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What can i build with all this stuff? i'm willing to cut up/take apart anything shown+listed here :d

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Hello! I'm more of a software guy, but have always been interested in hardware too! I haven't played with electronics though since I was a kid taking apart remote control cars and things, and tinkering with them, and rebuilding them in cooler shells :D So to get my fix once again, I gathered up a bunch of stuff from my attic and basement that I'm willing to take apart and mess with :) lol! Here's what I came up with:
LQmwqOY.jpg


*For a full list and more images see the bottom of this post!

I'm not sure what I could possibly build using this stuff. Possibly I'd like to avoid purchasing extra stuff for the project, though if you have a cool idea for me, I suppose I'd be willing to buy something(s) extra...

My one idea I have, that I think would be kind of cool... I thought of turning each controller into a USB controller, or into bluetooth controllers (Like the Wiimote)... I know lol, can't think of anything else besides using the controllers to play my PC games :) But I don't want to buy any controllers which have this already done, would like to use my controllers and build something myself...

Everywhere I read online though, people are pretty adamant about the requirement of a microcontroller, which I would like to attempt to avoid having to use, since I'd have to have a microcontroller for each controller unless I made an 1 adapter to work all of them rather than building something into the controller/extend out of it... They say use a microcontroller and make it come up as an standard HID device so you wont need to build a custom driver. I'm a programmer though, so what if I instead write a driver (for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows) and don't care that it'll only work for Windows. Would it be possible to not need a microcontroller that way? Isn't my computer one big giant microcontroller? lol. I've read that wiring the controller so it plugs into an old-skool serial or parallel port would not require a microcontroller... So my question is what makes USB so different from serial/parallel besides being old and basically obsolete that you would need a microcontroller for USB but not for serial/parellel. I understand its easier, but it can't be absolutely necessary, can it? I'm willing to go the harder route if it's possible and even write my own Windows drivers...

It's hard to find anyone making USB devices communicating with computers without a microcontroller but I did manage to find something...
https://www.dlpdesign.com/images/bit-bang-usb.pdf

Though it still requires some kind of chip, a "FT245BM"... The author claims that no microcontroller is required, and that the chip mentioned combined with a custom Windows driver the manufacturers made for the chip, fools the computer into believing its actually an RS232! What are your thoughts on this route? Also would it be possible to take a chip from any of these things, possibly a microcontroller if there is any in these devices, reprogram it if possible / use it in its current state, and build my own driver / make it an HID in order to make something like this happen? :D I was thinking the Xbox controller might have a microcontroller inside of it, that I could possibly use in its current state or reprogram it, to get one/all of the other controllers to send their button states through it? (the gamecube controller is the only one [I think] with trickier pressure sensitive L+R triggers, though the N64's thumbstick might be similar)

All in all I think there must be something cool I can do with this stuff! I just need some ideas(besides the controller(s) idea), and pointing in the right direction! (for the controllers idea, or a cooler one) :)

So thanks! :D

[Itemized list, the best I could, I tried to have exact model numbers]
Computers:
1. Donated Lenovo ThinkCentre (Doesn't work, not sure whats wrong with it yet [haven't messed with it yet])
2. Dell Optiplex GX60 (Still Works)
3. Toshiba Satellite L305-S5919 (with broken LCD, everything else still works... I plug it into a monitor or my HDTV which happens to have a VGA port. It has dual boot OSX[natively]+Windows7 ;))

Phones:
1. An relatively new at&t samsung phone (SGH-A107)
2. An old verizon samsung phone (SCH-A930)

Game Controllers:
1. Wired Xbox 360 USB controller (apparently from Gamestop)
2. Nintendo Bluetooth Wiimote, from a first generation Wii.
3. Nintendo Gamecube controller
4. Nintendo N64 controller
5. Blockbuster turbo SNES controller
6. Madcatz turbo Sega Genesis/Megadrive controller

Game Systems/Consoles:
1. Nintendo Gameboy Color (Yellow/Silver Pikachu Version [Still works])
2. Sega Genesis (Missing power + S-video wires but I'm certain it still works)

Gamesharks:
1. N64 Gameshark Pro V3.2
2. Gameboy Pocket+Color Gameshark Pro V3.0

USB devices:
1. Hawking HWUG1 wifi adapter with RT2571WF chipset
2. Netgear WG111T wifi adapter
3. An expired subscription Magic Jack
4. See number 1 of Game Controllers :D

Miscellaneous:
1. Old Netgear RangeMax WPN824 v2 router
2. Old Cobra Walkie-talkie
3. Old-Skool iPod USB wire
4. Old camera USB wire
5. Two old USB to PS2 adapters
6. Old MP3 player which came with the 1st Transformers movie DVD (missing the mini headphone jack to USB wire which charged it and enabled copying music onto it [Still have headphones for it, with mini headphone jack 2.5mm])
7. Circuit board taken from the broken LCD of the Toshiba laptop (may provide me with some capacitors + resistors I may need, but they are surface mount so they'd be hard to work with)
8. Two fans from an old computer that broke (not pictured)
9. A full metal jacket on the Lenovo and two boxes of Newports on the table, for a rough size comparison of everything...

[More images]
GenUANz.jpg


RVLzXLw.jpg


W7FaMFC.jpg


gv7gZjY.jpg


Thanks again!
Steve
 
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