[HN Gopher] Arduboy
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Arduboy
Author : tosh
Score : 176 points
Date : 2022-02-12 13:01 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.arduboy.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.arduboy.com)
| _1tan wrote:
| USB-C please :)
| overeater wrote:
| Yes, why use the old micro-usb port? Now I would need a
| separate cable just to charge this.
| notRobot wrote:
| Looks really cool! Not sure how often I'll use it, but I ordered
| one anyway :)
| jerkstate wrote:
| It looks like there are some unused pins, some ADCs, a uart, and
| i2c unused; are these (plus +v and gnd) exposed as an accessible
| header/breakout?
| ivoras wrote:
| Seems similar to what CircuitMess is making
| (https://circuitmess.com/), only they're targeting kids and STEM
| education.
| bateskecom wrote:
| Hello! I'm the creator of the Arduboy, thanks for sharing! This
| is the new Arduboy FX with over 200 games all made by other
| members of the community all free and open source. If you don't
| want to buy, there are lots of instructions of how to make your
| own DIY version too. If you have the original Arduboy you can
| upgrade using a mod chip. (Backordered too - thanks chip
| shortage)
|
| Would like to make a new console using the RP2040 and a larger
| color screen. Also interested in music/synth. Happy to answer any
| questions you have, thanks again! AMA!
| Lerc wrote:
| What sort of display interface would you go for if you did the
| rp2040 thing? SPI doesn't really go fast enough. MIPI DSI is
| tricky. Are there any panels that do the simplicity of VGA
| style R,G,B,H,V (which the rp2040 has already shown aptitude at
| handling)
| jeofken wrote:
| I can not buy via PayPal - can pay with normal credit card
| number input (maybe Stripe?), SEPA, cryptocurrency, or maybe a
| bank transfer in USD with Transferwise or Revolut. Please let
| me know if any such payment method would be possible to use for
| an order :-) Or I'll take you out skiing and treat you to
| dinner if you come to Scandinavia
| mattl wrote:
| Hey, I backed the original model and just preordered the new
| one. Super cool device.
| bateskecom wrote:
| Huzzah! Thanks! Without you and others like you none of this
| would be possible!
| timbit42 wrote:
| How about describing what it is. It sounds like an arduous boy,
| which would be a weird thing to post on HN.
| krisoft wrote:
| The linked page describes it very clearly. The largest fonts
| on the page say: "8-bit Gaming In Your Wallet" and next to
| this sentence there is a picture of a credit card sized
| gaming console.
|
| Just in case you are genuinely curious about the name: it is
| evocative of the word "arduino", the popular microcontroller
| based dev-board and "gameboy" the small gaming console.
|
| Why would a hacker care about this? have you ever wanted to
| fully understand the full stack you are developing for? It's
| most often hopeless. Even if you work only on open source
| operating systems, you won't be able to get the documentation
| of all the chips in your system. Here you can read all the
| datasheets, and all the code which happens between someone
| pressing a button and a pixel appearing on the screen. What
| rexreed wrote:
| I thought the name implied Arduino Gameboy and sure enough
| that's what it is! Seems like a good intuitive name.
| iampims wrote:
| Please consider adding another means of payment besides PayPal.
| I'd buy this in an instant if I could use Stripe/Apple
| Pay/Anything but Paypal.
| alexk307 wrote:
| Hey there, great job! I've been messing with Arduino and Rpi's
| for years, but just recently started trying to go lower level
| with some Atmega AVR's, while learning the fundamentals of
| circuit design. Your project is almost exactly what I want to
| do - build a functional PCB from scratch that does...something
| useful. Any learning materials you'd suggest?
| bateskecom wrote:
| Awesome to hear! These are a bunch of resources, tons of
| info. If you aren't finding what you need use the search or
| start a new topic. Have fun! DIY Gallery:
| https://community.arduboy.com/c/arduboy/homemade/43 DIY
| Guide: https://community.arduboy.com/t/12-arduboy-compatible-
| system... Schematic:
| https://community.arduboy.com/t/production-arduboy-
| schematic... Board-Package:
| https://github.com/MrBlinky/Arduboy-homemade-package
| manaskarekar wrote:
| Looks cool, does this require you to power cycle the device
| when you want to quit a game?
| bateskecom wrote:
| Thanks! The menu is also accessible via software with a
| button combo. Hold up and down at the same time for 3 seconds
| and the Arduboy FX will reset to the boot menu. More info
| about how it works here: https://www.arduboy.com/quick-start
| manaskarekar wrote:
| Thanks. I was looking at a quick youtube review and it
| seems they hadn't figured this out yet.
| vanderZwan wrote:
| Are you aware that all featured game blog entries feature Lorem
| Ipsum text?
|
| https://www.arduboy.com/blog
| bateskecom wrote:
| Hehe, yes blog needs fixing. Thanks for reminder that some
| people try to read it. I switched to squarespace (somewhat)
| recently and haven't got around to it updating. Latest
| activity is at https://community.arduboy.com/
| dang wrote:
| Past related threads:
|
| _Arduboy - A game system the size of a credit card_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13058148 - Nov 2016 (94
| comments)
|
| _Arduboy - Open Source Card-Sized Gaming Board_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12443635 - Sept 2016 (25
| comments)
|
| _Arduboy_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11467731 -
| April 2016 (1 comment)
|
| _Arduboy: The Interactive Digital Entertainment Card_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8127022 - Aug 2014 (2
| comments)
|
| _Arduboy: The Interactive Digital Business Card_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7325486 - March 2014 (23
| comments)
| choletentent wrote:
| Amazing project. Poor marketing. Authors should put in huge bold
| letters: no in app purchase, no subscriptions, no spying on you,
| just pure joy of gaming.
| bateskecom wrote:
| Nice tip thanks :) I added it to the buy-now page:
| https://www.arduboy.com/buy-now
| mousetree wrote:
| I found the marketing to be very concise. Small device, games
| preloaded, make your own games. While the points you make may
| be important to you, I don't think they're the key selling
| points of such a device.
| Gigachad wrote:
| It's not really about playing games. The project seems to
| target people who want to learn microcontroller programming
| with a fun interface. Sure you can load community games on but
| that seems a lot less fun than making your own since the
| display and microcontroller are so limited you aren't getting
| much on there.
| no_time wrote:
| My dream version is this exact form factor but capable of running
| games similar to pico-8 games. Something that has an MMU and can
| load binaries from external sources but does not necessarily run
| a full OS.
| hungryforcodes wrote:
| An ESP32 version anyone? :)
| roywiggins wrote:
| This is what the Odroid Go was, but it's been discontinued.
| There's an Arduboy firmware for it. I think there are still
| some other slightly less polished ESP32 handhelds around, but
| the Odroid Go was a great (and _cheap_ ) little thing.
|
| https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go/
|
| https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?t=42463
| vanderZwan wrote:
| I mean, there's still the Odroid Go Advance and the Odroid
| Go Super:
|
| https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go-advance-black-
| edit...
|
| https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go-super-clear-
| white/
| detaro wrote:
| ... which are Linux(?) handhelds with Ghz+ multicore ARM
| chips. Quite different.
| squarefoot wrote:
| > This is what the Odroid Go was
|
| I have one and it's a really nice piece of hardware that
| runs lots of games at native speed. Thanks to being an open
| platform, I'll probably turn it into some sort of WiFi
| terminal or else. For sure it won't collect dust in a
| drawer like many closed devices do when they become old.
| The Arduboy seems a nice little device, however at that
| price it is less appealing than say the Odroid Go Advance
| which has much powerful hardware but costs only $5 more. I
| wonder if they could axe the costs even further by not
| making the entire device but only a board with buttons,
| display and battery charging circuitry, which could host
| one of those cheap ATmega32u4 boards.
| city41 wrote:
| Sounds like the Gamebuino.
|
| https://gamebuino.com/
| 123pie123 wrote:
| thanks, looks good
| no_time wrote:
| Yep this is pretty close!
| bateskecom wrote:
| You and me both. There is already a lot out there similar
| running linux. Odroid go and other things running open dingux.
| Pico-8 as it stands needs a lot of horsepower as it's all lua
| scripts. I've talked to Lex about making a dedicated pico-8
| console he says it would be tough, you basically need fully PC
| hardware to be faithful to what the virtual console should be
| able to do. I'm certain a lot of carts could be cross compiled
| into binaries and run just fine though he wasn't excited about
| that approach.
| roywiggins wrote:
| There's a couple of pico-8 emulators that run on Dingux, the
| problems they have seem mostly due to incompatibilities
| rather than computing power
|
| https://github.com/Jakz/retro8
|
| https://0xcafed00d.itch.io/tac08-rg350
| emacsen wrote:
| Same, but tic-80 instead. :)
| ngcc_hk wrote:
| Interested but burnt too many times. Wait for the delivery and
| will buy one. I like the helping to programme it.
| spicybright wrote:
| They exist, you can buy them on amazon. I own a few from a few
| years ago.
|
| But I fully agree with you, 99% of kickstarter style projects
| are complete scams.
| unwind wrote:
| Uh? This is "ancient", like from 2015 and they state that they
| have more than 500 in stock.
|
| Should be easy to find reviews, videos etc to learn more.
|
| Really feels low-risk unless I'm missing something major.
| 6581 wrote:
| > they state that they have more than 500 in stock.
|
| It doesn't seem to be in stock, the product page says "Pre-
| Order Shipping Estimate: May 2022".
| bateskecom wrote:
| These are pre-orders being fulfilled by our contract
| manufacturer Seeed Studio. The order for 1,000 units is in
| and paid with them just waiting on delivery. We have been
| around for over 6 years and only had a handful of
| unsatisfied customers. Refunds are processed at any time so
| if you change your mind because this chip shortage is
| ridiculous, it's totally understood. Don't take my word for
| it though head over to https://community.arduboy.com/ and
| see for yourself!
| [deleted]
| fao_ wrote:
| Can't wait for the landfill to be filled with these in 10 years
| time... I genuinely do not understand the appeal, even as a
| former indie developer.
|
| I don't see why we need yet _another_ tiny gaming console that 's
| like the NES, except not. It has tiny buttons that look painful
| to use, it's credit card sized so you can barely hold the thing,
| it has an outdated usb port so it's not compatible with any of
| your devices, and a tiny screen that's going to shine in the
| sunlight.
|
| I wonder where all the copies of the OUYA are now. Or the PlayJam
| Gamestick[0] (Whose founders sold out, then pivoted to bespoke
| software, and their site is no longer online now). Or any of the
| other thousands of consoles and gaming devices like these, after
| 10 years when the actual hardware is outdated and about 5 other
| things that are exactly the same came out except with an OLED
| screen and other things that make it nicer.
|
| Despite raising 600k, the only place you can get the PlayJam
| Gamestick is on Ebay, for the shocking price of... 35 pounds.
| Because literally nobody wants one. It's value is zero, 10 years
| after the fact. The same for the OUYA (Which had more hype and is
| slightly cheaper now). The Caanoo, the GCW Zero, the GPD XD, etc.
| are all lying in the gutter. They either crashed when they tried
| to take off, or they crashed after 10 years.
|
| Now, don't get me wrong. I do understand the appeal of things
| like the Analogue Pocket -- it has both Homebrew appeal, and the
| possibility of playing _original, 1980s game carts_ , that is
| hardware accurate, along with homebrew. A developer making a game
| for this can know their game works on the original hardware, too!
| It's an alternative to emulators for time-tested and beloved
| hardware, so it has staying power.
|
| This, like it's predecessors, objectively doesn't have that. It
| seems like a waste of resources.
|
| [0]: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872297630/gamestick-
| the...
| Gigachad wrote:
| The impression I got from the project is that it isn't about
| just loading premade games on but its about giving you a fun
| and accessible development platform for microcontrollers. I
| don't think this will be obsolete in 10 years because
| microcontrollers will have mostly the same requirements.
| spicybright wrote:
| I mean, you're using a computer right now that's probably 10
| times the ecological impact of an arduboy once you toss it. And
| you're going to go through many of them.
|
| I own a few arduboys and I like making games for people and
| giving them the console itself as a desk toy. It's pretty nice
| to use all things considered, and I've gotten a lot of
| enjoyment out of it.
|
| It doesn't seem like a huge problem for someone to make this,
| even if other works exist close to it. Especially since it's
| barely going to effect your own life. Just don't buy it.
| fao_ wrote:
| > I mean, you're using a computer right now that's probably
| 10 times the ecological impact of an arduboy once you toss
| it. And you're going to go through many of them.
|
| I've gone through 3 or 4 computers in the last 20 years and I
| can sell the computer on to a retro enthusiast, and not only
| will they know what it is, but they will pay for it.
|
| But then, I've only ever bought Thinkpads, which more or less
| hold their appreciation value across time.
|
| Not to mention, it's also 10, maybe 100 times the utility, as
| well.
| birdyrooster wrote:
| The replacement rate for computers is slowing substantially
| but the production of throwaway fast-fashion tech doodads and
| gizmos is increasing YOY. Also, that whataboutism looks past
| the utility of the computer vs the arduboy. "It doesn't seem
| like a huge problem" but perhaps our consumption generally is
| a problem and this is but one symptom. "Just don't buy it."
| talks past the PC because they are looking at this as a
| societal issue.
| Underphil wrote:
| Anecdotal, but I still have and use my GPD XD regularly. It's
| better than 99% of 'retro' handhelds out there and it holds
| together well. There's a guy out there updating it to a recent
| Android version too.
|
| Not all of us succumb to the latest flavour of the month, and
| wasteful people are naturally wasteful regardless. If it's not
| this, it'll just be something else.
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(page generated 2022-02-13 23:00 UTC)