PiBoy
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2021 4:47 pm
I'd been following the PiBoy from https://www.experimentalpi.com/ for a while and it looked like a really solid project. They reached a point where it appeared they were going out of pre-order status and into place an order get your unit. As any of us who've done these sorts of things know something always happens (Covid) to cause delays along the way. I paced an order and got my unit in late July, I've since been tinkering with it, it has accompanied me on a couple trips and on the whole I'd say it's a good unit. I wasn't too terribly bothered by the delays, there were mostly regular updates via their webpage and/or Facebook about where they were at in the process and at no point was I concerned that I wouldn't get what I purchased.
The unit can run on a Pi Zero/W, Pi 3B/B+, or Pi 4. I do not know if it will run on a Pi 3A+, it looked like you could mount one, I just don't know if it was intended be used with one specifically. I've played my usual range of games from Atari up to N64/PSX and I've had no troubles. My unit is running on a Pi 4 2GB.
All in all I've got positives to say about it, but that isn't to say there were not some issues.
1. At the time I assembled my unit there was a pre-built image for those using a Pi 4 but those using a Pi Zero/3 you would be having to install the base RetroPie image and install scripts to get everything configured. This probably wouldn't bother most here but having a pre-built Pi Zero/Pi 3 image seems like something that would be an easy one to knock out.
2. Firmware update - There was a Firmware update that was "released" right after (days i'm told from my emails back and forth) that made getting things up and running a bit of a challenge, mostly because the online instructions for doing the update were being updated on the fly and only after about a weeks worth of back and forth were actually at a point where the steps yielded the intended result.
3. SNES button mapping - contrary to what their support email says, for SNES the button labels on the unit are wrong. It doesn't hinder most games, but makes a few awkward. They can be remapped sure, this one annoys more because of the back and forth with their support guy than the actual mapping of the buttons.
Below are a few pictures taken along the way as well as some comparison shots with it next to my two Circuit Sword builds (1 original screen, 1 with the newer screen) and next to the RetroFlag GPI Case.
The unit can run on a Pi Zero/W, Pi 3B/B+, or Pi 4. I do not know if it will run on a Pi 3A+, it looked like you could mount one, I just don't know if it was intended be used with one specifically. I've played my usual range of games from Atari up to N64/PSX and I've had no troubles. My unit is running on a Pi 4 2GB.
All in all I've got positives to say about it, but that isn't to say there were not some issues.
1. At the time I assembled my unit there was a pre-built image for those using a Pi 4 but those using a Pi Zero/3 you would be having to install the base RetroPie image and install scripts to get everything configured. This probably wouldn't bother most here but having a pre-built Pi Zero/Pi 3 image seems like something that would be an easy one to knock out.
2. Firmware update - There was a Firmware update that was "released" right after (days i'm told from my emails back and forth) that made getting things up and running a bit of a challenge, mostly because the online instructions for doing the update were being updated on the fly and only after about a weeks worth of back and forth were actually at a point where the steps yielded the intended result.
3. SNES button mapping - contrary to what their support email says, for SNES the button labels on the unit are wrong. It doesn't hinder most games, but makes a few awkward. They can be remapped sure, this one annoys more because of the back and forth with their support guy than the actual mapping of the buttons.
Below are a few pictures taken along the way as well as some comparison shots with it next to my two Circuit Sword builds (1 original screen, 1 with the newer screen) and next to the RetroFlag GPI Case.
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