Ps2 Portable (as minimal as possible)

[mepi]

Hi! I've been reading for a few weeks about ps2 portable projects (with quite good results) and I've decided to try to make one just like I'd like to be (dimensions, specs... etc). I found this forum looking for somewhere to learn a bit about ps2 motherboard and "how to" tutorials, but I've got in my mind some other plans that I don't even know if they're possible, that's why I need help.

First, what I've got is a PS2 (FAT) SCPH-3004 R (I know that FAT ps2 is the worst choice instead of PStwo but I'd prefer to spend money in other components and use this Ps2). The mainboard is in perfect conditions and fully works, has a "mesiah" chip installed (don't know exactly which version is).

About control, I've got a SCPH-10010 A model, I saw that exists "early" and "late" version, I think It's late version, in perfect conditions too.

What I want is a portable ps2 with reduced dimensions as much as possible, a LCD screen 5" or 6", a good battery (no worries if it's a bit expensive, I'd prefer a good one), and the hardest part is this. I'd like to load backups by a microSD welded to the mainboard (I've read that it's possible to load games by hdd and usb... I assume it could be possible even if an usb card reader is needed), I know that FreeMCboot could do this, so another thing I'd like is to weld a Memory Card board to mainboard (for example port 2 MC). I'd like to save usb ports to insert a pendrive in case I'd need to copy data from/to ps2 (I've read freemcboot has a file explorer including MC, so I could copy my savedata from/to ps2 with no need to insert and buy new MCs, that could reduce dimensions).
About refrigeration, I've though in thermal paste and a sink of aluminum (like computers), but this model brought a fan (that it's not much bigger), so I don't know if add it behind the system or just let it work with paste and sink.

To finish this, I'd like (but it's not really important) to have the choice of connect a joystick and a video exit if some day I'd want to play in a TV, if this require lot of work or spend a lot, I'd prefer to skip this because.. it's a portable system hahaha.

Sorry about writing a lot, but I wanted to explain everything in detail.

Thanks everyone who read this =), I hope could help me or advising if something can't be made.

Here I add some pics:

Mainboard-----------------------------------------------------

USB port----------------------------------------------------

Controller & MC ports------------------------------------------------------

Controller-------------------------------------------------------------

 

[keshav]

I can make you one
Everyone on this forum is making fun of me
It is true that I haven't made any portable earlier but I have talent to make one
So please contact me
Thakurabhishek60@gmail.com

 

[mepi]

I can make you one
Everyone on this forum is making fun of me
It is true that I haven't made any portable earlier but I have talent to make one
So please contact me
Thakurabhishek60@gmail.com

Thanks for your offer, but I'd prefer to make one by myself because of learning a lot. What I really need is for example to know if there's something incompatible in all that I want to do, or pins description of mainboard (to know where or what I should weld).

 

[keshav]

Hey mepi making potables is not a rocket science

 

[mepi]

Well, It takes more time than difficulty to make one, but I'm just that kind of people that always want to be completely sure that what is doing and there are a lot of things I'm not completely sure so I prefer to ask before do something wrong, or something that "by design" of components is impossible to make it work. That's why I ask to people who has more experience in this than me. In other hand, I don't know much about ps2 scene and It will be helpful to be sure that is possible (as I said in my first message) to load backups from a microSD through USB port.

 

[samjc3]

I can make you one
Everyone on this forum is making fun of me
It is true that I haven't made any portable earlier but I have talent to make one
So please contact me
Thakurabhishek60@gmail.com

Knock this flax off already. You're clearly clueless as to how to make a portable, hence why the forum is littered with your questions that can be answered with a Dang google search. Yet you keep offering to build portables for people despite never having shown even a basic grasp of etiquette, let alone a basic grasp of electronics.

Now, if you do actually have the talent to build a portable, do it, we'd love to be proven wrong. But from where we're sitting, you just look like a 12 year old with a basic grasp of English who thinks we're all gullible idiots.


As to the topic at hand, Mepi, first of all, welcome to the forum! As for your project, I really have to recommend looking into getting a slim PS2 - the fat board uses dramatically more power, makes more heat, and, most importantly, is way bigger, and can't really be trimmed at all. While it is certainly possible to build a "portable" with the fat board, it would be severely compromised compared to one based on a slim board - I'd expect the slim board would be less than half the final volume, while simultaneously getting longer battery life off of a smaller battery.

As for loading games off an SD Card, it's perfectly possible. On a fat, you need a network adapter modified for an IDE drive, then you'll need a couple IDE pin adapters to get from 40pin IDE to 44pin IDE, then a 44pin IDE to SD adapter. Format the SD card in FAT16, and assuming you're set up to run Open PS2 Loader, it should just work. However, it's not a very common setup, so it probably takes some trial and error to get it working. SirFishouse over on psx-scene.com has done the most work in that area, as far as I know.

For cooling, usually the smallest option is to salvage a CPU cooler from a laptop - though in this case, the Fat board means more heat, so the slimmest of coolers, like the thinkpad T-series coolers that get used, might not offer enough cooling performance.

Finally, directly attaching a memory card is perfectly possible, as is leaving a controller port and video out intact. For the memory card, I'd recommend using a big one from as late as possible in the PS2 lifespan, since that's liable to have the smallest board, and you'll likely never run out of save slots. On the controller and video out, the simplest method is just to leave the existing ports intact, and piggyback off the solder points on the board for your internal use. However, if size is a priority, I'd recommend replacing both ports with a smaller port, and then building either a breakout box or a pair of custom cables to connect back to standard equipment.


Edit: Loading games over USB, as opposed to from the network adapter, unfortunately, isn't a very good experience. The PS2 only has USB 1.1, so the transfer speeds are just too low - you can technically do it, but it can result in stutter and massive load times, as well as very choppy cutscenes, in many games. It should work just as well with a transparent USB to SD adapter, but that won't help the performance woes any.

 

[Prog]

I can make you one
Everyone on this forum is making fun of me
It is true that I haven't made any portable earlier but I have talent to make one
So please contact me
Thakurabhishek60@gmail.com

Dude seriously, this guy wants to build his own so don't bog down his thread with solicitation.

 

[mepi]

Knock this flax off already. You're clearly clueless as to how to make a portable, hence why the forum is littered with your questions that can be answered with a Dang google search. Yet you keep offering to build portables for people despite never having shown even a basic grasp of etiquette, let alone a basic grasp of electronics.

Now, if you do actually have the talent to build a portable, do it, we'd love to be proven wrong. But from where we're sitting, you just look like a 12 year old with a basic grasp of English who thinks we're all gullible idiots.


As to the topic at hand, Mepi, first of all, welcome to the forum! As for your project, I really have to recommend looking into getting a slim PS2 - the fat board uses dramatically more power, makes more heat, and, most importantly, is way bigger, and can't really be trimmed at all. While it is certainly possible to build a "portable" with the fat board, it would be severely compromised compared to one based on a slim board - I'd expect the slim board would be less than half the final volume, while simultaneously getting longer battery life off of a smaller battery.

As for loading games off an SD Card, it's perfectly possible. On a fat, you need a network adapter modified for an IDE drive, then you'll need a couple IDE pin adapters to get from 40pin IDE to 44pin IDE, then a 44pin IDE to SD adapter. Format the SD card in FAT16, and assuming you're set up to run Open PS2 Loader, it should just work. However, it's not a very common setup, so it probably takes some trial and error to get it working. SirFishouse over on psx-scene.com has done the most work in that area, as far as I know.

For cooling, usually the smallest option is to salvage a CPU cooler from a laptop - though in this case, the Fat board means more heat, so the slimmest of coolers, like the thinkpad T-series coolers that get used, might not offer enough cooling performance.

Finally, directly attaching a memory card is perfectly possible, as is leaving a controller port and video out intact. For the memory card, I'd recommend using a big one from as late as possible in the PS2 lifespan, since that's liable to have the smallest board, and you'll likely never run out of save slots. On the controller and video out, the simplest method is just to leave the existing ports intact, and piggyback off the solder points on the board for your internal use. However, if size is a priority, I'd recommend replacing both ports with a smaller port, and then building either a breakout box or a pair of custom cables to connect back to standard equipment.


Edit: Loading games over USB, as opposed to from the network adapter, unfortunately, isn't a very good experience. The PS2 only has USB 1.1, so the transfer speeds are just too low - you can technically do it, but it can result in stutter and massive load times, as well as very choppy cutscenes, in many games. It should work just as well with a transparent USB to SD adapter, but that won't help the performance woes any.

Wow, many doubts solved in a post, thanks ^^. I'll think about own a Pstwo instead the fat, what I won't spend in a new ps2 I'll finally spend it in a better battery (which is going to waste more power). Then..there are a lot of reasons to choose a pstwo.

About the way of load backups, you told about the "network adapter" needed for a fat system, if I decide to use a slim could I load backups from a microSD or hdd (with or without an adapter)? I've read somewhere that HDD aren't possible in slim system and.. You said ps2 usb are 1.1 (I though they were 2.0 so as you said it should run with lag..).
That's importante because I try to leave out the DVD drive, in fact I'd like to build an external port to connect it if someday I want/need to use it (in my mind this should be connect all data pins, power pins to a connector, female for example, and then make a male connector with pins of the DVD drive, pretty easy to say I know haha).

Well, I'll take a look if I could own a pstwo, if everything goes OK I'll be updating this to show the progress of this project.

Thanks a lot woman you really helped me.

 

[samjc3]

Yeah, pretty sure the Slim can't do a direct IDE device, but even with a disc drive it'd still be smaller. As far as USB loading goes, it works on either slim or fat (though I wanna say 9000 series slims won't run mcboot so you can't use them, which is a shame, as they're the smallest board). , but the performance ain't great by most accounts. The only way to know for sure if you're okay with the performance is to try it yourself, I suppose. PS2ESDL claims to load over USB faster than OPL, but I've never seen any hard numbers to prove it either way.

On some level, I feel like it should be possible to hook a harddrive to a slim - they do have the network adapter built on the board, so presumably it is possible to make it work. That said, it'd be a total pain in the ass and probably take multiple motherboards to figure out, assuming they didn't change the design enough to break compatibility.

 

[mepi]

I've been looking for a SCPH-70000, It'll cost 20€ approx. It's not so expensive because the results will be highly better. About the way to load backups, I've been loking around that and saw many mods with a slim and hdd, even SATA and SSD drives so I decided to use a SSD (because it weight should be like a feather ), worst part is some people say compatibility is not good enough but other say "yes, it works perfectly" so I don't know who to believe. So now, the requirements have changed, has to be a ps2 slim SCPH-70000 with a SSD (so expensive..but..it highly reduces weight if compared to a hdd and usb is not an option for what I've read about performance =/). I'll be updating this with my progress. Thanks everyone here for helping me =) (I'll have to ask many times more ).

 

[Codete]

Good luck dude!

 

[mepi]

Good luck dude!

Thanks, I'm waiting to have the components .


samjc3
What would be your recommendation for a screen (I'd like 5-6") and a battery (with a slim ps2 of course and including a hdd).

Thanks again =) I'll be updating first post with new component and all the making progress.

 

[samjc3]

These are probably the best screens for the money in that size range. As far as batteries go, you'll probably want an 11.1v lithium cell with some good voltage regulators, or it is possible you might be able to run everything off a 7.4v cell, depending on what your final parts end up being. I'd expect the final draw to be around 15-20w per hour of gameplay - how long you want to play vs how big/heavy/expensive you want the battery to be is up to you. Batteryspace.com has pretty good selection, in my experience.

 

[mepi]

Hi again! (I'm alive xD)

I've been busy for a while, now that I have some free time again I'm back with all this stuff. I'm looking for the pstwo and a screen. I've found this screen, I think it could work but I'd like to ask here before buying anything. It just weld RCA wires right? even I could use the wire that comes with pstwo if I make it shorter. Seems like it has no sound but...Can I connect white and red RCA to a pair of speakers?

Thanks!

 

[samjc3]

Yeah, that screen should work with a PS2. For audio, I'm not quite sure why it would have audio jacks without speakers, but the page certainly doesn't mention any speakers. If it truly doesn't have speakers, you could wire up a standalone amp and speaker setup quite easily.

 

[Cojiro]

No audio jack, the yellow and white RCA connectors are actually two composite inputs, and the red one if you look closer isn't RCA, it's the power jack. They probably do it like that to make you think it has sound, but nope, just video. Gonna have to do this one like most everyone else, wire an audio amp and connect speakers to that.