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?



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.

[Necromancer]

.....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.