DoomBOX Makes id's Classic Shooter Portable

A modder hacked a Kodak camera to make a portable gaming device.

This post over on Dashfest details how a modder created a portable gaming machine using a Kodak DC290 camera and a copy of id Software's classic FPS, Doom. Apparently this camera has the ability--intended or not--to allow apps written/ported to its digital OS. In this particular case, the modder chose to import Doom, however the camera offered no real means of controlling the space marine.

"Doom was playable on it, but the button locations are TERRIBLE to play with, and they were wearing out quickly," the post reads. "So I had the idea to cram the camera guts in a case, with nice classic “keyboard” type controls."

The lens, sensor, and focusing system were taken out of the camera-- anything that wasn't vital to running Doom were set aside. The power supply board, soldered directly to the camera's mainboard at a 90 degree angle, was de-soldered and reconnected via wires.

The creation of the button board came next, made from a standard Radio Shack protoboard and buttons salvaged from a vintage PC keyboard. The actual keys were ripped from a laptop keyboard.

"This is back when they used to build keyboards with individual switches, instead of a membrane," the post reads. "These aren't “clicky” keys however, they have a soft feel. Rather than soldering the wires from the button board to the motherboard directly, I decided to create a 16 pin “header” for easy assembly."

By the end of the post, the end result looks rather cool: a portable Doom player with the appropriate arrow keys, SHIFT, ESC, and the camera's original LCD screen displaying the game in a rather small way. Check out the demonstration in the video below!