sudomod

Took awhile to finish due to lack of time but the hardware part is done. I completed assembly of my GEM and I like the board.
Board tinned. Case prepped. The plastic was softer than I expected. Flush cutters did the whole job. I did end up needing to trim the side walls on the back piece as well later. First batch of soldering done. Thank goodness for all the test pads on the back. Out of 40 pins I had to redo 8. Screen in. Test boot. All closed. Tight fit but I removed nothing from the zerow. I used a small 350 battery. Edit:
Software was very easy to setup. Writing all the WiFi info in ahead of time like the wiki suggested meant I never even needed to plug in a keyboard. I am damn impressed with the pre configured image. This was a fun project.

Nice work. Did you remove the usb and hdmi ports?

Great clean build!

Silly question but I couldn't figure out where the test pads for about a dozen points were. I have seen the diagram but for example, for LCD DC, it's point J but uh where is the partner pad? I don't see it anywhere on the PCB. Same with the other LCD, also BATT MON, TXD, RXD, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

Robochris wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:57 am

Nice work. Did you remove the usb and hdmi ports?

Nope. I removed nothing.

sygyzy wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 11, 2019 11:07 am

Great clean build!

Silly question but I couldn't figure out where the test pads for about a dozen points were. I have seen the diagram but for example, for LCD DC, it's point J but uh where is the partner pad? I don't see it anywhere on the PCB. Same with the other LCD, also BATT MON, TXD, RXD, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

J is pin 13 on the pi header. https://github.com/kiteretro/Circuit-Ge ... it-Gem-FAQ So you touch the test pads and pins on the corresponding header on the other side. It’s rather awkward but invaluable.

Hi, I understand that J = 13 but where is LCD DC?

sygyzy wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 12, 2019 2:49 am

Hi, I understand that J = 13 but where is LCD DC?

They are alphabetical ordered vertically, so follow the test points down. J is to the bottom left of the [K] logo on the front, under 'I' and above 'L'

UltraPunch wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 08, 2020 6:22 pm

This is probably a dumb question, however; What is the point of WiFi for these?

SSH games in, download game art, software updates, etc.

If you plan on setting it and forgetting it, there isn't much of a need once its all loaded. But for $5 more, I'd still go wifi. Like you said, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.