Gamebuino (Arduino-based portable game console)

b/Consoles publicado por u/Dream of Omnimaga February 16, 2015, 03:02:05 AM

Gamebuino (Arduino-based portable game console)

I found this through a Cemetech topic by DarkestEx:

http://gamebuino.com/

It's a small handheld game console based on Arduino with specs similar to calcs for people who like old school games and it supports sound. I don't know how much RAM it has, but apparently it supports SD cards.

I wonder if anybody here has one or plan to get one and how good is it?

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u/Yuki February 16, 2015, 03:17:36 AM

Well, that looks pretty cool.

u/CKH4 February 16, 2015, 03:32:32 AM

Its a bit expensive for me, 3ds and raspi 2 before that on my list.

u/Duke "Tape" Eiyeron February 16, 2015, 07:40:42 AM

86*48? THat's small, why didn't they put a 128*64 screen? Some Nokia had one like that. It makes a pretty 1KB buffer.

u/Keoni29 February 16, 2015, 10:18:29 PM

It has 2k of ram. Some of it is probably used by the gamebuino's bootloader, but it might free it up after booting up a game.

Specs for the microcontroller can be found here: http://www.atmel.com/devices/atmega328.aspx

QuoteThe high-performance Atmel 8-bit AVR RISC-based microcontroller combines 32KB ISP flash memory with read-while-write capabilities, 1KB EEPROM, 2KB SRAM, (...)

u/Dream of Omnimaga February 17, 2015, 12:19:32 AM

Wow 2 KB isn't a lot. It seems like they really wanted to go old school. I hope game do not have to be loaded entirely in RAM in order to run like with the 84+.

Also I would probably go with the RPi2 if I was to choose between this and that but I don't know where to buy it that doesn't charge more than the official retail price and actually ships in Canada. The official site doesn't even seem to sell it.

The old school factor for this smaller console is attractive, though

u/CKH4 February 17, 2015, 03:03:02 AM

http://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-2-model-b/ do any of these ship to Canada?

u/Dream of Omnimaga February 17, 2015, 05:07:07 AM

Ah thanks for the link. It appears that http://ca-en.alliedelec.com/raspberry-pi-raspberry-pi-2-model-b/70465426/ would work for me, although they're out of stock. MCM electronics does ship here as well. The retailers were not listed last time I checked IIRC.

Last Edit: February 17, 2015, 05:08:49 AM by DJ Omnimaga

u/CKH4 February 17, 2015, 02:44:10 PM

If you get one you should let us know how it works. I might get one in a couple of months.

u/DarkestEx May 11, 2015, 10:50:17 AM

From my experience with this little game handheld I can say that it is really quite nice.
I wrote, as DJ said, a post about a project I made for this device, which was a little music player (supports any format, but conversion to special format is needed through the tool I made, plays from SD).
It is quite powerful actually, regarding its screen and the fact that it has only 2K of RAM (it does grayscale, decodes music and even Wolvenstein-like 3D is possible. The only thing I dislike about it, is that the screen is not properly attached. My one has a little problem at times, because the rubber connector is too tight or loose and the LCD then begins to fail.

u/Dream of Omnimaga May 14, 2015, 04:52:04 AM

Aw sorry to hear about the LCD.

That really sucks. As for the handheld RAM I guess it's ok if it only has 2 KB as long as programs and games don't need to be stored in RAM entirely like with early TI-83+ game shells and BASIC programs.

Also @JWinslow23 recently found CodeWalrus and joined. He happens to have released some Gamebuino games actually, including a port of his 2048 clone. They look quite nice and reminds me of calc games, aside from the smaller resolution.

u/DarkestEx May 14, 2015, 08:22:29 AM

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on May 14, 2015, 04:52:04 AM
Aw sorry to hear about the LCD. That really sucks. As for the handheld RAM I guess it's ok if it only has 2 KB as long as programs and games don't need to be stored in RAM entirely like with early TI-83+ game shells and BASIC programs.

Also @JWinslow23 recently found CodeWalrus and joined. He happens to have released some Gamebuino games actually, including a port of his 2048 clone. They look quite nice and reminds me of calc games, aside from the smaller resolution.

Yeah, but the LCD problem is only for my version. They are hand-assembled actually by the creator. I think, that I can fix the problem easily by unscrewing two screws just a bit.
Also, no programs are stored in RAM. That's completely impossible with the harvard architecture based platform. It only allows to execute code from the internal 32 KB flash. The bootloader actually reprograms the flash, everytime you choose a new game, and copies the game over. So the best thing would be some binary language or a assembly emulator. It would decrease the speed, but save the flash and make programming easier (maybe).

u/Dream of Omnimaga May 15, 2015, 07:17:12 AM

Oh, nice that they solved the issue then. Sometimes, hand-assembled stuff or stuff that isn't produced by some big company hiring a big factory to do it can have this happening. For example, with Pier Solar's 3rd reprint for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the cartridge will not boot properly on the original console model, so you have to press reset on it. Also, hand-assembled products can result into massive delays if the seller gets many pre-orders. >.< (I had to wait almost two years for my copy of Pier Solar)

By the way, I assume that there is no external storage, right? Just wondering, since I am curious if a port of one of my RPGs would fit on it.

u/Unicorn May 15, 2015, 07:33:57 AM

Dang, I want one of those. Well, gotta start saving again!

Dj, it says you usea micro SD card to store the games. I assume if you have a 32gb card you could port one?