller I want to use, choose my console, choose my game. Then boom I'm gaming, very quick, and it "just works" It's on my tv, it fits my screen without being distorted, if you have the usb version of the original controller, it feels exactly like it did when you were a kid playing on your tv. It's a pretty magical experience if you ask me.
if you have any similar projects let me know, I'd love to hear some advice or similar stories.
*cheers*
So I officially started my project over the weekend. I've had the idea for several years now, I wanted to make a gaming console that emulated other gaming consoles. I know this is currently possible with the Wii and Xbox and PS3, all to certain extents but all the available software for it was generally crappy and less than perfectly emulation, leaves an incredible amount to be desired in the overall compatibility and fluid UI. It forces you with half assed controller options, using only officially supported controllers that are maybe non-ideal for the current game that is played. So what I did may seem kind of like a "well duh, what's so great about that option" but I don't really hear much about it outside of gaming cabinets and arcade machines and stuff like that.
First I found a form factor computer that I liked

It's the ASUS CS5111-AP007 in case anyone wants to follow along at home. Cost me about 400 I'm sure you can find one cheaper on ebay or get something similar
reasons why I chose it.
+looks kinda like the newest xbox 360
+small (size of xbox 360)
+built in hdmi port
+extremely quite (almost non-audible)
+quazi beefy specs for price (2.5Ghz dual core 64 bit, 4gb ram, Intel Gma X3500 GPU)
+built in 750GB HDD
+front facing USB ports
Find a good frontend software for emulators. I chose hyperspin for those who aren't in the know it's an arcade cabinet themed emulator frontend.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/XyIDeUE9aGk?feature=oembed
hyperspin, while not extremely hard to setup is a pain in the ass to find the correct roms for the naming convention and crc hashes, look for the "no-intro" sets as a word of advice. If you don't you're in for hours of .xml editing and that sucks... a lot. Most of the default emulators don't specifically work right out of the box and you have to configure each emulator to the specific joypad you are using. If you have one controller then that's no problem, but if you are like me and want to be able to plug in 2-3 different types of usb controllers you might need a joypad->keyboard program. I would highly suggest the use of this program.
joy2key
http://electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm
I used windows 7 as my OS as I'm the most familiar with it, and believe it or not, after testing I found the best hardware compatibility and more mature emulators with windows. Plus hyperspin is also windows only and closed source, and native support xbox controller and configuring my hdmi output did just work, that helped a bit with that decision.
anyway, after a couple hours of tweaking settings and hours filling up my HDD with all my roms and cd rips I have a 80% complete console emulator console that turns on about as fast as my xbox, plays at 1080p output and is capable of emulating everything from a comadore64 up to a ps2, I haven't tried the wii emulator on it yet but given it's gpu I think that's just a tad past where I have to draw the line.
I plugged it all up, I have the power brick plugged into the wall, 1 hdmi going from my "console" to my TV and 1 conroller cable sticking out the front, it boots, goes straight into hyperspin. I plug in the controller I want to use, choose my console, choose my game. Then boom I'm gaming, very quick, and it "just works" It's on my tv, it fits my screen without being distorted, if you have the usb version of the original controller, it feels exactly like it did when you were a kid playing on your tv. It's a pretty magical experience if you ask me.
if you have any similar projects let me know, I'd love to hear some advice or similar stories.
*cheers*
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