Game Gear pi (work Log)

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xchdave
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Game Gear pi (work Log)

Post by xchdave » Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:16 am

Hello, New here but thought this would be a good place to document this build.

I recently got a couple of broken Sega game gears with the hope of fixing them, only to find them to be beyond the typical capacitor replacement unfortunately.

So I've decided to chuck a raspberry pi 3 in there instead. I plan on using the original power and audio boards and maybe even parts of the original motherboard for the controls.

Only two things I'm really struggling with in this build is, which screen should I go with and I guess I should look at some form of low voltage protection.. Is there any pre made boards out there for that?

As for the screen I'm thinking of going with the bw 3.5inch reversing camera screen, I was thinking about going with a screen that connects to the gpio pins but from what I've read they tend to lag alot?

Here's a picture of the game gear with the additional buttons sitting where I think I want them, will also add left and right shoulder buttons. Apart from that I shouldn't have to make any other modifications to the case hopefully.
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VeteranGamer
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Re: Game Gear pi (work Log)

Post by VeteranGamer » Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:46 am

xchdave wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:16 am
Only two things I'm really struggling with in this build is, which screen should I go with and I guess I should look at some form of low voltage protection.. Is there any pre made boards out there for that?

As for the screen I'm thinking of going with the bw 3.5inch reversing camera screen, I was thinking about going with a screen that connects to the gpio pins but from what I've read they tend to lag alot?
looking forward to see how this progresses.....
I've got one of these builds on the back burner...

personally
I would NOT consider the backup camera monitors for a build like this (just poor quality)....
the Game Gear housing allows for a lot more room then a build like a Game Boy DMG


First options
would be a screen like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waveshare-3-5i ... B01N48NOXI
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/3.5inch_RPi_LCD_(B)

the Waveshare 3.5" (B) is a really good option its a IPS display and no wiring is needed it just clips/connects onto the RPi
and enabled with the JUJ driver will give you very decent performance and it also wont draw that much power....

https://github.com/juj/fbcp-ili9341

another LCD very similar would be this
http://www.lcdwiki.com/MHS-3.5inch_RPi_ ... Pi_Display
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3297070 ... 2RT7e&mp=1

I personally havent tried it, but it does claim to give good performance (I have very little to doubt their claim)


Second option
would be to go for a HDMI display
there are many different LCD, but if you go a for a decent one you should be ok
(a HDMI display will be a bit of a power draw)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/7003597611
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KOOKYE-Raspber ... B01N5G02MZ


Third option
would be to go for a DPI display...
Tinkeyboy does a adapter for this which makes things a lot easier to connect up

https://www.tinkerboy.xyz/product/tinke ... i-adapter/

looks great, performs great... just requires a bit more work (still connecting to the GPIO) and seems like the most costly option...



personally I'd opt for the Waveshare 3.5" (B) paired with the JUJ driver



.

xchdave
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Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:48 am

Re: Game Gear pi (work Log)

Post by xchdave » Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:28 am

Thanks for your reply. I was looking at those waveshare screens and thought the general consensus was they were quite laggy. I'm assuming that is the A version and without that driver.

Actually the waveshare 3.2inch B version might be the better option as I believe the original game gear screen is 3.2inch.

Will certainly look into those screens a bit more. I have alot to learn before I really start on this project, I've never used a raspberry pi before so this will be my first project using one. I did make a portable PS1 way back in the day, before 3d printers were a thing and vacuum forming cases was the best option haha.

Don't suppose you have any good ideas for low voltage protection? I know I can power the pi from the 5v pin on the game gear power board which is going to be easy enough, but I guess ideally I should have something to protect the batteries from over discharging and to protect the pi from shutting down improperly and potentially corrupting the sd card.

nick_stubbings
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Re: Game Gear pi (work Log)

Post by nick_stubbings » Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:28 pm

Hi,

Ive made two of these myself, and i can personally say, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

I found HDMI ribbon connectors/headers and it made everything "easier" but i found the only way to make a display fit well is to install it upsidedown and change the settings in retropi. the drawback is the viewing angles are a bit odd and take a little bit of getting used to, the effect can be reduced by increasing the brightness, but in my experience its just something to get used to.

You will also need to remove the coating from the inside of the game gear shell, its entirely conductive.

I can recommend the adafruit button boards to use in this project, they work with the original buttons and rubber contacts, spare official buttons are very rare...

Sorry if the images are big...

Good luck, let me know if you want any help!

(This one is for sale if anyone is interested, let me know!)

Nick.
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nick_stubbings
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Re: Game Gear pi (work Log)

Post by nick_stubbings » Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:36 pm

As to power, im using a powerboost 1000c to good effect with 2 2000mah lipos giving 4000mah, ive also set up osd power meter with a cobled together ADS1015 from a tutorial somewhere in the sudomod DMG-01 build (hoolyhoo?)

I never did get the "headphone plug in turning off the speaker" thing, so the slide switch in the rear battery cover is to turn the speaker on and off (its just a audio jack splitter, plugged into a usb sound card with a switch inline with the standard speaker)

nick.

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