Worklog My attempt at making a gamecube portable

Interested?

  • Absolutely

    Votes: 6 85.7%
  • No way Jose...

    Votes: 1 14.3%

  • Total voters
    7
  • Poll closed .
Joined
May 25, 2023
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I know, I know. A wii is better and all that... I have about 3 gamecubes with a broken laser, 1 dol 001 and 2 101.
I built a really really bad gamecube portable back in 2011 I think, when the modretro forums were still alive and it came so crappy that I didn't forget it.

Anyways here I am 12 years later , once again trying to create a more refined gamecube portable with a bit more money and knowledge.

Requirements:
AlmostWTF cut
4.3 TFT screen from ebay (the regular backup camera screen)
Nintendo Switch buttons and joysticks
Single circuit board for power (1.9v and 3.3v)
Single circuit board for controllers and audio
18650 batteries and BMS (i'm happy if it gives me 1 hour of play time)
Picoboot
3D printed case
 
Joined
Apr 17, 2023
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I think its totally doable. I was starting this as well but accidentally sent the wrong voltage to my 3.3v line an nuked the GC motherboard. The downside of using the GC motherboard is battery life and size but if you can get past that I see no problems with making it.
 
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I think its totally doable. I was starting this as well but accidentally sent the wrong voltage to my 3.3v line an nuked the GC motherboard. The downside of using the GC motherboard is battery life and size but if you can get past that I see no problems with making it.
I've done that a couple of times lol and I don't care about battery life. It's just a fun project.

Today's update:
Started looking around to which components i'll be using and I have most of them ordered.
1.9v reg - OKL-T/6-W12P-C Murata Power Solutions - 4.5-14V input, 0.591-5.5V output @6Amps
3.3v reg - Cheap and tiny DC-DC converter from aliexpress - 4.5-24V input, 1.8V, 2,5V, 3.3V, 5V, 9V, 12V output @3A
Batteries - Samsung INR18650-35E x2 3500mAh each
BMS - 2s @10A from aliexpress
Display - 4,3 inch TFT from ali
Fan - 12v 40x40x10mm used on 3dprinters, hopefully can run on lower voltages
USB-C port (for charging only)
JK FlipFlop (i'll attempt to power on and off the portable with a single tact switch)
ISL22511 - digital potentiometer that only requires 2 switches (for audio)
PAM8403 as audio amplifier
Switch buttons
Switch joysticks
And other miscellaneous tact switches and connectors for the joysticks

It'll take a while to have all that in my hands, in the meantime i've started designing everything I already have in fusion360 so I can have a basic layout for the case.
Components I have:
IMG_20230526_085818637.jpg

This is what I came up with:
1685117046441.png1685117104372.png1685117176299.png

It's only 119mm or 4.68 inches, which is pretty small
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 25, 2023
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Today I started reverse engineering the original controller to relocate it to another board. I'm pretty much new to pcb design and kicad so it's taking me quite some time.

I think I have the very basics to make the controller work, here are some screenshots:
Schematic:
1685475964265.png


PCB layout:
1685476027030.png


PCB 3D Front:
1685476119034.png


PCB 3D Back:
1685476218976.png


This is pretty much a mockup and won't be final. I'm still missing a lot of components and i'll continue with this once they arrive
 
Joined
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The DC-DC converter I ordered for the 1.9v arrived, I was doubting it could power the gamecube for such a small thing.

Rigged a quick test and it's working perfect, please ignore the messy wiring
1685567489099.png

If you would've told me this tiny thing could produce 6 Amps or at least 3 to power the gamecube, I wouldn't believe you
1685567602266.png
 

Adan

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Joined
Aug 27, 2022
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Location
USA
Portables
0.5
your case looks like a w i d e gameboy and it's great!
 
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May 25, 2023
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Hello everyone. Today I wired up a microSD card and RPI2040-Zero for picoboot.

After messing around with it for around 2 days with what I tought was wrong wiring with the micro SD. Turned out I was using a wrong pin for picoboot GP4 lol.

Wiring for the microSD goes straigth of the CPU pins for SD2SP2.

Ignore the lines in the screen, i'm not using shielded cable.
IMG_20230602_103411871.jpg


Still waiting for my package from china, apparently delivery couldn't find my address :\
 
Joined
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Hello everyone. Quick status for my portable

I finished the design for the power board, it takes 8.4v from the BMS and takes it down to 1.9v and 3.3v, It also has a JK flip flop so I can power up the unit with a single tact switch.

Components needed:
Tact switch (connected to BTN1 and BTN2 terminals)
OKL-T/6-W12P-C for 1.9v
4.7kOhm resistor for the reg
This cheap DC-DC converter for 3.3v, it gets connected in the 4 pin header
HEF4027B-Q100 Dual JK Flip-Flop to toggle the ON/OFF pin of the regs
SMD 1k resistor as pulldown


I also added a bunch of pads for convenience

Front:
1686074002363.png

Back:
1686074049352.png


As for the controller side; I have mostly designed too, but I haven't received the connectors for the switch joysticks and I can't tell the position yet. I'll be sharing that soon
 
Joined
May 25, 2023
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Welp, mi
y stuff from china finally arrived and everything seems Ok.
Iv'e wired up a nintendo switch joystick to an original gamecube controller, unfortunelly there's where my luck ended. The Y axis is inverted while the X axis works fine.

Will investigate and try to find a solution for this.
 
Joined
May 25, 2023
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Quick update... I ordered some 3ds sliders from china, should arrive soon.

I also finally figured out the trigger assembly, I'll be using dual tact mod for L&R. Here are some pictures:
IMG_20230629_141808097_HDR.jpg
IMG_20230629_141816210_HDR.jpg
IMG_20230629_141822039_HDR.jpg

I've also assembled a power regulator, and worked great:
IMG_20230629_142220583.jpg
IMG_20230629_142741039.jpg


More updates coming soon...
 
Joined
May 25, 2023
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Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I posted an update.

Yesterday I received the 3ds sliders and tested them on an original controller, they worked perfect.
I updated my 3d to accept these sliders, here's a preview:
Screen Shot 2023-07-20 at 9.17.47 AM.png
Screen Shot 2023-07-20 at 9.18.11 AM.png

Then I 3d printed it and mocked up everything on the front:
Screen Shot 2023-07-20 at 9.19.53 AM.png


I'm liking it a lot so far...

I've also ordered the pcb for the controllers and audio from JLCPCB, let's see how long they take to arrive, this is how it ended up:
Screen Shot 2023-07-20 at 9.22.09 AM.png

Screen Shot 2023-07-20 at 9.22.35 AM.png
 
Joined
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Hello everyone, I have a quick update.

I've wired up everything in the back case to test all the components together (except from the controller board) and it's working. I might have to increase the voltage of the fan, it's running at around 48 degrees and at that temperature it starts to consume a lot more power. Also I think i've messed up the via's for the memory card, it worked at first, but didn't worked after rewiring multiple times (it's not a blocker, i'm not a huge gamer).

Here's a teaser:
IMG_20230726_084453135.jpg
IMG_20230726_084528196_HDR.jpg


Next up is waiting for about a month to receive the controller board.
 

CrashBash

No emulation, real hardware
Staff member
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I really like how it looks! What's the dimensions of it?
We would have killed for a portable like this back in the day.
 
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