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    Pi in a Dreamcast VMU Build - WIP

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Projects and Themes
    buildprojecthandheldvmudreamcast
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    • mooseprM
      moosepr @obsidianspider
      last edited by

      @obsidianspider you could try the screens I ordered
      http://s.aliexpress.com/FBveQFJr
      Might be worth paying a few dollars for slightly faster postage, the same seller provided the screens I ordered on Jan 2nd and have yet to see!
      I could send you one of mine if you wanted, but I'm in the UK, so it wouldn't be any faster

      want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • obsidianspiderO
        obsidianspider
        last edited by

        My charging boards arrived today. They were just loosely thrown in the padded envelope, but they seem ok.

        0_1492023798853_charging-boards.jpg

        I guess this means I need to get back to sorting out the screen stuff…

        πŸ“· @obsidianspider

        mooseprM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • mooseprM
          moosepr @obsidianspider
          last edited by

          @obsidianspider needs more pcb :P

          want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide

          obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • obsidianspiderO
            obsidianspider @moosepr
            last edited by

            @moosepr Aww man, all I have is this perf board. I hope it'll work.

            0_1492027478065_perf-board.jpg

            πŸ“· @obsidianspider

            mooseprM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • mooseprM
              moosepr @obsidianspider
              last edited by

              @obsidianspider you should be able to fit the pi, the screen, and the 10 charger boards on there :P

              want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide

              obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • obsidianspiderO
                obsidianspider @moosepr
                last edited by

                @moosepr Now you're playing with Power!

                πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                mooseprM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • mooseprM
                  moosepr @obsidianspider
                  last edited by

                  @obsidianspider as long as it doesnt end up as playing with fire, then its all good!

                  want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide

                  obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • obsidianspiderO
                    obsidianspider @moosepr
                    last edited by

                    @moosepr I'm looking more into the ILI9163 screen driver issue, and it looks like the Arduino community has seen these before. I'm wading though a long thread, but I'm not sure how helpful it ill be.

                    πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                    mooseprM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • mooseprM
                      moosepr @obsidianspider
                      last edited by

                      @obsidianspider just for the hell of it, try this as your fbtft.conf

                      options fbtft_device name=flexfb width=128 height=160 speed=40000000 init=-1,0x01,-2,150,-1,0x11,-2,500,-1,0xB1,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,-1,0xB2,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,-1,0xB3,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,-1,0xB4,0x07,-1,0xC0,0xA2,0x02,0x84,-1,0xC1,0xC5,-1,0xC2,0x0A,0x00,-1,0xC3,0x8A,0x2A,-1,0xC4,0x8A,0xEE,-1,0xC5,0x0E,-1,0x20,-1,0x36,0xC0,-1,0x3A,0x05,-1,0xE0,0x0f,0x1a,0x0f,0x18,0x2f,0x28,0x20,0x22,0x1f,0x1b,0x23,0x37,0x00,0x07,0x02,0x10,-1,0xE1,0x0f,0x1b,0x0f,0x17,0x33,0x2c,0x29,0x2e,0x30,0x30,0x39,0x3f,0x00,0x07,0x03,0x10,-1,0x29,-2,100,-1,0x13,-2,10,-3

                      its basically what notro mentioned in his message https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki/flexfb#sainsmart-18-st7735r

                      want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide

                      obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • obsidianspiderO
                        obsidianspider @moosepr
                        last edited by

                        @moosepr said in Pi in a Dreamcast VMU Build - WIP:

                        options fbtft_device name=flexfb width=128 height=160 speed=40000000 init=-1,0x01,-2,150,-1,0x11,-2,500,-1,0xB1,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,-1,0xB2,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,-1,0xB3,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,0x01,0x2C,0x2D,-1,0xB4,0x07,-1,0xC0,0xA2,0x02,0x84,-1,0xC1,0xC5,-1,0xC2,0x0A,0x00,-1,0xC3,0x8A,0x2A,-1,0xC4,0x8A,0xEE,-1,0xC5,0x0E,-1,0x20,-1,0x36,0xC0,-1,0x3A,0x05,-1,0xE0,0x0f,0x1a,0x0f,0x18,0x2f,0x28,0x20,0x22,0x1f,0x1b,0x23,0x37,0x00,0x07,0x02,0x10,-1,0xE1,0x0f,0x1b,0x0f,0x17,0x33,0x2c,0x29,0x2e,0x30,0x30,0x39,0x3f,0x00,0x07,0x03,0x10,-1,0x29,-2,100,-1,0x13,-2,10,-3

                        No dice. I just get a white screen with that.

                        I went back to options fbtft_device name=fb_ili9163 gpios=reset:25,dc:24 speed=40000000 bgr=1 rotate=0 custom=1 fps=60 and while I have the junk pixels on the bottom and right, at least I have output to the display.

                        Just to be thorough I went into /boot/config.txt and commented out the bits that I put in to change the resolution to 128x128 and that didn't affect the garbage pixels. It did get games to take up the entire screen (aside from the right and bottom) again, so at least I know I can tweak that once I get the pixel addressing figured out.

                        In looking at various screens online, it's impossible to know which one you're going to get. All of the different websites and sellers use the same photo and descriptions.

                        The snazzy $40 Adafruit OLED is also out of stock, so that's not really an option, even if I wanted to spend $40 on a tiny screen, which I don't.

                        πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                        mooseprM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • obsidianspiderO
                          obsidianspider
                          last edited by

                          I'm going to tinker with the driver more, but this is what things look like with the proper aspect ratio inside the VMU case. I am probably going to make a bezel out of black electrical tape to hide the white case from the screen, and while I'm doing it, covering up those bad pixels won't kill me. It'd be a hack, crappy solution, but it'd work.

                          0_1492034537839_correct-aspect-ratio.jpg

                          Next up I'm going to remove a screen from the PCB and see if I can get that working connected to my test Pi.

                          πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • mooseprM
                            moosepr @obsidianspider
                            last edited by

                            @obsidianspider yeah I got the same with that code, I was just hoping you might get lucky as you have a slightly different screen

                            The big chunk of code has some logic, -1 is for sending a command to the screen, -2 is for a delay, and -3 is the end of message. I need to find some time to compare that string with the commands that are in the 2 drivers that kinda work, and see if I can get the flex one working. I think my boards will be with me early next week, so once I have one soldered up I will be in need of a working driver!

                            want to get a tft into your project, look no further than here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7464/ili9341-tft-screen-guide

                            obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • obsidianspiderO
                              obsidianspider @moosepr
                              last edited by

                              @moosepr I believe in you.

                              πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • obsidianspiderO
                                obsidianspider
                                last edited by

                                After spending another few hours trying to get rid of the garbage pixels, I'm going to try ordering screens from a different seller, also located in China. At $3.50/each, I've spent well more than that in the amount of time I've been farting around with parameters and drivers. The first screens will be getting added to the parts bin. In the mean time I can use one to mock up component placement.

                                I also ordered some piezos from digi-key. Those will be here much quicker as they're from a US seller.

                                I have some power switches, so that won't be an issue, but I do still need to sort out the battery situation. It looks like a 500mAh one from Adafruit will work, but they are currently out of the Powerboost 500C that I want for another build, so I'll be waiting until that's in stock because Adafruit has a pretty hefty minimum shipping charge and I want to group things into as few orders as possible.

                                πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • obsidianspiderO
                                  obsidianspider
                                  last edited by obsidianspider

                                  Today the postal carrier dropped off a small package from China. Inside were three little screens, with a minor difference on the back. These said "v2.1".

                                  …and they WORK!

                                  0_1494272994615_v2.1-1.44-tft.jpg

                                  No garbage pixels. Plus, these came with plastic screen protector film on them. The first screens did not. Oh well, money wasted on those unless I can figure out another driver.

                                  If you're an instagram kind of person, here's a short video of it working.

                                  Next up I'll be trying to remove one of the new working screens from the board and wire that up.

                                  πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                                  satri360S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                  • ArvesterA
                                    Arvester
                                    last edited by

                                    I follow your build from some time now, and started to buy all pieces a few days ago. I hope the screens I bought are the new version !

                                    obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • obsidianspiderO
                                      obsidianspider @Arvester
                                      last edited by

                                      @Arvester Unfortunately with these cheap boards there are tons of variants and it's almost impossible to know which one you're going to get. Good luck!

                                      πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • satri360S
                                        satri360 @obsidianspider
                                        last edited by

                                        @obsidianspider Wonderful! I've got V1.1 LCD and also have the garbage pixels. Need to find a way to fix/conceal as I have 5pcs of them...

                                        obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • obsidianspiderO
                                          obsidianspider @satri360
                                          last edited by

                                          @satri360 since the 1.44" screen doesn't fill the entire opening I was going to make a bezel either out of black electrical tape or thin plastic so you don't see the white part. I figured if the v2.1 screens didn't fix the issue I would just make the bezel slightly larger to cover those rows. It's a bit hacky, but I figure it's not much different than how on older CRT televisions there was often a region of the picture tube that you didn't see due to the case, etc.

                                          πŸ“· @obsidianspider

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • ArvesterA
                                            Arvester
                                            last edited by

                                            So, do you have a reference about what battery could fit ?
                                            For now, I have the VMU and the Pi Zero, I'm waiting for the screens to arrive (probably next week).

                                            obsidianspiderO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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