Handheld Emulator Help/Progress Thread

[llamalover]

I'm looking to build a handheld emulator using the RaspberryPi, I got one for christmas!

Where would I start with this? I have 0 experience with any projects like this but I've done a bit of research, I'll need:

6 buttons on the right, used for the X, Square, Circle and Triangle buttons for PS1.
The bottom 2 will be A and B and the other 4 will be the C buttons for N64
All 6 will be used for Arcade machine games (using MAME)
A and B will be used for gameboy, ah, you get the idea.

I'll need Start and Select for Gameboy Advance and PS1 and others.

I'll need a D-Pad for most things

I'll need 2 analog sticks, for PS1 and 1 for N64, also used for arcade games

I'll need 2 triggers on the left and 2 on the right, also 1 in the middle for N64, PS1 etc.

I'll need some buttons on the back for stuff like 'Insert Coin' and 'P1 Start' and all the other stuff for arcade games (I don't really need those, they'd just be cool for extra stuff like rewind and pause and fast forward and save, load states and other extra emulator stuff!)

I like the feel of a PSP so it would be good for it to be quite thin, with a screen in the middle and controls on each side.

I also need to make an OS that just has a basic menu to select the console to emulate and the game to play, I have NO idea how to set it up, how do I get the emulators to just launch full screen after selecting the game? I won't change the options much, just once ,so I don't want the GUIs to be there on the emulators.

Where do I start? Please can you link me some products to buy (buttons, rechargable battery, screen, case) and some tuts on how to make the OS. I'm looking for compatible with popular emulators like VisualBoyAdvance and Project64 etc.

I forgot about speakers

I don't mean to ask for a ton, please just point me in the right direction or give me whatever advice you can be bothered to give, sorry if this is in the wrong section, I always suck at that.

Thanks in advance!!!!!
I'm looking forward to getting started with this!!!!!

[llamalover]

Can nobody help with this? I only need a place to start, like a few instructables links or forum links with tuts or ideas, anyone? Please?

[DirkS]

Can nobody help with this? I only need a place to start, like a few instructables links or forum links with tuts or ideas, anyone? Please?

Give it some time! I'm sure you'll get some responses over the next day or so...

gr.
Dirk.

[LemmeFatale]

Software-wise, you might want to hop on over to the Gaming section of the forum, and look up stuff like Chameleon (this may serve your needs, OS-wise - there's no sense in re-inventing the wheel, right? ), RetroPie, and welshy's excellent guide to the current state of emulation on the Raspberry Pi (which is stickied at the top of that area of the forum). Some folks have posted projects where they've created handheld devices, or adapted existing controllers to other purposes (which may be a good bet for the controls for your handheld), too - take a look around.

Hardware-wise, I would suggest that you might need to think about compromising a little bit on how many/what controls you're including, since, as you say, you're aiming for it to be quite thin. Remember: Sometimes, less is more.

For example, why have an extra trigger in the middle for N64 emulation (though, to be honest, that's not even super-fantastic on hardware more powerful than the Raspberry Pi, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too much, there), when you could just repurpose one of the four shoulder-buttons you mention requiring for the likes of the PSX?

The same goes for the six face-buttons and their usage for MAME (you could get away with having four face-buttons, and using the shoulder-buttons for any games that need more beyond that), as well as the Insert Coin and P1 Start buttons - typically on emulation-focussed handhelds (i.e., ones specifically designed for that purpose - like the GP2X, Wiz, Dingoo, Caanoo, Pandora, GCW Zero, and so on), you would just map those to Start and Select.

Perhaps take a look at the above-mentioned purpose-built emulation-centric handhelds and figure out what you would keep and what you would change? It might be a worthwhile starting point, controls-wise.

Anyway, I hope that this post is useful to you in some way. I wish you the best of luck with this project, and look forward to seeing your progress.

[llamalover]

I've picked retropie for my os, I think I'm gonna take apart my old psp to see if I can use the screen or battery, I don't want to buy another if I have a perfectly good one sitting around not being used

This thread is officially changed to a progress keeping kinda thread, so I can post any changes I make or whatever, assuming you're interested... :/

To do list:

1. Figure out how to set up RetroPi
2. Set up RetroPi and get it working with a USB keyboard + mouse
3. Take apart old electronics to find stuff of use (screen, speakers, rechargable battery, charger)
4. Buy anything I couldn't salvage (buttons, whatever I need to use the buttons, a kind of button -> USB input if you will )
5. Make a few prototypes in blender to get all the measurements
6. Cut the project box in the suitable places
7. Glue down the raspberry pie
8. Stick everything in place
9. ???
10. profit

I don't think I missed anything, I'll be posting pictures and links of whatever I find and each step I do, just in case anyone's interested, it may even serve to help anyone who's thinking of doing a similar project.

Anyways, time to get RetroPi setup!

[llamalover]

I've downloaded Raspbian installer from http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianInstaller and put it on a formatted 8GB SD card


ok, turns out according to the Raspberry Pi quick start guide I need a few extra things, like A POWER SUPPLY, derp :3
Anyways, I'm gonna go out to currys or PC world to get a VGA -> HDMI adapter and a 5V, 700mA regulated power supply with a micro-USB connector.
At least I think currys/pc world will have them...


My Raspberry Pi with my 8GB SD card and the quick start guide, which showed me my obvious error of forgetting to buy a power supply :/

And yes, it may be upside-down, but never mind...