[PRE-ORDER] GBA-SPi Zero AIO Kit (cancelled)

[codeman0624]

The latest version of the GBA-SPi Zero AIO kit is available for Pre-Order!!

There hasn't been enough (basically any) interest in this kit, so I'm just going to cancel the pre-order. If I am ever able to generate enough funds to get a lot of boards built on my own, I will post again to see if there is any interest.

If there is any interest, please post in this thread, and/or PM me some contact information so I can get in touch with you when there are enough people ready to pre-order.

This is what you get in the kit:

• The AIO board - this contains everything you need to get the whole thing working!
• Blank game cartridge
• GBA-SP speaker
• Volume slider and plastic cap
• USB port
• Headphone jack
• Screen ribbon cable
• Pin headers for assembly

The above picture is of the v1.0 board. The pre-order is for v1.1, which is much improved in terms of ease of assembly! But it will look slightly different than the board pictured above.

Benefits of using this AIO kit:

• No finicky wiring to try to fit in the tiny SP shell, everything is already there
• Everything incorporated into the circuit board, creating a very compact design allowing for a large battery to be installed -> Longer play time!
• I2S audio driver sounds much better than the normal PWM output
• Headphone jack option! Automatically switches between headphone and speaker operation
• Safe shutdown is performed using the normal SP power switch
• Battery monitoring is performed using a dedicated IC, which is much more accurate than the normal voltage measurement method
• On screen battery indicator can be toggled on and off using the brightness button
• Red LED will turn on when battery is low, will begin blinking when critically low
• Hold the brightness button for 2 seconds, the blue LED will begin blinking, and the up and down D pad buttons become brightness control for the screen. Hold the brightness button again to return to normal.
• Full size USB port! Allows you to plug in a keyboard to change WiFi passwords, or use a USB stick to transfer ROMs
• Power circuitry allows you to play and charge at the same time

This is an example of the final result you can expect. But the best part about this kit is how flexible the build can be! The sudomod community is very creative, so I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone can do for different builds, and how to handle the X and Y buttons. The way I did it is not the only way, you can do your own method and do a better job than me! One of the biggest benefits of this kit is build flexibility.

Example GBA-SPi ZeroShow

There is also a manual for how to build the GBA-SPi:
Build Manual for v1.0

The newest version up for pre-order is v1.1, which makes soldering the micro-usb power board, and USB port boards much easier, and makes the volume slider more secure. It will also include a drill guide for where to put the X and Y button holes. Keep this in mind when reviewing the v1.0 build manual! The manual describes the additional pieces required to complete this build.

This pre-order will stay open for 3 weeks, or until my initial limit of 20 boards is reached, whichever happens first. This is a pre-order, the boards are not built yet so they will not ship immediately. When the pre-order is over, I will contact everyone with an expected timeline for board deliveries. If this round of orders goes smoothly, I will open other pre-orders in the future.



Thanks everyone for taking a look! This is a very creative community, I look forward to seeing what everyone can do with this kit.

[codeman0624]

I'm afraid there just hasn't been enough interest to keep this pre-order open.

If you have any interest, please post here and send me a PM with a way to contact you, so I can let you know whenever I am able to get enough funds to order boards.

The asking price for the kit will be $99

[Lpoolm]

To be honest this is the first I have seen of this, I was very interested in reading it then disappointed to see it cancelled.
However I think what looks like the lack of a screen makes it look a little overpriced?
I don't mean to take anything away from you as its a very clever piece of kit and as I said I would have been interested in a few but the $100 price tag would stop me from ordering.

[codeman0624]

To be honest this is the first I have seen of this, I was very interested in reading it then disappointed to see it cancelled.
However I think what looks like the lack of a screen makes it look a little overpriced?
I don't mean to take anything away from you as its a very clever piece of kit and as I said I would have been interested in a few but the $100 price tag would stop me from ordering.

Thanks for the feedback, it's helpful to know! I didn't think an ~$8 SPI screen was much of an additional burden to anyone.

Unfortunately everything in this build is expensive, especially in small quantities. The ribbon cable itself that I'm including is $3, you might expect it to only be $0.50. It is a complicated board, so I ended up going to a 4-layer PCB to get everything to fit well, which is expensive to fabricate. It's using an I2S audio chip, rather than just simple, cheaper PWM output. The battery monitor IC is also expensive, but is much more accurate and reliable than the typical cheaper "just measure the battery voltage" method. All these things add up very quickly.

All that being said, I wasn't trying to make a big profit off these, and it is priced according to how expensive all the individual pieces are. I was mainly trying to provide this to the community since plenty of people seemed interested in an SP build, but looks like I over-engineered it (I wanted it to be the best it could possibly be, rather than cheap) and made it too expensive.

[McGyver]

I feel with you: some people don't understand that parts costs money. And I understand you not to buy +100 pieces of something just to get it cheaper and have a stock of unnecessary parts. And nobody will ever spend money for working time you invested in all this.

All this is as well my reason I do not build anything for other people exept my family.

I had some dicussion to give a gameboy as gift but I refused it because I would be far away and could not maintain it. In unprofessionel hands I see a Pi Linux environent death in a couple of month.

And: If you give any kind of garanty on yourself products or support you lost again a lot of money or time.

Saying all this I am in big regards to engineers espacially Helder and Kite and all the others here offering products or design like you awsome boards and products investing a huge amount of there time and for sure: the will never earn enough for life from this. This would be nice but sorry to say: we are still a small community for this.

[mrdude42]

Awww man. That's a bummer it has to be cancelled. I really wanted to buy one of these. Maybe even 2. Let me know if you ever end up getting these made!

[Lpoolm]

Thanks for your reply, again sorry if I offended, not my intention.
Your obviously a very clever guy, I'm still surprised there was next to no interest in it? When I see how many people are going on about that gameboy colour or pocket kit, I would much prefer this!
Anyway if you do end up getting some kits together to sell I will keep an eye out as I like to build different kits.

[codeman0624]

Thanks for your reply, again sorry if I offended, not my intention.
Your obviously a very clever guy, I'm still surprised there was next to no interest in it? When I see how many people are going on about that gameboy colour or pocket kit, I would much prefer this!
Anyway if you do end up getting some kits together to sell I will keep an eye out as I like to build different kits.

No offense taken, I appreciate the feedback!

[SirLandry]

How many would you need to make a minimum order? That system was my favorite handheld for a long while. I traded an Xbox for one and immediately cracked the screen putting it in my front pocket! Would love to have one of these, hell, or even two for quick two button builds.

[Ziploc99]

Just saw this as well. If you have any aio boards/kits you are trying to move, I would definitely be interested. I really like the form factor.