Yet Another Pi Zero Portable!!
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Yeah it was this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161862594139
Basically the cheapest I could find in the UK. I desoldered the SD card socket from the back to remove some bulk.
I did ponder the tiny generic console route, I have a 1000mah battery that should yeald about 5 hours run time. or i could use a Gameboy advance case and add 2 maybe 3 batteries and get up to 30 hours run time. Although I managed to nab a second pi zero, so I could do both! :-)
want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide
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Ha. Thanks for the headsup! I finally managed to grab a Zero and for just £4 too. Can't wait to play with it. And thanks for the link, the UK seller is wonderfully descriptive and knows his stuff. Screen is twice the price of those from China tho, but I'll buy one from him just because.
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Yeah pimoroni are really good. I ordered the newer version of the zero at 9am on the day it was released, and it arrived the next day.
I normally order my random bits from dx.com, but the 2 week wait for the post made me get the one I did. I have pondered getting a raw screen, then getting a custom PCB made up to contain the buttons and everything, but my PCB design skills are worse than my 3d print design. That would be the holy grail of a tiny handheld though
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want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide
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@moosepr said in Yet Another Pi Zero Portable!!:
So the postman came!
It's actually closer that I thought size wise
Whoa! Nice! Almost a perfect fit. But then, seems like you need at least a 3.2" screen. Maybe a 3.5" would be best but you'd need to go composite for that size up, gpio 3.5" screens @ 320x480 are too slow.
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Yeah the original screen is 2.9" so if I bump the screen up to a 2.8" SPI screen, I will keep the same resolution and it should just drop in.
I had a stroke of luck with the buttons, the top of the rubber conductive buttons are exactly the same height as my silicone topped switches. I think I'm going to cut some non conductive sheet of some kind to the same shape as the current motherboard and wire them all in that way.
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I tried a 2.8" tft i have on an arduino shield, and its almost perfect for the job. The actual display area is a few pixels taller than the hole, and a few pixels narrower, so with some slight mods, it should fit nice!
Im actually struggling to find a 2.8" version of my screen in the UK, so my project might have a few weeks delay while the boat from china makes its way over. i did however find this while digging, its about as minimal as an LCD can get
http://www.tinylcd.com/tiny149/product.php?id_product=22
im just waiting to hear if they will post to the UK, and what chip the display uses
want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide
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I'd be interested to know what chip that uses too. The safest bet is of course the 2.8" version of your current 2.2" tft, looks like the same chinese manufacturer, uses the same ILI9341 as well should be a straight drop in.
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yeah that by backup plan. although i think i may have an issue with the connectors being on the ends of the pcb. The screen edges are actually quite close to the buttons on the GBA. and adding the extra bulk for the brains of the screen that sits on one end, plus the pcb, might just take me too far.
I did ponder geting a custom pcb knocked up that was just the bare minimum for the screen to be used with SPI but have no idea where to start on that one!
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DAMIT!
Hello
The 2.8 LCD selected by you is not supported in fbtft.
If you want us to do PCB similar to your selection than we can offer you 2 options
100usd development charges
Or
Moq. 25 quantity
One more economical option is we can supply raspberry pi LCD without 40 pin header and than you do the wiring on the gpio header pads
Regards
Tinylcd -
Right!! i have a plan. I have been doing some digging and the ili9341 screens are actually all the same!! there are 2 variations, the larger have touch, and the smaller dont, the first 14 pins are the same regardless of the presence of touch. So all i need to do, is buy a naked 2.8" screen, and unsolder the 2.2" screen i currently have, and transplant the 2.8" screen on top!! that way the pcb is actually the same size, if not smaller than the screen, and there is more space to play with!!
now to wait for the good ship chinapost :D
want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide
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@moosepr this is so cool. where do you get the controllers/buttons from. I would like to build my own.
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@Parzival i did some hunting, didint want the usual 'clicky' tactile switches that are commonly used. I found a guy on ebay that sells all kinds of switches for the repair of keyfobs and the like
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321411385630
the ones i got are the OMTEN D3. They are really nice, will be great behind some actual buttons, will give that retro feel of the rubber domes
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That is a cool portable. I like the battery body idea. Must be really thin and light. Good work .
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Yeah it's just a shade thicker than a sharpie, and only 105 grams, so it's pretty skinny
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@moosepr said in Yet Another Pi Zero Portable!!:
Right!! i have a plan. I have been doing some digging and the ili9341 screens are actually all the same!! there are 2 variations, the larger have touch, and the smaller dont, the first 14 pins are the same regardless of the presence of touch. So all i need to do, is buy a naked 2.8" screen, and unsolder the 2.2" screen i currently have, and transplant the 2.8" screen on top!! that way the pcb is actually the same size, if not smaller than the screen, and there is more space to play with!!
now to wait for the good ship chinapost :D
hey. Just wondering how's it going with your project? Did you get the the transplant done? And, what are you using for audio? Just noticed that you have no audio out in your build.
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Hey man
Well I technically have all the bits, just need to iron out a few bits.
My plan with transplanting a 2.8 screen onto a 2.2 board didn't work. The distance from solder connector to screen edge is the same for all screens, so it gave me no benefit. I'm just trying to knock up a little PCB that will allow me to connect the screen with minimal board.
As for the sound, I'm planning on using an adafruit digital audio board https://www.adafruit.com/products/3006 which will give me mono sound for the speaker, or maybe even switchable to the headphones. That would then leave me with a hole where the volume knob should be.
The problem I have now, is once I have got my PCB designed it's going to be another 2 weeks at least. Although I will end up with some spares I could distribute.
want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide
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@moosepr That I2S amp works great with the pi zero. I used it for my altoid project. Really simple to setup as well.
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@moosepr - I wish that I2S audio amp was available when I built the NeoPiGamer. I'm definitely going to use it in my next pi zero build. Great find!!! Looking forward to your completed build.
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yeah that little amp is ideal. Shame its only mono. You can get stereo versions but they are a little larger (although looking at this, it doesnt have much 'amp' in there) https://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/pi-zero/products/phat-dac
The only issue i have, is the I2S board needs pin 18, which is currently what my ili9341 screen uses for its backlight
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