PC-based retro-gaming console discussion

[Pixelboy]

I was surfing the net during my lunch break the other day, and I came across mini-itx.com, which shows what people are doing with miniature PC motherboards. Then it occured to me that such boards could be used to make a PC-based gaming console. No, not like the Xbox, something more generic, designed specifically to be a low-cost, all-purpose retro-gaming machine. This machine (let's call it the "Retro-X") could:

 

1) Run all the old PC games, even the games that no longer work on today's PCs, for various reasons related to hardware detection, game speed and OS compatibility issues.

 

2) Run the homebrew PC games of today, such as those made with Game Maker.

 

3) Run every emulator under the sun. Want to play your old console games (Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Intellivision, NES, SuperNES, Genesis, etc.) on your TV set with your favorite PC gamepad and keyboard? The Retro-X would let you do just that!

 

* * * * *

 

I started to think about the technicalities involved in making such a gaming machine. It seems like all the pieces to the puzzle are out there, but there's still some R&D to be done. The initial hardware specifications would go something like this:

 

- 512 megabytes to 1 gigabyte of RAM.

 

- 1 or 2 gigabytes of flash memory (used like a regular hard disk).

 

- Fanless, with custom-made plastic outer casing.

 

- Standard CD drive.

 

- Graphic card designed specifically for TV output (RCA, S-Video, etc.) with full support for old CGA/EGA/VGA/etc. modes and capable of outputing at customized resolutions. This would be good for MAME, with its lot of various exotic screen modes.

 

- 4 generic USB ports, which could potentially accept any USB device, from joystick and steering wheels to mice, keyboards and even USB drives and printers. A USB mouse and a small USB keyboard would be included in the basic package.

 

- The console would have NO built-in network/internet capability, to keep costs down. If you want to go on the net with the Retro-X, buy a USB device (cord or wireless) and plug it into one of the USB ports. The OS should do the rest, if configured correctly.

 

* * * * *

 

In order to make the Retro-X truly compatible with old PC games, I figure there are certain hurdles to overcome. For example, old software cannot detect USB devices, and while I'm no PC hardware expert, I believe the BIOS could be designed to handle such problems seamlessly:

 

- If a game tries to detect a joystick in the old-style game port (like those found on some sound cards), the BIOS should automatically map it to a joystick plugged in one of the USB ports and the running software should never see the difference. The user could therefore play old games using current-generation controllers. This would be one of the major selling points of the Retro-X.

 

- The BIOS would also have some game controller testing and calibration routines built-in, as well as CPU speed control settings (in case you need to slow down the system for the benefit of old games that run too fast on today's PCs), which would be accessible at boot, regardless of what OS is installed on the machine (Windows, Linux, etc.).

 

- Finally, the BIOS would offer the option to boot from either the CD drive, the flash memory, or one of the USB ports. Of course, booting from the flash memory would be the default setting after an OS has been installed.

 

* * * * *

 

I'm sure I'm not the first guy to imagine a gaming system built around a mini-ITX motherboard, so I'd like to have people's input. Is there anything I failed to consider? Compatibility issues? Hardware detection issues? OS issues? Hardware driver installation issues? Additional hardware components to include? Pricing for this game console?

 

Keep in mind that this is all just a theoretical discussion, so please, no comments about how you can run emulators on modded Xboxes, PSPs and obscure handheld devices. That's completely beside the point. The point is to study how "doable" a retro-dedicated PC-based gaming system would be.

 

(EDIT: Fixed a couple of typos.)

Edited June 8, 2006 by Pixelboy

[Great Hierophant]

I'm afraid the PC doesn't exist that can do it all. If you want a PC to run emulators on, then use whatever you got in front of you. You don't need another system for that, and some emulators can use really fast machines.

 

If you want to play old PC games, ideally you should be using hardware contemporaneous with the game you are trying to play. DOSBox these days, however, makes using anything less than a mid-level 486 PC unnecessary.

 

The mid-to-late 90s PC is the most interesting. Games use SVGA and VESA modes, Glide-based 3D acceleration and A3D positional sound. These can't be done in DOSBox at all or with any expectation of speed. Buy or build a computer that can handle these games natively.

[+remowilliams]

The mid-to-late 90s PC is the most interesting. Games use SVGA and VESA modes, Glide-based 3D acceleration and A3D positional sound. These can't be done in DOSBox at all or with any expectation of speed. Buy or build a computer that can handle these games natively.

Yeah, that's the problem era really. Voodoo/Glide sure was cool then, but trying to run the software now that's bound to this stuff is just a nightmare.

[Pixelboy]

The mid-to-late 90s PC is the most interesting. Games use SVGA and VESA modes, Glide-based 3D acceleration and A3D positional sound. These can't be done in DOSBox at all or with any expectation of speed. Buy or build a computer that can handle these games natively.

Okay, so what if you had a graphic card that natively supported SVGA, VESA modes and Glide-based 3D acceleration? Of course, I realize that such a custom graphic card would drive the price of the console upward, but like I said before, this is all just theoretical.

[jbanes]

1) Run all the old PC games, even the games that no longer work on today's PCs, for various reasons related to hardware detection, game speed and OS compatibility issues.

 

This could be done either through DOSBox or through a special bootloader. The bootloader would take the profile of the desired game, construct a DOS environment with the necessary Autoexec/Config.sys, then boot directly into DOS.

 

2) Run the homebrew PC games of today, such as those made with Game Maker.

This gets a little trickier if you're looking to boot directly into Operating Systems other than Windows. As long as your "console" can dual-boot Windows, though, I suppose it's doable.

 

Graphic card designed specifically for TV output (RCA, S-Video, etc.) with full support for old CGA/EGA/VGA/etc. modes and capable of outputing at customized resolutions. This would be good for MAME, with its lot of various exotic screen modes.

 

You'd be much better off with an NVidia card and a TV that accepts DVI. Not only would it be simpler, but you'd have fewer problems with incompatible TV or TV Adaptor hardware. As long as the signal is digital and within its available viewing region, a DVI equipped TV should be able to display it.

 

3) Run every emulator under the sun. Want to play your old console games (Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Intellivision, NES, SuperNES, Genesis, etc.) on your TV set with your favorite PC gamepad and keyboard? The Retro-X would let you do just that!

I don't know about "every emulator", but most forms of emulators should be doable. In fact, if you load MAME and MESS, you'll pretty much cover 90% of the machines on the market.

 

In order to make the Retro-X truly compatible with old PC games, I figure there are certain hurdles to overcome. For example, old software cannot detect USB devices, and while I'm no PC hardware expert, I believe the BIOS could be designed to handle such problems seamlessly:

 

It could and it couldn't. You need to remember that most DOS game bypassed DOS/BIOS interrupts and twiddled the hardware themselves. So Joysticks would be unlikely to function unless you pulled some serious hardware emulation Voodoo.

 

I'm sure I'm not the first guy to imagine a gaming system built around a mini-ITX motherboard, so I'd like to have people's input. Is there anything I failed to consider? Compatibility issues? Hardware detection issues? OS issues? Hardware driver installation issues? Additional hardware components to include? Pricing for this game console?

How about, "this is a really complex project that would be difficult to execute?"

 

If you trim it back a bit, you might be able to grow it more into what you want. i.e. Try starting with a MAME box, then work up to MESS and DOSBox.

 

 

Okay, so what if you had a graphic card that natively supported SVGA, VESA modes and Glide-based 3D acceleration? Of course, I realize that such a custom graphic card would drive the price of the console upward, but like I said before, this is all just theoretical.

 

NVidia has the best support for VESA SVGA libraries. You'd probably do well with one of their cards. As for Glide, pick a wrapper, any wrapper.

 

Good luck!