for battery design i think a standand lipo charging circuit like the TP4056 would work plus a boost converter to get battery voltage up to 5v - both of these parts are very commonly available and cheap so wouldnt hurt to try it!
Still waiting on the right sized screens to come in… They’re in the States so they should be here in the next few days… fingers crossed everything works.
Too excited to wait for the screens, I started putting things together… Glad I did, looks like the potentiometers are too tall to fit in the Gameboy shell…
I’ll have to change the screen size, edit the button shapes, adjust the height, plus add a few drill holes but at least I don’t have to build an STL file from scratch.
I did that and got some flickering, but did not think to reset the program.
This is what I plan on doing for the future. New screens and parts on order. I will also double check my traces and get new PCBs printed. Going to do a bit of trial and error. Will post again when I get a working version.
The Raspberry Pi fits fairly well with the cartridge slot to allow access to the usb and HDMI ports: (I might flip the Raspberry Pi to make it fit a little better)
And finally, I can’t decide if the potentiometers should point out from the left and right sides or up from the top. Maybe you all can help me decide? The pots that stick up are great for laying the GameBoy stationary on a table when working with it and makes it feel smaller. The version with the pots on the sides is better for hand-held use but makes the GameBoy feel as though it’s taking up more space. Let me know what you all prefer, pots sticking up from the top or pots sticking out to the side:
Trying to keep the build cost low that’s the hope for using the Gameboy shell.
A 3D print would be cool, maybe something that would snap together. I was only considering the 3D shell when I thought the parts would not fit. Still the more access the better. I’m just trying to make it all work first but wouldn’t mind revisiting the 3D print idea later.
I actually have ideas for a design that would use PCBs for a top and bottom shell, sort of like gieskes 3TRINSRGB+1C design:
I asked a lot of friends which they preferred, the handheld version (with potentiometers sticking out the sides of the gameboy) or the desktop version (with potentiometers sticking out of the face of the gameboy). Half the people I asked said they like the handheld version while the other half said they liked the desktop. So I’m making both versions.
Will also have a Gameboy shell version for both (handheld and desktop) and a PCB stack version for both as well.
Right now I’m working on adding the battery power to the portable recurboy. Some Boost Converters just arrived in the mail. Once I get that figured out, I can post the final versions of the PCBs. Got some time off from work, so I can focus on this more. Hoping to finish this project by the end of the year.