sudomod

I can help you out as I'm doing a powerboard right now for one of my projects but having dimensions or a mockup of the board shape and dimensions will be helpful.

Helder wrote:I can help you out as I'm doing a powerboard right now for one of my projects but having dimensions or a mockup of the board shape and dimensions will be helpful.

I've been working on this since yesterday afternoon. It's still very rough, but used a photo of a PSP board and traced it for an outline. The top middle section has been removed so the LCD driver will fit in the case. The two FPC connectors and the 40-pin Pi header are approximately in the location they need to be and cannot move much. Everything else can move around. There is a lot of available room on the left side, and I might be able to extend the board under the 40-pin connector to make more available space. The top far right of the board will probably end up with battery connections on the top side and +5v in from charger on the bottom side. I did a quick autorouter with Eagle just so the wires for everything were visible. Not all the wires are shown yet, but this is most of them. The FPC connectors have to be on the top of the board, and everything else can be on top or bottom I think. I have to verify clearances on everything, but I'm pretty confident. Still continuing to work on everything.

I've created a Google Drive folder so I can share files including the Eagle .BRD file. Anyone can add to the folder.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

Compared to the PSP's original board

I'll have a look at it. Are you suing GPIO pins for the controls? also if you print the board outline on paper it will be a perfect representation of what a board would look like so you can test dimensions that way too.

Helder wrote:I'll have a look at it. Are you suing GPIO pins for the controls? also if you print the board outline on paper it will be a perfect representation of what a board would look like so you can test dimensions that way too.

Yes, GPIO pins are used for controls using Adafruit's RetroGame. That's exactly what I'm doing. I've used half a pack of paper and my wife is about to kill me. Today is my only day off work, so I'm trying to make some decent progress before the end of the day. I'll post an update once I have something to show. Thanks for helping out.

othermod wrote:

Helder wrote:I'll have a look at it. Are you suing GPIO pins for the controls? also if you print the board outline on paper it will be a perfect representation of what a board would look like so you can test dimensions that way too.

Yes, GPIO pins are used for controls using Adafruit's RetroGame. That's exactly what I'm doing. I've used half a pack of paper and my wife is about to kill me. Today is my only day off work, so I'm trying to make some decent progress before the end of the day. I'll post an update once I have something to show. Thanks for helping out.

Do you mind posting the schematic? I see that the GND isn't connected to anything on the board and there is a chip off the board on the right. A schematic will make it easy to see what you're doing.

Helder wrote: Do you m ind posting the schematic? I see that the GND isn't connected to anything on the board and there is a chip off the board on the right. A schematic will make it easy to see what you're doing.

I would post it if I had done this properly. I made this as a board and not a schematic, half because I didn't know any better and half because I tried schematic mode and couldn't keep track of pin numbers in relation to location on the component. I am reading about the correct way to do this. Will it help everyone if I re-create this using schematic mode before going any further?

Also, the chip off to the side is the analog/digital converter for the joystick. I was going to include it on the board but I think I'll save that for later. The ground isn't connected because I'm researching ground planes per Kite's recommendation. I know I'm making rookie mistakes, I'm trying to cram a lot of info into my head at one time.

Well if you had a schematic with however you plan to wire things like you have on your site and to what GPIO pins I would wire everything up and add the ground plane (very easy to do).

After I did all that I'll post it here so you can see how it's done and edit it as you fit.

Helder wrote:Well if you had a schematic with however you plan to wire things like you have on your site and to what GPIO pins I would wire everything up and add the ground plane (very easy to do).

After I did all that I'll post it here so you can see how it's done and edit it as you fit.

I've spent the last few hours reading about schematics on Eagle. It's much simpler than I thought and I've got the new schematic about 90% complete. Once it's complete I'll add the outline back in and move the components around. I didn't realize it would be as easy as it is. I'll get back on it after work tomorrow, and I should be posting the schematic tomorrow night.

I can't wait till this comes to fruition. I've been needing a handheld to play my games on and figured I could sync saves to dropbox and have my little pi console I built use the same so I can continue on the TV.

I still stand my my comment on othermod that you should make sure the USB and HDMI are exposed so one could build a little docking station to drop this in to charge and play on the TV.

Okay I think everything is wired properly. I'm still making changes to GPIO pin assignment, but that won't affect the layout, only the routing.

All the Eagle files are in my Google Drive
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

Schematic

PCB