Experimental Pi PiBoy DMG Kit Assembly Guide- Raspberry Pi 4 GameBoy

[@starboyk]

Thanks for this video! I made a custom case for this back in 2021, but it never quite closed up tight enough after. Either the back triggers would be smashed all the way in, or - as I'd been using it - I'd left a few screws about three turns too loose. Sure, it liberated the stuck triggers, but I didn't feel comfortable taking it out of the house. Cracked it open last night, and narrowed it down to the aluminum heatsink from Experimental Pi's overclocking kit. It was jutting up on one side due to a choke that's about twice the height of the CPU (don't quote me on the technical terms, I just like fixing things). Took a hacksaw to a remove a 10x10mm corner, put it back together, fits flush finally! Problem is, I forgot which screw holes were for what. This video helped me resolve that issue, so thank you very much!

[@sm0thrdhp]

I'm so pumped to get mine, I just keep watching these videos over and over. lol

[@hugodonnadie]

Me too😂

[@danderson7755]

Man bro, me too. I won't get mine til the end of Oct or first week of Nov

[@leonhawkins1955]

You guys get yours yet?

[@pgtmr2713]

Day 6: Watching this again to gauge if I can make my own aluminum heatsink to slip between the fan and processor. It looks possible. Double sided thermal tape. I'm going to drill as many holes as possible in a flat piece, hammer it against another aluminum heatsink that has the proper depth for the chips, and cut to fit around everything else. Might even make some vent holes in the plastic. We'll see.

[@RCfromtheNYC]

Nice little DIY kit! I pre-ordered mine and plan to go a little deeper into this unit and install colored Famicon buttons.

[@mikinos822]

You're right, not bad, I have sausage fingers, so there were a few times I needed to take a breath. Additionally, I had heat sinks I needed to remove (wasn't aware they wouldn't fit with the fan, yeah I'm new at this kind of thing). What had me was wondering, is why you didn't screw down the HDMI adapter. Well, I tried for almost 20 mins and no joy/impossible. Good tutorial as always. You and another dude are the reason I settled on the Pi Boy DMG.

[@totophi]

Would be nice to have a GBA gen. 1 (“landscape”) option as I have an injury, making a wider case an attractive concept.

[@ryjelsum]

Take a look at the ODROID-GO. 60 dollars (80 dollars assembled if you can't or don't want to do it yourself) and it has a decent rockchip SoC in it. I have no personal experience with it but it looks mighty interesting to me.

[@UNSCPILOT]

I agree, a GBA built on this bases would be perfect

[@Sajin_71]

I just ordered mine today, and I'm extremely excited for it. The only caveat is I may or may not have missed the first batch being shipped out.

[@yanx007]

I talked to one of the developers and he says that they are now shipping daily.

[@WhySoBroke]

Yan on KZbin Do you get a notification when it is shipped? I don’t want to bother support, I rather have them working hard putting those babies together

[@Sajin_71]

I also did ask them on Facebook, they confirmed the daily shipping thing. And you get an email notification when yours gets shipped out. My order was sadly in the 3000s, so I'm going to assume it'll be shipped out by the end of this month.

[@stephenmcgee3482]

just ordered one yesterday. I'm super excited to load this thing up with the same build you did! pi4 4gb. Probably going to pick up a 64gb SD card as well.

[@lordofsquad]

If you ordered the assembled version it actually comes with a pre-flashed 64GB card

[@bgzdarrell]

can you pretty please do a video going through a bunch of games/review? I love your videos.. ty :) - I bought a fully assembled one yesterday.. unsure when itll ship.. but im super excited and jealous you reviewers got it!

[@esprithk]

wow. Thumb up for your video. This is the easiest GameBoy kit I have seen in the market at the moment.

[@Propergame]

Thanks for giving me great content so early

[@TheOddybody]

Black PCB looks so clean. Want this set.

[@Richie016]

Tearing down the portable console to assemble the rpi-4 is awesome.

[@Parasiteadvent]

I can't wait!!!

[@UltraPrimal]

A cool retro GameBoy style Pi case that can be played both as a handheld and as a console? This is exactly what I've been looking for! I was checking their website and noticed they also have other colour cases you can buy. But unfortunately there's no option to just buy an assembled kit, or even just the full kit, with one of the other colours in place of the original GameBoy grey. Seems like if you want a fancy colour, you're stuck with an extra case and doing some disassembly and reassembly no matter what.

[@bimbadil]

Waiting for my package, bought it after your first video about it ;) Your link was helpful ;)

[@jub8891]

did your package arrive?

[@drecksyutube]

wow what a great device

[@superduty4556]

"Wow, what a great audience"

[@drecksyutube]

@@superduty4556 xD

[@Real_The_Goof]

I love the hulking size of this thing!

[@STR82DVD]

Amazing build lad. Huge thanks.

[@elbenji]

I preordered this after the first video you uploaded about this....now I’m patiently waiting for them to ship this bad boy to me!

[@joelvandam]

I can't wait for them to send ship them out. Planned a full Chrono Trigger play through!

[@almostmatt1tas]

What an awesome product this is.

[@yanm8633]

Hey ETAPrime! I ordered one too! And I made sure to do it with your affiliate link. You deserve it.

[@gentikvevo]

just keep waiting just keep waiting it'll be here eventually waiting waiting

[@Rule7SK]

what you really need is a video showing how to flash the card and the steps you take in updating the firmware and all this stuff. That's the only part nobody shows you. The instructions on experimental pie aren't easy. That's def. an important part that you missed in this video. Especially people that have a corrupt card and want to re-flash it and start over.

[@IRWPD]

Seems straight forward to put together.

[@foxbox19]

Just preorder one. Thanks ETA

[@retrogamingnmore2513]

Thank you ETA another excellent video

[@spragzpc1]

The war for the perfect retro handheld is over 😍 ,for now🤔.

[@Mojomanultra]

Just got my rg350 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@scott1986]

Thank eta for this video 😊💯👍. I am your biggest Italian fan👍

[@tonyarangoa4961]

I should get this looks really good.

[@WilsonBradleyTheOfficial]

Your my hero ;-) .. Hopefully , mine will be delivered before leaving for vacation..

[@megansavage7152]

Easier than I thought it would be

[@robthomson1581]

I heard this is commimg to amazon before the end of year :) ill be waiting for that as its too expensive because of shipping to my country.

[@Rick_Todd]

You better be quick then , because you know what happened with the RetroFlag GPI case don't you ? It's a big risk if you ask me.

[@robthomson1581]

@@Rick_Todd well ill wait either way. As there is no way in a thousand years id pay $54 for shipping. What a massive waste of money!! If i cant get it later then i guess my loss, but better than flushing $54 down the drain for shipping.

[@Rick_Todd]

@@robthomson1581 Yes your right , i just ment thats what i did last time with the GPI case and it was sold out forever on Amazon i could not get one. even when new stock arrived they all sold out within minuets . If you wanted one you had to keep refreshing the Amazon page every 2 to 5 mins 24 hours for days or even weeks on end.

[@Rick_Todd]

@@robthomson1581 Also i think i only paid around $25 to ship all the way to the UK , you must live on the MOON , lol

[@robthomson1581]

@@Rick_Todd aye close enough! At least as far as shipping companies seem to think...Australia :L i would of paid if it was $25

[@commander_nojj]

ETA PRIME now that you've had time with this unit would you pick this over the Odroid Go Advance or would you still say the Odroid is your handheld of choice this year?

[@stevematix]

Hope for a landscape version 🕹

[@DigiCrit]

they have one coming in the summer

[@leonoliveira8652]

These cases are pretty nice. I wonder what one like that, a pi zero/zerow, and pico-8 would look like. I mean, its a bunch of really good lightweight games, some better than NES or GB. It's sad how hard it is to prepare, tho.

[@jasoncamacho4526]

That's awesome!

[@Lancefer66]

Friggin awesome!!!!!

[@ummmrocklol77]

I'M ORDER MY PI BOY...I'M EXITED AND NO CAN WAIT MORE TIME TO ENJOY MY NEW RETRO GAME BOY DEVICE...YEAH...!.....THANKS ETA PRIME!!!!

[@flognort]

hey ETA i just ordered one of these along with an order from adafruit of a pi4 and a zero. I saw the piboy was compatible with the zero, could you make a video assembling it with the zero? Always love the vids, Thanks

[@jasonhowells7974]

Be very careful when you order, you might get import duty, but you will ONLY know that when the package arrives. They should have something about this on their website in UK From UPS £42.40, the shipping for this is almost more than the items I bought not happy, you have been warned.

[@jasonhowells7974]

It looks as if the value goes over £135.00 import duty will be applied, that explains that the 2 x PI 4 Flirc cases I bought from the manufacture in the USA did not cost the said amount so no Import Duty.

[@lastdeezylastdon]

Im a huge fan of everything you do. Do you think that frankensteining an ice tower cooler for the ras pi out the back would still have this thing operating? Im thinking of carefully cutting out a square in the plastic and having the ice tower pop out the back.

[@cyyxc]

Very nice!

[@titogreggy]

This video just confirmed my purchase. Can you do a video removing the screen? I’d like to see how easy it is, I want to order the DIY kit with the different color housings. Thanks!

[@andreitice8620]

Very cool vídeo, in my opnion, in terms of case I think it would be better if it was in GBA style

[@guardiangibbs2663]

I have a spare raspberry Pi 3b+ that never gets used. I'm gonna have to get this and use it for portable 4th gen or older.

[@cb4j]

I've been looking at these this week. Looks like the site has updated today with 1-3 week backorder, raised price on the base kit by $10 ($99.95) and it doesn't include the LiPo battery or power supply. Maybe that was always the case but it wasn't as clear before.

[@BorjaAguirre]

Hi @ETA PRIME: Really good video tutorial here (like any other video of yours, of course 😉). I really appreciate your work (so, I'm subscribing right now). I have a question thou: You say that lakka works properly on this console, but until I know there are some problems mapping the default buttons of the piboy there. Do you know something about that? Are there any scripting to configure it out? I've read a lot about it and I only read bad news and no solutions, I mean the web is full of threads telling it is possible but, at the end of the day, it doesn't work (it runs, of course, but you cannot use the pad or buttons of the PiBoy). Thank you very much for all.

[@pierre-oliviermiller4358]

Awesome vid, could it be possible to see a tutorial on how to switch cases since they are selling them and it'll require a little deassambly. Thx again for the amazing content.

[@toyabrown2617]

Awesome!

[@danilovegap]

I'd really like a Pi4 in a PSP like case with 4 shoulder buttons

[@gpturismo]

Experimental Pi has the PiBoy DMG that can take a Pi4, has a fan and battery. It has six face buttons and two triggers. I haven't found a good system (power or build) that has 4 face 4 triggers with a center mount screen.

[@patrick2041]

I expect to have this in Aliexpress soon to send to Brazil.

[@jasonmeister6988]

Mine just arrived

[@tasmania9576]

How long did you wait? In which country was delivered?

[@jasonmeister6988]

@@tasmania9576 Germany via UPS. Well I waited like a month more than US ppl I think.

[@SordidEuphemism]

I wonder if it'd be possible to solder a cable to the USB 3.0 ports and run it to a SSD in the battery box...

[@UNSCPILOT]

Given that SD cards can be up to 1 terabyte, and you can get high capacity low profile USB storage, trying to stuff an SSD in seems like unnecessary extra bulk. An m.2 NVME on the pi itself would be good though

[@dirtydirtmcgogurt]

Im looking at their website. Is there anything missing, if I "part it out"? As in, you can buy the kit, or you can buy all of the components individually (Don't need/want some of the extra features). ETA Prime mentions the PCB being inside already. SO... is the PCB included in the one of the individual parts (like the replacement case, etc.)? Can't seem to find any mention of a PCB on any of the part descriptions. Or should I stop nickel and dime-ing, and spend $30 more on the kit? I guess it's worth mentioning, that I enjoy making RPI projects... So, I don't mind doing extra work to save a few bucks.

[@lankeastor512]

I'm getting one of these for myself. Love that this thing can handle the Pi 3b and Pi 4 Anyone have any recommendations for something a little more complex, build-wise? I've got a nerdy relative who I want to introduce to these RPi builds. That said, I don't want to spend $300+ on the shell, PCB, etc, plus the cost of the RPi.

[@lorumipsum1129]

TS nowhere near that high. I think it's 230 max, though cheaper depending on if it's prebuilt or not

[@YouTubeYouTube-qg6vl]

Pi4 series is for special person usually

[@ptobiash]

Wow if I would see this video first I wouldn’t cancel my order, I already got my money back Oh well I wait until they have the version 2.0 with a usb C charger connector and a bigger battery And I don’t understand why if you’re buying a full kit they charged you extra $10 for that mini HDMI and If you want a different color you have to buy another shell im not gonna be swapping colors So on the end I feel it is over price, maybe under $100 is a good price

[@NScherdin]

Each HDMI adapters have to be hand assembled. In the USA. The parts cost about $2.50 but the labor is killer.

[@ptobiash]

NScherdin Yes I can imagen, and is very hard for us like a consumer to compare something like the PiBoy and a Nintendo switch, just for a small difference in price I can get a high in console like the switch vs just a empty shell with bottoms and the screen plus I need the RPi4 and a SD card that’s another $100 dlls And please don’t get me wrong, I know all the hard work that is in create something like this and deliver to the people I guess is very hard trying to compete with big company’s like Nintendo and others

[@bigmalletman9453]

Can't believe you didn't swap out the bumpers! LOL

[@carlbergstrom2627]

That looks fantastic, but why are the xyz and abc buttons labeled backwards? Edit: on closer inspection I see they wanted the snes Nintendo button layout xy on top and ba on bottom. I guess I just grew up with Genesis and the six button abc xyz layout.

[@DarthPooh]

All I want know is can it play GameCube full speed and psp full speed?

[@goofyahhh_zezoca]

Me: see him showing that this thing can run Gamecube games. Also me: *dies*

[@Rickyrick423]

I ordered the assembled kit plus an all black shell. I wonder if it’ll be easy to switch out the insides. Most concerned for the screen. Hope it’s not glued on

[@xstlthx]

I just ordered a shell as well and emailed them about the glass. Nathan at ExperimentalPi said the glass is already installed on the shells. It's not recommended for a user to replace it themselves and they probably spend more time on that than any other part of the build!

[@NScherdin]

@@xstlthx The LCD just slides out of one case and into the new one. Its a snug fit because we have a rubber bumper on the bottom of the lcd. The glass, however, is not removable so each case comes with it already installed. Well, techically you could remove it but I wouldn't recommend it.

[@xstlthx]

@@NScherdin Yeah man! I was just trying to convey to him what you told me this morning :). Definitely appreciate the work you guys are putting into this project!

[@nicolas.adenis-lamarre]

does it work with batocera ?

[@fabulousasia9848]

What would you suggest to be the best way to map the buttons? I have everything installed but I can't seem to find the best mapping for the buttons. Thanks!

[@chriswilkins7202]

thanks for the vid, I followed this with my pi 4 and it works great. I did that to test the hardware when my pi 3 didn't work. but my pi 4 has a permanent home in a nespi 4 case. I bought this because they said it was compatible with pi 3 as I have an old cana kit pi 3b+ that i want to use, how about a pi 3 guide .I'm running into problem after problem. It would be great if experimental pi offered an image for it, but they give instructions that I guess I'm to dumb to understand.

[@maharj1]

Okay you have pretty much sold me on getting one of these prebuilt units. I have one question. For my current retropie build I downloaded a prebuilt image. Can I do the same with this handheld?

[@bigmalletman9453]

i'm sure someone somewhere will start community images at some point, but it sounds like Experimental Pi will have their own image already.

[@rcaetano223]

Can we install some low profile heatsinks on the pi for better cooling? Can you suggest some heatsinks?

[@AndreVandal]

Base kit vs Full kit, which should be better?

[@ptobiash]

Nintendo Switch X100

[@antoine3777]

Hi ! I have a question 😊 do you think a 8gb raspberry pie 4 is usefull for that piboy dmg or the 2gb is enough (and i'll take the assembled version) ? Thanks !

[@Rick_Todd]

How is the fan noise if you fully overclock the Pi 4 to the Maximum ? I'm sure people will start to make silent cooling options for this after a short while.

[@WilsonBradleyTheOfficial]

Is that battery pretty snug? Do you think it's possible to fit a heftier amp/hr battery in it?

[@Jerryli72]

I have an Pi4 in an old Style NES Shell, my Question is, do i have to remove the 3 Heat Sinks?

[@gabnc7915]

i was wondering the same thing

[@SweetBlu]

Yes unless it is a VERY thin/low profile as you can see there is no space between the fan and fan hat. I am pretty sure it pretty much touches the cpu lol

[@Jerryli72]

Ok, i have to remove it. That are Sinks that were in a Pack with Power Supply, Red/White Case, etc. Are they easy to remove?

[@NScherdin]

Most likely. The fan is pretty close to the top of the chips on the PI4. I only found one really low profile heatsink(more like a thermal spreader with some ridges) that would probably fit. The tiny heatsinks you find on eaby are too tall if that gives you some reference. But in general heat should be kept around 55 to 60c with the default fan profile.

[@NScherdin]

@@SweetBlu2mm gap or so from the heatspreader on the Pi4 main processor. Measured by mark one eye ball so I could be off a little.

[@mcellycell]

I didn't see a heat sink on the pi4. can you use a heat sink or is not needed because of the fan? sorry if i should know this but i'm not an experienced pi user yet.

[@Garthock]

Is this thing loud? Seems like it would be with that big fan on it

[@theblackgoatofthewoods]

How do this one work if you wanna connect it to a tv? Does the screen go black if it detects a hdmi? Can you connect an electricwire like normal?

[@bigshacaca6932]

@etaprime which do you prefer piboy dmg or odroid be? I can't decide

[@literallymemoviesenjoyer]

hello eta prime this is a very irrelevant question but can my gaming laptop run rpcs3 on 4k 60fps without lag specs: cpu: i7 9750h gpu: geforce gtx 1660ti ram: 16gb

[@juggalotuz04]

Is there enough room to put a small heat sync on the CPU/ GPU?

[@ETAPRIME]

A copper shim would fit perfectly

[@juggalotuz04]

@@ETAPRIME that's what i was curious about, thank you.

[@Rick_Todd]

I'm sure people will start to make silent cooling options for this after a short while , How is the fan noise if you fully overclock the Pi 4 to the Maximum ?

[@Pender666]

@@ETAPRIME Thanks for the vid. I just got one kit fully assembled with 4gb using your affiliated link. Watching some videos shows great performance improvements when using 64bit os instead 32bit retropie distro. Looking in the tutorial section on experimental pi website there's a topic about installing the safe shutdown and OSD. But in item 8 they say I must add dkms and the kernel headers but not explaining how. Can you please make a video showing how to install lakka or Ubuntu matte on piboy dmg but with that step in the video? Thanks a lot for your videos.

[@TheRealMax77]

Will you ever do a emulation test on the chuwi hero box?

[@maicoalvim]

I just purchased this hardware from the website you recommended. I am waiting for shipping right now. I have a question, what name of the theme are you using? thanks for your videos.

[@elsisero87]

It's ComicBook!

[@maicoalvim]

@@elsisero87 thanks man!

[@elsisero87]

@@maicoalvim You're very welcome! Mind that there are two versions, 4:3 and 16:9, take the one that'll fit your screen :)

[@maicoalvim]

@@elsisero87 ok, thanks again for letting me know. I will use the same one in the video. I'm just waiting to receive

[@razorx2024]

could you recommend some heatsinks you could apply to this that wouldn't interfere with the fan thanks.

[@SirZanZa]

it really dont need any, not even at max OC the fan is more than enough

[@das_oni]

Hey there, thanks for the video. Could you tell me if i could use a copper heatsink mod on the chips? They are propably 4,5 - 5mm high. Would they fit between the piboy board and the raspberry board? Could you tell me this?

[@charlyrivera2562]

Amigo por qué no funciona como una Raspberry pi normal? Le puse mi Raspberry pi 4 que funcionaba normal con microsd de batocera, también como Tv BOX y cuando esta armada en la piboy dmg pongo la Microsd de batocera, TvBOy y de rasbian y no levanta imagen. Solo levanta imagen con retropie de experimental pi. Hay alguna solución para que funcione como una Raspberry pi normal al estar armada?

[@tombixler]

Are you able to use this as your controller and have the hdmi output to a larger monitor? Sorry if newb question

[@leontchekmedyian]

@ETA PRIME can you please check a new version called DMGx that is coming out. It will have color cases, USB-C, and better fan venting. Thanks!

[@kristophermann6528]

Great pricing on this unit, more than fair

[@ahlidap]

I hope soon we can get a good laptop case for rpi4... No 300$ educational and thick stuf. Just something like this, but with keyboard and bigger screen... Does anyone knows of something like this at the moment?

[@bkrman]

Hi ETA PRIME, please could you check if the PiBoy build controls would work for selecting boot options using a multiboot SD card? I would like to use this case as a portable console but have the option to plug an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse and use it as a standard raspberry desktop computer. Thanks!

[@esmith13]

This thing is GREAT! I love mine! @ETA Prime do you know what the key command is to show/hide the overlay info at the top? Mine is on all the time...

[@SweetBlu]

When did you order to already have yours???

[@esmith13]

@@SweetBlu April/May if memory serves...

[@NScherdin]

No key combo but you can edit the /home/pi/osd/osd.cfg text file to disable/enable what shows. You can also edit the fan profile in that file.

[@WilsonBradleyTheOfficial]

Heya Peeps.. Here's a new Discord for PiBoy DMG - discord.gg/tVSMNhmdNR

[@walidtyawil8215]

I just received mine but when i turn it on, the screen is blank even tho i put the right image that is already tested and did the reset by holding left analog stick down but still no luck!

[@kangaroo4024]

Would a pi 5 fit? :)

[@altersilentium]

I have to wonder if it would be worth using the 8gb Pi or if it would be overkill?

[@bigemugamer]

2020, the year when these little handhelds are ALMOST there... Almost... Add L2 R2, a 2nd analogue, L3 and R3 on both analogues (add future Pi 5c++ for fluid PS2 game play) and we're FINALLY there. Not sure if 2020 will create the PERFECT hand held, but the perfect handheld will be created in the 2020's. Edit: Is there another internal ability to add a second micro SD card or would one have to use one of those super tiny USB micro SD adapters in one of the top 4 USB ports? TY in advance for your response. =D

[@totophi]

bigemugamer : You mean something similar to the Anbernic RG-350p?

[@Jacksons_Palmer]

My Raspberry pi 4 has heat sinks on it, do you think it will fit with the fan on it or not?

[@Woodywoodah]

I would love to see a video of this thing running as a portable Linux computer plugged into a keyboard/mouse/external monitor.

[@csolisr]

No way to move the speaker a bit more to the center? I really, REALLY hate asymmetrical mono speakers

[@wewd]

That's how the GameBoy always was, and most 8 bit and 16 bit consoles had mono sound anyway.

[@csolisr]

@@wewd Indeed, and I hated those too. Had to carry my headphones everywhere because of that.

[@doro4414]

Are buttons and display GPIO driven???

[@denverterry7717]

do you have any promo codes for these. maybe free shipping or something?