Dreamcast Laptop

[SegaAges]

I posted my idea for this about 5 minutes ago in arcade alley since I am going to start building a supergun, but I figured I would post it here and explain what I am doing, and then start taking pictures of my progress.

I have been away for awhile, but getting deeper and deeper into games. I am going to make a DreamCast Laptop "Ben Heck" style I guess you could say.

I am waiting on a monitor in the mail from eBay (yeah, I know, bad place for an older flatscreen, but it was $40 shipped). As long as the Monitor isn't completely gnarley when I hook my DC up to it, then the next part is a portable power supply.

I was thinking of using an old laptop chassis and converting it that way, but I seriously have about 5 old laptop chassis in front of me, and what I noticed from stripped these, is that they are not put together like a desktop chassis. They are multiple peices put together.

As soon as I get a working monitor (praying on this cheap 1 from eBay being good), then I am going for portable power source, which shouldn't be bad.

After that, I am going to order some, I believe it is called, Stylene and custom craft my chassis.

I am also not taking pics right now, unless you want a pic of just a used DC. I figure that every step of the way will deserve a cool pic (like a flatscreen that will only have the use of being in this laptop creation and it works).

This will be a cool project.

I will keep you guys posted on my progress as it comes.

[xdaytime]

Sound like a good idea!

[EX-Soldier]

damn thats fucking crazy...lol cant wait!

[otaku]

sweet. I look forward to this

[Trebuken]

I believe you can adapt a PSOne LCD for use with the Dreamcast...though it might not be large enough for your needs..unless you make a handheld...

[Pantechnicon]

This sounds exciting and I wish you luck and success!

[SegaAges]

well the hardest part is going to be when I start giving the DC a new power supply. The rest of the stuff will not be bad. Even the custom chassis will not be bad as long as I measure it correctly.

[SegaAges]

UPDATE: I finally got my monitor in the mail. I need to try it out and see how it works. I am at work right now, so tonight after I work out, I am going to test it, and if it works, take pics.

Yes, it really did take that long to get my monitor.

I know I could go for a ps-one screen, but I chose to go full on flat screen lcd because, lets face it, 7 inch TFT screen is not near as sweet as a 15 inch screen. It would be awesome to get a 17 incher in there, but I am going to attempt to keep this project under $150. Which means if this monitor sucks and I can't use it, I am out $40 already, not counting the $25 for the DC. I already have a vga adapter that I am going to use.

Right now I am at $65, which means I have about $85 for Styrene, paint, power source. I can get the styrene for about $20, and paint will cost probably $5, which puts me at $90.

I know I could use a camcorder battery and power solution, but holy crap, this thing would run for like 5 minutes and that's it. If i go with camcorder stuff, I am going to need to get multiple batteries and put them together to make 1 "super" camcorder battery.

So I am hoping this monitor does not suck, because that will seriously set me back on my project. I also will have to be careful once I start doing stuff with the power source, because I do not want to fry my DC by feeding it too much juice, because it would set me back $25 for every fried DC (even though that sorta sounds like a meal, fried dc with ranch, hahaha).

Even though it seems like I am in earliy stages, once I get this monitor out and test it, I will take pictures regardless of how well the monitor works. So there should be another update around 8 or 9 CST.

I appreciate the support in this so far. This will have to be the coolest project I have ever done. After this I am going to work on a supergun, but I am pretty confident this will be way cooler than a supergun.

[kainemaxwell]

Love to see pics of it as a work in progress!!

[SegaAges]

Here are the beginning pics.

You can't see it from the pics, but the picture on the screen looks very good.
(sorry, I am figuring out the new imaging stuff on the site).

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7996/1000515cf3.jpg

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/1996/1000516ba0.jpg

Next step is a power source. Hopefully that goes as nice as this monitor did. I was super nervous about buying a monitor off of eBay and expecting it to work good, but it works great.

[AllSchoolGamer]

hell yeah man this will be cool whenits finished, i cant wait to see the end product...i have been thinking about getting a dreamcast cd drive for my pc so i dont have to use my actual dreamcast too much btu a portable 1 would be so much cooler\\^_^/

[Blanka789]

hell yeah man this will be cool whenits finished, i cant wait to see the end product...i have been thinking about getting a dreamcast cd drive for my pc so i dont have to use my actual dreamcast too much btu a portable 1 would be so much cooler\\^_^/

You can install a Dreamcast CD drive inside of a PC and play the games?? Where do you get one of these?

[c0ldb33r]

What about a Treamcast?

[SegaAges]

What about a Treamcast?

TBH, this will be similar to a Treamcast, but I built it with my own 2 hands, plus it will have a 15 inch LCD flatscreen instead of the 10 inch (I believe) TFT Screen the Treamcast uses.

UPDATE: Brisco is hooking it up with a DC Web Browser for my testing. I get paid next Friday, and will be buying a power source, which is where I start ripping apart this DC, and I needed any working DC disc that might end up not making it through testing.

So I am going to start talking with some people. I am more than likely going to use a camcorder power source. I could easily take a camcorder power source, get multiple batteries, and make them into 1 "super" battery as long as I am careful with it.

This next step is going to be the hardest, and will be the first time that I might fry a DC. I am hoping to not do it, since they are 25 a piece at the local game shop, and I have no priced camcorders or batteries yet to know how much that part is going to run me.

But yeah, it is a small update, but definately an update. Thank you Brisco for the disc for testing.

[SegaAges]

I have not given any updates in a really long time, but money got tight for a little bit.

I finally ordered my power supply, and I will be ordering my batteries here this weekend, so once I get those, it will be time to take apart the dreamcast and make it power through batteries.

i figured since i finally bought that item, i would post to let you guys know that my dreamcast laptop is not a lost cause, i just ran into money troubles for a little bit, but now I am very much back on top.

[otaku]

awesome glad its still going to happen!

[jonjandran]

I'm assuming you went with a Pico Psu and you will be using 12v batteries?

If you need help, just holler at me. :)