After working on it off and on for a few years, I finished my first Wii Portable build almost a year ago, which was a G-Wii modified to have HDMI out and external GC Controller support. Now, I believe I'm ready to tackle my first original design, which I plan to make a clamshell. It'll be at the very least a month (but probably longer) before I can get any progress in actually building it, but I'm creating my worklog now to keep track of and share some of the ideas I'm working with. I intend to power the system with 4 18650 cells (particular cell type could be subject to change) using YveltalGriffin's Thundervolt Lite. I hope to recreate loopj's version of the OMEGA trim that was used in the Short Stack build, along with FujiFlex for HDMI Video. I hope to make the system as modular as I can by designing some custom PCBs.
I haven't decided yet if I'll include an HDMI port or if I'll use DP Alt Mode via USB-C. Right now I'm thinking about using a 7" screen but I might end up using a 5" one -- we'll just have to see. In my G-Wii build, I used a custom-made connector made from cheap Arduino-style jumper wires for the GC Controller breakout. This time 'round, I plan to use one of those fancy magnetic pogo pin connectors, which I hope I'll be able to integrate a lot more cleanly (and it'll at least be more satisfying to use).
So far, the only REAL unique feature I have planned is replacing the C-Stick with a trackpad (kind of like the ones on a Steam Deck). For now, all I'm doing is experimenting with the custom controller, which I'm making using an RP2040 Microcontroller. I'll eventually probably use a board like the RP2040-Zero in the actual build, but for my experiments I'm using a Raspberry Pi Pico. I've got it successfully emulating a GC Controller, and I'll be receiving the Trackpad to test with in a few days. The pad I ordered is called the MIKROE Touchpad 4 Click. I can't guarantee that this'll be the board that I actually use though, because notice that the PCB upon which it sits is quite big and I don't know how elevated the actual pad is. If it's a good bit above the board, it should be good, but if it's relatively flush with it, then I obviously won't be able to place a shell around the pad unless I add some weird bezel.
Almost forgot to elaborate: The reason I want to use a trackpad is for games like Super Mario Galaxy which have you moving the IR pointer around a lot. With a portable, most people would control the pointer with the C-Stick in such a way that the pointer moves in the direction you push the C-Stick and then stays where you left it when you let go of the stick. While this works, it's a bit slow and can be frustrating. GC2WiiMote also has a Direct Input mode, but I find that I don't have the dexterity to control the stick with that much precision. So, I'm hoping that I can scale down and map the touchpad input coordinates directly to C-Stick input coordinates. I plan to implement two modes: "Absolute Position," which is what I just described, and "Relative Position" (or just "Joystick Mode"), which will keep track of where you initially touched the pad, and map the inputs as if that were the center of the stick. Overall, it may be a bit of a gimmick, but I think it'll be cool if I can get it working. So for now I'll be prototyping just the controller with my trusty Raspberry Pi Pico to see if I'm sticking to this idea
I haven't decided yet if I'll include an HDMI port or if I'll use DP Alt Mode via USB-C. Right now I'm thinking about using a 7" screen but I might end up using a 5" one -- we'll just have to see. In my G-Wii build, I used a custom-made connector made from cheap Arduino-style jumper wires for the GC Controller breakout. This time 'round, I plan to use one of those fancy magnetic pogo pin connectors, which I hope I'll be able to integrate a lot more cleanly (and it'll at least be more satisfying to use).
So far, the only REAL unique feature I have planned is replacing the C-Stick with a trackpad (kind of like the ones on a Steam Deck). For now, all I'm doing is experimenting with the custom controller, which I'm making using an RP2040 Microcontroller. I'll eventually probably use a board like the RP2040-Zero in the actual build, but for my experiments I'm using a Raspberry Pi Pico. I've got it successfully emulating a GC Controller, and I'll be receiving the Trackpad to test with in a few days. The pad I ordered is called the MIKROE Touchpad 4 Click. I can't guarantee that this'll be the board that I actually use though, because notice that the PCB upon which it sits is quite big and I don't know how elevated the actual pad is. If it's a good bit above the board, it should be good, but if it's relatively flush with it, then I obviously won't be able to place a shell around the pad unless I add some weird bezel.
Almost forgot to elaborate: The reason I want to use a trackpad is for games like Super Mario Galaxy which have you moving the IR pointer around a lot. With a portable, most people would control the pointer with the C-Stick in such a way that the pointer moves in the direction you push the C-Stick and then stays where you left it when you let go of the stick. While this works, it's a bit slow and can be frustrating. GC2WiiMote also has a Direct Input mode, but I find that I don't have the dexterity to control the stick with that much precision. So, I'm hoping that I can scale down and map the touchpad input coordinates directly to C-Stick input coordinates. I plan to implement two modes: "Absolute Position," which is what I just described, and "Relative Position" (or just "Joystick Mode"), which will keep track of where you initially touched the pad, and map the inputs as if that were the center of the stick. Overall, it may be a bit of a gimmick, but I think it'll be cool if I can get it working. So for now I'll be prototyping just the controller with my trusty Raspberry Pi Pico to see if I'm sticking to this idea
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