Yes, it’s same price and offical Arduboy have known good component in it… (I don’t say that other haven’t as i don’t know list of components but it’s always a risk)
Hi there, sorry for delay- working Mum during the week, so we are back on this now. We have read everything, and cracked it! Changed the board to Arduboy (not devkit), did some pressing of the reset button, and managed to get it to recognise port- ‘Arduino Leonardo’ seems to work. Then when you press upload on a sketch, you have to press the reset button again at that point straight after you press upload, and then the new game will load. Playing around we have managed to upload two new games, so looking good! Also, thanks for whoever gave the tip on how to adjust the volume- screwdriver onto potentiometer- will have a play around with that, although now we are getting things to upload properly onto it, the sound is also working. Learning lots! @Pharap @filmote @MLXXXp thank you!
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Hi there, thanks so much for this- we changed the board selected to regular Arduboy not devkit, and that helped! Here is a photo of the back of our device, if helpful/ interesting for you to take a look at.
We are using arduboy board and Arduino Leonardo port. Need to use reset button a fair bit to ‘clear’ previous game and allow enough space to upload a new sketch. We thought buying the one that needed assembly would add some fun to it, but take everyone’s point about the risks of not using the original proprietary version. We are completely new to this, so that didn’t even occur to us- just saw this one we bought advertised in local electronics company catalogue and presumed it was a legit thing to buy. Now we are using right board settings etc on Arduino it looks like it will be ok, but we will definitely look into buying a nice, fancy, REAL arduboy as well! @filmote @MLXXXp @Pharap @eried @bateske Thanks to you all for your comments and help.
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Glad you got it working. Do you need to press reset every time you upload a sketch? That’s not normal for a ‘real’ arduboy but maybe it is for this clone. Anyhow, are you going to learn to program it? My son and I are half-way through a frogger game together.
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It’s not normal for a clone either, as long as it uses the standard Arduino Leonardo bootloader, which this one does.
No, I wouldn’t have thought so.
This board has only surface pads for the ICSP connections. It doesn’t match the board in the main photos on the Jaycar web site, which has a through-hole ICSP header, thus could be a different revision.
@Villager_guy135, where is the GAME LED located? Is it between the KEY and POW LEDs or to the right of the TXD LED? If it’s between KEY and POW then it’s probably the same board as the GAMEPI that I received.
It’s hard to tell for sure from behind the back plate but it looks like C1 (below the reset switch), which causes the bootloader to be entered on power up, hasn’t been installed. (I’ve removed it on mine as others have.)
EDIT: It doesn’t make much difference but I just noticed that the processor is in a TQFP package, instead of the QFN package that was being used for the GAMEPI.
@Villager_guy135, Are the acrylic front and back panels actually translucent (not transparent) or have you not yet removed the thin plastic protective film from the panels?
Which game? What mod??
Right here. I moved form engineering from IT ages ago and just needed something fun to do. Bought a Maycar clone for $49 out of impulse and then cam cross this thread and then just ordered a real one from a local distributor here is AUS for $101. I’m a working professional and spending a bit more doesn’t bother me for something fun to do! Yes there are clones out there but pirate software never did Microsoft or Adobe any real long term harm!!! Keep up the good work guys.
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You must be in Australia and shopping at Jaycar?
I had some fun with Jaycar when they first released these as they had artwork from my games on the website without referencing the licence. I rang them a couple of times until they changed it but I bet they didn’t do the physical packaging.
I was sort of hoping if I annoyed them enough they would offer me a few of these units to shut up. They never did and I noticed they changed the website and online PDF without letting me know they had fixed it.
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Interesting… well they sponsor local national football teams so I can’t think they’re doing that badly on profits… i’m just reading their wikipedia page and they’re not a stranger to dubious behaviour IP wise… out of curiosity, how did you approach them and what did they say?
I bought the genuine Arduboy via Little Bird BTW but Jaycar is convenient when you want something same day rather than waiting for delivery
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I rang their head office and asked for the head of risk and compliance. Of course they didn’t have one of those so I then asked for the Product or Marketing Manager. They tried to say that they buy them from China like that (which they probably do) but I didn’t care. They said they will look into it but I had to follow up a couple of times then they just quietly changed the online stuff. Probably because they didn’t want the headache of changing the physical packaging.
I haven’t been to one of their stores since lockdowns started 18 months ago in Melb. I am curious now to go back to a store and see if I can find the item and look at its packaging.
I think if you sell a lot of Chinese electronics you are always going to trample on other’s IP.
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I wonder if they’re actually allowed to use the name ‘Arduboy’ on the packaging…
(I can’t be bothered to look up the relevant trademark laws at the moment though.)
Yep they are my graphics … however the website had much more.
@filmote 's copyright is a different issue from the Arduino trademark, filmote could have a case.
My understanding of U.S. and Canada trademark law (assuming Australia is similar) is you can use trademarked names as long as you don’t cause confusion or mislead consumers into thinking it is an official product of the other brand.
“DIY Game Console Compatible with Arduboy” would be allowed as the term “compatible” in this context implies it is not the actual product and nothing on the packaging looks intended to mislead into thinking it’s an original Arduboy product.
It’s like aftermarket car parts, you can say “Fits 2013-2015 Ford Explorer”
If it looked like an Arduboy we’d be getting into the danger zooOOoone where it could easily be argued that consumers could be misled to think it’s a genuine Arduboy product.
Using logos is much more risky but can be done to a certain degree as long as it’s clear it’s not an official product and only means “compatible with” and you’re confident you can convince a judge no attempt at brand confusion/misrepresentation was committed.
Like writing “this product is not produced/endorsed/sold/etc by …” in clear large text on the packaging.
In this case it’s clear it’s a (somewhat flimsy) DIY clone kit, someone would have a hard time convincing a judge it infringes trademark, that someone could confuse it for a genuine product.
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Copyright is very different and separate from trademark.
And filmote could have a case on not just copyright but … I can’t find the legal term right now but something to do with artists endorsement and control over their creations.
Because they put his game front and center on their product.
If it was one of 50 screenshots on the box it’d be more difficult to argue but it’s the only one on the product.