A Side Project

fibbef

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Also, does the keyboard have a name? I can see it being useful for... stuff.
 

Luke

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Doom

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I love that keyboard. Bought two from here, works on pretty much everything I throw at it.
 

Luke

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I love that keyboard. Bought two from here, works on pretty much everything I throw at it.
Yeah, @Fruity_Grebbles hasn't been on in a few weeks, but if anyone's interested maybe pm him, and when he comes back he'll probably sell you one cheap.
 

Herma

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I was actually going to do pretty much the exact same thing but never did because I'm a lazy fuck.

Looking forward to seeing this.
 

Luke

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Okay here's where I'm at for this. I feel like I want to use the 4.3" screen.
2.jpg 1.jpg
Such a snug fit. I'll worry about the hinges later... not sure how to rig that up. Also I'm kinda worried that the driver board won't fit into the top half of the case. I think it may though, but I might have to relocate a few capacitors to the side.

As for the main part of the case, my extended life battery attaches to the back of the case and pokes through the original battery hole, as shown. Then there's room in the rest of the case for the pi (and other things - in the pic below I haven't stripped out the inside yet so the pi is just sitting on top of all that extra plastic). Anyone have anything against using the original battery? It seems to be a combination of 1 or more 3.7v li ions. Could be used with adafruit's powerboost 1000c.
3.jpg 4.jpg
 

fibbef

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That is a tight fit, but it'll look incredible if you pull it off. Any chance you can house the driver board in the bottom and feed the ribbon cable through the hinge? You'd save a bit of extra space by desoldering the Pi's GPIO pins, but I know the 3DS is pretty cramped, so you'd have a better idea than I whether or not it'd fit.

Personally, I think making it look more like a stock 3DS would look cooler, so I say use the original battery. But it depends on battery life. 45 minutes on stock? Go with extended life. 1-2 hours or more? I say stock is good enough.
 

Madmorda

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This is awesome :D Keep going, I want to see how this looks at the end.

Are you planning on using the original buttons plus the keyboard? Or only keyboard and joystick? Only keyboard?

Even just the keyboard would be awesome, because it would be like a tiny cute laptop, but with the buttons / slider you'd have a mini gaming laptop lol. Either way, awesome idea, wish I'd thought of it :)

P.S. I'm assuming that's the Nyko extended battery for 3ds? I had one of those for my 3ds and I found it extremely comfortable, even more so than the original, but I'm a bit picky about my controllers. Personally I'd put it on, but it would probably look better and be more impressive without it.
 
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Luke

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Any chance you can house the driver board in the bottom and feed the ribbon cable through the hinge?
The thought has crossed my mind, and I don't love the idea of it, but if it comes to that I don't think it'll be a problem.

That is a tight fit, but it'll look incredible if you pull it off.
You'd save a bit of extra space by desoldering the Pi's GPIO pins, but I know the 3DS is pretty cramped, so you'd have a better idea than I whether or not it'd fit.
It's ambitious for sure, but as far as I can tell, it's doable. The plan for the pi is to not only remove the gpio pins, but all connectors, hdmi port, composite port, etc., and trim the edges as needed, so it shouldn't take up too much space.

Personally, I think making it look more like a stock 3DS would look cooler, so I say use the original battery. But it depends on battery life. 45 minutes on stock? Go with extended life. 1-2 hours or more? I say stock is good enough.
P.S. I'm assuming that's the Nyko extended battery for 3ds? I had one of those for my 3ds and I found it extremely comfortable, even more so than the original, but I'm a bit picky about my controllers.
I guess I hadn't thought about the looks of a stock 3ds vs. the looks of the one with the battery. I had that battery (yes, it is the Nyko one), on my 3ds since I got it, and the look of it doesn't bother me too much, and I definitely agree that it's more comfortable. I guess I'll have to think about it though.

Are you planning on using the original buttons plus the keyboard? Or only keyboard and joystick? Only keyboard?
Even just the keyboard would be awesome, because it would be like a tiny cute laptop, but with the buttons / slider you'd have a mini gaming laptop lol. Either way, awesome idea, wish I'd thought of it :).
Plan is, tiny keyboard where the touchscreen would have been, and keeping all the original controls. I see myself running emulationstation, raspbian, and who knows what else. It's a tight fit, but not to the point where it'll get in the way of the other buttons, which would have been a dealbreaker.

Thanks for engaging in discussion!
 

fibbef

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Even just the keyboard would be awesome, because it would be like a tiny cute laptop
I have Rpi laptop on my to-do list, so building one out of a 3DS (or even an older DS) shell would be awesome. I'd have to look for a small USB touchpad that could be frankencased alongside that keyboard.
P.S. I'm assuming that's the Nyko extended battery for 3ds? I had one of those for my 3ds and I found it extremely comfortable, even more so than the original, but I'm a bit picky about my controllers. Personally I'd put it on, but it would probably look better and be more impressive without it.
I thought about getting one of those with my 3DS after I found out battery life was about 4 hours. Problem is I use the charging cradle all the time so that's a no go.
Plan is, tiny keyboard where the touchscreen would have been, and keeping all the original controls. I see myself running emulationstation, raspbian, and who knows what else. It's a tight fit, but not to the point where it'll get in the way of the other buttons, which would have been a dealbreaker.
Cool. I was hoping you'd be able to keep all controls. Can't wait to see more!
 

Luke

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I'd have to look for a small USB touchpad that could be frankencased alongside that keyboard.

Problem is I use the charging cradle all the time so that's a no go.
3ds slider can be made to function as a mouse, I think. Or at least, I've been operating on that premise so far.

The Nyko battery actually has a similar charging cradle, but is sold separately and may or may not be worth the money (not for me because I'm okay with the regular charger).
 

Madmorda

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3ds slider can be made to function as a mouse, I think. Or at least, I've been operating on that premise so far.

The Nyko battery actually has a similar charging cradle, but is sold separately and may or may not be worth the money (not for me because I'm okay with the regular charger).
I saw a YouTube video where a guy built a Pi SP and used the 3ds slider as a joystick. It moved a bit slow, but that's probably pregaming.

As for the hinges, I see your dilemma :T
Could you use a laptop-type hinge where it moves reluctantly but stays in any position you want? As opposed to the clicky ones in 3ds consoles.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172323673960
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331811141681

You probably only need one, but those screw holes look convenient.
 

fibbef

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For the sake of your project, I certainly hope the slider works as a mouse. I've wanted to build a laptop just for computing purposes and no gaming so I'd rather do a touchpad, but that's just me. That way people wouldn't see game controls and ask what kind of games are on it. I've got other plans for an EmulationStation portable.

Anyway, I should probably stop trying to unintentionally hijack your thread.
 

Luke

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Oh sweet, thanks for those links, I hadn't been able to find any that cheap.
The 3ds slider can be used as a joystick for games, for sure, I just can't remember how easy it is to make it double as a mouse in rasbian.

Ahh I see, that'd be cool then to scrap the controls, move the keyboard to the left and have the touchpad on the right.
 
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Luke

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Found the driver to my screen. Might not be toooo bad (to relocate the caps and other components to the side in order to fit it all in the top half of my case).
20161202_125130.jpg

First thing's first I suppose, as a proof of concept / sanity check, I ripped off the cable connector and soldered the 5v from my boost converter to the proper spot on the board (past the voltage regulator) that would let me power it off just the 5v. Right now I'm using the Powerboost because that's just what I have, but may have to order the converter from sparkfun. The battery monitor would be a nice feature to have.
20161202_184122.jpg
 
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