Game Boy PC (Raspberry Pi)

[RetromanIE]

Hmm, its becoming clear that the DSI connectors might not be usable for a while when the Raspberry Pi is released as they might not have drivers for them yet.

This means no small screen can be attached to them. So the RasPiBoy will just be an PC initially than needs to be connect to a screen(via HDMI) as well as a keyb/mouse.

Not the end of the world I guess.

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[RetromanIE]

Well the Raspberry Pi went on sale this morning and both sites selling it crashed and burned. But after an hour or two I managed to order one

Now, have to wait until they arrive from China to the UK and then get shipped to me here in Ireland. Should be here around the 12th of March according to my order.

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[GodsDead]

This is fantastic! I literally had the exact same idea, Googled it which took me to your youtube video, to this forum.
Please keep this upto date! Id love to follow the same project.

Are you planning on Having the colour screen inside the gameboy as a second screen to show system stat's/whats playing on xbmc?

Are you planning on having the physical buttons do anything? For instance you could take an old USB keyboard and map the physical keys to the arrow keys and enter, to actually control XBMC!

[RetromanIE]

This is fantastic! I literally had the exact same idea, Googled it which took me to your youtube video, to this forum.
Please keep this upto date! Id love to follow the same project.

Are you planning on Having the colour screen inside the gameboy as a second screen to show system stat's/whats playing on xbmc?

Are you planning on having the physical buttons do anything? For instance you could take an old USB keyboard and map the physical keys to the arrow keys and enter, to actually control XBMC!

Hey GodsDead, welcome to the forum.

I won't know how much I can utilise the small colour screen until I have the board and a screen that will work with it for sure. But ideally I'd have it as the main screen until a hdmi/dvi cable is connected and then that would become the primary and the small screen the secondary(so could show XBMC stats and details like playing now,time left etc).

I'd like to use the original buttons like you say and have sourced a very small usb keyboard that I can strip down and then connect to the orignal buttons and dpad. This could be used to control XBMC or emulators(a Game Boy emulator for instance) while using the small screen.

I'll update this thread with any new details or ideas as they happen and hopefully I will get the Rasp Pi board sooner rather than later so I can start the real work on it.

I'm also working on other rasp pi mods, like the Kodak cam mod thats also posted in the main "Repairs,Mods and Guides" section.
But the Game Boy mod is the first one I want to do so that will get the first Raspberry Pi board that arrives.


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[GodsDead]

Hey, Thanks!
Is this whole forum dedicated to anything electrically retro?

Your ideas for the screen are the same as mine, although I have little knowledge about anything electrical, I was going to get started with arduino, But then I saw these Raspberry Pi machines a few years back in development, and forgot about it until the recent sales!
Anyway gone off topic already, have you done any research on how to connect a third party small screen? Im sure if your able to connect it, then its all software to figure out a duel screen/xbmc automated system.

I did a basic keyboard mod not long ago, you don't need any of the keyboard apart from the USB PCB which is tiny, and solder the connections in sequence to find what keys it outputs, I used trial and error on the tabs, since I know literally no electronics, Turned out to be an alright Google Reader "next article (p)" foot pedal!

Didn't even consider running an emulator! that a fantastic idea!

Please could you document the hardware build of this when you get your board, It would be so interesting, all my methods are going to be trial and error I guess!

[RetromanIE]

Hey, Thanks!
Is this whole forum dedicated to anything electrically retro?

Your ideas for the screen are the same as mine, although I have little knowledge about anything electrical, I was going to get started with arduino, But then I saw these Raspberry Pi machines a few years back in development, and forgot about it until the recent sales!
Anyway gone off topic already, have you done any research on how to connect a third party small screen? Im sure if your able to connect it, then its all software to figure out a duel screen/xbmc automated system.

I did a basic keyboard mod not long ago, you don't need any of the keyboard apart from the USB PCB which is tiny, and solder the connections in sequence to find what keys it outputs, I used trial and error on the tabs, since I know literally no electronics, Turned out to be an alright Google Reader "next article (p)" foot pedal!

Didn't even consider running an emulator! that a fantastic idea!

Please could you document the hardware build of this when you get your board, It would be so interesting, all my methods are going to be trial and error I guess!

The forum is for anything retro related whether that be software or hardware.

I've done a bit of research on the screen. Basically I want to connect a small screen to the DSI connectors on the board leaving the HDMI free to use an external display on. I have a fairly large selection of screen types and sizes (from 2" to 7")that I'll be testing on the rasp pi. It will be a matter on getting the correct screen and also getting or compiling a driver for it(which is the awkward bit).

Hopefully with so much interest in the Raspberry Pi lots of people will be working on drivers for various screens and other devices so I don't have to try and put some sort of driver together myself.

I'll be keeping a log of the whole thing when I get the board and any other parts.
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[RetromanIE]

Still waiting on my Raspberry Pi like everyone else but I did pick up a small 4 port USB hub.
It's small, but even smaller when I removed the plastic case on it. The plan is to mount it inside the Game Boy and hook it up to one of the existing USB ports by just plugging it in to one of them or soldering it to the connectors on the board.

I'll post up some pictures later as well as some links to where to get this model in case anyone wants it. It only cost about 5 euro and seems to be of decent enough build quality.

I've also ordered a cheap 3D printed model of the Raspberry Pi for use in sizing and modding the Game Boy and some other RaspPi mods I'm working on. It's not that pretty but it is to scale and with the possibility of having to wait weeks or months for the actually board it seemed like a good idea.

Edit:
Pics and link.
This is the exact same model of hub i got.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000PANXPY

And the 3D printed model to help with modding until the real deal arrives.

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[Haioboy1989]

Hey I just wanted to say that this is an awesome idea. I thought about something along these lines when they first told us about the Pi. I was just wondering though if you had to mod out the battery compartment to make it work. I thought it could be a handy place to store micro SD for hot swappin OS's.

[RetromanIE]

Hey I just wanted to say that this is an awesome idea. I thought about something along these lines when they first told us about the Pi. I was just wondering though if you had to mod out the battery compartment to make it work. I thought it could be a handy place to store micro SD for hot swappin OS's.

Well I don't have a Pi yet but I know what you mean about the battery compartment. I'm thinking of a new plan to keep the compartment(maybe to actually store batteries?) and change the orientation of the Pi inside the Game Boy.
I'll need to wait until I have a physical board to play around with before I can make a proper decision on it.

Also, welcome to the forums

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[RetromanIE]

The Pi is en-route

Due to arrive on Monday or Tuesday.

I've ordered a new Dremel from Amazon as my old one just died this weekend so time for a new and shiny cordless one to mod this Game Boy case.


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