Building Enclosures and Hacking the Pi

JFamily

I'm not sure if this is the right section or even the correct group of people. But, I'm wanting to build a custom case with original controller connections, functional on/off and reset switches, fan powered by PSU, etc. My questions are as follows:

Where do you go to learn how to make the appropriate connections and modifications?
Where do you buy your parts, boards and cables? Specifically for the Pi, I know to look at Amazon and eBay for shorty HDMI cables and stuff like that.

I'm decent enough with Linux. So as far as which scripts to modify and how to get stuff to work on the OS side, I at least know what terms to type into Google to figure that stuff out. But still any resources you all use for that would also be greatly appreciated!

For starters, I plan on modding a SEGA Genesis case and keep it as original as possible. In the future, I want to build or retrofit my own enclosure but I think hacking an already functional enclosure would be a good learning experience.

markyh444

@JFamily I've modded both an original NES as well as putting a Pi Zero into a Saturn controller using gpio wiring for the controllers. I started out with limited experience of Linux, no experience with Raspberry Pi's and disastrous soldering skills. But I managed it, both with the help of other people's projects, Google and the lovely people of these forums. Oh an the Retropie developers, they're boss. So I'd advise thinking about what you fancy doing and checking out what other people have achieved and posted here. Link to my project Wordpress site is in my signature (shameless advertising) if you're interested.

Happy Hacking!

caver01

@JFamily There are many online sources of electronic components for bibs and bobs, but I like Adafruit for stuff like GPIO pin headers, audio components, USB stuff, Pi add-ons etc. because they have good descriptions and often videos describing what they are for and project tutorials. My build has a bunch of arcade parts from Ultimarc and Groovy Game Gear, so that's a direction worth investigating. Finally, I expect many of us recycle computer parts from our own boneyards of obsolete junk.