Here’s a couple pictures from my last project: tablet-based teleprompter with 15mm support rods and a quick disconnect camera system. It turned out very well. One of these days I’ll post up some more detail.
But that project’s over and my shop is missing me. This time I’m getting back to electronics. Lately I’ve been playing the old NES games. Well, when I say playing, I mean with my original NES. I left a cartridge in the console the last time I played it and all of the pins got stressed, resulting in the blinking display. This is typical when the pins connecting to the cartridge don’t make a good connection. Bending them back was an easy fix, and didn’t even require the removal of the security chip.
Anyways, now I’m trying to make a portable system based on a Raspberry Pi. Having installed the RetroPie distribution, running NES/SNES/Genesis/etc. emulators are a breeze. I bought a few other components to make sure everything would work, and then started designing.
Here’s what I’ve come up with. I went through several revisions, trying to maximize space and portability. At the same time, I tried to keep ergonomics in mind. The size is a bit chunky, but feels good in the hand so far. The enclosure is made of two pieces of polypropylene. Originally I wanted it all milled out of solid aluminum. Not wanting to spend 500 hrs making billions of passes milling, I chickened out for something much easier to machine (set RPMs low and make heavy cuts).
The parts I’m using are, mostly, shown below: a Raspberry Pi, a 12V-5V switching regulator from eBay, a 4.3″ TFT car monitor from Amazon, a 12V LiPo battery with integrated charging and power switch components from eBay, and the little silicon pads from a Logitech Gravis Gamepad Pro that doesn’t work. Oh, and a Teensy v3 to make the gamepad portion.
Since I’m splitting up the buttons from a traditional gamepad with the monitor in the middle, I needed some custom PCBs. Gamepads work by closing circuits to ground via silicon pads with bits of carbon in it. I could use some pushbuttons, but wanted to retain the nice action of a gamepad button. Once I got the dimensions and button positions from Inventor, I made the PCB layout in DipTrace. Then I used the tried and true laser toner, copper clad PC board, and ferric chloride PCB solution. It took a few tries, but I like the results.
The 4.3″ TFT monitor is a great deal for $18. I just need to make some changes to get it how I wanted. First was to remove the case and hardwire the power to the battery and to the regulator. Next I needed to remove the pushbuttons on the back of the monitor. Eventually I’d like to control them via my Teensy microcontroller because they bring up the menu for setting things like brightness, etc.
When I first got the regulator I was a bit suspicious since it looked like there was a big glob of solder bridging a couple nodes. Metering it all out it appears OK.
I then hardwired power and NTSC video directly to the Raspberry Pi. The main regulator pads were the best place to supply 5V and bypass the USB port.
Lastly I started fabricating the front of the enclosure. I’ve got about 8 hrs into it now and haven’t made any mistakes – yay! Unfortunately I ran out of polypropylene and had to put in a new order. In the meantime, I am going to make the buttons. Well, that’s all for now…
April 20, 2024 at 4:55 am
Hello, I enjoy reading all of your article post. I like to write a little
comment to support you.
April 22, 2024 at 1:46 am
https://www.jbosport.org/ โดยกรุ๊ปที่ชนะรายการ TI (The International) จะได้ครอบครองโล่เอจิสนี้ทันเวลา 1 ปี รวมถึงต้องนำไอเท็มนี้กลับมาใช้สำหรับการแข่งขันต่อไป
Aegis of Immortality ถูกทำขึ้นโดย Weta Workshop ในปี 2012
April 22, 2024 at 4:54 am
https://www.jbosport.org/ ต่อมาโล่เอจิสได้แปลงเป็นสิ่งที่จำเป็นในประวัติศาสตร์ของเกม Dota 2 โดยมีบทบาทสำหรับการย้ำความโหฬารและก็การประสบผลสำเร็จของกรุ๊ปผู้ชนะ รวมทั้งชื่อกรุ๊ปรวมทั้งชื่อผู้เล่นทุกคนที่เคยได้แชมป์
April 22, 2024 at 9:31 am
https://harry-kane.biz/
harry kane my love!
April 23, 2024 at 2:13 am
good one body to body massage in hyderabad
April 23, 2024 at 2:13 am
good one
April 23, 2024 at 7:38 am
Hello there, There’s no doubt that your site may be having web browser compatibility problems.
Whenever I look at your web site in Safari,
it looks fine however when opening in I.E., it has some overlapping
issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads
up! Other than that, fantastic website!
April 23, 2024 at 4:58 pm
What’s up, after reading this amazing paragraph i am too glad to share my experience
here with mates.
April 25, 2024 at 1:50 am
At our best body to body massage in chennai, we pride ourselves on providing a diverse range of services to cater to our clients’ needs
April 25, 2024 at 6:29 am
Nive article! Thank you foe sharing.
April 25, 2024 at 3:07 pm
I like the helpful information you provide in your articles.
I’ll bookmark your blog and check again here regularly.
I’m quite sure I’ll learn plenty of new stuff right here!
Best of luck for the next!
April 27, 2024 at 3:19 am
I have read so many content on the topic of
the blogger lovers except this article is in fact a fastidious article, keep it up.
April 27, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Every weekend i used to visit this web page, as i want enjoyment, for the reason that this this
website conations in fact nice funny data too.
April 27, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Ho avuto un’esperienza molto positiva nell’acquisto di un amplificatore di segnale cellulare per i miei operatori di telefonia mobile sul sito https://www.amplificatore-segnale-cellulare.it/ Il sito è estremamente intuitivo e facile da navigare, con tutte le informazioni dettagliate sui prodotti disponibili e le relative specifiche tecniche. Ho trovato l’attrezzatura molto efficace nel migliorare la copertura del segnale nella mia area, offrendo una connessione stabile e chiara. Il prezzo dell’amplificatore era anche molto ragionevole rispetto ad altre opzioni sul mercato. Nel complesso, sono rimasto molto soddisfatto del mio acquisto e lo consiglierei a chiunque abbia problemi di segnale cellulare simili.
April 28, 2024 at 10:02 am
I don’t know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else experiencing problems with your website.
It appears as if some of the text in your content are running off
the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this
is happening to them as well? This may be a problem with my browser
because I’ve had this happen previously. Cheers