First time building - generell questions and info?

[Camperfrosch]

Hi there!

So I am interessted into building my own Game Boy Zero / Whatever you would call it if there is not a Pi Zero but a Pi 3 inside.
But even though I have experience with the Raspberry Pi in generel, I am a total newbie to this whole handheld topic and have barely any soldering experience.

After watching some videos on youtube though I think that I would be able to reproduce the neccecary steps, but there are just some questions burning on the tip of my tongue!

1. I have seen a lot of people using speakers for their handheld.
And a lot of people are also using a composite car screen that seems to have a speaker already integrated!
Why does nobody uses that? Because of the sound quality?
2. How does the Raspberry Pi (Zero and / or 3) behave, if composite is active, but hdmi is pluged in?
3. Am I naive and am I taking such a project to lightly?
4. ??? (Please give me generel advice)
5. Is there any one in this forum or on youtube, who has used the Nintendo DS Lite or DSI as a case for his / her Project?
6. Can I do it without a plan, professional equipment and experience?
7. Besides buying the adafruit solution, would you recommend to create your own controller board for the buttons? Or would you take it from an old gamepad?
8. How does recallbox / retropi behave if the controlls come from the GPIO pins but there is a Bluethooth gamepad conected as well?
Can I use my Bluethooth gamepad as player 1 OR 2 if I want to?
9. As far as I knows, retropi and recallbox does support the 8bitdo controllers. Any experience?
10. Am I insane to try this without any knowledge in electronic?

By the way I am from Germany so please don't be too rough on any grammar errors!

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Sushi]

1. I've never seen a backup screen with a speaker. However, assuming it did come with a speaker, there are factors like size, impedance, shape ect. that might make them non-ideal for a project like this.
2. As far as I know, you can't use both composite and HDMI at the same time. However, I could be wrong.
3. The first GBZ I made was a ~1.5 year learning experience before I actually put one together (I also used a Pi3 instead of a Pi0).
4. Take your time and learn the skills you'll need first. Maybe have a dummy shell for experimentation before you do the final version.
5. Yes. Here's understar's DSLite Pi Zero.
6. Plan? Sure. You'll need to manage the space inside the shell well. Professional equipment? It depends. You shouldn't buy the cheapest tools possible because they will just produce bad results. Invest in a decent soldering iron/station and some good solder. I bought this station and it's been extremely useful. Experience? No, you'll need to learn some basic skills first. Soldering, de-soldering and wire stripping are necessary. Please invest at least an hour or two practicing on something old or broken.
7. You can buy button PCBs on amazon, ebay, and even this forum. I wouldn't recommend creating your own as it can be difficult and will likely sacrifice and original GameBoy ;(
8. I'm not sure, though seeing as both have two player support, there shouldn't be any issue just connecting a second controller as P2.
9. You've answered your own question (but if you're still questioning, here)
10. You're not insane! When I started building my own GameBoy, I'd never soldered and knew nothing about electronic circuit design. As you progress, you'll discover and learn things on your own or with the help of others.

[Camperfrosch]

Thanks @Sushi for this quick answer!

1. Ok I understand!
2. Ok so HDMI and Composite cannot be used the same time, but is it possible to switch between those?
3. Holy... 1.5 years... I thought it would take a month or so for someone inexperienced.
4. Have a Pi 2 lying arround. I could use that to try it out without fitting it into a shell.
5. THX!
6. Seems like it is a good project to gather some experience. It hurts a bit to hear that my very cheap soldering basic set is not enough but I kinda thought so already.
7. I would never sacrifice original Hardware! ^_^
It was more or less if i should use the circuit board from an old no name pad or create my own.
8. Ok I understand
9. Nice!
10. Very important for me to hear this! I already soldered things, but most likely it was just a hour or two in my whole live (actually pretty recently)

Just one last question: Of course this varies from the set of features, that the final product is supposed to have, but how much does such a project cost?
So let's just say I won't expect it cheap, but I won't need buttons out of bare diamonds as well, what is the price category?

Edit: Just took a look at understars DSLite Pi Zero and his price was about 100$.
Thats (without cost for the tools) what I thought too, which is quite a relieve! ^^
It's just that I would probably go for a Pi 3 and that one is 30$ more (for me its € of course but the prices are pretty much the same tbh)

[Sushi]

It took me ~1.5 years was because I took a few months of break, but also had a lot of work to do. I also did lots of experimentation with 3D parts and chinese parts (which take weeks to arrive). With a Pi 3, arduino based system controller and a DPI display, the project cost me ~150 not including tools. I believe is it possible to switch between HDMI and composite with HDMI hotplugging.

[Camperfrosch]

Ok thanks for your answer

I am currently experimenting with my Raspberry Pi 2 by removing parts from it and slowly understand pins and signals. Now the headphone jack is removed and a composite cable is soldered to the ground of it. I also removed usb and soldered an old keyboard to it!

Removing the GPIO Pins was though at first but I got the hang of it!

Thanks for your answers and your moral support!
Perhaps I can create my first project soon!!!