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制造商零件编号 SC0022
SBC 1.2GHZ 4 CORE 1GB RAM
Raspberry Pi
Portable Retropie Gaming System
2016-12-27 | By Joshua Bishop
I've wanted to setup a Retropie gaming station for a year or two now, but never got around to it. But this was the perfect opportunity to not only create a gaming station but to make it fully portable. The project ended up being three distinct steps - 1) getting Retropie up and working on the Raspberry Pi (something I think took me longer than it should have) 2) getting the electronics fully functional while being portable and 3) creating an enclosure of sorts.
Getting the Retropie up and running is a matter of doing a lot of Googling. I also struggled for a ridiculously long time thinking that the second controller wasn't working, when in reality, I just had no idea how to control the game. Also, the overwhelming amount of information out there makes it difficult to sift through what is applicable and what is not. My only piece of advice on this is that everything should work "out of the box" without changing any code. If you're reading about changing code from the beginning, then something went wrong. That being said, I would still consider myself far from being an expert.
The electronics were also very simple. Despite the specifications for the screen stating that it would work at 5V, I found that the screen flicked terribly at 5V, which is why I got an adapter to bump it up to 9V. It also converted the USB plug into a standard 2.1mm barrel plug, an added bonus. I'm still struggling with issues on startup, I believe there is an inrush current problem that causes the portable battery to crash and I have to reset everything. I have this as an area for improvement. It could be as simple as switching regulators. As it works fine once it's going and is only inconvenient, it hasn't been a high priority to fix.
The enclosure was interesting as I enjoy, though am not very good at, woodworking. Planning and making it with my wife, we decided on the current design to make it as small and protected as reasonably possible while still allowing flexibility in having different controllers and accessing the internals fairly easily. The back panel slides out to access the battery, Pi, and the screen driver. We also used some polymorph to secure an audio out jack, so it can be plugged into headphones or speakers as needed. The box is a bit sloppy as we were making decisions as we were going on and there are some definite weak points, but overall, it's solid enough for relatively gentle use.
Areas for improvement:
- Originally, the idea was to bring out the USB ports so that it would be very simple to switch between controllers. This was not done as the space under the screen was already crammed with electronics.
- Sometimes, when the screen is turned on, it causes the Anker to turn off, so I'll have to flip it off and on a couple of times before it works. Putting the switch between the voltage regulator and the display significantly increases the chance of it not crashing the Anker, but it still happens more than I'd like. I need to figure out how to stop the inrush current from causing problems.
- While I love the tactile feel of flipping toggle switches, I would rather use some of the APEM ON-OFF push button switches I've played with in the past. As it is, the toggle switches jut above the enclosure and I worry about catching them on things. Also, I should have labelled the switches, as I have already forgotten which switch turns on the display and which switch turns on the Raspberry Pi.
- Should've bought wireless controllers. Then I wouldn't have had to deal with the cord mess.
- The box joints on the enclosure are weak but they were quick. If I were to do it again, I'd like to make an enclosure I'm both proud of and that will withstand the abuses of my children.
- The Velcro I used to attach the screen to the stands are too big, it puts a lot of pressure on the screen when I'm trying to take it off.
- I was originally planning on putting on some sort of acrylic screen protector but so far I don't regret not doing it. So, let's put this as a "Potential area of improvement"
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