Starting my first project

[kylepiboy]

Ive done some research on here and on google and found lots of information on building a gameboy pi 0. But I've found very little about a pi 2 or nothing for pi 3. I really want to us the pi 3 sense it has 1g ram, bluetooth, wifi, and everything. Had anyone done this? I'm looking for pointers, where to start, wire diagrams for it and everything. Or is it the same wiring at the pi 0 and everything else?
Thank you

[DoubleFlush]

It is my understanding (limited thought it is) that this community shy away from the pi 2, and pi 3, mostly because the zero does the job just fine, and has a smaller form-factor, and as such is easier to fit into the already cramped builds. I may well be mistaken, though.

[iSP]

I've been researching this a lot (considering creating a custom case that's ready for a pi through 3D printing or high quality plastic injection) and it comes down to this;

The zero does everything but some n64 games well, a lot of n64 games work although lacking in speed en dropped frames. You can forget the ones which use special chips. I wish the zero got an upgrade just for this but so far we're out of luck. Haven't looked at any newer systems as I have no interest in those personally (just the 90's stuff).

The Pi2/3 is being used by people, you'll be able to find builds quite easily, but the size is just a big problem and it also drains a lot of battery power. When people do fit the pi2/3 they tend to cut open the cartridge department and cut a cartridge in half to cover the top part. Often they also desolder the USB ports and ethernet port to free some space.

I've been doing some sketsches by hand on the custom case and I've been able to optimise the parts layout even further than seen in current builds. But even with that extra space the Pi2/3 won't fit nicely and you'd still want to desolder the extruding ports but hdmi. All the research shows it's just not worth it. Besides there's no strong evidence but there's reports out there they currently work on a new gen of the zero... It all comes down to if you can wait for the zero B/2.0 or not and whether you want nice n64 support or not.

[CaptainDurden]

I've been researching this a lot (considering creating a custom case that's ready for a pi through 3D printing or high quality plastic injection) and it comes down to this;

The zero does everything but some n64 games well, a lot of n64 games work although lacking in speed en dropped frames. You can forget the ones which use special chips. I wish the zero got an upgrade just for this but so far we're out of luck. Haven't looked at any newer systems as I have no interest in those personally (just the 90's stuff).

The Pi2/3 is being used by people, you'll be able to find builds quite easily, but the size is just a big problem and it also drains a lot of battery power. When people do fit the pi2/3 they tend to cut open the cartridge department and cut a cartridge in half to cover the top part. Often they also desolder the USB ports and ethernet port to free some space.

I've been doing some sketsches by hand on the custom case and I've been able to optimise the parts layout even further than seen in current builds. But even with that extra space the Pi2/3 won't fit nicely and you'd still want to desolder the extruding ports but hdmi. All the research shows it's just not worth it. Besides there's no strong evidence but there's reports out there they currently work on a new gen of the zero... It all comes down to if you can wait for the zero B/2.0 or not and whether you want nice n64 support or not.

from my understanding the 0 struggles with psx emulation as well, that alone is reason enough for me to eventually attempt the pi3 build.

[iSP]

from my understanding the 0 struggles with psx emulation as well, that alone is reason enough for me to eventually attempt the pi3 build.

You might want to look into the Orange Pie One... from my research it's fast enough to do it. The problem is I'm not technical enough to look into the specs and mainly the board layout. From what I can see the composite out is used within the 3,5mm audio jack and it still requires a lot of desoldering. But the good point is the dimensions are virtually identical but a few mm larger. It will need a different retropie image build but that shouldn't be the hard part. Right now I'm looking into how I'd extent the micro sd card to a cartridge as it doesn't have testpads just like the zero.

To me this looks like a great option if you don't need a guide for everything and anything. Tempted to buy one myself.

[CaptainDurden]

You might want to look into the Orange Pie One... from my research it's fast enough to do it. The problem is I'm not technical enough to look into the specs and mainly the board layout. From what I can see the composite out is used within the 3,5mm audio jack and it still requires a lot of desoldering. But the good point is the dimensions are virtually identical but a few mm larger. It will need a different retropie image build but that shouldn't be the hard part. Right now I'm looking into how I'd extent the micro sd card to a cartridge as it doesn't have testpads just like the zero.

To me this looks like a great option if you don't need a guide for everything and anything. Tempted to buy one myself.

thanks, i will look into that, very interesting. the sd card part doesn't worry me, if i attempt a cartridge slot it will be a usb connection, that way it involves less soldering and is way more versatile, giving you the option to put stuff like dongles or storage into separate carts you can swap as needed.