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matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 10462

Posted: 09:22pm 04 Oct 2025

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Thanks

The idea is, of course, that it will be completely open source and that when I share everything anyone will be able to make one with no special skills other than a bit of soldering (and getting JLC to make some PCBs). It will run bog standard MMbasic with a single command to configure everything - OPTION RESET PALM PICO

I really dislike things that are supposedly open source but need bits that can't be sourced by the average person. There will be nothing in this like that.

Friday
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Joined: 25/08/2025
Location: United States
Posts: 10

Posted: 10:53pm 04 Oct 2025

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Will the WiFi version for the 2w work as easy?

TassyJim

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Joined: 07/08/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 6319

Posted: 03:11am 05 Oct 2025

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Friday said Will the WiFi version for the 2w work as easy?

The board uses the Pimoroni PGA2350 so - No to the PicoW

VK7JH
MMedit

Mixtel90

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Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8173

Posted: 06:29am 05 Oct 2025

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I ike working with the PGA2350. It's like grass-roots Pico playing but without the hassle of the power supply stuff. It's obviously never going to fit on stripboard though. :) It drops into this sort of project very nicely.

It's looking very nice indeed, Peter and I applaud your open source hardware policy. :)

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

Amnesie
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Joined: 30/06/2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 703

Posted: 07:34am 05 Oct 2025

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I am really curious about this project! But as some of you already mentioned; I also think that it is important that there is some UART or GPIO left to tinker with.

Greetings
Daniel

matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 10462

Posted: 11:45am 05 Oct 2025

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There is an external port with the system i2c allowing you to connect any i2c device, e,g, a Wii Classic.
There are also 8 pins (GP8-GP15) assigned to DB8-DB15 on the display. The user can choose to run the display in 8-bit mode (RGB888) slowest but still fast, 12-bit mode (RGB888) mid-speed, or 16-bit mode (RGB565) blazingly fast. By default the Palm Pico set up will assume 12 bit mode leaving GP12-GP15 unallocated. There are zero ohm resistors in the path to the display on the board which can be omitted in the BOM or removed later depending on the user's preference. DB8-DB15 are connected to a header at the top of the board.
Edited 2025-10-05 21:45 by matherp

matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 10462

Posted: 06:40pm 09 Oct 2025

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The prototype is now complete. The top and bottom panels have been laser cut out of plastic sheet but I think PCB versions would be better. The final version will be 1.4mm bigger all round to space the screws away from the edge and stop the spacers overlapping. In addition, the keyboard PCB will be extended to be the same width as the screen so that the screws mounting it will line up on the top. The version shown is 33mm deep. This has the keyboard and PGA2350 soldered direct to the motherboard. With them both socketed the depth increases by 3mm.
Ergonomically it works well held in the hands with all keys accessible to the British standard thumb. Alternatively, it could sit on a table with rubber feet and be easy to use.
I will work on a full manual in the next couple of weeks and publish all the design information needed to build one.
Total cost to build including everything will be of the order of USD100 of which USD35 is the 5" SSD1963 IPS screen which IMHO is what makes the device properly usable.
Of course the unit is fully supported by standard MMbasic V6.01.00 and is configured with the command OPTION RESET PALM PICO.
The unit should be able to run the complete suite of Game*Mite software with minimal changes (keyboard input rather than direct switches) although by running the screen in 8-bit mode GP8-GP15 are freed up for an external gamepad and there is a port for connecting controllers such as the Wii Nunchuck or Wii Classic - perhaps I should make a WII edge connector on the side of the motherboard?
As above the battery is a 10000mAh flat pouch cell and should provide 20 hours of use.
The red LED is the caps lock indicator. There is a heartbeat LED on the motherboard that can be seen between the various layers to confirm MMbasic is running

Edited 2025-10-10 04:49 by matherp

toml_12953
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Joined: 13/02/2015
Location: United States
Posts: 470

Posted: 03:46am 10 Oct 2025

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matherp said The prototype is now complete. The top and bottom panels have been laser cut out of plastic sheet but I think PCB versions would be better. The final version will be 1.4mm bigger all round to space the screws away from the edge and stop the spacers overlapping. In addition, the keyboard PCB will be extended to be the same width as the screen so that the screws mounting it will line up on the top. The version shown is 33mm deep. This has the keyboard and PGA2350 soldered direct to the motherboard. With them both socketed the depth increases by 3mm.
Ergonomically it works well held in the hands with all keys accessible to the British standard thumb. Alternatively, it could sit on a table with rubber feet and be easy to use.

Getting close! I'm glad the estimated cost is as low as it is. Thanks for your continued work on this. Will the final version have enclosed sides?
Edited 2025-10-10 13:47 by toml_12953

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