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RP0 Handheld

Created by [Ondkos] • Started on May 26, 2025

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 gaming handheld console that runs on RetroPie!

27th May: Start of the project

Yesterday i started thinking about this project. I was searching the web for suitable RP and settled on RP Zero 2W. It should have enought power to run some games on RetroPie. I chose the zero 2W, becouse it is really small. That is usefull because i am making handheld.

Today I started searching the web for other parts.

I will need:

  • Screen

  • Some way to get audio

  • Inputs

  • Battery and charging module.

### Screen First i started looking for display. I wanted somethig between 4and 6. I was thinking about this one or this one, but they were to small. Than I found this 5" display (the touch variant for easier manipulation). Downside on this one is that it uses HDMI and not the pins on the RP.

image

Audio

Than I started to think about the audio. There are three ways I can get it from RP0.

  1. Buy cheap USB dongle

  2. Buy premade DAC HAT for RP

  3. Make my own audio output system with help of tutorial

I was thinkig about the second option, but than I said to myself that It would be to easy :D. I will need:

Here is schematic of how it should be connected

image

Inputs

I looked into how game controllers work. I found this reddit post and through the comments I found those switches. They are rubber dome switches, you could find something similar in membrane keyboards. Thay will be conected by wire. I wanted to make PCB for them, but that would be harder to attach it to the case...

image

Battery and charging module

With the help of this video I learned how to charge the RP0 from battery. I found cheap voltage booster, because the one he uses in the video is almost 15x more expensive. I also found this battery. Because I don't want to have the RP0 take the power all the time I also found those switches.

Time spent: 5hr

28th May: PCB and batteries

Battery and charging module

I found out that the vlotage booster i found yesterday doesn't suport charging... So I found new one that does. I wil also need some USB-C inupt with cables. Because i also want to know how charged the battery is i will need battery charge indicator.

This is how it will look like:

image

PCB

I started working on the PCB for my project. I found this footprint of RP0 that I'll use.

I started working on the schematic, and created this:

image

I had lots of problems with finding the right footprints for the resistors and capacitors...

After some time I finished the PCB

image

Audio

I found parts (resistors, capacitors, etc.) and added the links to the list above.

Time spent: 5.5hr

29th May: Remaking the PCB

Today I relised the pcb is to big, so i started remaking it...

I also started working on the case

Time spent: 2hr