Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

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MegatronUK
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Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by MegatronUK »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amiga500_system.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Amiga = Awesome home computer from the late 80's with hundreds of great games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minimig_rev1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Minimig = A solid-state re-implementation (no moving parts, used SD cards instead of floppies) of the Amiga 500 in a single FPGA device on a PCB measuring 12cm x 12cm. Extremely low power (+5v at less than 200mAh).

Minimig + PSOne screen + tiny keyboard/onboard touchpad + joystick = Portable amiga console :D

I've stripped my PSOne/Zenith screen and now have it all hooked up to the Minimig. I also got hold of an aluminium PSP carry case that is the perfect size for the project - the screen neatly fits into the top of the clamshell and the bottom is deep enough to take the Minimig pcb, a couple of flat 7.4v Li-Po cells and leave neough room above the pcb to fit in a miniature keyboard (and possibly enough a touchpad or mini trackball) so that the whole thing is self contained.

Keyboard is on the way and I'm expecting it next week. I still need to get a li-po battery protection circuit and charger. Various switches and plugs and sockets to more permanently connect the Minimig to the screen and case are arriving in a day or two. Should hopefully update then.

Until then, here's a peak at my working setup (the games are Pinball Dreams and Turrican 2.. gotta love Amiga music!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYxhalvGl4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Triton
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by Triton »

i am green with envy, your lucky i am broke! cause otherwise i would be building one of these too!
MegatronUK
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by MegatronUK »

Couple of updates:

I've got the screen section of the case finished (apart from painting the heads of the screws I've used so that they don't stand out), and I've fitted the stand offs for both the Minimig pcb and a rather tiny PS/2 keyboard I've managed to pick up. The batteries should fit nicely between the stand offs and I've still got a bit of space towards the back of the case to play with - I'll need this as I have to find room to fit either a small touchpad or trackball, along with some sort of mini joypad or joystick (I'd love a microswitch based joystick like the one on the NeoGeo Pocket - but there's no way I'm going to butcher a NGP for that).

Anyway, updated pics:

Image

Image

Image
Last edited by MegatronUK on Wed Dec 04, 2013 3:20 pm, edited 3 times in total.
eurddrue
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by eurddrue »

pics aren't working.
Banned indefinitely if you desperately need to contact me STOPPHONESPAMPLOX Please dont be a dick and call for something random like "HEY YURDRUE DOO U HAZ SPAM?"
wallydawg wrote:
chainfire95 wrote:220V I believe
I think we should check to see if you can withstand 220 volts
MegatronUK
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by MegatronUK »

Sorry, should be fixed now.
eurddrue
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by eurddrue »

Lookin' pretty slick, man!
Banned indefinitely if you desperately need to contact me STOPPHONESPAMPLOX Please dont be a dick and call for something random like "HEY YURDRUE DOO U HAZ SPAM?"
wallydawg wrote:
chainfire95 wrote:220V I believe
I think we should check to see if you can withstand 220 volts
MegatronUK
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:08 pm

Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by MegatronUK »

Picked up a couple of new Synaptics touchpads on Ebay for £4 each - they're standard PS2 interface and the pinouts are available on the Synpatics website. About 5x8cm in size and they fit really nicely just above the keyboard.... I've now got to find a way of mounting them, the keyboard and a SNES controller I'm about to hack up into the bottom half of the case so that it looks good!
Life of Brian
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by Life of Brian »

Hooray! Progress!
dragonhead wrote:sweet. ive spent a third of my life on benheck!
Image
MegatronUK
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by MegatronUK »

Bashed the top cover for the keyboard/controls together... it still needs some work to smooth a few bits out and either hot glue or flexible bondo where the cover meets the lip of the keyboard to hide the gap, but it looks a lot better than a massive hole around the sides:
Image

These are the actual touchpads I'm using:
Image
They're PS2 protocol so should work on virtually anything. I hoping to be able to hook up some simple tact switches to solder pads 6 & 7 for left/right mouse buttons.
Last edited by MegatronUK on Wed Dec 04, 2013 3:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
XCVG
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by XCVG »

Sweet!
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by Skyone »

Synaptics touchpads are great. :D Looking good.
jjhammerstein
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by jjhammerstein »

Can you tell me how that battery works out? I have the same ones, and I haven't tested them yet. Do they drop under load? Do they really have the capacity they say?
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teego
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by teego »

I looked around some at the minimig sites, did you build that yourself I pick it up prebuilt somewhere?

-Teeg
MegatronUK
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by MegatronUK »

Surface mount stuff is waaay beyond me :lol: It bought the Minimig pre-assembled from http://www.Amigakit.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
tom61
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Re: Minimig laptop - Portable Amiga console

Post by tom61 »

Pretty nice. Though, I almost missed it entirely with it being in Development Center for some reason...
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