Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log [WIP].

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Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log [WIP].

Post by jb32647 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:59 am

Hello. I have recently gotten into hardware modification and programming, and seeing the amount of cool builds on this website I decided I should have a go at making a portable Pi. I decided to use the Pi3, rather than the Pi0 because it is the only one I have, and I made a decision to use as many off-the-shelf/local parts, and parts I already had lying around as possible. All prices, if listed, will be in AUD.

First, the parts list:
  • Raspberry Pi3
  • 3.5" PiTFT (clone of the Waveshare one) Link
  • Adafruit 4400mAh Li-ion battery Link
  • Adafruit powerboost 1000c Link
  • Mono speaker and headphone jack salvaged from a broken set of headphones [You could just pick these up from the JayCar's equivalent in your country for less than 2 dollars.
  • 16gb Transflash card with SD adapter [Bought from JB for $18]
  • Adafruit 150mm DuPont Jumper cables Link
  • A Leonardo Pro micro clone (same one used by sotasystems' GamePi3) I got this from a local distributor, but for those not in Aus get it from sparkfun Link
  • The Buttons and conductive pads from a Broken Mega drive controller I already had
  • Slide switch salvaged from a broken wireless mouse


That's everything I have bought so far, but I need to stock up on some Tac switches for the L/R buttons, a new soldering iron, (the last one lost it's magic blue smoke) perfboard to more easily mount the buttons on. I got a clear DMG-01 shell from ebay, I wanted one of the nice Hand-held-legend or Kitsch-Bent ones, but the shipping rates to this country were exorbitant. I will be picking up a few more miscellaneous things from Jaycars, which is a local electronics shop, somewhat similar to RadioShack in the US.

Enough spiel, onto the planning!
Firstly I got the dimensions of the DMG gameboy from the Nintendo website and printed an outline of those dimensions onto a piece of paper in real size. I then laid components onto the sheet to get a feel for where components should sit. I eventually decided to lay the Pi3 horizontally, as it would give the right screen layout, and also make it easy to cut a hole to access the USB and Ethernet ports.
Image
It's a tight squeeze, but it should fit. I thought about desoldering the ports on the Pi, but elected not to, as I was worried about permanently damaging the pi, and the screen was taking up that height anyway. The little scrap of paper marked 'Teensy LC' represents the Leonardo microcontroller, as I was going to use a Teensy LC, but like sota's GamePi, I found it was cheaper to get the micro in this country than the Teensy. It can't be seen, but the on/off switch will be in the original GameBoy position.

I am going to Jaycar tomorrow to buy a switched jack to disable the speaker the speaker when headphones are plugged in, and a variable resister for the volume knob. The leonardo is due to arrive in the post sometime in the next week, but the GB shell will only be arriving in mid February. The name, 'GameBoy Athena' comes from the Greek god, who was born from the brain of Zeus, like this project was born from my brain. Also it's just a cool name. That's all for now, (27/01/17) I will post more tomorrow as I get more work done.
Last edited by jb32647 on Sat Sep 16, 2017 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by abrugsch » Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:40 am

is that screen an SPI interface screen? if so you may be disappointed by the framerate/lag for gaming...

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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by 144TECH » Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:43 am

I have such a screen, it stays white on bootup until half booting/desktop, and indeed the framerate is to low. been there done that. but still im curious what this brings. anyway this stuff will never fit inside a dmg 1 shell, shouldn't you take a pigrrl housing for this? as they are made for this to fit in.
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by jb32647 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:55 pm

abrugsch wrote:is that screen an SPI interface screen? if so you may be disappointed by the framerate/lag for gaming...
Yes it is, and the framerate was terrible. I have fiddled around with the settings so the framerate is now playable, not good, but playable. I could win a race in Mario Kart GBA with some difficulty. I will probably replace the screen with a smaller 3.2/2.8 inch one, as my friend has one of those and it seems to work fine, probably due to the lower resolution.
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by jb32647 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:59 pm

144TECH wrote:I have such a screen, it stays white on bootup until half booting/desktop, and indeed the framerate is to low. been there done that. but still im curious what this brings. anyway this stuff will never fit inside a dmg 1 shell, shouldn't you take a pigrrl housing for this? as they are made for this to fit in.
I actually have a real GameBoy, and I compared it to the pi, it should just fit in. Sotasystems managed to cram a Pi3 into their DMG case, and I will probably not keep the shell intact anyway. As for the PiGrrl, it is a nice idea, but I don't have a 3D printer, and don't have a friend who does.

[EDIT]: If you're wondering about specifics, I am going to remove the cartridge bay for more space, and cut a hole in the side of the DMG to access the pi's ports, which will also give me more space. I might take a leaf out of many people's books and glue a half-cartridge into the slot for more internal space.
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by jb32647 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 5:38 pm

(28/01/17) Image I went to Jaycars and picked up some buttons, a 3.5mm jack with a switch, and a variable resistor for the volume knob. I also got some veroboard to mount components on.
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by 144TECH » Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:50 pm

Yes ok, that could be... i don't know.. but i meant, how the hell are you gonna get that gpio screen in there? i have exactly the same display here, and its to wide to fit in a dmg case, or you have to push it in really hard and then it sits under tension (not good) well i have a piggrl2.0 case here wich i don't use, if you are interested later, you can pm me and i'll send it to you (it's a black case and red buttons included) but you have to dremel it a bit to make the screen a bit wider for that screen, but it fits really nice, check google piggrl 2.0 now imagine the buttons on the left grinded away with dremel for your screen. but hey, i'm not gonna stop you i hope you can get it done, but in case it won't work pm me and you can get it for free.
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by jb32647 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 9:21 pm

(28/01/17) Image I got some soldering and head-scratching done, and the pi is now technically portable :D . Granted you have to still plug in a controller and cart it around in a Chinese take-away container, but it is running off batteries with no rainbow square or lightning bolt symbol to be seen.

The speaker is not in its final configuration, the final one should have a volume knob, which I bought today, and will be wired to a switched phone jack so it will turn off when headphones are plugged in. If it is possible though could someone tell me how to increase the volume of individual emulators? The ZX spectrum and N64 (only used to test it) emulators are loud and clear, but I can't hear the GB and SNES emulators unless I put my ear on the speaker. Here are some photos from my construction:

Image
Soldering the speaker wires to the phone jack.
Image
Testing the speaker with some good, loud music.
Image
My new iron did not fit in the old stand, so I had to improvise with a curtain wall mount.

Not seen in any of the photos are a couple of big red tact switches, which I will be using as trigger buttons. With any luck the Arduino micro will arrive tomorrow or Monday, but should come between then and Saturday of next week.
144TECH wrote:Yes ok, that could be... i don't know.. but i meant, how the hell are you gonna get that gpio screen in there? i have exactly the same display here, and its to wide to fit in a dmg case, or you have to push it in really hard and then it sits under tension (not good) well i have a piggrl2.0 case here wich i don't use... but hey, i'm not gonna stop you i hope you can get it done, but in case it won't work pm me and you can get it for free.

Thank you for the advice, I'm going to try fitting it when the case comes mid Feb. Worst comes to worst I could use some ABS cement to attach a screen extension onto the DMG shell.

Until next time!
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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by Brett82 » Sun Jan 29, 2017 3:26 pm

You need an amplifier for your speaker the headphone socket only has enough for headphones barely

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-PAM8302-2 ... SwmLlX34Yk

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Re: Gameboy 'Athena' (Pi3) build log.

Post by jb32647 » Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:03 pm

Brett82 wrote:You need an amplifier for your speaker the headphone socket only has enough for headphones barely

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-PAM8302-2 ... SwmLlX34Yk
I can easily hear the speaker without an amplifier, it's just that the SNES and GB emulators are quiet. I played some Super Mario 64 and it was more than audible with that speaker.
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