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The Wii Disassembled
mrmcgeeber writes "There are two ways to take apart the Wii. The first, as demonstrated by Popular Science, involves breaking the Wii open due to a lack of tools. The second method is a more formal Wii disassembly guide, which is provided by InformIT.com. Either way, you can see some detailed pictures of the internals of the Wii and how the parts are laid out. The InformIT.com version also includes an eight minute teardown video."
No disassemble! No disassemble!
smashmywii.com!
Its full of craptastic goodness.
liqbase
Many consoles employ ways of ensuring you can't disassemble them without causing breaking warranties. Even without that being someone who's spent time repairing various laptops I know first hand that it can be tricky figuring out how to take electronic devices apart without damaging them by snapping a piece of plastic or some such.
The news isn't just that it can be taken apart, that'd be silly, pretty much everything can be taken apart some way or another. The news is that someone has provided an article to do it properly and some people like to see what's inside without taking their own system apart also. It's a guide for people who like modding their systems which is a hobby many people enjoy, particularly amongst those of us who like to see what makes things tick.
I have my wii coming on december the 8th (UK)
have been waiting for this so i can work out how to Mod my console, looks to be nice and simple
It's made in Canada!
It might not be news, but seeing the internals of new hardware is always interesting. At least, on a geek site it usually is. I thought it looked pretty neat... looks like it will be as quiet and cool as the GC. I hate the noise the PS2 and the Xbox make.
So? SO? I don't know about you, but I consider this news. I mean, the Wii is new isn't it?
Really, it's not like this article title was misleading. If seeing the Wii disassembled isn't news to you, then why on earth would you click the link, let alone post in the discussion?
:(){
Sooner or later, all sought after consumer electronics have a nerd porn thread where the device gets undressed down to the bare components. This is /. where nerds congregate so you should not only accept these types of stories but also expect them.
Heck, It'd be news if there wasn't someone taking apart the Wii.
The term "nerd porn" taken from the Apple Product Cycle although it may have originated elsewhere.
Would you begrude the same people who like to tinker in their car's engine or even people who enjoy cooking?
It's also worth nothing that not all of the hardware specs had been released, and the article fills in the gaps in what Nintendo released. It may not be of interest to you personally but you can't say it's not news.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I would be more interesed to see a controller opened.
Why do I have a funny feeling that you didn't bother to RTFA?
This guy's the limit!
It's not a sensor array, it's just LEDs emitting infrared light.
The sensor is in the Wiimote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTGSkYRDpWY
I hate the way some companies use oddball screws to try and stop people taking the device apart. It doesn't work - those who really want to take it apart will find the tool or improvise, and it merely annoys them. Those who don't want to take it apart wouldn't even if you used screws that could be undone with the tip of a steak knife.
It's like a wall-wart I have at home - I want to get the case off it to salvage the transformer for other projects, yet they use these nasty 'interrupted flathead' screws (two slots opposite each other on the screw head) which now means I have to buy or make a special tool *just* for this one device. Grrr. Eventually the tool will become common (just like Torx bits have become common, that was the last shenanigan they tried to stop people from taking something apart) and they will change to another infuriatingly uncommon screw type.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
As another poster pointed out (and you could have noticed)
http://smashmywii.com/
...
I wouldn't begrude anyone for doing something they enjoy (to certain limitations) I just didn't see how it would be front page. I guess the comments so far leave me standing corrected. Hell I still enjoying taking electronics apart. Whether or not they work right afterwards makes no difference, as long as i figured out what makes them work.
So many choices, so little tolerance.
I haven't seen a hardware design this well thought of since the gamecube, everything is nice and tightly packed, and not generating heat so much that the compactness kills it. one thing I find interesting is the neatnesss of the board, not that many visible traces. accustomed to so many lines that the mind gets boggled and yet the mobo looks so clean, even though there's so much attached. are they just hiding them or did they come up with something to reduce complexity?
The fact you can disassemble the Wii is news how exactly?
Would you rather read about the latest Google acquisition? Or how about yet another evolution/ID troll? Oh I see let's talk about the RIAA again...
THIS my friend, is news for nerds. Someone took apart their Wi, and you can see the porno-grade pics. Who else on this planet, apart from nerds, would be interested in THAT?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I enjoyed many an hour as a child taking electronics apart and putting them back together
I used to do the same to small animals. They never worked properly afterwards though - they'd just sit there and pretend to be asleep. Dumb animals...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
It's made in Canada!
... Canadian chips have better cooling.
Of course
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
an angry gibbon randomly mashing the keyboard
What? More than Roland Piquepaille?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
And for those who don't have time, motherboards photos :
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
Okay, now that the groundwork is laid I'm waiting for a 1541 II casemod.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Incredible! Some people are donating for the project. Really, I cant believe.
The sensor is in the wiimote. It probably has some kind of low-res ccd that detects the light from the sensor bar and uses it to figure out its orientation. Pretty clever stuff though I expect it would be easy to confuse the hell out of it with strip lighting or sunlight.
you make good point... I'll go back to nerd 101 classes and sit ashamed.
So many choices, so little tolerance.
I don't know. I thought King Missile had thoroughly addressed this issue years ago.
Perhaps life really is full of possibilities.
I really feel sorry for the thing. Poor Wii. :(
parasight.de
And if you opened the case of your next (working) computer and only found a few LED's I suppose you would be equally dismissive, eh?
Sometimes the revolution is about what isn't there, not what is there.
He refers to it as a DVD drive, is this correct or has he got mixed up?
Free continuous multi-player strategy http://www.holy-war.com/
A circuit board and an optical drive. Wop de do.
Philip
Signatures are broken
Does the classic controller work with Gamecube games? Or do you need both a classic and a Gamecube controller for the various Virtual Console and Gamecube games?
Yes. To be more accurate...the article has it backwards. It says the bars on the TV are IR detectors and the Wiimote has an IR output. In reality, the bars on the TV are nothing more than IR emitters, and the detector is in the Wiimote (like you said...a ccd)
Here's a comprehensive video from EETimes (c/o Semiconductor Insights):
t ml;jsessionid=W3LH3HBXTZ2ESQSNDLSCKHA?articleID=19 4500278
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jh
They take apart the controller too.
Uh... does anybody have a link to the reassembly page?
Don't you mean the *Hammer Brothers* method? O SNAP!
It's actually very easy to tell how it works just by playing wii sports. Opening it up will just show you all the cheap components they used.
You're a pretty sharp one there, Mikey. I predict big things for you!
This guy's the limit!
Ahh, king missile, how they make me laugh.
Their song about cheesecake delivery is great.
To err is human, to arr is pirate.
A goat with dentures ?
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
I actually view the internal parts of geeky electronics like seeing a woman without her clothes. An exceptionally well designed electronic goody is much like a exceptionally well put together lady undressed. On the other hand, some hacked together POC is like that 300lb tub naked ... eeewwwwww Put your clothes back on!
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
If gramps was still around to day, he'd slap me upside the head & say "There boy, let's see your fancy video game console do that !".
Then I'd wait untill he went to sleep and superglue the controller to the side of his head.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
"Bob: I'm fascinated by my wee! I played with it all night!"
Ugh. That joke is over 6 months old. Sorry.
I did hear an unexpected outburst at the office yesterday, though. Last week, my coworker Richard told everybody how he was going to get a Wii over the weekend. Monday came. Anxious to find out if he had succeded, I heard somebody blurt out from across the cube-farm: "Dickie! How's your Wii??!"
I wish I could have seen the look on female coworkers' faces.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
If you ask me this is the best way:
http://fuvoo.com/FuvooPermaLink.aspx?PostID=93
fuvoo: watch something
You can't judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, internals. But the PS3 certainly looks a lot more impressive inside than the Wii.
Your nickname might have been temporarily banned, possibly because you posted 4 postings within 4 days since creating your account and all 4 were sweet but useless. They were consequently moderated to -1, and some automatic Slashdot script took you for a troll and banned you. If you want to clear things up you might want to do what the message you received tells you, and email the Slashdot staff at posting@slashdot.org. Include "Mipoti Gusundar" in the email subject.
By the way the, judging from your signature you still have problems comprehending what "offtopic" means although I already told you here. I believe you just have some problems adapting to Slashdot (or the world?) plus I have a few ties to Chennai, and so I will assume for now that you are genuine and not a very clever troll. Email me if you want to ask questions, you can find my email address on my user page.
On the other hand, the website URL on your user page has a typo ("instatute") but even after fixing it I cannot find the server. I did however find these postings of yours where you also failed to enter the URL correctly (plus failed to make a useful posting in the first place). Hmmm, what's up with you?
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
If you were a nerd you'd understand. You might not appreciate it but you'd understand. You are not, so it would be nice if you would go away and not come back. There have been dissections on the front page of slashdot as long as I can remember and they've always been some of my favorite features. How can you not be interested in seeing what's inside these systems? Didn't you take apart everything you could reach as a kid? And if not, what makes you think you have anything to say that will be interesting to anyone on a geek news site?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
PCBs tend to have multiple layers, typically multiples of two. Often they are made by starting off with a sheet of PCB with copper on both sides, which is etched. Another layer of resin is added to each side, followed by copper plating of both sides, which is then itself etched. Wash, rinse, repeat (literally).
PC motherboards most certainly have multiple layers, often twelve to sixteen. This is so that the extremely large number of components required can be placed very close together and yet still be routed successfully (routing is the process whereby traces are laid out to connect components together). Indeed, on some motherboards I've seen none of the routing other than the most trivial is on the outermost layers of the PCB.
Pirate Party UK
It's news for nerds. This is (or used to be) a tech site, remember?
"Sufferin' succotash."
Informit.com:
I think I know why your Wii is broke!
No trees were harmed in the posting of this message. However, a great number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
That is all.
The Wii remote uses additional mechanisms to detect its orientation besides the infrared emitters. For example, to play ExciteTruck you hold the controller horizontally with the IR detector pointed away from the sensor bar. Tilting side to side steers and tilting forward and back moves your truck's front-end down and up.
Indeed it is. If you go into the Wii options menu and select the sensor bar, you can adjust its sensitivity to IR light. A box is displayed on the screen that shows what the Wii remote is "seeing"; you should only see two dots from the sensor bar. If you then point the remote at an infrared light source such as an incandescent bulb, or the sun, you'll see it appear on-screen.
It's not a sensor array, it's just LEDs emitting infrared light.
The sensor is in the Wiimote.
Yeah, that's pretty funny he made that mistake. Even a casual glance at his picture of the the sensor bar shows that it's just LED's. First, there are the LED's. Plus, there just aren't enough traces/wires for their to be any meaningful sensor data someing out of it. The wiimote picture of the "LED emitter" reveals just the opposite. It looks nothing like an LED, and has something like 10 leads going into it.
Please wake me up when Leisure Suit Larry is released for the Wii, 'cuz that new controller offers real possibilities...
First hit on google: a kit of 100 obscure bits, including a triwing bit: http://www.action-electronics.com/ezpower.htm