SUPER PIE BOY ONe - ADAFRUIT PROJECT UPDATE

SuperPiBOy · 16 Mar 2018, 07:52

@jonnykesh Hi, thank you for your advice, that's done above :)
Soon, its website will be available.

bassman6805 · 16 Mar 2018, 11:42

Which Pi did you use? I made the same thing myself from the adafruit website instructions and they called for the raspberry pi 1. I would like to use a 3 but have been told the battery might not hold up well.

SuperPiBOy · 16 Mar 2018, 12:14

@bassman6805 Hi, I use the Raspberry A+, works really great .
I used a PI 2 in a GAMEGEAR project and indeed, batteries suffer a lot.
It needs more powerful amperage that Powerboost 1000c limits.
A PI 3 needs more current that the PI 2.
Unless you have another component that replaces the powerboost which support more current, it can work.

thelostsoul · 17 Mar 2018, 09:52

@superpiboy Nice project and looks cool. The only really downside I can see is it uses analog control. I hugely prefer digital pad for 8-bit and 16-bit games.

SuperPiBOy · 18 Mar 2018, 10:28

@thelostsoul
Yes, the digital pad is a good idea and would be easier to integrate into SPBO. The analog pad gives a very good comfort of playability compared to the digital pad. Thank you for your opinion, I appreciate :)

red2blue · 22 Mar 2018, 07:31

Youre charging people too much for a software thats free.

Raspberry PI costs $40. You should be charging $150-200 (For your case/parts and motherboard) not $340

thelostsoul · 22 Mar 2018, 07:35

@red2blue The work and time he puts makes it expensive, not the free software or the count of hardware. Think of it this way, if you would get all pieces for the money, you wouldn't have what he did. So the price is perfectly fine.

If he could mass produce this with automated machines and if he sells enough, then he could stomp the price down, dependent on the market.

red2blue · 22 Mar 2018, 08:09

@thelostsoul

yeah i guess youre right, but still... the price is steep. you can buy a ps4 for less than $300, or a switch. which will sooner or later be able to support Retropie.

Theres other retropie hand helds for less than $120 out on the market.

Darksavior · 7 Apr 2018, 09:08

The price for all the parts of just about every retropie handheld has made me avoid going for one. I wanted to make a tinypi but the parts we're way too much for what it is. Then a friend told me the 3d printed stuff tinypi guy sold weren't printed very well and we're very expensive so I can't imagine how much of a markup he's doing to the custom pcb's.

I can use my 3ds for the basic gba/nes/snes/sega/pce stuff. If I didn't have a 3ds I'd go for that coolbaby rs-97 retrogame handheld for under $50, though it does require some modding including cfw and dpad

SuperPiBOy · 23 Mar 2018, 11:38

Hello,

The discussion is really interesting :).
First i introduce me, i am french, work as IT, living in France and pasionated of Retrogaming and Raspberry’s world for many years
I started to repair old game consoles and then starting including Raspberry inside .
I decided to develop a new brand game console with my hands, France Made and not Made in China :)
From this project, is born Super PIE BOY One from SUPER GAME PI base of ADAFRUIT project (thank you for their super tutorials : ) )
https://learn.adafruit.com/super-game-pi/overview

What include Super Pie BOY One

The cost :
As i am not a compagny for the moment , All pieces cost me more around 220 Euros (271 $ USD). All Pieces insides are qualities adafruit products brand.
Exemple Raspberry PI A + : 27 euros
LI ION battery 6900 mah : 40 euros.
Screen TFT Display : 35 euros
Screen Module TFP401 30 euros….
Plus Do not forget to include the fee of shipping too :), and all pieces come frome differents providers.
…
Building the console
PCB part :
I drawed and a compagny build the own PCB boards : contact buttons PCB, LEDS PCB, volume know potentiometer, Push button…

Components part :
-I built a module to have battery monitor in real time when we are playing with the console.
Also, need to code the analog / Digital converter for the analog Joystick, this is not the same than Super GAME PI
then modifed the shape of the SUPER GAME PI printed boxes with Software 3D CAO to intregrate all the pieces : Leds, module battery , wired JST (because all wired inside are in JST Format)

Software part :
As RETROPIE can not be sold with a console, i made a software script to automat the Retropie Installation with all drivers and files needed for a final user.

The final user download the last Retropie Image from Retropie web site, then burn the IMG on the sdcard, then run the software script, then insert SDcard into the console and It is ready to use. :)

Design part :
The console has plexiglass glass in front and back (depends of the version) that i drawed and made it build by a compagny.
The same for stickers .

Manufacturing :
The project has taken a lot of reseach and development to obtain a reliable and quality product.
To assemble and test it, it needs more than 18 hours

Conclusion :
So 319 euros seems hight price :) but i am alone to manufacture it , and soon the price wil include French VAT
In France and Europe , electronics pieces are not the same price than Chine's pieces.
And to sell products in Europe on the market there are taxes and rules.

For red2blue : I can not compare this console with a PS4, it's not the same commercial approach. And there are teams to design the PS4.
If i could automate manufacturing, yes, the price could be less :))
I am curious to see the raspberry handheld console at less than 120 $:)

For thelostsoul : You are totally right, all is said :)

SuperPiBOy · 4 Apr 2018, 11:54

There is another new model called Super PIE BOY One Light" with a "low" price.
I 'll put pics soon. :)

jland1180 · 24 Mar 2018, 21:40

I think it looks good and is a great idea. That price to pay for something that no one else sells is reasonable specially since you are alone and doing it by yourself. If people have a problem with the price then they aren’t forced to buy it. People comparing the price of this to a PS4 is like comparing apples to tomatoes. its two different types of systems and genres of gaming. Sure a PS4 is about the same price or a little cheaper but PS4's are designed by a team of people and mass produced by automated machines.

bassman6805 · 27 Mar 2018, 14:23

I built the supergame pi and you are right about the cost. Just to buy the pieces from adafruit is about $250. I even have access to a decent 3D printer. I ended up getting some adafruit gift certificates for Christmas one year and used those. To me the great thing about it is that it's portable and doesn't require power cable and extra controllers. You can pack it around easily. Plus the amount of games you can play is great. You don't have to be camped out in front of a tv to enjoy. I have taken mine on trips to play on flights and evenings in the hotel room.

SuperPiBOy · 27 Mar 2018, 21:29

@jland1180 hi, thank you for your post and your support :).

SuperPiBOy · 28 Mar 2018, 09:42

@bassman6805
You 're right, the console is useful to transport. You are lucky to have obtained adafruit gift certificates , i didn't know that could exist :). So do you still plan to put a Raspberry pI 3 Inside ?
If somebody knows how can replace Powerboost 1000c for a more powerful module power supply managing the battery, it could be great.

bassman6805 · 28 Mar 2018, 13:48

I don't think so. I would like to but I really don't know enough about it to figure it out. Hopefully someone will get it to work and then I might give it a try.

Simon Belmont · 4 Apr 2018, 13:05

@superpiboy said in SUPER PIE BOY ONe - ADAFRUIT PROJECT UPDATE:

There is another new model called Super PIE BOY One Light" with a "low" price.
I 'll put pics soon. :)

Any pics of this new Super PIE BOY One Light?

I see the one on esty. are the systems fully loaded ? I have no idea how to do retropie.

cyperghost · 7 Apr 2018, 09:08

@darksavior Bought one RS-97 ;)
Really nice catch for 50$ - thank you!
But the original software is full of bugs, the CFW-mod is better and gives super performance ;)

+1 for that advice!

red2blue · 16 Apr 2018, 03:48

@superpiboy I understand that you have put in tons of effort and the parts are expensive (btw, it DOES look fucking amazing, id buy it in a heart beat, if the price was lower tho..) and i understand you are just starting off and manufacturing is expensive. but you gotta find cheaper parts brother, there are alternatives out there, make a lower end model with half the battery size, 3/4 the screen. you need to be selling a cheaper version so you can make money to in turn make deals with the manufacturing companies etc etc etc and get cheaper parts.

all in all, make a slightly smaller version, sell it for $140, you can easily drop it down half the price if u changed the parts.

SuperPiBOy · 17 Apr 2018, 16:22

It is more an object of collection than a standardized product of the supermarkets. I do not try to sell a lot. My interest is to take up new challenges with the RASPBERRI PI. I'm happy to have reached Super Pie Boy One and i will continu to support it. Now I'm studying a new project, it's a surprise :). Just i can say it is a new model that I have completely drawn and smaller :)