Uses for the 5V on the back of the PC-FX?

[MissaFX]

Ok, now I don't know much about electronics, but it seems to me that since there is an unused 5V out on the PC-FX that maybe it could be used for something.

Before I get to that, does anyone know what they intended this to be used for officially?

Well I was thinking that since the PC-FX doesn't need a fan to cool it (and I am guessing it might be tricky to find a good fan that runs on 5V) maybe it could be either used for a LED mod to light up the clear plastic above the CD tray or my pie-in-the-sky idea would be to power a LCD screen mounted to one side of the PC-FX to make it "portable".

Does anyone else have any other crazy ideas? 

Because of the way the CD lid is manufactured the only way I can see to put in an LED would be to come up from under and to the left or right of the center.  Although maybe this light would mess up the laser from reading it.  I'm not sure.

It could probably also be used to power some cheap computer speakers, but I am not sure it would be able to handle that.

[SignOfZeta]

That same jack is found in the same place on original PS systems, as well as some DVD, and LD players. Its to power an RF modulator. I've only ever seen this once, but they used to make rather compact RF modulators that would plug into the AV jacks, and that 5V jack, and because of that not need a separate wall plug.

Anyway, inside the FX I'm sure they are 20 other places to pull 5V from that would spare you from running a wire back inside the machine from that jack on the outside.

As for "modding" an PC-FX...please don't. The FX's good looks are about the only thing it has going for it, and I'd hate to see it with a glass sides with iron cross -shaped windows, "tribal" markings, and LED fans sticking out of it.

[Turbo D]

Aw man, no glass windows with cool cathodes? Jeez take all the fun out of modding dude    On a serious note though, led moding is pretty cool. Take a look at d-lites custom blue led pcengine duo-r. Its teh coolest 

[MissaFX]

Anyway, inside the FX I'm sure they are 20 other places to pull 5V from that would spare you from running a wire back inside the machine from that jack on the outside.

I was assuming take a tap off where the 5V takes it tap, so that you are not taking voltage from something which might need it.  Not something sticking out of the back and back into the machine.

As for "modding" an PC-FX...please don't. The FX's good looks are about the only thing it has going for it, and I'd hate to see it with a glass sides with iron cross -shaped windows, "tribal" markings, and LED fans sticking out of it.

Not the games?  I thought the one thing the FX had going for it was the game library.  The tribal markings thing made me laugh loudly outloud though.

[SignOfZeta]

Not the games?

Not unless you know of some PC FX games I've never seen.

[SignOfZeta]

Aw man, no glass windows with cool cathodes? Jeez take all the fun out of modding dude    On a serious note though, led moding is pretty cool. Take a look at d-lites custom blue led pcengine duo-r. Its teh coolest 

Do you mean like this?

/shapeimage_1.jpg

I did this to my Duo because it's obviously the way it should have been in the first place. It even matches the logo color. Now the original green color just looks wrong.

[MissaFX]

Not the games?

Not unless you know of some PC FX games I've never seen.

I'm enjoying them immensely.  If you enjoy 90's anime, it's an awesome system.  This seems very harsh comming from someone who posts on a NEC forum.

And that blue LED kind of thing is what I was thinking of for the PC-FX.  But it would have to have a wire running "in the open" so to speak inside the CD tray area to put an LED into that plastic.

I was thinking it might also look cool to make the red transfer LED in that plastic area instead.

[Turbo D]

ya, the blue led is a bad-ass must  I would like to see what you can come up with for your pc-fx missa 

[SignOfZeta]

Not unless you know of some PC FX games I've never seen.

I'm enjoying them immensely.  If you enjoy 90's anime, it's an awesome system.  This seems very harsh comming from someone who posts on a NEC forum.

I enjoy 90s anime a lot. This is why I bought a laser disc player which is much better at playing movies than even the FX.

Everyone here knows the FX as a huge disappointment, we just handle it differently.

[Kitsunexus]

As for "modding" an PC-FX...please don't. The FX's good looks are about the only thing it has going for it, and I'd hate to see it with a glass sides with iron cross -shaped windows, "tribal" markings, and LED fans sticking out of it.

Don't forget the UV lights, the plasma globe and the fluorescent water cooling system!

And btw, PC-FX's games rock, even if they're not much more than what a Bandai Playdia (a console with a library completely made of interactive FMV games) could pull off.

[nat]

Everyone here knows the FX as a huge disappointment, we just handle it differently.

The PC-FX was a disappointment, but only in the sense that it could've been the ultimate 2D game machine from the 32-bit era. Third party support was lacking compared to the Saturn and Playstation, and thus the game library was comparably small. We never got a chance to see games that really pushed the system's capabilities.

I personally enjoy a great number of PC-FX games, and I don't think of the console as a disappoint in regards to the games "sucking" or something. It would've been cool to have more 2D platformer-type games, maybe some more 2D fighters, etc, that's all. As far as the library itself goes, it has a better quality to crap ratio that most other systems out there.

I'll take FMV capabilities any day over shitty nausea-inducing mid-90's polygon efforts. In my eyes, the lowest point in video game history was the early 32-bit era where everyone and their dead dog was trying to "hit it big" with jagged "3D" games that bore an uncanny resemblance to the dump I took last night. It was like overnight everyone forgot about the "pixel art" that made the 16-bit era so cool.

When all was said and done, the Saturn ended up getting a  lot of the cool 2D stuff that I would've liked to see on the PC-FX.

Part of the PC-FX's charm is the unique approach it took to video games, an approach I obviously much prefer over the direction it's contemporaries took. If you think the PC-FX isn't anything more than an expensive anime movie player, you're either a fool or you haven't really dug into it's game library.

[NecroPhile]

.....with jagged "3D" games that bore an uncanny resemblance to the dump I took last night.

  <-- nat's face last night
That sounds awfully painful.  Have you tried eating more bran or maybe some prunes? 

I too like the PC-FX, even though its library is small and has too many non-game games.

[Kitsunexus]

jagged "3D" games that bore an uncanny resemblance to the dump I took last night.

" UMMF! urrrrrm arrrrrgh eeeeeee *pop*  TR..TRTR...TRIIIIIAAAAANGLES.... AH AH AHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! *ploop*    Ahh, much better!  Hmmm, since when did I eat gouraud shading?"

[nat]

Your typical Playstation One textures look exactly like the textures I see when I drop off the kids. Gourad shading, indeed.

[Kitsunexus]

Your typical Playstation One textures look exactly like the textures I see when I drop off the kids. Gourad shading, indeed.

LACK OF Z-BUFFER PRODUCE OBLONG SHAPES! 

[MissaFX]

ya, the blue led is a bad-ass must  I would like to see what you can come up with for your pc-fx missa 

Well here is my understanding.  Most LEDs work at around 3V or less.  So I would probably need some kind of resistor before the LED.  I have no idea about what type or kind, but I assume a small one lol.  Then it would just need a wire ran from the place the 5V back out takes its tap or from in inside back by taking a tap off the 5v jack itself, but from inside.  And then some holes would have to be made in the top of the CD lid to let the wires though.  I'm not so sure about doing that.  There is an open hole in the back of the CD area so no hole has to be put in the CD drive itself thank god.

Don't expect me to do this in the near future, if I do it, it will probably be once I can get my hands on a dead PC-FX, so like if anything happens to anything I will most likely have a replacement part.

[MissaFX]

I enjoy 90s anime a lot. This is why I bought a laser disc player which is much better at playing movies than even the FX.

I own a convection toaster.  It's makes great frozen pizza's for watching anime movies on my LD player.  However neither is a game machine...which the PC-FX is.  How do you even start to compare and LD player with a CD console?  Neither are designed to do the same thing unless you argue the LD player was designed to play games.  Sure there are 2 LD game consoles, but they really are 2 different kind of machines for different purposes.

Everyone here knows the FX as a huge disappointment, we just handle it differently.

Enjoy what is, not what could have been.  Maybe you were expecting something from the system that it never would deliver.  That's not its fault.

I love my 3DO, but like the FX the system is largly untapped.  I could pout and say it is an aweful system.  Or I can love it for the games it does have and accept it for what it is.  I play it more than my PS1 or PS2, more than the XBOX, more than the Dreamcast.  Why?  I happen to like Laserdisc games and railshooters.  Digital Dreamware is fun retro crack too.

To me the FX is the most refreshing system I have played in a long time.  I got it instead of a PS3, Wii or 360.  Really, I took the money I would have put to one of those systems.  I and instead got a console, 3 controllers (2 new, 1 used) new mouse, 18 games (though about 7 are still in shipping) and a memory card.  Now I just need an ugly, discolored FX to use as parts to keep this thing going for 10 more years.  I'm at least running it with a stepdown transformer to avoid it getting extra heat.

Lastly, I don't have a problem with you saying you don't like the PC-FX, but I don't think you should be lumping everyone else on the board in with you when you use the word Everyone.

[NecroPhile]

Well said, but what's the second LD console, or are you counting Pioneer and NEC models seperately?  Oh, how I'd love to get me one of those beasts (some day, some day).

[MissaFX]

Well said, but what's the second LD console, or are you counting Pioneer and NEC models seperately?  Oh, how I'd love to get me one of those beasts (some day, some day).

I'm counting the Sega LD system (Pioneer LaserActive in the USA) as one and the Halcyon as the other.

[NecroPhile]

Ahhh, I see - I thought that the Halcyon system died before release and only prototypes existed.  In case you didn't know, the LaserActive had add-ons in Sega and Turbo flavors (as well as karaoke, but that ain't gaming so nobody gives a hoot).

[MissaFX]

Ahhh, I see - I thought that the Halcyon system died before release and only prototypes existed.  In case you didn't know, the LaserActive had add-ons in Sega and Turbo flavors (as well as karaoke, but that ain't gaming so nobody gives a hoot).

I am not talking about the addons as much as I am talking about the Sega produced laserdisc games in japan which can play on the Pioneer system. 

And the Halcyon did come out, I have seen them sold on ebay over the years.  There are 2 release games and 2 prototype games (basicly the other 2 games are rare as gold because they were only produced in the hundreds).  The 2 prototype games work as far as I know.  Now don't quote me on this next part because I have only seen the jackets for the games once at a show, but I think one was a racing game, the other was some kind of animated adventure, maybe like Kingdom: The Far Reaches on the 3DO.

I dream of a day when I can afford a LD copy of Pyramid Patrol for the Laseractive.

My LD player is a cheap Pioneer 505 btw, but it works great.  Just no pause with screen on CLV.  I would have to also get a Laseractive player to play that game.

[NecroPhile]

Understood regarding the Halcyon - my brain was just wrong (again).

Aren't the add-ons required to play the LaserActive games, considering they were all either Mega-LD (Sega) or LD-ROM² (NEC)?

[MissaFX]

I talked about both things in the same paragraph.  Seperate systems.  I put in a blank line to seperate them better.

[MissaFX]

Aren't the add-ons required to play the LaserActive games, considering they were all either Mega-LD (Sega) or LD-ROM² (NEC)?

To also make this more clear: I have seen stand alone Mega-LD players which were not part of the Pioneer system which used the moduals to let it play the software of different systems.  As far as I know they only play movies and Mega-LD discs.

[Kitsunexus]

Somebody get one of those labelmakers and put "DON'T TASE ME BRO!" right above the 5V out. 

[MissaFX]

How about "Metal Chopstick Polisher"?

[Kitsunexus]

How about "Metal Chopstick Polisher"?

That's funny, and very clever, but it has no Eminem or Billy Ray Cyrus spoofs, and was not shouted during a debate with John Kerry.

But you have given me the idea to buy buttloads of surplus radio antennas and sell them as "telescopic metal chopsticks" so you are a genius. ^__^