Going to attempt a gba pi zero build

obsidianspider

I bought a broken GBA from eBay for my build. I'm using the PCB for the buttons on the left side and shoulder buttons. I would have used the action buttons as well, but I decided to go for an ABXY layout, so I am grafting in part of a PCB from a DS Lite. I'm still working out the power situation, but I may use the original power switch as well.

obsidianspider

@anthonyp555 You can go straight to GPIO and use Retrogame to simulate keyboard presses. No need for a USB interpreter for so few buttons.

obsidianspider

@meleu It's funny how motivation comes and goes. I was so eager for that ABS cement to dry so I could keep going on with the project, and that was two months ago. I should probably get back to work on these projects. ;)

moosepr

@obsidianspider it sure will be dry by now!! :P

just to chip in something meaningful with my response, you can have up to 22 gpio pins available, even if you are using a gpio based tft (such as the ili9341). so with up, down, left, right, a, b, x, y, L1, L2, thats just 10 gpio needed :)

obsidianspider

@moosepr Start and Select help too :-P

moosepr

@obsidianspider oh yeah! Well then you can have 6 of each, there are enough spare gpio

radiofreero

use a Raspberry Pi Zero board with gpio or buy this and use the case you were going to use.

radiofreero

or this or this

radiofreero

or you could try something like this

meleu

Hey guys, I misread the OP question. He is asking if the hardware fit on that housing.

I would like to make another question: Is raspi zero able to run GBA games?

Actually I don't have a raspi zero, but I tried Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow on my raspi1 and the performance isn't good (used mGBA core).

radiofreero

@meleu Yes because it runs perfectly on the Raspberry Pi 2 which has almost the exact same specifications. The difference is a quad core (like the one the Raspberry Pi 3 uses, but slower). Maybe you should wait till the Raspberry Pi Zero W comes out (the W stands for wifi, and Bluetooth controller.) Much like the Raspberry Pi 3... the Raspberry Pi Zero W will come with almost everything you need. Well except for the fact you have to solder everything. I was answering @anthonyp555 's question about using a USB controller, and offered an idea as a better solution. Since the GBA case only has very limited space that is.

meleu

@radiofreero Thanks bro. I'm interested in both answers! :-)

radiofreero

@meleu the RPi2 uses a dual core.

meleu

@radiofreero I think it's a quad core processor. Look here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-2-model-b/

radiofreero

@meleu

radiofreero

@meleu found that on YouTube amongst many others.

radiofreero

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=143908 here's another one @meleu @anthonyp555

radiofreero

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/960/neopigamer also there's this project @meleu @anthonyp555 which was at the bottom of my last link I posted.

meleu

@radiofreero Oh boy! I would love to have one of that!!

anthonyp555

I think I'm going to order a replacement shell for a gba pi and also an original old school gameboy and figure out which one will fit the components better, I like the idea of the original gameboy also because it has more of a retro feel, also does anyone know if its possible to power the pi zero from 4 AA batteries because that's what the original gameboy uses