My take on a GBz

moosepr

So i made a thing

couldn't bear to take a working gameboy apart and chop it up, so i made something different. Ended up being a challenge of how small, and how few parts i could use to make a working device.

Parts count is 9 (10 if you count the pcb)

pi zero
TP4056 li-po charge/protect board
tiny switch
jst battery socket
li-po battery (1000mah currently)
2.2" ili9341 screen
2 x 5 way navigation switches
smd resistor for backlight duties

all wrapped up on a custom PCB. the pi and the TP4056 are soldered direct to SMD pads, so there are no pins to get in the way (and it keeps things nice and skinny). This is just a first prototype. There is currently no sound, and no form of safe shutdown. The protection board will keep the battery from going too low, but it will just cut the power, so it needs to be avoided!! This version also has a bit of a boo boo, the switch actually disconnects the battery from the protection board, rather than disconnecting the protection from the pi, as a result, you have to plug a charger in when you want to switch it on (although only long enough for the protect board to reset)

More images coming soon!!

GBz

obsidianspider

I love it!

moosepr

@obsidianspider thanks man!! :D

moosepr

here are some better images for anyone interested

http://imgur.com/a/W9VP3

BuZz

@moosepr Very nice ! :)

thedudester80

So awesome!!!

moosepr

Thanks guys. I have put a slightly improved board on OSHpark if anyone wants to have a play

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/sYgn53n6

senkun

@moosepr

Hey, I've been away for months, was just clicking thru hackaday and saw a neat project involving a pi zero, and the lil ili9341 and thought hmmm this seems so familiar, I remember there was a topic on the old retropie boards where someone was going along the same line of thought...

but we never got round to doing anything. Then here's this very same idea so neatly put together on a custom board. The bare basic gbz! Finally someone did it!

And then I noticed the avatar, so very familiar and ding! hey don't tell me.... and sure enough, I had to log back on here to check and it's you!

Congrats man! Really nice to see you get it done finally! Putting a piezo for sound is fantastic! DId you manage to get the naked 2.2" screens? Or did you use the one you had unsoldered from red board previously?

Anyways, cheers!

moosepr

@senkun Hey man!!!! long time no see!!!

I was thinking of you when i had got my tiny board tested and working. The tiny GBz board was the next logical step, save those wires.

I got the screens direct from china. There are lots on aliexpress, but i had a bit of a nightmare with the postage. one lot im still waiting for, 7-8 weeks on....

obsidianspider

@moosepr You're famous! Nice writeup on geek.com

moosepr

@obsidianspider I know yeah! YouTube hits shot from like 300 on Friday, to 5.6k on the last check! Been on a few sites including hackaday! :)