Pi Zero W GBA [BUILD]
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//Cost & Parts
These are my totals which includes tax and shipping (I rounded up).
$0 GBA (I've had this for some time)
$12 Raspberry Pi Zero W
$16 Lithium Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 2500mAh
$17 SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB MicroSDHC UHS-1
$20 PowerBoost 1000 Charger - Rechargeable 5V Lipo USB Boost @ 1A - 1000C
$25 3.2" TFT LCD SSD1289 ILI9341
Total = $90
Cost of Freeplay Zero ≃ $125 give or take
Saved ~ $35
I think my build will be better quality than a Freeplay Zero because of the battery and some other factors.
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@techieandroid Here is my build. The total cost turned out to be 65$
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@hex
Well... I'm making a GBA (or at least using it as my case to fix the parts into) not a GB/GBC. I would be careful with electronic components that heat up inside that cardboard if I were you. Why did you use cardboard? Just curious. -
Cardboard allowed a lot of flexibility while making the case and it was zero cost too.
That makes my case unique among all other GBZ. I get questions every time I travel.
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@techieandroid $25 for the ili9341? I got mine for less than $10 from AliExpress.
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@alulagoa
Meh. I don't really care. I don't buy from there. I'm saving over $35 already on my project. -
Got my Pi Zero W and the PowerBoost 1000. Time to build it! :)
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@moosepr
I have the ili9341 3.2" version and it has been confusing trying to find the video signal pin on it. I have looked at the documentation and searched online but nobody has posted the connection they used on theirs to the Pi. I probably can figure it out on my own but quicker help would be appreciated greatly. -
This is the most info I've found on it. Doc
LCD Pin DescriptionPIN NO. SYMBOL DESCRIPTION FUNCTION
1 5V 5V power supply When powered from 5V supply,
Pin 1 & Pin 2 as power input,
Pin 33 & Pin 34 provide 3.3V output.
2 GND Ground GND
3 D0 Data pin
D0-D15
4 D1
5 D2
6 D3
7 D4
8 D5
9 D6
10 D7
11 D8
12 D9
13 D10
14 D11
15 D12
16 D13
17 D14
18 D15
19 CS LCD chip select Low active
20 RS Instruction/Data
register selection
RS = 1 : Data Register
RS = 0 : Instruction Register
21 WR Write WR = 0，RD = 1
22 RD Read WR = 1，RD = 0
23 RESET Reset the
controller chip
Low active
24 NC Not connect Not connect
25 BLVCC 5V or 3.3V Backlight VCC
26 BLGND Ground Backlight GND
27 BLCNT Backlight
brightness
adjustment
Control the backlight brightness via PWM
28 TP_IRQ Touch screen
interrupt Low level while the touch screen detects pressing
29 TP_CS Touch screen
chip select
Low active
30 TP_SCK Touch screen SPI
clock
connects to SPI SCK
31 TP_SI Touch screen
data input
connects to SPI MOSI
32 TP_SO Touch screen
data output
connects to SPI MISO
33 3.3V 3.3V power
supply
When powered from 3.3V supply,
Pin 33 & Pin 34 as power input,
Pin 1 & Pin 2 keep NC.
34 GND Ground -
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboard-RetroPie/
Here you can find the connections needed and driver for the screen to work.
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@techieandroid that is not a pinout I have come across. It does look like that screen is geared more towards the parallel data connection, but it may still work. If you use the guide in my signature, there may just be the odd pin that has a different name. Are you sure it's ili9341?
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@alulagoa
That is not my screen and that link doesn't have the information I needed. I figured it out on my own though. -
Thanks I looked at that and noticed a few pins I've overlooked, I'll make sure to connect everything up to the appropriate pins.
I'm going to connect the 2 VDD 3.3v on the screen to my PowerBoost 1000 since I didn't want to draw that from the GPIO itself, plus I've already been powering the Pi from the GPIO. I'll GND to the PowerBoost too. I'm going to just connect both 3.3v VDD wires from the screen to the 3.3v on the PowerBoost same goes for connecting both GND wires to the GND on the PowerBoost.
In the end the Pi and display are separated drawing different voltages from the PowerBoost. And the other wires from the display (the data connections) will be connected to the GPIO on the Pi.
It should work. Let me know what you think.
Oh and yes it is a ili9341 screen.
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@moosepr
Some quick clarification. I took another look at your post and was curious what D/C stood for because I don't have that on mine. The other I was able to match up.
BL is BL on mine
SCK is CLK on mine
MISO is MISO on mine
MOSI is MOSI on mine
CS is CS on mine
RST is RST on mine
D/C is ? on mine (it's going to a GPIO pin I see)
VIN is VDD on mine (I have two of these, both 3.3v)
GND is GND on mine (I have two of these too)Also I thought about the inconveniences of connecting part of the display to the PowerBoost and decided not to. I see you have your power and ground going to the GPIO pins.
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Dang it. Why isn't it working?! The screen is black when the pi gets power. Maybe if I knew what D/C was on the other screen I could connect that on mine. Not sure if that is why it's not turning on though...
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@techieandroid at a guess i would say your d/c is the rs on the botton of the connector. There may be some investigation needed on the board to see if the MISO and MOSI pins are there for the touch controller, or for the screen, or both. You may need to lift the screen from the pcb and follow some trances to fully see what is going on
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@moosepr
Thanksv I'll do that. I saw that the GND and GND pins we're already connected with a trace on the board, same goes for VDD. So I guess I only needed to connect to one point, but it doesn't matter. -
I ripped the dang ribbon cable connection under the LCD (it was literally impossible to see where it was under there, I had a light and it still didn't help). I admit my strong suit isn't finding out which LCD wires are for what (they aren't marked if you assumed they were, hence why I'm having problems), I have no previous experience in this specific field. I need help. I don't know what I can really do atm. My multimeter bit the dust a while back and I haven't been able to get another. I wish I had an oscilloscope. But I don't. :/ Guess I'll just give up on this screen. Dang it. I hate myself for listening to someone online telling me I could use a ili9341 screen when this screen has no previous history with Pis on the internet.
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