gameboy advanced sp zero idea help!!!!

[TheDream]

So a year ago I had the same idea making a game boy into a emulator using a raspberry pi. I found this neat tutorial by wermy and it was great. but a few things I did not expect was the x y buttons and all the extra components used to make this. I was surprised by this and was very confused. I don't know much about this I do not know what it's called but I call it wiring, the part that confused me was the extra complements. I wanted to make a game boy advance sp into a emulator with the original screen and buttons and battery still intact with it. so I didn't want to cut anything in half like wermy did. Even if I did want to I don't think it would be possible because of how small and compact the mother board is. I will put a image in to show you guys both sides of the mother board and how compact it is. I am new to this kind of stuff I barely know about raspberry pi and I have a unused raspberry pi zero. I wanted to ask you guys because I know you guys are brighter then I am how would I turn this into a game boy sp zero I would really like to know and would like some assistance please. I have been wanting to do this for almost a year and a half now but never knew where to start and I saw wermys forum as a opportunity to actually start making this. I would honestly not want to cut as much as I can from the mother board and use it, I am trying to also use the original screen to the sp I want to make it authentic. would this be possible please please please help me figure some ways to make this. I will be wrting down tips I get on a piece of paper and print out some responses and glue them to a note book. thanks to @wermy I might have a chance to make this.

[Deramin]

Hey I am currently turning my GB SP into a pi boy zero. For mine I removed all the components I wont be using ( card reader, volume, power)
I am only using the original sp PCB to reuse the buttons. Ill throw my pi zero in the cartridge area and I am using the BW screen from amazon (variant 5 I think). http://sudomod.com/wiki/index.php?title ... te_Display

I'm still not sure if I am going to be able to fit everything I want in the SP case but if I fail I just move on to the psp case and reuse the default screen that comes with it.

I'm hoping to be able to fit the pi, low pass filter for audio, the powerboost for charging and I was going to use the pi zeros GPIO slots to connect the controls, that way I don't need a teensy. I may or may not add a usb hub for extra ports but I think thats going to be pushing it.

Ill post some pics If you want but I only just started recently and im still pretty new to all this myself

[TheDream]

@deramin I would really appreciate that

[Deramin]

Okay so here are some pics of what i got so far (not to much). also first time posting pics, sorry if they are uploaded wrong

IMG_20160824_063851.jpg (3.06 MiB) Viewed 10020 times

This one is just using the original PCB for the buttons. I have not connected them to the pi yet but I get proper signal when I use my volt meter so I assume it will work I have chosen to forgo a speaker so I could run the wires but ill still have audio with headphones.

SP-Button-Solder-Points.jpg (80.36 KiB) Viewed 10020 times

This is the image I found online that showed me where the button solder pads were.

I am going to try to get the screen i'm using to display properly today then move on to connecting the control wires to the Pi so I wont need a teensy

I am still not 100% sure where i am going to fit everything in the SP case but I think I am going to take an old advance cartridge hollow it out and use it to keep the pi/ports secure and accessible.

[TheDream]

@deramin wow this is very very helpful and may I ask where you learned your knowledge on these types of things I would like to make my self more knowledgeable before trying anything and can you give a little explanation on a teensy and why it would be necessary and how you are avoiding using it. Thanks so much this is a really big help oh and one more question would have it been possible to just use the original gameboy screen and how with headphones there is no audio jack

[Deramin]

@deramin wow this is very very helpful and may I ask where you learned your knowledge on these types of things I would like to make my self more knowledgeable before trying anything and can you give a little explanation on a teensy and why it would be necessary and how you are avoiding using it. Thanks so much this is a really big help oh and one more question would have it been possible to just use the original gameboy screen and how with headphones there is no audio jack

Hey Sorry for not getting back to you in so long I started working on trying to get my button board to register with my pi but I am having some troubles and I originally wanted to wait till I was done before I responded to you but then the weekend happened

Most of my knowledge comes just from the internet , watching Wermy on youtube and then these sudomod forums are very helpful. If there is anything I don't know how to do I just look stuff up, lots of hours on google


As for the Teensy, its just a button board that plugs into the pi's usb and you solder whatever inputs you want to the teensy,the pi will see the inputs just like a normal controller.
By Using the GPIO pins on the pi zero you can forgo the teensy but you have to program the pi so it knows what to do, so its a little more involved.

As far as I have found you will not be able to re-use the screen that comes with the gameboy since the pi would have no idea how to interface with it (as far as I understand).
The 3.5 inch displays that most people are using for there projects fit almost perfectly in the SP case (you may have to shave it a little). http://sudomod.com/wiki/index.php?title=GBZ_Screen
The issue with the screen in the SP case though is the ribbon cable that connects the screen with the control board.most screens wont be able to fit the ribbon cable through to the bottom of the SP case so you will likely have to glue the screens control board to the back of the screen and cut a hole in the back of the screen cover to fit everything.Something like this guy did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSZsaGMI15U

As for the headphones I would ass an audio jack to the pi zero via a few work around and an extra component I would need to wire up so not to big a deal

[TheDream]

@deramin wow this is very very helpful and may I ask where you learned your knowledge on these types of things I would like to make my self more knowledgeable before trying anything and can you give a little explanation on a teensy and why it would be necessary and how you are avoiding using it. Thanks so much this is a really big help oh and one more question would have it been possible to just use the original gameboy screen and how with headphones there is no audio jack

Hey Sorry for not getting back to you in so long I started working on trying to get my button board to register with my pi but I am having some troubles and I originally wanted to wait till I was done before I responded to you but then the weekend happened

Most of my knowledge comes just from the internet , watching Wermy on youtube and then these sudomod forums are very helpful. If there is anything I don't know how to do I just look stuff up, lots of hours on google


As for the Teensy, its just a button board that plugs into the pi's usb and you solder whatever inputs you want to the teensy,the pi will see the inputs just like a normal controller.
By Using the GPIO pins on the pi zero you can forgo the teensy but you have to program the pi so it knows what to do, so its a little more involved.

As far as I have found you will not be able to re-use the screen that comes with the gameboy since the pi would have no idea how to interface with it (as far as I understand).
The 3.5 inch displays that most people are using for there projects fit almost perfectly in the SP case (you may have to shave it a little). http://sudomod.com/wiki/index.php?title=GBZ_Screen
The issue with the screen in the SP case though is the ribbon cable that connects the screen with the control board.most screens wont be able to fit the ribbon cable through to the bottom of the SP case so you will likely have to glue the screens control board to the back of the screen and cut a hole in the back of the screen cover to fit everything.Something like this guy did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSZsaGMI15U

As for the headphones I would ass an audio jack to the pi zero via a few work around and an extra component I would need to wire up so not to big a deal

cool and I don't mind the wait. so the teensy would I have to plug it in directly into the pi? I would rather not do that becasue I would want to use multi controls for it and have a wired xbox conrtol along with the gb setup? also I might just use a gameboy color case because it would be really hard for me to do what I want but it should be the same set up I need to add a power booster, a led indicator to determine battery, and i am getting a pcp made for a speaker to be able to connect to the pi and another board to recharge this lithium ion battery I am getting so, to many components for a small case but I will like to continue to chat with you because I could get useful tips and maybe make a second version but more compact in a sp. Also will you be doing the thing with the game cartridge and the micro sd card adapter? I think that takes a lot of the room from the sp. also If I make my own buttons how would I register them to a teensy and then to the pi? and how would I wire them that is why I am confused becasue I might buy a empty shell that comes with shell, buttons and screen protector.