Worklog DIY Concept UFO
- Thread starter Dmcke5
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Nonsense! There's plenty of other great entries too! I'm sure there are more criteria than just the housing design/finish. Mine is far less electrically complex than a lot of the other entries so they definitely all deserve some points for that!
Thanks mate! Its not really that close to the real UFO, but its my concept of what I would build if it was my company/project. I really don't think they would benefit from the removable controls and it will just give Nintendo something to complain about. Having a few accessible USB ports to connect an xbox controller dongle and a HDMI output would be more than enough to make it a portable "home console".
Thanks!
I do design products for commercial purposes for a living, they are just much bigger and uglier than this usually haha. Honestly the internals of this thing are pretty simple. This is really just a fancy controller grip for an 8" tablet with a bigger battery and a USB hub. I haven't assembled a Gboy before but from what I've seen it looks like most people that are somewhat familiar with soldering should be able to manage it. I'm sure with a bit of practice you'll be fine!
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I have no idea how steam reacts to your micro controller you use, but these days you can almost remap any controller in steam, for example to change the input of the joysticks to a mouse, you can also launch big picture mode on startup for windows 10 for example
Interesting. I haven't honestly used much steam so I really can't comment on how it functions. I do know most of the games I want to run on it aren't on steam though, so getting controller mapping at least close to correct is a good idea. I do plan on trying steam link with it to see if I can get it to play some more modern games too. Will need to run an external 5G wifi dongle though since the internal wifi is painfully slow, probably because its antenna is inside a giant faraday cage!
You can add any .exe to steam and steam will run it with it overview and controller support around it, i personally used the steam controller to play league of legends with for fun
If the wifi is slowish, I would highly recommend parsec, it seems to run better than steam streaming it self from experience, only when cabled I didn't notice much of an difference
Great info, thanks! Definitely didn't know I could add other games to steam. Even if I don't use it on this it'll definitely help on my main pc! The wifi is definitely slow (barely even usable) but with a 5G wifi dongle plugged in its fine since the antenna on the dongle is external. Haven't heard of parsec before so I'll definitely look into it. Cheers!
Little progress update, got my second PCB finished and all soldered up. All keyboard/mouse programming for the controller done, still need to put some work into the gamepad mode as I haven't really looked at it yet. Tested my battery monitoring solution and it isn't going to work, connecting the battery to one of the analog pins on the arduino just ends up keeping the arduino powered indefinitely. I could probably come up with a circuit to isolate it when the power is off, but I feel like that would be a lot of work for a less than perfect result.
So because of this I've been doing a bit more research on charging through USB OTG. It sounds like I can use a resistor between the ID pin and ground on the USB plug to enable OTG mode with external power. I haven't tested this yet, but I'll have a go of wiring it up tonight to make sure it works for my device.
If that works, I'll need to work out a way to automatically switch between the resistor and direct short to ground on the ID pin when the charger is connected. Don't care about constant power, if it drops out for a second when the charger is connected it won't be an issue since its only the controller that's relying on USB power. I'm sure it can be done, but I'm really not much good at circuit design.
I'm thinking about a pair of transistors (for inverse operation) that holds the ID pin to ground until it receives power from the charger side and disconnects the ground from the ID pin leaving only the resistor connected. Obviously the charger side would have to be separated by a diode to stop the tablet's own power triggering the transistors. My main concern with this method is if the tablet will shut off its own internal regulator quickly enough to avoid fighting with the charger? Maybe I need to work out a way keep the charger input disconnected until the voltage coming from the tablet shuts off? Any suggestions?
So because of this I've been doing a bit more research on charging through USB OTG. It sounds like I can use a resistor between the ID pin and ground on the USB plug to enable OTG mode with external power. I haven't tested this yet, but I'll have a go of wiring it up tonight to make sure it works for my device.
If that works, I'll need to work out a way to automatically switch between the resistor and direct short to ground on the ID pin when the charger is connected. Don't care about constant power, if it drops out for a second when the charger is connected it won't be an issue since its only the controller that's relying on USB power. I'm sure it can be done, but I'm really not much good at circuit design.
I'm thinking about a pair of transistors (for inverse operation) that holds the ID pin to ground until it receives power from the charger side and disconnects the ground from the ID pin leaving only the resistor connected. Obviously the charger side would have to be separated by a diode to stop the tablet's own power triggering the transistors. My main concern with this method is if the tablet will shut off its own internal regulator quickly enough to avoid fighting with the charger? Maybe I need to work out a way keep the charger input disconnected until the voltage coming from the tablet shuts off? Any suggestions?
cuyax
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I was so impressed by what I saw here that I registered for an account just to reply.
For charge, boost, and play look into the Adafruit PowerBoost 1000c. Make sure you get the 1000C or you won’t be able to charge the battery too. Hope this works for your project
I am working on a much simpler project to put a RetroPie build inside of my white Sega Nomad.
For charge, boost, and play look into the Adafruit PowerBoost 1000c. Make sure you get the 1000C or you won’t be able to charge the battery too. Hope this works for your project
I am working on a much simpler project to put a RetroPie build inside of my white Sega Nomad.
Haha thanks mate.
Yeah the actual charging of the battery isn't the issue as I'm able to run a seperate battery charger if I'm desperate. I really need to use the internal charge circuitry of the tablet though as otherwise windows doesn't detect that the battery is charging (which results in the battery always showing up in windows as dead flat).
This means I have no way of monitoring the battery charge through windows, except for the inevitable black screen once the battery is flat.
I like retropie, there is a raspberry pi category on this forum too. My previous project is in there if you haven't seen it yet
cuyax
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Ok, not sure if it works with Windows but maybe you can use a pin on one of the Arduino Micros to catch when the LBO pin on the PowerBoost goes lo/hi.
Pinout - https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-powerboost-1000c-load-share-usb-charge-boost/pinouts
Pinout - https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-powerboost-1000c-load-share-usb-charge-boost/pinouts
Yeah I'm pretty sure that won't work with windows. Documentation on how all of this works is pretty scarce, especially for an unknown brand Chinese tablet like this one. I suspect the battery is actually monitored on a hardware level (since battery information is available through the bios) so I doubt that its possible without at least tracking down the charging IC on the mainboard.
The tablet is capable of consuming just over 2A when its being pushed so the powerboost really wouldn't be up to the challenge even if I could use it. Also the tablet's battery input accepts battery voltage directly so there is no need for a boost converter.
cuyax
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Let us know what you find. I ordered the 1000C for my Raspberry Pi project because I only need 2A load capability and 1A charging is pretty fast. I would like to do a tablet project like yours someday.
What did you have to learn / read up on to build you CNC machine? I don't have a 3D printer yet either so I'm sure there is a learning curve...
If all you're doing is building from plans or a kit, all you really need is to be able to follow instructions well and have a basic understanding of electronics. I would be willing to bet most people that have completed some sort of portable console would have enough electrical experience to get the job done.
Read up on machine setup/tramming as it is a big part of getting good results out of your machine. That is something that will also be a huge benefit for 3D printing. Once my machine was fully assembled and moving, I spent pretty much an entire day just on the setup. Every axis needs to be at exactly the right angle to each other otherwise you'll never be able to produce accurate parts.
From an actual operational point of view, 3D printers are much easier than CNC machining. Start with printing and if you find it too limiting, that's when I would start considering moving onto cnc. But keep in mind setting up jobs properly is a pretty steep learning curve so your first few attempts at machining anything will probably end in failure.
Okay so another quick picture-less update. Finally got a chance to properly test the USB OTG and charge functionality. It appears as though this tablet doesn't support it. I think I'm going to have to settle for just charge OR play which should be okay since I should get easily 3+ hours out of this battery (and I have room for a bigger one too if need be). The only other possible option I've thought of is using the camera connection for USB but I have no idea if it is even USB. I know most laptops integrated webcams are USB but the hardware in this thing is completely undocumented and I can't find any information on what standard the cameras use. They have a lot more wires than a USB port, but I might pull the cameras apart and see if there are any hints inside their housings as to what connection standard they use.
For anyone else considering doing something like this, make sure you buy a tablet with a separate charge jack! If I did this again I'd probably choose the EZPad Mini 8 over the Pipo W2pro due to what appears to be an extra usb input. Don't quote me on this but the pictures show an extra usb shaped hole. However this is china, so who knows what will turn up!
For anyone else considering doing something like this, make sure you buy a tablet with a separate charge jack! If I did this again I'd probably choose the EZPad Mini 8 over the Pipo W2pro due to what appears to be an extra usb input. Don't quote me on this but the pictures show an extra usb shaped hole. However this is china, so who knows what will turn up!
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it can play spore too right? Just wondering.
Hmmmm 2008. Might be a little late for it, but it also wasn't a hugely power hungry game. I'll have to track down my licence for it and have a go!
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Thanks for agreeing to, send me a video or a picture if ya can. I have a license for it too, so PM me if you need one 
EDIT: If you want steam functionality, you can emulate steam, like with Sm**tSt**mEmu, I censored that so it wouldn't get DMCA
EDIT: If you want steam functionality, you can emulate steam, like with Sm**tSt**mEmu, I censored that so it wouldn't get DMCA
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Spore runs pretty well actually. I'm not bothering to check fps on anything but at least 35-40fps as a guess. The screen is hard to film right now because the protective plastic film is getting pretty scratched up. I'll cut out a proper screen protector this weekend so I can peel off the film but also protect the screen. Then I'll grab some video.Thanks for agreeing to, send me a video or a picture if ya can. I have a license for it too, so PM me if you need one
EDIT: If you want steam functionality, you can emulate steam, like with Sm**tSt**mEmu, I censored that so it wouldn't get DMCA
Finished my first set of trigger buttons. This was a three sided machine job, so I'm glad it all lined up!
Love how they look but not how they feel. I'm going to add some springs behind the buttons to see if it helps fix the problem. These buttons where the biggest challenge in designing this thing, so I'm not surprised they aren't perfect.
I may change the design at some point in the future, thinking I would have preferred for the lower triggers to pivot from the top rather than slide style but these will have to do for now.
No updates on the charge dilemma. Been lacking time, energy and motivation with the return to full work hours but hoping to get stuck back into it properly soon. Also waiting on a replacement switch joystick as I think one of mine is having issues, hopefully it'll turn up this week so I can finally finish off the controller programming.
Love how they look but not how they feel. I'm going to add some springs behind the buttons to see if it helps fix the problem. These buttons where the biggest challenge in designing this thing, so I'm not surprised they aren't perfect.
I may change the design at some point in the future, thinking I would have preferred for the lower triggers to pivot from the top rather than slide style but these will have to do for now.
No updates on the charge dilemma. Been lacking time, energy and motivation with the return to full work hours but hoping to get stuck back into it properly soon. Also waiting on a replacement switch joystick as I think one of mine is having issues, hopefully it'll turn up this week so I can finally finish off the controller programming.
ttsgeb
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What tablet are you using? Maybe I could pick one up with the excuse of trying to find a way to charge the battery while registering the charge in Windows and still using USB? It's probably out of my price range, in which case high res pictures of the circuit board could potentially do, but still.