Raspberry Gear

published March 02, 2015, last updated March 02, 2015

posted in Gaming Raspberry Pi/ Pi A+, B+, 2, 3 LCDs & Displays/ Graphic TFTs

Intermediate

Project guide

Wiring (Button Panels)

Next up are the button panels that we hacked up earlier! Basically, we need to find a GND point and the signal pins for each button panel. For the D-Pad, there will be five wires, and the 1-2-Start panel, there will be four. Thankfully, the Game Gear has points that will pull the signals which are easy to find, and included in the cutouts.

D-Pad Solder Points:

UP - M10
RIGHT - M13
LEFT - M12
DOWN - M11

1-2-Start Solder Points:

START - M16
2 - M15
1 - M14

There are a few easy locations to grab GND from, the brightness slider on the 1-2-Start board has two large GND points. Depending on your motherboard type, the D-Pad may have a small pad near the middle left.

Solder your wires onto these points, and then we're going to solder them onto the Teensy. Be sure to give yourself adequeate length to position the Teensy in the lower center of the case. If you happen to switch any of these, don't worry about it, it's a small change to the Teensy firmware to correct it.

Connect the two GND wires together, and then to the GND pin on the Teensy. Then, wire these up like so.

UP - Teensy B0
RIGHT - Teensy B1
LEFT - Teensy B3
DOWN - Teensy B2
START - Teensy B7
2 - Teensy D0
1 - Teensy D1

Once you've wired them up together, you can go ahead and flash the Teensy with the sketch. It's easiest to switch the sketch into MODE_KEY, so that you can plug it into your computer and see the keypresses pop up. You can do this by changing the #define statement around line 20 to either MODE_KEY or MODE_JOY. Once you've verified that everything is working, MODE_JOY is reccomended. Alternatively, you can leave it in MODE_JOY, and test everything using a joystick testing program.

Download TeensyButtoner

You can test the buttons by placing the elastomer pads over the gold contacts on the PCB and pressing the nub down. Once you've verified everything is super great, you can apply a bit of hot glue along the edge of the PCB to hold the wires in place. Then, simply place the PCBs back into their standard mounting points, and screw them in!