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    Yet Another Pi Zero Portable!!

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Projects and Themes
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    • senkunS
      senkun @moosepr
      last edited by

      @moosepr

      One more thing, is the 2.2" tft one of those with a sdcard slot on the back, running off a ILI9341 driver?

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

        Yeah it was this one

        http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161862594139

        Basically the cheapest I could find in the UK. I desoldered the SD card socket from the back to remove some bulk.

        I did ponder the tiny generic console route, I have a 1000mah battery that should yeald about 5 hours run time. or i could use a Gameboy advance case and add 2 maybe 3 batteries and get up to 30 hours run time. Although I managed to nab a second pi zero, so I could do both! :-)

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

        senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • senkunS
          senkun @moosepr
          last edited by senkun

          @moosepr

          Ha. Thanks for the headsup! I finally managed to grab a Zero and for just £4 too. Can't wait to play with it. And thanks for the link, the UK seller is wonderfully descriptive and knows his stuff. Screen is twice the price of those from China tho, but I'll buy one from him just because.

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

            Yeah pimoroni are really good. I ordered the newer version of the zero at 9am on the day it was released, and it arrived the next day.

            I normally order my random bits from dx.com, but the 2 week wait for the post made me get the one I did. I have pondered getting a raw screen, then getting a custom PCB made up to contain the buttons and everything, but my PCB design skills are worse than my 3d print design. That would be the holy grail of a tiny handheld though

            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 0
            • mooseprM
              moosepr
              last edited by

              So the postman came!

              Toys!

              It's actually closer that I thought size wise

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

              senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • senkunS
                senkun @moosepr
                last edited by

                @moosepr said in Yet Another Pi Zero Portable!!:

                So the postman came!

                Toys!

                It's actually closer that I thought size wise

                Whoa! Nice! Almost a perfect fit. But then, seems like you need at least a 3.2" screen. Maybe a 3.5" would be best but you'd need to go composite for that size up, gpio 3.5" screens @ 320x480 are too slow.

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

                  Yeah the original screen is 2.9" so if I bump the screen up to a 2.8" SPI screen, I will keep the same resolution and it should just drop in.

                  I had a stroke of luck with the buttons, the top of the rubber conductive buttons are exactly the same height as my silicone topped switches. I think I'm going to cut some non conductive sheet of some kind to the same shape as the current motherboard and wire them all in that way.

                  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 0
                  • mooseprM
                    moosepr
                    last edited by

                    I tried a 2.8" tft i have on an arduino shield, and its almost perfect for the job. The actual display area is a few pixels taller than the hole, and a few pixels narrower, so with some slight mods, it should fit nice!

                    Im actually struggling to find a 2.8" version of my screen in the UK, so my project might have a few weeks delay while the boat from china makes its way over. i did however find this while digging, its about as minimal as an LCD can get

                    http://www.tinylcd.com/tiny149/product.php?id_product=22

                    im just waiting to hear if they will post to the UK, and what chip the display uses

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

                    senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • senkunS
                      senkun @moosepr
                      last edited by

                      @moosepr

                      I'd be interested to know what chip that uses too. The safest bet is of course the 2.8" version of your current 2.2" tft, looks like the same chinese manufacturer, uses the same ILI9341 as well should be a straight drop in.

                      alt text

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

                        @senkun

                        yeah that by backup plan. although i think i may have an issue with the connectors being on the ends of the pcb. The screen edges are actually quite close to the buttons on the GBA. and adding the extra bulk for the brains of the screen that sits on one end, plus the pcb, might just take me too far.

                        I did ponder geting a custom pcb knocked up that was just the bare minimum for the screen to be used with SPI but have no idea where to start on that one!

                        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 0
                        • mooseprM
                          moosepr
                          last edited by

                          DAMIT!

                          Hello

                          The 2.8 LCD selected by you is not supported in fbtft.
                          If you want us to do PCB similar to your selection than we can offer you 2 options
                          100usd development charges
                          Or
                          Moq. 25 quantity
                          One more economical option is we can supply raspberry pi LCD without 40 pin header and than you do the wiring on the gpio header pads
                          Regards
                          Tinylcd

                          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 0
                          • mooseprM
                            moosepr
                            last edited by

                            Right!! i have a plan. I have been doing some digging and the ili9341 screens are actually all the same!! there are 2 variations, the larger have touch, and the smaller dont, the first 14 pins are the same regardless of the presence of touch. So all i need to do, is buy a naked 2.8" screen, and unsolder the 2.2" screen i currently have, and transplant the 2.8" screen on top!! that way the pcb is actually the same size, if not smaller than the screen, and there is more space to play with!!

                            now to wait for the good ship chinapost :D

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

                            senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • ParzivalP
                              Parzival @moosepr
                              last edited by

                              @moosepr this is so cool. where do you get the controllers/buttons from. I would like to build my own.

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

                                @Parzival i did some hunting, didint want the usual 'clicky' tactile switches that are commonly used. I found a guy on ebay that sells all kinds of switches for the repair of keyfobs and the like

                                http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321411385630

                                the ones i got are the OMTEN D3. They are really nice, will be great behind some actual buttons, will give that retro feel of the rubber domes

                                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 0
                                • T
                                  thedudester80
                                  last edited by

                                  That is a cool portable. I like the battery body idea. Must be really thin and light. Good work .

                                  Mint Boy, Case Arcade, New Projects Coming soon....

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

                                    Yeah it's just a shade thicker than a sharpie, and only 105 grams, so it's pretty skinny

                                    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 0
                                    • senkunS
                                      senkun @moosepr
                                      last edited by

                                      @moosepr said in Yet Another Pi Zero Portable!!:

                                      Right!! i have a plan. I have been doing some digging and the ili9341 screens are actually all the same!! there are 2 variations, the larger have touch, and the smaller dont, the first 14 pins are the same regardless of the presence of touch. So all i need to do, is buy a naked 2.8" screen, and unsolder the 2.2" screen i currently have, and transplant the 2.8" screen on top!! that way the pcb is actually the same size, if not smaller than the screen, and there is more space to play with!!

                                      now to wait for the good ship chinapost :D

                                      hey. Just wondering how's it going with your project? Did you get the the transplant done? And, what are you using for audio? Just noticed that you have no audio out in your build.

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

                                        @senkun

                                        Hey man

                                        Well I technically have all the bits, just need to iron out a few bits.

                                        My plan with transplanting a 2.8 screen onto a 2.2 board didn't work. The distance from solder connector to screen edge is the same for all screens, so it gave me no benefit. I'm just trying to knock up a little PCB that will allow me to connect the screen with minimal board.

                                        As for the sound, I'm planning on using an adafruit digital audio board https://www.adafruit.com/products/3006 which will give me mono sound for the speaker, or maybe even switchable to the headphones. That would then leave me with a hole where the volume knob should be.

                                        The problem I have now, is once I have got my PCB designed it's going to be another 2 weeks at least. Although I will end up with some spares I could distribute.

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

                                        T senkunS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • T
                                          thedudester80 @moosepr
                                          last edited by

                                          @moosepr That I2S amp works great with the pi zero. I used it for my altoid project. Really simple to setup as well.

                                          Mint Boy, Case Arcade, New Projects Coming soon....

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • Tekkaman_SladeT
                                            Tekkaman_Slade
                                            last edited by Tekkaman_Slade

                                            @moosepr - I wish that I2S audio amp was available when I built the NeoPiGamer. I'm definitely going to use it in my next pi zero build. Great find!!! Looking forward to your completed build.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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