Expanding Adabox005

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devinganger
 
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Expanding Adabox005

Post by devinganger »

All,

I would like to expand on my Adabox005 RetroPie setup.

I want to add the Red Bear IoT pHAT (PID3283) so that my RetroPie stack has Internet connectivity and Bluetooth -- I want to add a Zcode emulator so I can play all the old great Infocom text games and was going to use a Bluetooth keyboard.

I also want to make sure I have sound. I've seen the projects on adding the components to output sound on a Pi Zero, but I also saw the I2S breakout board (PID 3678) on the 11/22 new products. Would this breakout work with the Adabox 005 setup to provide output from Pi Zero and RetroPie?

Assuming I can get everything working together, would I need to replace the hammer headers on the Pi Zero with pass-through headers to get everything stacked together?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Expanding Adabox005

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The IoT Hat and Bluetooth keyboard should work without any trouble.

You’d want to put pass-through headers on the Hat so that can sit between the RasPi and PiTFT.. though I suppose you could also put the RasPi between the two Hats. However you choose to arrange them, you want male pin header on the bottom, pass-through header in the middle, and female header on the top. You don’t necessarily need to replace the hammer headers, but it would probably be a good idea to solder them into the RasPi’s PCB.

I’ll need to check with our retrogaming guru to see if the I2S audio system will work with RetroPie.. it’s mostly a software issue, so it could go either way. The I2S breakout will definitely play sound on a Zero, I’m just not sure how many hoops you have to jump through to make RetroPie see it as an output channel.

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devinganger
 
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Re: Expanding Adabox005

Post by devinganger »

Aww, now I see I ordered the wrong version of the IoT pHAT -- thought I was getting PID3329 but ordered the assembled version instead.

How finicky will it be to unsolder the headers and replace them? I am assuming stacking 2x20 headers like PID2223 will suffice, or do I need the extra-long PID1979? Or are these even compatible? (I would think they are, but since neither product lists the Zero I hesitate...)

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Expanding Adabox005

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Removing pin header isn't hard as long as you don't care about preserving the header.

I remove pin header using a stainless steel probe (a dental pick) and pushing down from the top: set the probe on the tip of the pin, apply light pressure, then heat the joint with your soldering iron. As soon as the solder melts, the pin will slide easily through the PCB and the plastic spacer between the pins. Once you've done it a few times, it's slightly faster than soldering pin header in for the first time.

You can also use a pair of needlenose pliers and pull the pins through from below, but I personally find that a bit clumsy. Give both methods a shot and decide which one you like best.

Once the pins are out, clear the bulk of the excess solder out of the holes with flux and solder wick, and use a solder sucker to open up any holes that just won't come clear for the solderwick. For the really, really uncooperative holes, feed a piece of well-fluxed multistrand wire through the hole to soak up the solder that won't come any other way. A few passes of that should leave any hole clean enough to accept new header.


The regular-height stacking header should with with a Zero.. everything on it is so flat that you don't need the extra clearance from extra-tall stacking header. Either one will work electrically and mechanically though.

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devinganger
 
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Re: Expanding Adabox005

Post by devinganger »

The probe method sounds a lot easier than clipping the pins and then having to get them off...I will definitely try that next time!

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pburgess
 
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Re: Expanding Adabox005

Post by pburgess »

The I2S audio breakout should work fine with RetroPie, provided there's no pin conflicts with joystick/buttons and so forth (the breakout requires Broadcom GPIO pin #'s 18, 19 and 21, no alternates are available). If I remember correctly, it should 'automagically' pick up on this as the primary audio output after running the install script and rebooting.

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devinganger
 
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Re: Expanding Adabox005

Post by devinganger »

Very cool, thank you! I will have to try it after the holidays.

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