How to make Gameboy Zero

omission229 · 5 May 2021, 17:51

Hi everyone. I really want to make a portable with a rpi 0. I know how bad rpi 0s are but I just think it would be really cool anyway. I won't be adding anything too extra. I want to make it on some perfboard because its really good for soldering and beginner friendly. Also because I have tactile switchs with 4 legs. I don't have the pi or screen or perfoard yet because I want to know how to make it first. I know in the end it will be garage because it can't play 3d games (ps1 is eh I guess). I have a portale power bank that I use for my arduino's so no power nonsense. No speaker. No Lipo or battery shit. Basically just a screen, buttons and board. It will still function fine and thats what really matters :) . But I have no idea how to connect everything so please help me. Thank you :) .

omission229 · 5 May 2021, 17:55

I am a person and this person needs help. I want to make gameboy 0. I have tactile switch from arduino and how to connect them to the pin on gpio on raspberry and how to connect screen that is called 3.5 or smaller help me

mitu · 5 May 2021, 17:56

Please don't double post. I've merged your existing posts in a single topic.

omission229 · 5 May 2021, 18:03

But can you help me

omission229 · 5 May 2021, 20:23

Help how do I connect the buttons. I am using tactile switchs that have 4 legs

sleve_mcdichael · 5 May 2021, 21:06

Maybe doing it from scratch isn't really the best idea, for a beginner project. Why not start with a kit, instead? Start here, I guess: http://retroflag.com/GPi-CASE.html

omission229 · 5 Jun 2021, 00:44

I want to solder it myslef other wise my mom won't buy it for me ;-; Good idea though. I just learned how to solder on a perfboard and thought it would be perfect. But I don't have button pcb onlt tactile switchs so why wont anyone tell me which buttons to connect to each pin on the raspberry pi!

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 00:24

help im startign to rage

lostless · 5 Jun 2021, 04:19

This post is deleted!

lostless · 5 Jun 2021, 04:25

@omission229 calm down. No need to rage. You are entering a whole realm of possibilities on how to do this project. You just don’t wire up buttons to the pi and expect it to work. There is not just a place where you wire a button and it does something. You should learn what GPIO is and how it works. Those pins on the pi are multi purpose and you program them on what to do. And that requires some programming knowledge, well beyond what I’m even capable of. And that’s with some basic knowledge on how the pi works. And they can be inputs or outputs depending on what pin and how the are programmed. Also some basic electronic knowledge comes handy.
Your screen can also be gpio based, but will require you to install a driver to run it off. The easiest way would be to get an hdmi screen.
A lot of these kits you buy, like the said retroflag one mentioned above, have done all the hard labor and programming to get them to run. You have to use their version of retropie with all their drivers built in and scripts that programmed the controller and power management.
The pi is meant to be a computer, where you learn how computers work. Time to start learning and Good luck on your adventure and project. I hope you enjoy the process as much as I have.

mitu · 6 May 2021, 05:26

@omission229 There are a lot of resources (including videos) detailing how to connect a button to a Raspberry PI via GPIO and how to read when the button is pressed/released (see [1], [2]).
As @lostless said, just connecting the button is not enough, the inputs need to be translated into something meaningful for an emulator - usually this is done with a Python script, but it can also be handled with a driver (see [3], [4] or [5]).

You can also take a look at complete builds including RetroPie for similar Gameboy-like handheld devices in (see [6] or [7]).

[1] https://raspberrypihq.com/use-a-push-button-with-raspberry-pi-gpio/
[2] https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/tutorial-tactile-switch

[3] https://github.com/mholgatem/GPIOnext
[4] https://retropie.org.uk/docs/GPIO-Modules/
[5] https://github.com/recalbox/mk_arcade_joystick_rpi

[6] https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-raspberry-pi-gameboy
[7] https://learn.adafruit.com/super-game-pi

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 14:15

Yeah but most people use button pcb's which is way different than just using seperate buttons

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 14:29

found it here: https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Raspberry-Pi-Zero-Handheld-Game-Console/ the dude used recalbox but I don't think it will really make a difference

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 14:34

https://www.instructables.com/GameBoy-Pi/ This is more acurate >:V

lostless · 5 Jun 2021, 16:08

@omission229 looks like your on your way to learning how all this works. As you can tell there is more than 1 way to achieve this project. And is why no one here can just tell you what to do. Just FYI, to help you on your way, the wiring chart you posted is for recalbox and will not work on retropie. It looks like recalbox has already added gpio support and from what I could find, you have to edit a config file to enable it. The second method you posted uses a script you have to download and has a different wiring diagram. Good luck and have fun.

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 15:08

now im really raging 😡

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 15:10

This is from the second link and this guy uses retropie
LEFT 4 # Joypad left

RIGHT 19 # Joypad right

UP 16 # Joypad up

DOWN 26 # Joypad down

LEFTCTRL 14 # 'A' button

LEFTALT 15 # 'B' button

Z 20 # 'X' button

X 18 # 'Y' button

SPACE 5 # 'Select' button

ENTER 6 # 'Start' button

A 12 # Left shoulder button

S 13 # Right shoulder button

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 15:13

@lostless said in How to make Gameboy Zero:

@omission229 looks like your on your way to learning how all this works. As you can tell there is more than 1 way to achieve this project. And is why no one here can just tell you what to do. Just FYI, to help you on your way, the wiring chart you posted is for recalbox and will not work on retropie. It looks like recalbox has already added gpio support and from what I could find, you have to edit a config file to enable it. The second method you posted uses a script you have to download and has a different wiring diagram. Good luck and have fun.

How could you say that? This is not even fun at all.

lostless · 5 Jun 2021, 17:25

@omission229 if you are raging and not having fun, then maybe this project is not for you. And thats OK.
As I said before, the raspberry pi was created to help teach computers and electronics to people. Something cheap to mess around with. It’s not a premade, build it yourself kit. It’s just a generic dummy computer that you program. And to do what you what you want, there are several ways to achieve that. Either you buy a premade kit like the retro flag, or you learn how to do different ways to achieve this. And you can tinker and mess around to get the result you want. And that requires learning the ins and out of the pi and Linux, and small amounts of scripting. And you will fail and mess up and retry over and over. Like I didn’t with my first retro pie project. And over time I learned how it works. But Between me and @mitu and your little research, you have some ideas to work with.

omission229 · 6 May 2021, 16:49

I don't care what you say im doing things my way >:(