Possible mod if i get the energy to work on it

[Mithosphere]

Right, so my Playstation 2 is on its deathbed to say the least, it's about 6 or 7 years old (one of the first ps2's) and well it doesnt read discs very well at all. I was reading about how to fix this problem and unfortunately it required me to dismantle it. Upon doing that it didnt really do anything and the other way was far to complicated as it required volt modding and an extensive knowledge of electrical work. The last option was to send it back to sony and pay 130 bucks to have it fixed, of course with $130 i can just buy a new PS2.

This got me thinking . . . What if i could mod a PC into it? I realize that I cant put any ATX sized board into it, so that leaves mini itx. Which leads me to a whole new world of options. I understand some of the stuff on mini itx, but have no idea which brand or what is good for what.

Since i already have a handy gaming computer and overall better one, this mod would most likely be hooked to a tv, sort of like an HTPC. I was examining this and i think i can put in a much smaller 2.5" drive and a slim dvd rw, along with some kind of suitable mini itx board.

The case of the PS2 is quite spacious. The mainboard is probably not any larger than an itx board and i could probably fit a 2.5 inch hdd under the slim dvd drive. Although the area directly under the original drive does house a 3.5 inch drive. The controller ports on the front as well as the memory slots could likely be converted into usb. And since this is the original style PS2 it retains the firewire and usb on the front, and with a little luck i could use those.

As for actual playback of media, i have loads of movies on CDs and hdds, so playback is key. Also i hope this will run Windows MCE or Professional. Oh yea and as for audio im getting my father's Cerwin Vega speakers that he got sometime in the 70s or 80s, they are like 40-50 lbs. each (large boxes 3 different speakers inside) and im getting all of this other audio equipment (tuner, cd, powerbox thing with other controls, tape), its quite the setup and still runs great. Hooking that up will be no problem with an adapter that i already have.

Keep in mind that this is like super extra pre everything idea brainstorming, like i would love to do this is i had the time and money, im thinking ill need about 300-400 dollars and a couple of months (i may even have to get another ps2).


So yea thats what im sorta thinking of doing. Any ideas on anything, anything at all? Seriously like i havent put anything on paper let alone actually look at much, it was sort of one of those ideas i get right before i'm about to sleep. Except this time i decided to put it in words before i forget. I have about a 55 % chance that ill actually pull this off.

[gvblake22]

I think VIA has the most mature ITX boards around. As for your mod idea, it would definitely be tricky, and probably more expensive than it is worth to be honest. You're almost better off just buying a nice, very small mATX or ITX enclosure of some kind and building in that...

But if you really want to give it a shot, I'd be more than happy to let you use the shop at my house with all the tools!

[Mithosphere]

well thats nice, and yea it is looking to be expensive, especially since a mini itx board wont fit into the bottom of the PS2, a nano itx will though, but those run about 350 bucks.

I did make a PS2 replica made of cardboard and sorta was measuring thing out on to it. So if i get my camera batteries charged ill take some shot, i really am considering this though. I'm probably gonna put some linux based OS on it. And figuring that the size of the mainboard inside of a PS2 is about the size of a nano itx board, not only in board size but also heighth, i think i coudl pull it off.

[gvblake22]

Ya know, I've got enough dark gray 3x16" thick acrylic and aluminum angle left over for you to probably make a whole miniIX case! If you want it just holler, there's nothing I can use it for as they are like 11"x12" pieces.