Caleb Entertainment System

Well, it has been over a year since my last post.  I was in the thick of it when my primary computer’s hard drive crashed.  I had just finished one complete NES controller conversion with the JoyWarrior chip and done some other case work, and then the only other computer in our house became unusable.  I was considering getting a new computer, and decided if I was going to re-install everything, it was best to do it only once.  I also had a friend’s wedding photos that needed to be done and had to wait for the tax refund to come in to get the new computer.  All of this, combined with Caleb becoming more and more social, sort of derailed everything. However, since then, the CES has been used in our living room as a general purpose computer for web browsing, Netflix, etc., and has been working great.

I will post shorty the NES controller conversion I had done.   Now about the case – I had purchased some standoffs to mount the motherboard onto inside the case.  I picked a size that would put the board just above the NES Power/Reset switch board.  Unfortunately, they are just barely too high.  I tried re-arranging all I could, but it looks like the Reset switch is going to have to be sacrificed in order to fit everything in and get the top on.  (UPDATE: It actually does fit, see “Case and Controller Solutions”) I was planning on using the Reset switch as a way to exit out of whatever full screen game was being played and get back to the game browser.  But I guess I will have to do something else, like mount a simple button somewhere, or maybe I can hook the Reset button to some other internal button, but the factory button and mount is just too big and in the way.

I don’t have as much free time as I once did, but I will continue to work on this project as I have time.  Caleb is 18 months old now, and really won’t be using it for games until he’s at least 3 or 4, so I have some time 🙂