The obsolete RetroPie Boy

Blargaman91

Well-Known Member
This thing was so below my expectations (I did it way too quickly) that I dismembered it. I'll start again with a case from Polycase when I can.

I have a worklog in the handhelds seciton but I don't know if many people very saw it. I'm not really good at keeping it updated anyway.

I had this idea to make use of my Raspberry Pi that I've had for a long time by doing what I like to do, making a thing to play games. I found RetroPie, thankfully, which takes care of the software part that I don't know how to do. RetroPie is an image for the Raspberry Pi that contains emulators for a ton of retro consoles, even things as powerful as N64 and Dreamcast. That's what I wanted to put in a tiny portable and so I did. The good thing about this is that it's all linux-based with USB hardware so I could swap out this Pi for a more powerful one later on or maybe even some other mini PC.

The case I used is a large USB hub with the worst curvature and overall shape. I don't know why I chose it but it was hard to work with. In the end this thing came out looking a bit like garbage, which of course wasn't my intention, but I did it all in a rush because I have so much going on right now.

Features include: DS Lite buttons, 3DS analog sticks, 3.5" composite display, HMDX audio amp, iPad Mini speakers, headphone jack, charge and play, one 3.7v 2000 mAh battery, one full-size USB port for a keyboard or a wifi dongle, microSD card slot for the firmware, and 3-LED battery indicator. The controller board is a Logitech USB controller which has a button to switch the analog stick and d-pad.

Here it is doing things (sorry the pictures aren't better):
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The back of it, not much to see:
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Side view:
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So that's it. The reason I called it semi-complete is because only half of it works right now. The shoulder buttons don't function because I messed them up and the analog sticks don't work because I need a 3DS2AN and don't have it yet.

Edit: I just finished a battery test and it lasted 1 hour and 32 minutes. I thought I would get more according to my calculations, but maybe this 2000 mAh battery isn't really 2000 mAh. It is really tiny
 
I see what you mean about the sides, but all in all its not a bad project. I really like the way it looks, at least the front of it. I am thinking about doing a pi-boy of my own soon I just have to mess with this pi I just got.
 
Re: Semi-complete - RetroPie Boy

DuHasst0 said:
I see what you mean about the sides, but all in all its not a bad project. I really like the way it looks, at least the front of it. I am thinking about doing a pi-boy of my own soon I just have to mess with this pi I just got.
Thanks. I do like the layout and it's about the size of a closed 3DS but it's not very comfortable to hold. Probably about as comfortable as the 3DS. I want to get a Pi 2 and swap it out at some point because it came emulate N64 a lot better.
 
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