project bobcat

[adekto]

hi guy’s i have been thinking about improvements for the gamebuino platform
this is just all in concept and will probably not be made

here’s version 0.2 of what i call project bobcat:
128x64 white oled display 0.96inch
atmega644A-PU with 4kB ram and 64kB program memory
real time clock ic + cell battery

bobcatv01.png (4.59 KiB) Viewed 8086 times

the red rectangle is where a small fresnel lens would be to increase screen readability

the rest of the components would stay the same unless people want more buttons or a bigger battery

currently the problem with this is the chip which is a none standard in arduino terms

[Matrix828]

I like this idea!
Wouldn't it be easier to run the RTC off the battery?
If it wont run off 3.7-4.2V then putting a diode to lower the voltage would work.
Chip w/ arduino bootloader
"Sanguino" support for that Atmega644

I think a more powerful surface mount chip would be more appealing in terms of power usage and size though.

EDIT: The chip used in the MEGA is better than the one you've suggested, and is surface mount. (That one, or the 2560 are both good.)

[rodot]

EDIT: The chip used in the MEGA is better than the one you've suggested, and is surface mount. (That one, or the 2560 are both good.)

Yep, it's way better, plus it's officially supported.

the red rectangle is where a small fresnel lens would be to increase screen readability

I would rather directly use a larger screen.

That's the kind of hardware I think I would use if I would make a Gamebuino Mega, but it's gonna be pretty expensive, probably > 80€.

[adekto]

yes i know about the mega but it would be to expensive these parts are far lower priced and are basically half the mega performance and prices ranging around 40 euro's
im also presenting the dip version since it would be easier for people to build it if they want

on the display side again i went for cheaper part and solving it with a lens. oled display's larger than 1.3" go up in price a bit to much for my taste
alternatively for large display is the ST7565 lcd which might be a better thing for the gb mega keeping the design of monochrome lcd display's

[rodot]

I think the atmega328p is okay for the regular version of the Gamebuino, there is no need to update to 644 (which isn't officially arduino supported and more expensive). If you really need plenty of RAM then directly go for the atmega2560, I don't think the 644 is a step that worth it. Another way to go could be the cortex M0 or M3 but it's a completely different architecture, different software, different bootloader... different project.
For the screen of a virtual gamebuino Mega a 1.3" 128*64 monochrome amoled sounds like a good compromise: monochrome so it keeps the spirit (and the library/games compatibility) of the original Gamebuino, but amoled so there is no persistence and it looks good. Anyway, the Gamebuino Mega is not for this week, I haven't a chance to work on the extension modules yet. I should quit my school and my job to have more time for Gamebuino

[Matrix828]

I'm also in favour of a bigger screen vs a lens.

Gamebuino > school

[adekto]

i wil brainstorm a bit more on this then

[DFX2KX]

Yeah, I'd pondered what the GB would be like with an improved screen. The 5110 hurts my eyes to look at for too long.

As for power. If I where going to try and make a console along the same veins as the Gamebuino, I'd probably want to go color just for possibilities' sake, but that's just me. It is an interesting Idea, though.

[rodot]

Yeah, why not for a color screen after all. We shall see ^^

[TheTurnipKing]

I think a simple answer is "price". There aren't many displays with the same sort of low cost and ubiquity as a 5110 screen. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.