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Comment by bateskecom | Hacker News Reader

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!

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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.

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)

Specifically the ST7735, 128x128 color LCD (available in IPS too) using SPI, it goes plenty enough. Should be able to max out the display, perhaps not at full color depth, but good enough. Still learning that platform though, I tried last year but there wasn't enough resources for noobs like me. Messed around with ESP32 earlier but it's power draw is too high: https://community.arduboy.com/t/micro-arcade-reverse-enginee...

I like the design of your modchip. I'm a lead engineer on a pretty expensive multi-PCB product so whenever we have updates either from unavailable parts or customer directed changes, we have to add in little patch boards. We've had to fit all kinds of shaped PCBs into tiny areas. Sometimes we get lucky and there's a perfectly sized empty spot that can take some glue, sometimes we don't get lucky and we'll have a small board mounted to whatever nearby screws we can find. As difficult as it is making changes to a design that was never meant to be flexible, I both love and hate the challenge so I can definitely appreciate creative solutions like yours.

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

Paypal allows you to check out as a guest using a credit card but I understand some people it is still restricted or prefer not to. I'll look into other options, thanks!

Seconding the other user's issue. I'm in the US and there is no option to check out as guest. Not really interested in making a PayPal account at this time.

Really impressed with this project, and its price point. Amazing work.

Just checked again, and that option is not displayed - maybe not available in my country, or not possible for some other reason.

We could maybe just make an invoice and I pay it whatever way is possible for both and preferable to you.

Thanks for letting me know! It is set up to allow it in paypal so it looks like squarespace integration does not allow the guest checkout option. I'll look at adding stripe to the page, otherwise you can place the pre-order with our distributor if that works better: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Arduboy-FX-p-4913.html

Are you aware that all featured game blog entries feature Lorem Ipsum text?

https://www.arduboy.com/blog

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/

Thanks for fixing it and the link to the forums!

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?

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

I like the mechanical design. Do you have any blog posts about creating the plastic mold and having the plastic parts produced (I looked around and didn't find anything)?

I've got a video visiting the factory actually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQI6GNvhmro

Looks like you had a great trip to SZ. Did Seeed take care of the plastic parts too, or was that a separate cm?

Looks cool, does this require you to power cycle the device when you want to quit a game?

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

Thanks. I was looking at a quick youtube review and it seems they hadn't figured this out yet.

Hey, I backed the original model and just preordered the new one. Super cool device.

Huzzah! Thanks! Without you and others like you none of this would be possible!

Any chance of a USB-C variant coming around? I'm currently migrating everything I can to USB-C to eliminate needing to keep various types of charging cables around.

Curious to hear your thoughts on the play date?

I love it! Not sure about the crank but everything else is incredible! I tried to go memory LCD but I couldn't get sharp to talk to me and was also too expensive at the time. I'd love to join their team! I've pestered Cabel for a job but I think he has bigger plans. Maybe I should start an Arduboy on Playdate petition? :D

It's really awesome to see to see all these other consoles follow in Arduboy's footsteps. Arduboy as not the first console like this but, I'm biased, I think it has been the best.

Really, I'm excited to see the entire industry of things like this grow, and it's nice to know I'm a part of it in some way.

Would be great to see arduboy games on playdate!

I have come to see the playdate as being a spiritual successor to the Arduboy and have been happy with how popular it has been so far.

I keep my Arduboy in my wallet and it's a great party trick - great project, will be grabbing a mod chip for sure! :)

How big is your wallet?

Pretty thick. I trimmed it down recently. Dropping the Arduboy would certainly help.

Hello, is the website down since yesterday or are you blocking all connections from Tor (if so why?) ?

Hey I'm really happy that you've provided an option for people to upgrade their OG arduboys with the new FX chip, but it seems I'm being charged $15 USD (same as the cost of the chip) to have it shipped to me, is there any chance to revisit the price to send the modchip to AU? :D

As another Australian, I highly doubt they have much of a say in terms of how expensive shipping to us internationally is, right now.

Unfortunately prices have gone up a lot. USPS won't even ship packages to Australia any more due to some dispute so it has to use some 3rd party service to get there. The only thing I can suggest is if you can get together with your friends, the shipping rate is flat fee you can split it that way.

How about describing what it is. It sounds like an arduous boy, which would be a weird thing to post on HN.

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

I thought the name implied Arduino Gameboy and sure enough that's what it is! Seems like a good intuitive name.

The spellchecker on every new computer I use agrees with you ;)

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