Question Raspberry Pi Portable Shopping List

[valento87]

I'm planning on making my first portable, a simple Raspberry Pi! I was wondering if someone provided me a list of what I need to build this and a guide. Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[CrazyGadget]

That all depends on what exactly you're going for; there isn't a cookie cutter set of parts to buy. If you're looking for inspiration, Adafruit made the PiGRRL kits, but they are all currently out of stock. You have a lot thinking to do, like: which Pi do you want to use? What face button layout? What size screen? What form factor? There's a lot more to take into consideration, but check out these links to get an idea of what is needed to get started:

PiGRRL 2.0 Kit Pack - Build your own Pi Game Emulator!

For all those who feared their Game Boy days would be but a memory, worry no more! The Game Boy may be dead, but with this pack you'll have a chance to revive it. We've ...

www.adafruit.com

Pocket PiGRRL Pack Build your own Pi Game Emulator!

For all those who feared their Game Boy days would be but a memory, worry no more! The Game Boy may be dead, but with this pack you'll have a chance to revive it in style. ...

www.adafruit.com

Pi GRRL Zero Parts Kit - Includes Pi Zero W

For all those who feared their Game Boy playing days would be but a memory, worry no more! That handheld may be dead, but with this pack you'll have a chance to revive it. ...

www.adafruit.com

 

[valento87]

You have a lot thinking to do, like: which Pi do you want to use? What face button layout? What size screen? What form factor? There's a lot more to take into consideration, but check out these links to get an idea of what is needed to get started:

Hmm, I think I have thought of all the questions except which Pi I want to use. For the face button layout, I'm thinking either the Game Boy Advance or the SNES, either is fine. For the screen size, I think the Game Boy Advance's screen would do well. And for form factor, I actually don't know anything about that. But after searching that up, I guess something like the size of the Game Boy Advance's motherboard? I'm sorry if these answers don't provide enough information. I'm a complete noob, but I'll try to keep it as detailed as I can.

 

[CrazyGadget]

In your case, if you want a complete custom design, it would be best to start with gathering your components, then designing the case around it when you've got the circuitry figured out. If you want a slimmer form factor and don't plan on doing anything super intense, I'd go with a Pi Zero. Again, this is up to you. If you want something with power, you could go on the complete opposite side of the spectrum and go with the Pi 4B. In terms of screens, you could always go with the tried & true backup camera monitor, but since it is cheap, the video quality won't be great. I don't know much about the new Pis, but the old ones have composite video out, which while it is easy to wire, it looks not so great. I'm not sure if Adafruit still has any screen Pi hats in stock, but they're really easy to use and look better. Wiring the buttons is super easy with the Pis GPIO, so most of the thought for that will come later when you have to make a mounting board for your buttons. Audio is also fairly straightforward. Power isn't too hard, given all the lipo charging / boost boards readily available. Once you figure out all your electronics, you can get into CAD to make a case for it all.

 

[valento87]

In your case, if you want a complete custom design, it would be best to start with gathering your components, then designing the case around it when you've got the circuitry figured out. If you want a slimmer form factor and don't plan on doing anything super intense, I'd go with a Pi Zero. Again, this is up to you. If you want something with power, you could go on the complete opposite side of the spectrum and go with the Pi 4B. In terms of screens, you could always go with the tried & true backup camera monitor, but since it is cheap, the video quality won't be great. I don't know much about the new Pis, but the old ones have composite video out, which while it is easy to wire, it looks not so great. I'm not sure if Adafruit still has any screen Pi hats in stock, but they're really easy to use and look better. Wiring the buttons is super easy with the Pis GPIO, so most of the thought for that will come later when you have to make a mounting board for your buttons. Audio is also fairly straightforward. Power isn't too hard, given all the lipo charging / boost boards readily available. Once you figure out all your electronics, you can get into CAD to make a case for it all.

Wow. That is pretty complicated. (For me, at least) I have a few questions:
1. By anything "super intense," do you mean stuff like N64 and PlayStation emulation?
2. The backup camera monitors look like they don't have any wires to me, would that be a problem?
3. I don't know what a screen Pi hat is, nor a Pis GPIO, mounting board, lipo charging, or boost board is. I searched them up, but even then it looks pretty complicated for me.
4. When I get into CAD, how would I design the case?
I'm terribly sorry if this makes this harder than it has to be! I'm just a bit confused.

 

[CrazyGadget]

1. For N64 / Playstation, you're probably going to want to use the Pi 4. Those emulators are very resource intensive iirc.
2. If you were to go with the backup monitor, you'd have to pop open the back, mod it to run off of either 5v or 3v3, and then wire your video directly to it. Since you're a beginner, it would probably be better to look into a pi hat. This works with the Pi 4 and is pretty straightforward to use: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2441
3. Regarding all that stuff, research is key. I understand it's all brand new to you, so I highly suggest reading through the PiGRRL 2 and similar manuals that Adafruit put out alongside the kits. They are very helpful, especially if you're brand new to the hobby. Here's one of them: https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-2
4. I am not the best with CAD myself, but look up some simple tutorials on YouTube, they can be a great way to start.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[A_s6]

Wow. That is pretty complicated. (For me, at least) I have a few questions:
1. By anything "super intense," do you mean stuff like N64 and PlayStation emulation?
2. The backup camera monitors look like they don't have any wires to me, would that be a problem?
3. I don't know what a screen Pi hat is, nor a Pis GPIO, mounting board, lipo charging, or boost board is. I searched them up, but even then it looks pretty complicated for me.
4. When I get into CAD, how would I design the case?
I'm terribly sorry if this makes this harder than it has to be! I'm just a bit confused.

i can answer #3 for you

a screen pi hat is a screen for the pi that is placed on the gpio pins. gpio pins are pins on the raspberry pi that let you control electronic circuits or things like leds, motors, sensors, etc. you dont really need to know too much about gpio to make a portable. a mounting board seems to be a board that you put the pi on top of. lipo is a type of battery(lithium polymer) that is typically used in consumer electronics. they are found in things like your phone. in this case, a boost board is a voltage regulator that boosts(or decreases) the voltage output of a power source(typically a lipo in a portable) to something that the main circuitry(the pi) can run off of. in the case of a pi, it’s 5 volts. for this i recommend a power boost 1000c from adafruit.

for more info on some stuff about a pi portable, check out my thread. i had started planning a pi project but abandoned it. still, there is some really good info in there.

iirc the gba uses a 2.9inch tft screen. using a board such as a tft friend from adafruit, the pi’s gpio can be wired up to use the gba screen. i think a pi zero with a tft friend could fit in a gba but i’m not too sure
sorry if that explanation was complicated, i’d be happy to clear up any issues

 

[Dmcke5]

For what it's worth, PlayStation is actually very easy to emulate. Even the Pi zero is capable of some PS1 emulation. Honestly though I'd aim for a pi 3b+ (or a 3a+ would work too and save you some space). N64 isn't even fully working on pi 4 yet, so don't count on amazing performance for it in all games.
Using a GPIO driven screen like a pihat is definitely nice and simple and compact from an electronics point of view. I've found it a bit complicated to get working though, as you'll need to install a few things through the command line to get it working properly. It may be that mine isn't exactly what's being used in the tutorials but I sunk a good hour or two into messing around with one and struggled to get anything out of it. I'm sure it's possible, just a warning that it's a bit of stuffing around to get it working.

 

[valento87]

1. For N64 / Playstation, you're probably going to want to use the Pi 4. Those emulators are very resource intensive iirc.
2. If you were to go with the backup monitor, you'd have to pop open the back, mod it to run off of either 5v or 3v3, and then wire your video directly to it. Since you're a beginner, it would probably be better to look into a pi hat. This works with the Pi 4 and is pretty straightforward to use: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2441
3. Regarding all that stuff, research is key. I understand it's all brand new to you, so I highly suggest reading through the PiGRRL 2 and similar manuals that Adafruit put out alongside the kits. They are very helpful, especially if you're brand new to the hobby. Here's one of them: https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-2
4. I am not the best with CAD myself, but look up some simple tutorials on YouTube, they can be a great way to start.

Hope some of this helps!

Okay, so I understand the casing, screen (Is there a version of the screen without the touch screen?) and Pi. I still am curious about a few things, like the buttons, audio, wiring, and software used to emulate. The biggest question is about the buttons. Do I buy spare buttons from other consoles? Or do I 3D print them along with the case? Also, what wires do I buy? Thanks to you and @A_s6 for helping answer my questions!

 

[Dmcke5]

You'll probably want to use retropie, it's an OS that you can load onto your SD card for your raspberry pi. There's a few other options too but retropie seems to be the most popular.
Audio can be done in a variety of ways. Some of the full sized pi's have a headphone jack, which you can use to run a very small speaker. Better off with a little amp though. I used a MAX98357A I2S amplifier module in mine. It works well but you'll need to make sure you have enough GPIO pins available to drive it as a pihat style screen will use up a lot of them.
Buttons are really up to you. Some people make them, others buy them. Really your choice what you do on that one.

You'll need to do some research on how you're going to connect all of this stuff. As for what wires to buy, something small would be a good start but it really depends on what you end up doing.

 

[A_s6]

Okay, so I understand the casing, screen (Is there a version of the screen without the touch screen?) and Pi. I still am curious about a few things, like the buttons, audio, wiring, and software used to emulate. The biggest question is about the buttons. Do I buy spare buttons from other consoles? Or do I 3D print them along with the case? Also, what wires do I buy? Thanks to you and @A_s6 for helping answer my questions!

all the PiTFTs that are 3.5" have touch. the display in the pigrrl zero doesn't have touch, but it's pretty tiny at 2.2"