Pi in a Gameboy Advance Build - WIP

obsidianspider

@moosepr Haha, I woke up early, and got some things sorted before work. I'm basically re-learning what I had to do to get to where I was a few months ago when I was testing with my Pi 2.

I'm kinda bummed by the performance of the Zero for some things (transfer a file while playing a game and it chokes, and Super FX games, fuhgeddaboutit), but a Pi 2/3 won't fit in a GBA along with things like a "battery", so I'm moving forward with the Zero in this build. It works pretty well for most NES, SNES, Genesis, etc. games, and it's fun playing on that TFT.

Next up I'm going to either be working on the buttons, or the audio circuit.

The power circuit is going to require me to get some parts and do some figuring, so that is going to be last, at least that's how I'm seeing things unfold.

obsidianspider

Friggin wifi dropped again. I did some more reading and added another line to the /etc/network/interfaces file

wireless-power off

and rebooted

obsidianspider

Now I'm at a loss. I was just letting the Pi sit there while SSHing in and going through the configuration menu and then the wifi dropped off. It's definitely not reliable at all on the Zero. Even though I'm telling it to reconnect, the only way I can get it to power back on is to unplug and replug it in. :-/ I'm not going to waste a ton of time on it since I won't be using wifi most of the time when the GBA is assembled, but this kind of stinks.

moosepr

@obsidianspider Have you got any other dongles? I had some of the tiny tiny cheep ones running on some pi based cctv cameras. They used to drop out quite often (and i dont think the signal strength is too good with the tiny antenna) using a larger TP Link one improved things no end!! (although watch the chipset ;))

obsidianspider

@moosepr I don't, and it's the Edimax one that I used on my Pi2 without fail for a LONNNNG time. I think I'm going to live with it "for now" and move on to the buttons after work.

backstander

@obsidianspider
I wonder if that WiFi dongle isn't getting enough power in your Pi Zero setup. Is this running off a battery or a phone charger cable? Maybe test it with the same charger you use for your Pi2 to see if it works correctly?

obsidianspider

@backstander I'm doing everything with the 2A wall wart that I've been running a Pi 2 and Pi 3 with. I haven't gotten into battery stuff yet.

backstander

@obsidianspider
Looks like you ruled out power :-)

What about the microUSB to USB 2.0 adapter you're using. Is there another one you can test with?

obsidianspider

@backstander It's actually the female end of the USB-A wire that I used in my Super Famicom project and it's soldered directly to the power test pads on the Zero and the data pads, so it's bypassing the USB power circuit entirely and is getting power directly from the input.

It seems to conk out when under heavy CPU load. For example, I had a SNES game running and then I SSH'd in and went into the configuration menu and wanted to lower the volume through the ALSA mixer (I haven't connected the volume wheel or separate headphone plug yet) and when I was exiting out the game slowed down and then the wifi dongle's light went out, and wouldn't come back on.

I've read some things about looking to see if the wifi is connected and then telling the Pi to power down and power on wlan0 via a cron job, but I'm not sure what that will do when the dongle isn't plugged in, or how much it'd slow things down if it is plugged in if it wants to ping something a few times to test for connectivity. When I SSH in when a game is playing, the Pi struggles, even just during that initial connection where you get all the stats and such.

backstander

@obsidianspider

It's actually the female end of the USB-A wire that I used in my Super Famicom project and it's soldered directly to the power test pads on the Zero and the data pads, so it's bypassing the USB power circuit entirely and is getting power directly from the input.

That seams like it would get enough power unless maybe the ground needs a higher gauge? idk...

It seems to conk out when under heavy CPU load.

I'm not sure how the Pi Zero works vs the Pi3. As long as it's not getting super hot, I can't think of anything else to try.

obsidianspider

@backstander Yeah, it's super frustrating. I'm only using the Zero for space reasons, if a 3 would fit, I'd be all about it. Sadly, even if I remove all of the ports and such there won't be enough room in the GBA case :-/

moosepr

@obsidianspider if you use just the wifi dongle in an OTG cable on its own does it behave better?

obsidianspider

@moosepr Just when I thought it would, it cut out. :-/ I don't understand it. I know people have said the Zero is touchy, but apparently mine needs a hug or something.

moosepr

@obsidianspider that is really odd! I haven't had any issues on mine, but then I have only used it for short periods (although that does include running on li-po voltage) 😞

obsidianspider

@moosepr As a gaming device, the Zero works fine. It's just the wonky Wifi. I also have zero problems with my Zero that I have hard wired and acting as a Pi-Hole. I just SSH'd to it and it's been up for over 58 days.

$ uptime
 14:23:58 up 58 days, 13:42,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

obsidianspider

I'm fighting a cold, so I didn't make a ton of progress today, but I managed to take some solid core ribbon cable and use it to solder to test pads on the Gameboy Advance and DS Lite boards and then connect them up to the Pi to test it, and…

It works!

Cable management is going to be a challenge, and I'm not certain I won't redo some of the solder joints, but everything registers and all the buttons show up, and nothing lit on fire.

I then took the boards and buttons and put them in the Gameboy Advance case just to try playing something, and while the Start button seemed wonky (not sure if something came loose on the breadboard, or what) but with the ABXY taped to the front of the case it was really comfortable to play.

The next step is going to commit to the frankencase and graft in the ABXY area from the DS Lite into the Gameboy Advance case. I need to find something to practice with, because I don't want to mess this up. Yes, they make replacement cases, but I'd rather not buy extras because I made a horrible mess. If anyone has any tips for plastic joinery goodness to share, please let me know.

moosepr

@obsidianspider I had forgotten you were tacking the NDS buttons in there. Maybe @Sephiros can help with hints and tips. He looks to know his way round frankencasing

obsidianspider

After experimentation with some corrugated cardboard. I think I'm going to try changing course a bit. It may not work, but we'll see.

I spent a few hours in the garage today interspersed with some "testing sessions" cough playing StarFox cough, and while it's not done, things are looking promising...

moosepr

@obsidianspider alt text

obsidianspider

Excited by the fact that I didn't break it when I removed the Ethernet port and one of the USB connectors I decided to try removing the display connector this morning before work. I managed to mangle the connector, but it's removed and the Pi still works. I'll be testing after I remove each component to make sure I don't break it, or if I did break it, where I broke it, so I can try to fix whatever I messed up. (Don't worry, I won't be boring you with a shot of the Pi as each component disappears.) The resistors and capacitor near the display connector had me worried for a bit when some solder blobbed on them.