April 28, 2008

N800 + Hard Work and about $35 = New Gaming system?

Ok - so here’s the idea.  Turn the Nokia N-Series N800 Internet Tablet into a handheld gaming device.

Yeah, I know, there are already games for it.  Emulators, too.  But touch screen without other controls sucks for all but a very select few games.

Take a USB game controller - slice and dice it until you can fit the N800 inside it like a cradle - (like the grips + battery for the PSP Lite) and build in a spare battery for it.

You would need a N800 (obviously) - games / emus / etc. - a program called USB Control which turns the N800 into a USB Host as well as a hard drive - a USB gender changer - a USB game controller - and a emergency charger.  (You would stick the emergency charger inside one of the hollow grips, and you’d have to remove the kick-stand for the N800.)

Oh, and you’d have to code a driver for the USB controller, since the N800 doesn’t know what to do with it.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

The only issue I see with this is that I don't think the N800 works in this mode- the N810 is supposed to be able to use USB devices that way, but I don't think the N800 is set up to be doing that. If it can, it'd be cool; but the Pandora's a better bet if CraigX can pull it off.

Chad said...

Actually, yes, the N800 does work in that mode. I have one, and it works just fine. There is software you have to download for it to work, ( http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/usbcontrol/ ) and a $5 USB gender changer (like I mentioned in the article), but it works. The problem is drivers. I haven't found a USB game pad that works yet.