microcat - The ultimative ARM based handheld game console

[DarkestEx]

PLA is more sensitive to heat than ABS by the way.

Well we only have two options, Laser cut something or print PLA.
ABS is probably not an option and laser cut is not planned (the company did not reply back so I need to find another).

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Some companies tend to take several weeks to reply to anything, for some reasons. I got this experience when contacting Casio support for a PRIZM bug report.

[gameblabla]

A screen size of 128x128 with a depth of 8-16...
Is this me or the specs are very similar to the Pico-8 ?
Deliberate or simply a coincidence ?
Hmmm...

[DarkestEx]

A screen size of 128x128 with a depth of 8-16...
Is this me or the specs are very similar to the Pico-8 ?
Deliberate or simply a coincidence ?
Hmmm...

Well it was simply a coincidence. Thereoretically it is absolutely possible to run Lua on it, just to note that.
If somebody is interested porting the Pico-8 API, these games would run on actual hardware

Some companies tend to take several weeks to reply to anything, for some reasons. I got this experience when contacting Casio support for a PRIZM bug report.

Ok, I will give them some more time, but they didn't answered for over 1 month now.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

128x128 reminds me a bit of the Game Boy. In any case, would the buttons be placed on each side of the screen? Because that could allow the console to be rather compact.

And if anyone is really concerned about the 1:1 aspect ratio, then he can always simulate a dual-screen console and have 1 half of the screen for gameplay area and the 2nd half for the menu and HUD or mission briefings.

[DarkestEx]

128x128 reminds me a bit of the Game Boy. In any case, would the buttons be placed on each side of the screen? Because that could allow the console to be rather compact.

And if anyone is really concerned about the 1:1 aspect ratio, then he can always simulate a dual-screen console and have 1 half of the screen for gameplay area and the 2nd half for the menu and HUD or mission briefings.

Yes buttons will be placed right and left from the screen. The console will be rectangular.

Also yes one can use these areas of the screen differently.
Apart from that the new screen size is really an improve over the old one.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

I don't know if I asked this before, but among the parts that you have gotten so far, how much do they cost in total? Can you get them in large numbers for cheaper per pieces? (eg 1 for $3, 5 for $10, 80 for $100, 1200 for $1000)?

[DarkestEx]

I don't know if I asked this before, but among the parts that you have gotten so far, how much do they cost in total? Can you get them in large numbers for cheaper per pieces? (eg 1 for $3, 5 for $10, 80 for $100, 1200 for $1000)?

Following total part costs are per unit and come right out of my spreadsheet. They might change in the future.

38,43 € at 50 units sold total
34,49 € at 100 units sold total
30,32 € at 500 units sold total

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Every part as in every single thing that the console will contain once finished, or just every part as in the ones you have bought so far? I forgot if you had bought every single part already (at least for the current planned product revision).

[DarkestEx]

Every part as in every single thing that the console will contain once finished, or just every part as in the ones you have bought so far? I forgot if you had bought every single part already (at least for the current planned product revision).

Well these prices relate to the total price of all parts that we planned in so far, when we buy them after we hopefully got funded.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Oh ok, thanks for clarifying. Good luck with the funding (although that shouldn't be now since people will probably wait until there's a working prototype on Youtube. One step at a time)

Also regardless of if you decide to make this console non-profit or not, you should probably not make that a permanent agreement nor really make the console non-profit. You should at least try to make the bare minimum just in case you ever hit a roadblock such as part price increases or building issues. That would be better so that you don't actually lose money either.

[DarkestEx]

Oh ok, thanks for clarifying. Good luck with the funding (although that shouldn't be now since people will probably wait until there's a working prototype on Youtube. One step at a time)

Also regardless of if you decide to make this console non-profit or not, you should probably not make that a permanent agreement nor really make the console non-profit. You should at least try to make the bare minimum just in case you ever hit a roadblock such as part price increases or building issues. That would be better so that you don't actually lose money either.

Well we absolutely plan making this non-profit, or atleast with very little profit (we have a small money buffer in case it anything costs more than expected). In the unlikely case that everything goes alright without any extra costs, we get a very small amount of profit (under 100 euro currently).

Also, I am working on the serial protocol between the WiFi processor and the main core ARM. They will be using async serial at up to 128KB/s.
This is the preliminary protocol I came up with. What do you think?

EDIT: You can always find the latest version of the protocol here: http://docs.ninjabyte.eu/microcat/ClawWire.php

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Yeah a money buffer is what I meant. I see so many non-profit organizations around here dying because they can no longer afford to operate.

And by serial do you mean like on the TI-Nspire or old serial ports that computers used to have? Or is it a different protocol? I am confused since you mention WiFi.

[DarkestEx]

Yeah a money buffer is what I meant. I see so many non-profit organizations around here dying because they can no longer afford to operate.

And by serial do you mean like on the TI-Nspire or old serial ports that computers used to have? Or is it a different protocol? I am confused since you mention WiFi.

With serial I mean like Arduino like serial so calles UART serial.
It is the interface between the WiFi chip and the main processor. It is used for firmware upgrading the WiFi chip and for any internet activity.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Oh I see now. Thanks for the info. Can't wait for more prigress.