Game Boy PC

CathalDublin

looking good, would it not be possible to put the screen in and scale the output image down to fit the original bezel?

Steve X2

CathalDublin wrote: »

looking good, would it not be possible to put the screen in and scale the output image down to fit the original bezel?

Yes, very easy. You can define it all in a simple text file that the Pi reads on boot (+ and - whatever number of left, right, up and down pixels).
I tried it earlier and it worked fine that way. The case would still need to be modified to allow the screen to come closer to the internal part of the bezel.
It's another option to think about for the final design. It would be nice not to have to cut the outer bezel to accommodate the screen.

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Steve X2

Here's a vid I just did of some GameCube games running on the same screen.
It's actually not bad at running these considering it only cost £10 sterling. Sound is low and a bit distorted as its coming from a small and cheap speaker in the Pi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b-Dp40ZscA

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Spacedog

10 euro S-video LCD!!!!!

I had planned to use a PSP LCD --> custom breakout board with an FPGA video processor --> Pi (still waiting for my pi to arrive though)

I go all kinds of 'Space Pen' overkill and Steve SI pulls a pencil out of his pocket. LOL

Doge

Steve do you have a linky to the LCD?

The quality looks fantastic for something so low priced.

Spacedog wrote: »

10 euro S-video LCD!!!!!

I had planned to use a PSP LCD --> custom breakout board with an FPGA video processor --> Pi (still waiting for my pi to arrive though)

I go all kinds of 'Space Pen' overkill and Steve SI pulls a pencil out of his pocket. LOL

Haha!

Was that actually true, or was it an urban legend?

Classic though! :pac:

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

Steve do you have a linky to the LCD?

The quality looks fantastic for something so low priced.


Haha!

Was that actually true, or was it an urban legend?

Classic though! :pac:

Yeah, here ya go:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/150715003190?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3052wt_967

It not the best quality now but for the price is decent. Games look much better on it than say the Pi OS.

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o1s1n

Holy **** Steve_SI, I've only just seen your recent pics and videos. That looks absolutely amazing. I hope you'll be able to mass produce these!

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

Holy **** Steve_SI, I've only just seen your recent pics and videos. That looks absolutely amazing. I hope you'll be able to mass produce these!

Cheers, Hopefully I can get this one completed before I think about mass production
My only real issue is the software side of things as the main Pi OS's are still very basic and need lots of work(drivers, apps and emulators etc). Loads of people including myself working on the software so hopefully when this is complete I'll have an equally nice OS to stick on it that works well.

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Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

Yeah, here ya go:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/150715003190?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3052wt_967

It not the best quality now but for the price is decent. Games look much better on it than say the Pi OS.

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How does it compare to the other 3.5" LCDs, such as the one used for replacing the Game Gear's screen?

Might just order it right now.

Add a 9v battery and you have a portable tv, which would be very useful for testing retro consoles in shops, car boot sales etc...

Doge

And thanks a lot for the link btw.

That was the first thing I meant to put in the post but forgot!

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

How does it compare to the other 3.5" LCDs, such as the one used for replacing the Game Gear's screen?

Might just order it right now.

Add a 9v battery and you have a portable tv, which would be very useful for testing retro consoles in shops, car boot sales etc...

Well, I think you mean the Nomad screen mod. That screen costs about 45 euro inc delivery from Deal Extreme (if you can get one, I've a couple ordered since the stone age). That Nomad screen is slightly lower resolution that this one but looks 100 times better and the lower res lends well to the Nomad output (and probably lends itself well to the small screen). EnterNow knows more about this than me as he's done that mod a few times and I've seen Andrews Nomad and the screen is a thing of beauty.

Also, on a Pi note. I'm currently running my Pi at 800Mhz with zero heat or performance issues (700Mhz is the stock speed). Just a warning, if you overclock it voids the warranty as it sets a permanent bit on the chip. So if you overclock and kill the Pi and send it back via warranty they will know its been clocked.

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Steve X2

Did some modding and other work on the RasPiBoy this evening and I must say I'm very happy with how its coming along.

Couple of quick pics and some vids to follow later.
Click for full size versions:





Edit:-
1st vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa-n1S4gSzw

Edit:-
2nd vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFe2ZKGniq4

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a5y

So are you able to load custom backgrounds onto it?



I can't wait to see that particular shade of green. Perhaps shoop up something that won't get the soulless Nintendo legal team sitting up so straight though.

Retrovia has the same number of letters as Nintendo, doesn't it?

Steve X2

a5y wrote: »

So are you able to load custom backgrounds onto it?



I can't wait to see that particular shade of green. Perhaps shoop up something that won't get the soulless Nintendo legal team sitting up so straight though.

Retrovia has the same number of letters as Nintendo, doesn't it?

Yeah, I'll whip up something for a nice background at a later stage

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Myrddin

Looking good! Did you just change the screen geometry so you didn't have to cut the bezel?

Steve X2

EnterNow wrote: »

Looking good! Did you just change the screen geometry so you didn't have to cut the bezel?

I messed around with the overscan until it looked right. You make all those sort of changes in a text file that sits on the boot partition of the SD card (it reads that text file before doing anything else and is very handy).
I also changed the resolution to 320x240 as 640x480 (the LCD's native res) was a bit high for such a small segment of the screen and everything was to small to read etc.
I'd like to use the full size of the LCD but I think it looks better and more in keeping with the idea of the mod this way.

To fit the screen in as it was I had to Dremel out a couple of the plastic parts that allow you to screw the Game Boy closed. So I'll need to think of something else to do that now.

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Doge

Congratulations as always Steve.

It looks fantastic.

Andrew76

a5y wrote: »

So are you able to load custom backgrounds onto it?



I can't wait to see that particular shade of green. Perhaps shoop up something that won't get the soulless Nintendo legal team sitting up so straight though.

Retrovia has the same number of letters as Nintendo, doesn't it?

There's an easier way to get that screen, just leave the Gameboy as is! :pac:

Steve - have you decided what the device is going to do? As in will it have a sole purpose (like a handheld Mame device) or is it more a tech demo of what you can do with the Raspberry Pi chap? Will it be full controllable using the standard D-pad and buttons or do you reckon you'll need to use a keyboard or mouse etc?

CiDeRmAn

I have a feeling, just a feeling, that when this project reaches fruition...
It is going to rock, and not only that, but rock hard!

Good work Steve!
You have your own investor group here, awaiting results!

Steve X2

Andrew76 wrote: »

There's an easier way to get that screen, just leave the Gameboy as is! :pac:

Steve - have you decided what the device is going to do? As in will it have a sole purpose (like a handheld Mame device) or is it more a tech demo of what you can do with the Raspberry Pi chap? Will it be full controllable using the standard D-pad and buttons or do you reckon you'll need to use a keyboard or mouse etc?

At the moment it's a tech demo that can change into a nice little emulation/media machine (it runs XBMC very well with the right compile) or proper linux desktop machine (not a very powerful one) depending on where I decide to take it.
I'm hoping to have it controlled with the dpad and buttons with the USB ports free for a proper keyb and mouse or another joystick. It all depends on the software which is in the very early stages.

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I have a feeling, just a feeling, that when this project reaches fruition...
It is going to rock, and not only that, but rock hard!

Good work Steve!
You have your own investor group here, awaiting results!

Only time will tell if its any good. At the very least its a good test machine and the next one will be an improvement.

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a5y

As it is right now, is there enough room to run a USB extension cable to where the link cable port originally was and/or similar with the headphone jack?

(On reflection maybe the ethernet cable could be a better match semantically as a new link cable, but it doesn't look as close to the original in my head)

Steve X2

a5y wrote: »

As it is right now, is there enough room to run a USB extension cable to where the link cable port originally was and/or similar with the headphone jack?

(On reflection maybe the ethernet cable could be a better match semantically as a new link cable, but it doesn't look as close to the original in my head)

There really isn't as much room inside as I'd like. I'm going to have to source some super thin and small video and usb cables I think.
I already had to modify the composite vid cable to fit inside and its still to big.

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Spacedog

warning: I might be going "space-pen" again here...

you any good with a soldering iron?

grab an old floppy ribbon cable, peel off as many wires as you need, remove the large sockets from the pi, and connect your usb, video etc. usinf the wires connected directly to the pads. (note: the network socket on the PI has some passive components inside it that affect the signal, so it might not be as simple.)

SD.

Steve X2

Spacedog wrote: »

warning: I might be going "space-pen" again here...

you any good with a soldering iron?

grab an old floppy ribbon cable, peel off as many wires as you need, remove the large sockets from the pi, and connect your usb, video etc. usinf the wires connected directly to the pads. (note: the network socket on the PI has some passive components inside it that affect the signal, so it might not be as simple.)

SD.

I was contemplating doing something like that. I might wait until I have a couple of Pi's before pulling parts off them, just in case I feck it up.

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Spacedog

that's fair enough, might be nice to keep the pi in one piece if it's going on the official blog when it's done. I'm gonna butcher mine when it arrives, lol

on an unrelated note, ladyada released a nicely designed case for the Pi...

a5y

Spacedog wrote: »

that's fair enough, might be nice to keep the pi in one piece if it's going on the official blog when it's done. I'm gonna butcher mine when it arrives, lol

on an unrelated note, ladyada released a nicely designed case for the Pi...

Pssh. Who'd buy that yoke???

Spacedog

what kind of battery you planning to run the GB PC on? 4x AA or Li On?

Steve X2

Spacedog wrote: »

what kind of battery you planning to run the GB PC on? 4x AA or Li On?

Not sure just yet. Probable a Nokia Li-Ion or some sort of Li-Po.
I'm having some problems finding space inside the case for everything so it def wont be AA's I'll be using.

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Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

Not sure just yet. Probable a Nokia Li-Ion or some sort of Li-Po.
I'm having some problems finding space inside the case for everything so it def wont be AA's I'll be using.

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You should make a Nomad PC tbh!

Myrddin

waveform wrote: »

You should make a Nomad PC tbh!

Only if the Nomad is beyond repair though, & even then it's on shakey ground...Nomadz be too cool 4 skool

Also, bitches love Nomads...they don't love Nomad PC's

Steve X2

EnterNow wrote: »

Only if the Nomad is beyond repair though, & even then it's on shakey ground...Nomadz be too cool 4 skool

Also, bitches love Nomads...they don't love Nomad PC's

Thats simple not true!
I have it on good authority that this lady loves her some Nomad PC

The Last Bandit

Spacedog wrote: »

warning: I might be going "space-pen" again here...

you any good with a soldering iron?

grab an old floppy ribbon cable, peel off as many wires as you need, remove the large sockets from the pi, and connect your usb, video etc. usinf the wires connected directly to the pads. (note: the network socket on the PI has some passive components inside it that affect the signal, so it might not be as simple.)

SD.

Don't removed the network socket as it contains the isolation magnetics. The GPIO stuff is relatively low frequency stuff and can be extended alright but be careful with routing any of the higher frequency stuff that may be subject to interference.

8bit Diva

I got to see this gameboy pc in the flesh today and it's very very cool. thanks for the demo Steve and the go on the vectrex

Steve X2

8bit Diva wrote: »

I got to see this gameboy pc in the flesh today and it's very very cool. thanks for the demo Steve and the go on the vectrex

No probs Diva, cheers for the cake

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Doge

This is an outrage!!!

Where's my cake steve?

The cake better not be a lie!

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

This is an outrage!!!




The cake better not be a lie!

The cake was real and darn tasty

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Steve X2

Another user over on Retrovia has done a Raspberry Pi Game Boy Mod.

Check it out.

http://www.retrovia.ie/showthread.php/15856-Another-GameBoy-Pi-came-to-life-%28Raspberry-Pi-case-mod%29

o1s1n

Nice!!!

How's your own one coming along?

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

Nice!!!

How's your own one coming along?

Been a bit busy with a lot of other stuff so haven't spent that much time on it lately. I'm a perfectionist and there are a lot of issues with it and they really bug me as they're just not turning out as I'd like.
I'll get back to it in time after a rethink on some of the internal design.

Doge

This pIO solution would be ideal for saving space in your GamePi Steve-o:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/443556734/pio-microsd-adapter-for-raspberry-pi

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

This pIO solution would be ideal for saving space in your GamePi Steve-o:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/443556734/pio-microsd-adapter-for-raspberry-pi

Hmm, good idea that but I use class 10 sandisk extreme's in my Pi's for improved performance (and it really is improved). I wonder how the Pi and that adapter works for Pro level microSD cards.

Either way its a cool idea and I'll back it

Steve X2

Got a nice new case for the Raspberry Pi this morning in the post. Really nice if you like the colours and it holds the Pi very well with its layered design.
It's called the PiBow and it even has a slot to allow a ribbon cable in to connect to the GPIO pins.

safetyboy

I have one ordered, hope it comes soon.

Steve X2

safetyboy wrote: »

I have one ordered, hope it comes soon.

If you check the website they tell you when to expect it depending on the date ordered as they have a massive backlog.

safetyboy

10th September

a5y

Certainly is the nicest looking case I've seen, but I'm happy with Adafruit's laser cut Lenin's Coffin - easier access to the Premier's GPIO pins, and people can freely observe that he isn't returning from the dead to crush capitalism















...yet.

Steve X2

a5y wrote: »

Certainly is the nicest looking case I've seen, but I'm happy with Adafruit's laser cut Lenin's Coffin - easier access to the Premier's GPIO pins, and people can freely observe that he isn't returning from the dead to crush capitalism





...yet.

You should really check out the Pibow dude. It's the nicest case I've seen for the Pi and I've bought loads of them.

Here's a vid I did to show how the layers work. They really do a great job securing it and the colours are well 80's funky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxtPIQM62t0

Steve X2

Nice official overclock now enabled on the default Raspberry Pi image.
Allows you to run at 1Ghz (default was 700Mhz) without voiding the warranty. This should really help out when running emulators and other games.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2008

You can now choose from one of five overclock presets in raspi-config, the highest of which runs the ARM at 1GHz.
The level of stable overclock you can achieve will depend on your specific Pi and on the quality of your power supply; we suggest that Quake 3 is a good stress test for checking if a particular level is completely stable. If you choose too high an overclock, your Pi may fail to boot, in which case holding down the shift key during boot up will disable the overclock for that boot, allowing you to select a lower level.

What does this mean? Comparing the new image with 1GHz turbo enabled, against the previous image at 700MHz, nbench reports 52% faster on integer, 64% faster on floating point and 55% faster on memory.