Very New Questions

[kschmidt0303]

Hello All

I am jumping head first into this community because it seems to be very excepting of newbies I have worked with arcades and pinball machines for years, but had to quit about a year ago due to time and the room the machines were taking up. So, I have a moderate understanding of PCBs, soldering, and diagnostics as it relates to things that are already built.

I have had the itch to get back into electronics for a few months now. I started doing IPS screens and shells for Gameboys friends and family had around, but that's just not any fun due to how simple it all is. About a week ago, I became what seems like the millionth person to come across one of Wermy's videos and go down the rabbit hole that is Gameboy Zero builds. I have seen a bunch of info on these from all custom builds to the GPI cases that are essentially plug and play.

I want to land somewhere further on the project side, but definitely not max level hard. I love what I've seen from the Galaxy Gaming and Kite products, but it seems like I'm looking at months at least to get a hold of something like that. I guess my first question is, is that accurate? I understand they were single run preorder kits, but I can't seem to find an in-stock listing anywhere for second hand or other. My second question is, what else would you recommend? I've seen a few other "kits" from pocketadventures et al, but not sure where those fall on durability and difficulty scale.

Thanks for any help. I'm new, but not afraid to fail and throw a little cash at this if necessary. I do have access to a few different 3d printers from friends as well.

[infinitLoop]

where are you located? kite and galaxy are UK-based, but i've heard pretty much uniformly bad experiences from people using galaxy. kite does amazing stuff, but yeah, you just have to be prepared to wait for months and months, due to his order process. you have to follow him on insta or email, and he sends the preorder alerts out periodically.

i'd recommend pocket adventures, personally - they have a good range of beginner-to-intermediate level stuff that works well, and has good support.

tinkerboy also has good stuff, but i think his shipping is borked right now due to the current pandemonium


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[kschmidt0303]

Thanks so much for the help!

where are you located?

USA - Specifically Indiana.

RE pocketadventures, Should I just go with the GPIO Assist Ultra bundle? I guess actually, everything on this page should be a good start. Just add shell and Pi Zero?

http://www.pocketadventures.com/bundles.asp

[infinitLoop]

Thanks so much for the help!

where are you located?

USA - Specifically Indiana.

RE pocketadventures, Should I just go with the GPIO Assist Ultra bundle? I guess actually, everything on this page should be a good start. Just add shell and Pi Zero?

http://www.pocketadventures.com/bundles.asp

Yeah, the ultra bundle looks like it’s got almost everything you’d need. In addition to the shell and pi, you’d need a battery and a screen - composite is the easiest to get going, or you can grab the spi bundle there to do digital (but that can turn out to be pretty frustrating when you’re figuring this stuff out for the first time). Just about everything is on the main board, so you won’t have to get a bunch of components and try and fit them in there. You just hook up the pi and wire the buttons, battery and screen and you’re done.

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[infinitLoop]

for shells and glass screen protectors, if you wanted one of those too, handheldlegend.com is very good (retromodding.com is great too, and has really nice custom shells, but currently shut down due to the virus).

also, the analog stick in that bundle is probably overkill - the zero doesn't really support many games that use it - but it doesn't hurt either.

for the battery, you have lots of options, but helder's at: https://www.heldergametech.com/ is very reliable and performs well. you just have to do a little case modding to fit it in the battery compartment.

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[kschmidt0303]

Got it. I'll get the ultra bundle and the audio bundle. I think I'll go with a composite screen. Is this still a good one? https://www.amazon.com/BW-3-5-Inch-Moni ... B0045IIZKU

I have some shells and glass screen protectors from messing around with gameboys over the past few months, so I'll try to use one of those.

I did give the analog stick some thought, but I doubt I'll do that for this build. I will wait until Kite's next preorder and build a system that can handle PS1 and N64 better.

Thanks again!

[infinitLoop]

Got it. I'll get the ultra bundle and the audio bundle. I think I'll go with a composite screen. Is this still a good one? https://www.amazon.com/BW-3-5-Inch-Moni ... B0045IIZKU

I have some shells and glass screen protectors from messing around with gameboys over the past few months, so I'll try to use one of those.

I did give the analog stick some thought, but I doubt I'll do that for this build. I will wait until Kite's next preorder and build a system that can handle PS1 and N64 better.

Thanks again!

you don't need the audio one if you are doing the ultra (that has a usb audio card built into it), you just need video.

that screen is ok. it ranges in quality of picture from "meh" to "ugh". there was a model from gearbest that had more consistent quality, but they recently discontinued it. This post has a couple other options you can try (or just look for "LQ035NC111" on ebay and give one of those with a driver board a shot): viewtopic.php?f=43&t=4683&start=40#p80725

on the glass protector - keep in mind that GBZs have a larger view area than the stock DMG, so if yours is masked for the original, you might want to look at the other ones.

i think if you don't want the analog stick, you might be able to just piece the other stuff together on there and save a couple bucks.

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[kschmidt0303]

Got it. I'll get the ultra bundle and the audio bundle. I think I'll go with a composite screen. Is this still a good one? https://www.amazon.com/BW-3-5-Inch-Moni ... B0045IIZKU

I have some shells and glass screen protectors from messing around with gameboys over the past few months, so I'll try to use one of those.

I did give the analog stick some thought, but I doubt I'll do that for this build. I will wait until Kite's next preorder and build a system that can handle PS1 and N64 better.

Thanks again!

you don't need the audio one if you are doing the ultra (that has a usb audio card built into it), you just need video.

that screen is ok. it ranges in quality of picture from "meh" to "ugh". there was a model from gearbest that had more consistent quality, but they recently discontinued it. This post has a couple other options you can try (or just look for "LQ035NC111" on ebay and give one of those with a driver board a shot): viewtopic.php?f=43&t=4683&start=40#p80725

on the glass protector - keep in mind that GBZs have a larger view area than the stock DMG, so if yours is masked for the original, you might want to look at the other ones.

i think if you don't want the analog stick, you might be able to just piece the other stuff together on there and save a couple bucks.

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Good call on the screen protector, I'll have to get a new one. Snagged the display & driver board from the Banggood listing as well. Thanks so much for your time, I'll give this a shot!

[infinitLoop]

Good call on the screen protector, I'll have to get a new one. Snagged the display & driver board from the Banggood listing as well. Thanks so much for your time, I'll give this a shot!

good luck! let us know how it goes, or if you need help

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[Dividion]

Just got caught up on this thread. Thanks for all the mentions, @infinitLoop!

@kschmidt0303 Using a composite screen is definitely the easiest way to go, as it only requires 3 wires: +5v, GND and signal. With most composite screens pulled from backup cameras, you need to modify them to use 5V instead of 12V. There's a good list of those screens and the modifications here: https://www.sudomod.com/wiki/index.php/GBZ_Screen

You can also check out some of the other guides. https://www.sudomod.com/wiki/index.php/ ... ero#Guides

For soldering the Pi to the GPIO Assist boards, it's best to start with the USB connector, keeping the GPIO aligned using some header pins or screwed into a screen bracket. For the button board/battery connectors, they should poke through from the Pi-side and get soldered on the opposite side, so they don't bridge against the Pi's Micro USB and HDMI connectors.