Introduction:
So I have been wanting to make a wii trim or something for a while now, but I haven't been able to get my hands on a wii. Because of this I have decided to make a handheld with an SBC instead. The SBC I chose for this originally was a lattepanda v1 (since i got it from a friend for free), but unfortunately that board was damaged beyond my skill to repair. This allowed me to pick a more up-to-date board with some nice specs. Raspberry Pis where out of the question due to scalpers, so I picked the Orange Pi 5 Pro as you can probably tell from the title of this thread. I chose this due to its very nice specs and relative affordability. I have a decent bit worked out already so this post will be an intro and overview and I will post pictures later because as of now I am incapable of taking any. Without any further delay, let me dive right in.
Building this portable has several different parts:
1. Single Board Computer (SBC)
2. Power Supply
3. Screen
4. Controls
5. Case (3D printed)
1. SBC
I already touched on this part in the introduction, so I will keep it brief here, I am using the orange pi 5 pro which has a nearly identical form factor to that of a raspberry pi model B. This board should be powerful enough and though heatsinks might be a problem because ones for this board on the market kind of suck. This means that I will either have to modify one or I will have to get one CNCed. This board has a built in NVME SSD slot, but after I got the chip I realized it is missing the SPI flash necessary to use the NVME slot. I just finished soldering that on with a heat gun and some solder paste. Will power it via the USBc port.
2. Power Supply
I wanted a decent amount of power, so I have bought two 10,000 mAh 3.7v lithium polymer batteries. I only plan on using one of them and potentially adding on the other one later. For the circuitry I have gotten a pcb similar to what is in a power back that will take 3.7v and step it up to the 5v that the orange pi runs on. I am currently only partially done wiring all of it up, but I'm getting there.
3. Screen
So for the screen I went with one nearly identical to waveshare's 7" touchscreen, only difference is since I currently reside in China I bought it on Taobao (Chinese shopping app) and it is unbranded but i have tested it and it worked fine. I am currently planning on using some 90 degree HDMI ribbon cable adapters since they are less bulky than full size HDMI cables (very curious if there is a less bulky way to get HDMI from board to screen without risking destroying the ports with soldering because that may or may not be how the lattepanda broke...).
4. Controls
I cannot find the exact model I bought, but I essentially bout one of those android phone split controllers and have dug the pcbs out of them, they are connected to each other via a ribbon cable. I would love to make my own controller pcbs since I could then design them to fit whatever i design for the handheld's case instead of the other way around. This controller has an inbuilt battery and charging circuitry and I was planning on using it via bluetooth, however looking at the pcbs, they appear to have tx and rx pins to connect to so I could potentially wire it to an open usb port, needs testing.
5. Case
I have been attempting to designing a case for this device, and I will post images here as soon as I am capable, but the designing has not been going smoothly to say the least. I originally was designing one from scratch planning on just having the controller just squeeze it like it would on a phone with no modifications, but it looked like a brick with a controller split down the middle glued to the sides. Now I have been attempting to modify the Nuc Deck's case to fit my project, but because of the way my controllers pcbs are it is seeming impossible to successfully modify the case due to awkward shape and the way the trigger works, again sorry its hard to explain will get pictures soon. If anyone is willing to assist me in making a case that would be GREATLY appreciated.
So I have been wanting to make a wii trim or something for a while now, but I haven't been able to get my hands on a wii. Because of this I have decided to make a handheld with an SBC instead. The SBC I chose for this originally was a lattepanda v1 (since i got it from a friend for free), but unfortunately that board was damaged beyond my skill to repair. This allowed me to pick a more up-to-date board with some nice specs. Raspberry Pis where out of the question due to scalpers, so I picked the Orange Pi 5 Pro as you can probably tell from the title of this thread. I chose this due to its very nice specs and relative affordability. I have a decent bit worked out already so this post will be an intro and overview and I will post pictures later because as of now I am incapable of taking any. Without any further delay, let me dive right in.
Building this portable has several different parts:
1. Single Board Computer (SBC)
2. Power Supply
3. Screen
4. Controls
5. Case (3D printed)
1. SBC
I already touched on this part in the introduction, so I will keep it brief here, I am using the orange pi 5 pro which has a nearly identical form factor to that of a raspberry pi model B. This board should be powerful enough and though heatsinks might be a problem because ones for this board on the market kind of suck. This means that I will either have to modify one or I will have to get one CNCed. This board has a built in NVME SSD slot, but after I got the chip I realized it is missing the SPI flash necessary to use the NVME slot. I just finished soldering that on with a heat gun and some solder paste. Will power it via the USBc port.
2. Power Supply
I wanted a decent amount of power, so I have bought two 10,000 mAh 3.7v lithium polymer batteries. I only plan on using one of them and potentially adding on the other one later. For the circuitry I have gotten a pcb similar to what is in a power back that will take 3.7v and step it up to the 5v that the orange pi runs on. I am currently only partially done wiring all of it up, but I'm getting there.
3. Screen
So for the screen I went with one nearly identical to waveshare's 7" touchscreen, only difference is since I currently reside in China I bought it on Taobao (Chinese shopping app) and it is unbranded but i have tested it and it worked fine. I am currently planning on using some 90 degree HDMI ribbon cable adapters since they are less bulky than full size HDMI cables (very curious if there is a less bulky way to get HDMI from board to screen without risking destroying the ports with soldering because that may or may not be how the lattepanda broke...).
4. Controls
I cannot find the exact model I bought, but I essentially bout one of those android phone split controllers and have dug the pcbs out of them, they are connected to each other via a ribbon cable. I would love to make my own controller pcbs since I could then design them to fit whatever i design for the handheld's case instead of the other way around. This controller has an inbuilt battery and charging circuitry and I was planning on using it via bluetooth, however looking at the pcbs, they appear to have tx and rx pins to connect to so I could potentially wire it to an open usb port, needs testing.
5. Case
I have been attempting to designing a case for this device, and I will post images here as soon as I am capable, but the designing has not been going smoothly to say the least. I originally was designing one from scratch planning on just having the controller just squeeze it like it would on a phone with no modifications, but it looked like a brick with a controller split down the middle glued to the sides. Now I have been attempting to modify the Nuc Deck's case to fit my project, but because of the way my controllers pcbs are it is seeming impossible to successfully modify the case due to awkward shape and the way the trigger works, again sorry its hard to explain will get pictures soon. If anyone is willing to assist me in making a case that would be GREATLY appreciated.
