Homemade Arduboy with acrylic glass case and flash cart

#1

Homemade retro game console following the Arduboy design with acrylic glass case and Mr.Blinky’s flash cart design that can store up to 100 games. The cost of parts to build this retro mini game console is less than USD 12.
I used the Pro micro which does not have enough pins.
So, I soldered a 0.1mm wire onto the pin D13 of the MCU directly.
At first I thought it’s impossible, as my MCU is tiny. But once I fixed the position of a wire using a tape, and put it under a magnifying glass, it is possible after a few trail.

I added head phone jack and reset button to the top, and a volume control on the side.
Plan to add a 15 pin header at the bottom to connect other types of console, e.g. joystick or dials.

(Holmes) #2

@Mr.Blinky, my name is messed up on the selection screen. Is this how it looks for everyone? (Everything seems to be shifted 16 pixels to the right in one frame, but only 8 in another frame.)
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Actually, after watching the video another time, most of the selection screens are like this, including the games.

Is this some kind of glitch or would this be specific to your model, @Cheungbx?

#3

This is because @Cheungbx uses a display without a CS (chip select). So all read/write data to the flash memory is written to the display too (You can see the data flashing by at the bottom of the screen). This causes the display buffer to be out of sync and the distorted picture.

(Matt) #4

that’s kind of a neat effect. Reminds me of C64 loading screens.

#5

That’s spot on. The .92” SSD1306 Oled I installed has only 6 pins, missing CS. I do not have the pin out of the raw OLED itself (so many pins), and so cannot disable the OLED while the serial flash is operating. I am going to upgrade it to a 1.3” SSD1309 soon that has the CS pin

#6

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o just got the bigger screens I ordered, one 2.4” 1309 and a 1.3 “ 1306. The 1309 is too big for my board. I will upgrade my 0.96” 1306 with the 1.3” one. I also upgraded the buttons to silent buttons so I can play in the room without my wife complaining about the clicking sound. I found the pinout of the raw Oled. CS is on pin 13 of the 30 pin oled. I will try to trace where it lands and break it out from there. Probably a resistor to ground.?

#7

Created a circuit diagram that included the Pro/Micro Arduboy boy and the Flashcart in one place. See attached PDF file. It’s also available in easyade.com: https://easyeda.com/cheungbx/Homemade-Arduboy-with-Flashcart

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#8

I am remaking the board today and tried a different way to breakout and secure the extra pin D11,D12,D13 from Atmega32U4 chip.

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#9

Nice and :+1: for the tiny wires.

Edit:

Handling those tiny wires you should be able to break out CS of that 6 pin display (the pin is most likely grounded)

#10

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@Mr.Blinky, thanks for the suggestion. I am unable to trace the circuit on the 1.3” SSD1306 OLED to find a place that I can break out the CS from some resistors.
I end up desoldering the entire 30 pin pad. Then I found the pin 13 for CS is soldered directly onto ground at the point where the 30 pin pad meets the PCB. After half an hour of grinding. I removed all the copper on the PCB where pin I landed, then solder a 0.1 mm wire directly to pin 13 of the OLED then solder the other end to pin 7 of a male header. Yes I replaced the6 pin header with the 7 pin one. Then carved out a place on the PCB to mount pin 7 without touching the ground of the PCB. After a few resoldering of the 30 pin pad, I got it working.

Now I can play the bad apple frames of your demo flash art bin image without flickering and shifting.

#11

Well done :+1:  

#12

My 1.5 “ orange SSD 1309 arrived. Remade my circuit board to realign the buttons to make space for it.
The SSD 1309 is really much brighter than the 1.3” SSD 1306. Also added the RGB LED.
Here is how it looks.

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#13

Posted a video of the homemade Arduboy with 1.5" SSD1309 OLED and demo of games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQRbbbbWhvI

(Shawn) #14

Do you have a link for the 1.5" SSD1309 OLED you used? It looks the perfect size (2.42 is a bit big, 0.96 too tiny, and 1.3 SSD1306 too expensive).

#15

I like the black bezel around the display. The 1.54" displays I found sofar don’t have that bezel. I’m interested to know where you got it too.

(Scott R) #16

I’ve been looking for one with the black bezel too I’ve found something it might fit in well.

#17

I just upgraded the buttons to silent buttons. They look more professional and really silent. No more annoying clicking sound. However, you need to sacrifice with slower rebounce. It feels much like the new MAC book air with the shallow keyboard.

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#18

Can you tell us where you purchased the display?

#19

I bought it from the Chinese Taobao web site link here. then ship to HK from China.
So, shipping and price is comparatively cheaper than buying from Alexpress outside of HK or China.

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.37.30bb5a5cqJRx6h&id=573556986358&ns=1&abbucket=9#detail
Not sure i you can read. Use google translate please.

In Chinese dollar RMB 60, plus shipping RMB 8. Total around USD 10.

For comparison with a 1.3" SSD 1306, here is the link
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.32.34b4298f17nf9k&id=544773669847&ns=1&abbucket=9#detail

In Chinese dollar RMB 35, plus shipping RMB 8. Total around USD 6.5

I searched a bit in Aliexpress.com and found the same brand name shown on one of the 2.4" SSD1309 OLED.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-42-12864-OLED-Display-Module-IIC-I2C-SPI-Serial-FOR-C51-STM32-WHITE-SSD1309/32713024493.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.229.31077635ydUeqU&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10065_10068_319_10059_10884_317_10887_10696_100031_321_322_10084_453_10083_454_10103_10618_10307_538_537_536,searchweb201603_51,ppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=041e71f7-630c-4733-90f7-81004ceda19b-34&algo_pvid=041e71f7-630c-4733-90f7-81004ceda19b

However, they do not have that item on their list of goods sold on Aliexpress.
May be you can ask them to see if they can sell the 1.5" one too.

#20

Thanks for the links. Too bad they’re only on TaoBao. Afaik I’d have to use a middle man to buy something from there.

Looking at the images there’s even an actual levelshifter on the OLED module! First I’ve seen that.