A/B button placement seems a bit low

[hrangan]

Hey rodot.

I really like this project, and can't wait for it to ship. I'll be be going through your github repo in the meantime. Old school tech's always been a bit of a thing of mine.

I was curious about the AB button placement. I've not been able to use it like you have, but it looks like swapping positions with the speaker would make it easier to handle. Was there any particular reason you chose that position?

[rodot]

Welcome on the forum!
The position of the A & B buttons is the symmetric of the directional buttons. It would be odd if they were at a different heights, wouldn't it?
If you switch the speaker and the A & B buttons, your thumb will cover the speaker and lower the volume and sound "quality".
It's not meant to be hold like a Game Boy, because Gamebuino is way smaller. Even if you switch the buttons and the speaker, the buttons will still be to low to be held it like a Game Boy. It's meant to be held kinda like a smartphone. Well, you can see how I hold it in the videos.
Me and my friends/beta-testers played with it for hours, and ergonomics are okay
Does that answer you question?

[adekto]

the device is very small but you can easly add handles or grips
wich u can easly 3Dprint/cnc to your specific specs or hand craft out of wood or somthing,
and simple replace the back cover with that

proof of concept:

[Tobi]

I know this little black buttons (Arrows + A B C buttons) from the DIY Gamer Kit. I think it is very small and uncomfortable to push, especially for people with bigger fingers

It should be nicer, if there would be real arrow buttons. It's a GAMEbuino

[rodot]

There is no standard/cheap solution for arrow buttons. But all buttons will have a stem and a cap (with custom color!), and you are free to remove the cap to 3D print your own arrow buttons (I can't do that because 3D printing is slow, expensive, not reliable and doesn't look good. It's not suited for mass production)
I have to check ergonomics with the new acrylic case and buttons, but it should be alright.

Here is the datasheet of the buttons Gamebuino will (probably) have : http://www.alps.com/products/WebObjects/catalog.woa/E/HTML/Tact/SnapIn/SKHH/SKHHCWA010.html
You can find the buttons location/spacing on the layout dxf : http://gamebuino.com/wiki/index.php?title=hardware

[adekto]

there very nice tectile buttons (click click) so nice to have
there no other low cost solutions maybe the ruber dome stuff (tv remote) but those are not as good imo

[erico]

I think the button´s position is fine. You can check by holding a credit card.
Its position gets bad if console size is bigger. My caanoo has upper side buttons and it fits nice for its size.

I´m working on an android game and if on a galaxy s2 size, touch buttons are better on the lower part, if on a note II, better on the upper size. I just throw them kind of in the lower middle and is ok

[Skyrunner65]

Actually, I have a question:
Does the case have good ventilation?

[adekto]

Actually, I have a question:
Does the case have good ventilation?

ventelation for what? the procesor that hardly heats up? its runing under 5v its be fine also the batery is like open if u havent looked at the dxf files

[hrangan]

Sorry for taking so long to reply on this,

I have huge hands, and the current configuration just looks like trouble. I'm gonna have a go rotating the screen 180 degrees and going with that. It'll require a bit of code wrangling, and a slight learning curve, but again, I have huge hands.

And tbh, I'm looking forward to the cognitive challenge of using this new console mapping