via youtube.com
August 2009
via lifehacker.com
This is way cooler than the computer I built, but it’s the same basic idea. I would love to build one like this some day.
Being the computer tech guy in the family I always end up with everybody’s old hardware. I usually scrap out old PCs. I save parts that I could use and scrap the rest. This week I salvaged up enough parts to build a computer to run my emulators.
Emulators are software programs that mimics a game console. You can find them for all but the latest game consoles. The Emulator Zone is full of info on all the latest emulators. I just run ones for the consoles that I had as a kid. I had an Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System, and Sega Genesis. It’s so fun playing games from my childhood.
The emulators are easy to find and totally legal. The ROMs, which are the games, are another thing. They are still under copyright, so may not be 100% legal to download. You have to look a little harder to find them online, but they are out there. Most of the games I play I paid for back in the day, so I don’t see anything wrong with it.
The old consoles were pretty primitive. Any PC can run the emulator software. What I wanted to do was build a computer that can be totally controlled by a game controller. There are many frontend software programs that let you select what console and game you want to play and then launch them. The frontend is what makes the system more user friendly, and they require a little more PC power depending on what frontend you select and what the frontend is capable of doing.
I chose to use Maximus Arcade for my frontend. It had the options that I wanted, looked nice, and was easy to configure. It costs $25 and was the only money that I spent on this project. Once I got it all set up, I set Maximus Arcade as the Windows shell, which totally hides Windows.
Many people build similar systems to run arcade games and build MAME cabinets to put them into. I don’t have the talent or the time to build a MAME cabinets, but it would be cool. I wasn’t much of an arcade gammer as a kid though. I was more of a console gammer. I might buy USB versions of the old controllers at retrousb.com to complete my system, and get more of a retro feel. For now I am just using a computer gamepad. Now I think it’s time for some Super Mario Brothers.
Pretty cool video. Not quite at good as the first one though. I probably knew about 80% of the references.
via boingboing.net
Some awesome Muppet Show Beatles covers found at Saturday Morning Central.
via scienceblogs.com
This is so awesome. We need more people to come out and say it like it is, and shut the loons up.
Interesting. I never knew where cashews came from.
So if you have been following me on Twitter you would know that I just created a Hackintosh. What’s a Hackintosh? It’s a regular PC that is running Apple’s OS X. I love OS X, but wish Apple made a desktop PC that is powerful enough, without a monitor, and affordable. The Mac Mini is a little underpowered, the iMac has a monitor built in, and the Mac Pro is way to spendy. For years I have been wanting a headless Mac that is priced between the Mini and the Pro. My Mac Mini was in desperate need of an upgrade, so I built my own.
There are many ways to do it, but many of them are unreliable and break when Apple puts out an update. The way I did it, and think it’s the best, is to purchase an EFi-X dongle. It’s a little device the plugs into the internal USB header on your motherboard. You set your BIOS to boot from it, and bingo, OS X thinks it’s running on a Mac. All the updates work just like it’s a real Mac. The EVi-X dongle actually works as a really good boot manager too. I could add Windows and Linux drives to my system, and the EFi-X dongle will act like a boot manager. The only place you can currently get an EFi-X dongle as is ExpressHD.com.
To run OS X though, you are limited to certain hardware. Thankfully it’s all pretty good hardware, and they have nice a compatibility list. There is just a handful of Gigabyte motherboards, nVidia Geforce video cards, and you have to use SATA hard & DVD drives, and USB mouse and Keyboard, and you are set.
For my system I used:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45-UD39
- CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E7500
- Video Card: PNY GeForce 9800GT
- RAM: 4GB
- Hard Drive: 1TB Western Digital Blue
- DVD Burner: Cheap Lite-On SATA burner
- Case: Antec Three Hundred
I love the Antec case that I put everything it. It has a nice clean look just like a real Mac would have.
I am not sure on the legality of this, but if you purchase a full copy of Apple’s OS X, I don’t see anything wrong with it, but I am no lawyer. If you plan on doing this though, I would recommending getting the EFi-X dongle while you still can. On episode 97 of Tekzilla, Colleen from TWiT goes through the process step by step. It’s really a simple process.
via doktorfrank.com
This is a great rendition of a great Mr. T Experience song.
The NFL season has began, or at least the preseason, and the first touchdown of the year was by a rookie punter. How cool was that?
