Game Boy PC

Dale Parish

I bought a patchboard with the very idea of making my own PC. Turns out the voltages outputted are less than a single volt so pfff. I wish things didn't have to be so small these days (in terms of placing of circuitry) so we could make our own stuff...

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

Oh stevie you're such a player! Not only did you have the wife and vectrex in your bed, you'll be sleeping with a panda soon too!

Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

I hope that's not real Panda fur steve....or i'll have to get PETA on yo' ass!

Congrats on the buy man! (- man i'm getting tired of saying that lately! I'd rahter say it a million times than to never see something bought on here though!)
Very nice spec.

What distros are "hip" right now on the Panda?

How much did it set you back man and from where?

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

I hope that's not real Panda fur steve....or i'll have to get PETA on yo' ass!

Congrats on the buy man! (- man i'm getting tired of saying that lately! I'd rahter say it a million times than to never see something bought on here though!)
Very nice spec.

What distros are "hip" right now on the Panda?

How much did it set you back man and from where?

€ 169
http://www.tigal.com/product/2372

It can run android, ubuntu linux and a bunch of other things.
Still very early in the research right now. I was undecided between the pandaboard or the beagleboard so I asked my girlfriend if she prefers a panda or beagle, she said panda, sold.

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Doge

Hadn't even considered Android, jesus that's fantastic.

Although why use android on this when you can use a tablet.

If you wanted to design your own new Android prototype device, it would be great though!

Probably other uses I'm not seeing in my fatigued state also.

Definitely good to have the option.

I'd say despite M$ licensing 8 to only certain manfacturers,
we'll see people finding a way around it to run it on most ARM devices, and that will open up things hugely!

Steve X2

Just a bit of info for those interested(probably about 2 peeps )

Pi running for 120 hours straight at 100% CPU utilisation for most of the time(by design for testing).
No problems whatsoever, highest temperature is 42-45 degrees C on the proc/mem and lower as you go towards the edges of the pcb.

So I don't see there being any temperature issues when the thing is sealed inside the Game Boy case(or whatever other cases I use on future Pi's).
If temperature should ever be a problem(in a super small case maybe) then I can attach a small passive heatsink to the cpu/mem like some folk have done over on the Rasp Pi forums.



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Spacedog

45C is well within tolerance levels, I notice most rasp cases have a little ventilation on them, but this would ruin the esthetic of the GB mod, so you're dead right with the small voltage regulator sync and a drop of thermal adhesive.

Steve X2

Spacedog wrote: »

45C is well within tolerance levels, I notice most rasp cases have a little ventilation on them, but this would ruin the esthetic of the GB mod, so you're dead right with the small voltage regulator sync and a drop of thermal adhesive.

You actually don't need those holes that you see in a lot of the Pi cases. Sure it helps and a little ventilation is always a good thing in a case but not really nessasary with the Pi, unless you overclock it(which I might do when I have more than one, it's easy).

The Game Boy case does have some ventilation anyway so it won't be an issue(speaker grill and cart entrance etc).

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Dale Parish

How do you change the resolution? I only have a pathetic old TV lying around (even though it's a flat screen) it only supports 640x480..

Steve X2

Dale Parish wrote: »

How do you change the resolution? I only have a pathetic old TV lying around (even though it's a flat screen) it only supports 640x480..

You need to edit the /boot/config.txt file.

Something like this maybe:
framebuffer_width=640
framebuffer_height=480

I think it depends if your using hdmi/dvi or the composite connection but I've not had to make any changes to that side of things yet.


Edit:
Some info here http://elinux.org/RPi_config.txt
Careful though, you can overclock the Pi in that file.
Don't add or change the "arm_freq=700" setting unless you know what you're doing.


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Dale Parish

Said file is empty already though! I got it there OK enough.. We should make a boards Pi(e)-only IRC channel :cool:

Doge

There's a new boy in town:

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/USB-Flash-Drives/Kingston/Kingston-16GB-DataTraveler-Micro-USB-Flash-Drive---Black?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120426_Kingston_DT_Micro_USB&origin=Newsletter





Bit chunkier though.

Steve X2

Picked this up on ebay last night.



It seemed nice and my second Pi can live in it when it arrives next month.

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Spacedog

here's another hub might be suitable...

Dale Parish

It probably isn't that hard to wire your own in
Edit:
The pins are sticking right out underneath the main USBs, what more can you ask for :pac:

Doge

Spacedog wrote: »

here's another hub might be suitable...

OOoo! Now that's compact!

I see you went for the Edimax and Sandisk stick combo also! nice

Spacedog

yeah, my pi won't arrive until end of june though, so I'm keeping a lid on my mod plans until I get my mits on it. should be good though

For this hub, the green led protruded over the ports, so I broke out the soldering iron and moved it down a little, clipping off the excess leads from the bottom

Steve X2

Spacedog wrote: »

yeah, my pi won't arrive until end of june though, so I'm keeping a lid on my mod plans until I get my mits on it. should be good though

For this hub, the green led protruded over the ports, so I broke out the soldering iron and moved it down a little, clipping off the excess leads from the bottom

That's not how we roll here
What kind of mod?? Come on, out with it :pac:

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Spacedog

haha, ok, I wanna do a mini laptop, using a media tv mini keyboard and breakout to 7' odd screen. still in the very early stages though. I'll make a thread for it when things get cookin

Steve X2

Spacedog wrote: »

haha, ok, I wanna do a mini laptop, using a media tv mini keyboard and breakout to 7' odd screen. still in the very early stages though. I'll make a thread for it when things get cookin

Ahh, sounds good.
Why not stick it in something retro, so many possibilities

On a modding related note.
My new Dremel and accessories should arrive on Monday. My old one is well on the way out so I needed to get a new one, decided to get some other modding bits while I was at it.
I went for a wireless battery powered version(one with good reviews and a genuine Dremel) this time as I found that the cables got in the way some times when doing awkward mods on PC's.

Anyway, These are the bits I've got coming and will be used on the Game Boy case, and other projects(all Amazon stuff).


Dremel 8200 10.8V Cordless Rotary Tool(comes with a few tools and accessories):



Dremel Multi Vice(for light modding like the Game Boy, not really great for large metal projects, but can be used on smaller metal parts.And yes that's a large ball and socket you see, very handy):




Rolson Helping Hand(for soldering and other small projects):



Dremel 100 Piece kit:



Dremel Multi Chuck(very handy this):


Also have a set of Diamond cutting blades coming as well but that's not for the Game Boy, it's for cutting metal for some PC mods I'm doing.


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Doge

Was your old one a Dremel™ Dremel and what's wrong it?

Is the motor going in it, was it corded?

I bought a corded Lidl Parkside Multi tool a few months back, and for the price it's hard to beat, it's my first multi tool and tbh, for cutting into plastics and wood, I find it perfect.

For metal work and heavy work that needs more torque and more RPM, you're definitely better off going with the real deal though.

Steve SI wrote: »

Rolson Helping Hand(for soldering and other small projects):

This looks very much improved compared to the one I have, I'm sick of the feckin thing falling over.

Dremel Multi Chuck(very handy this):


That looks fantastic, the most frustrating thing about using a multi-tool is having to bloody change each of the 4 collets anytime you need to fit a different sized bit.

Steve X2

waveform wrote: »

Was your old one a Dremel™ Dremel and what's wrong it?

Is the motor going in it, was it corded?

My old one is a proper corded Dremel all right but its years old and has been abused almost weekly so its starting to fall apart(dropped from a roof once or twice while using it for things other than its intended use ) and the motor is on the way out.
I used to do a lot of PC mods for people so it got used for cutting metal/plastic etc. Lots of putting windows into PC case doors to show off the custom internals and that sort of thing.

Plus I just a whole new selection of modding tools

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Steve X2

Back in stock. Be super quick if you want one as they've only 2 left as of 18:33 today.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110871373813&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:IE:1123



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Dale Parish

Steve SI wrote: »

Back in stock. Be super quick if you want one as they've only 2 left as of 18:33 today.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110871373813&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:IE:1123



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So these things are going out like hot cakes?
I might just go ahead with my case idea.. which IMO is epic.
Muahaha. :cool:

Steve X2

Yeah, making cases for these things might be a nice little earner when they start to ship them in thousands instead of hundreds.
I just wanted a nice case to stick the Pi in when I'm doing some work on the software side of things before it finds its final home inside a Game Boy or whatever other things I put them in.

Click for larger versions of the pics.

My solution at the moment is not exactly elegant, or particularly safe for the Pi:


A wider shot(I know, cables need sorting at the back):



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Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

Back in stock. Be super quick if you want one as they've only 2 left as of 18:33 today.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110871373813&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:IE:1123



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Damn it!

I even subscribed to that seller and all but never received an e-mail alert.

Must get in on the next one!

Dale Parish

Looks like Steve could use one of Dale's cases :cool:
It's more than just a case though. :pac::pac:
No the putty thing isn't particularly safe, but you can pretend you're a pioneer in a new age of science! :pac:

Steve X2

Dale Parish wrote: »

Looks like Steve could use one of Dale's cases :cool:
It's more than just a case though. :pac::pac:
No the putty thing isn't particularly safe, but you can pretend you're a pioneer in a new age of science! :pac:

Sure, I'll take a case from an Irish seller. Now, got any previous work for me to ogle or 3D models?
I'm interested in this case that is more than a case

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Dale Parish

Me and 3D modelling don't go down well. I only have the case in my head. I'll run 3ds max now for the first time in... 5 years or so and knock up a quick drawing!
Edit:
Only 1 feature makes it slightly more than just a case... don't get too excited.

Dale Parish

Simples..
Plug it in :pac:
*



*case design subject to change....