Wii U Gamepad zero/gamepi project thread

[Jman11]

So i noticed that on the gamepad there is a NFC reader that is normally used with Amiibos

I was thinking of an idea where you can setup some NFC cards. And when u want to play a certain game you can scan the card and itll auto startup the game.

Not sure how exactly it worked but my line of thinking makes sense to me

[Fleder]

Or better yet when I eventually get round to getting one, having one in hand will be much easier to measure with a multimeter.. there are some other awkward things such as the datasheet says it needs -7V and +15V! As well as some other strange pins.. so having a driver board is the easiest way to reverse engineer it..

I will take a look if i can squeeze another expense out of my wallet and order 2.
Good you are (still) located in the EU

But the shipping times are not great if i have to order from Aliexpress.
Just let me know if this is okay, then i will order it and in about 5 weeks you would hold it in your hands.

Edit: Do you think you could get the Touch panel working, too?

[Racerboy]

Edit: Do you think you could get the Touch panel working, too?

I was wondering about this too, if anyone could modify RetroPie or EmulationStation to accept touchscreen inputs. You could even still use the Wii U Gamepad' Stylus that it has a holder for. Although I think for all the trouble it would be to get the touchscreen to work, I'm not sure it would be very useful in practice, in fact I can only think that it would be used for menu navigation. For the sake of simplicity and size of the controller board I think it'd be best without.

Which display do you think you're going to get?

Also, how exactly are we planning on having the momentary Power Switch on the Gamepad shutdown the console completely? I mean, the PowerBoost would still be on...

[lotus1994]

I am planning to build out a Wii U controller as well. Space is at a premium inside this thing for sure. I am going to attempt to keep the stock buttons, sticks, dpad and triggers by using FPC sticks and cable mounts. everything is already there to use and I realize it takes up precious space, but I figure to give it a try first. Due to space I might use the Zero but I have some ideas and I think I can fit a stripped down Pi 2/3 inside. We'll see what happens. The route I take with that will also determine battery used, whether it is the 2500mah flat lipo or a 4400 cylindrical. I will have all of my parts for the weekend so I will have a better idea soon of which way I am going to go with this.

I also bought a screen, the 6.2" TM062RDH03 60-pin with controller board. it is not a direct fit as the bezel is a little large, width-wise, by about 1/4 inch, so there is some trimming necessary inside the case. It was cheap enough to try out and from what the guy posted about it who built one already, he said he did not modify anything and just plugged it into 5V and it works. I bought a 5v step up to 12v module just in case, but if someone here knows how to modify the regulator, or makes a board for the screen, that would be awesome.

So pictures are OK, as good as my phone seems to want to take, but if you need numbers or other pictures, let me know and I will break out the real camera (needs a charge, so cell pics is all I got for now).

[Racerboy]

Anyone have any idea where to get connectors for those tiny blue flex cables that the buttons use?

[lotus1994]

Adafruit has the FPC Sticks. They are about 2 inches long so not horrible in size.
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1325

I bought the 10-pin ribbon connector from Amazon since I had some GC to burn. I am sure they are found cheaper elsewhere, I just didn't bother to look.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EQ ... UTF8&psc=1

the guy who did this and said to never do it again said they were 10 pin ribbon cable but he got 12 pin connectors which made it more difficult for him. I think with the correct parts, it will be much easier.

For the bottom buttons (control and power) I plan to just use 2 tactile buttons.

[Racerboy]

Adafruit has the FPC Sticks. They are about 2 inches long so not horrible in size.
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1325

I bought the 10-pin ribbon connector from Amazon since I had some GC to burn. I am sure they are found cheaper elsewhere, I just didn't bother to look.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EQ ... UTF8&psc=1

the guy who did this and said to never do it again said they were 10 pin ribbon cable but he got 12 pin connectors which made it more difficult for him. I think with the correct parts, it will be much easier.

For the bottom buttons (control and power) I plan to just use 2 tactile buttons.

Sweet! Let me know if they fit (have the right pitch, etc) and I'll order some too.

And I was wondering more along the lines of how we hook up those bottom buttons to the Pi. Since you can't really have a momentary button turn off the Powerboost without another circuit, if you go with a graceful shutdown through the pi then the battery will still be leaking power through the Powerboost (LED and such, which I guess you could cut off).

[lotus1994]

The cables have those ears on the sides, which I will have to remove to fit in the connector. The Wii had the flip up style while the ones I got are the push/pull kind. I should be able to get something connected up this weekend when I have some time to put into this.

I probably will not use the bottom button for power but will put a switch somewhere else for that. I figure to use the bottom buttons for ESC and maybe something else that would be handy.

[lotus1994]

Just can't leave well enough alone, I had to go play with all of my toys that came today for this project. I ended up soldering the connectors to the board, just to hold it in place, I did not solder each point yet. Had a migraine all day and trying to focus on such small stuff made me start to feel crappy again. And I need all of my faculties for soldering that small. I am not great at soldering and hope I can even do it! But I got them on the boards, trimmed the ears off the ribbons and test fit everything. Definitely no time tomorrow or Friday, but I should have some time over the long weekend to make some progress.

[Racerboy]

Yeah, the Home button could be used for ESC, Power button could be used for a soft shutdown, and a power switch somewhere else could be used as a hard shutoff to cut the battery (EN pin on the powerboost). At least that's my plan anyway.

Looks good! Where did you get those boards?