Screwdrivers and Retromodding
Having no experience with GBA modding or third party shells previously, I didn't even know they used security screws. I bought the shell and parts from Retromodding since it was recommended and it didn't come with the screwdriver. Only later when I bought the exact same shell from an eBay seller, did I notice it was very common for sellers to include both a Tri--Wing and small Philips screwdriver. This leads me to my second bit of feedback which I am kind of dissatisfied with Retromodding as a vendor. They fulfilled my order just fine but there are some issues with them as a "preferred" vendor. First they are in Canada so slower shipping times and no tracking (though they are up front about this). You can pay extra if you want tracking. Processing took about 3 days before it even shipped. Then I had a problem with the d-pad and found their only support venue is through Facebook Messenger. No email; at least not an address they easily want you to find or use. They are supposedly sending me a replacement d-pad and silicone pad, so that's nice. And finally, like I mentioned - no screwdrivers for a shell that comes with these things "stock" from other sellers. Come to think of it, I had to buy pads separately from them too, which were also included in the shell I bought from the eBay seller.
X & Y Holes
I was only half joking about the template being off. I know you can get them working perfectly but for my second shell, even with double checking, the hole I drilled was immediately slightly off from the template, then got progressively worse. I think the real tough part is the X button since it's path goes straight through the walls near the right shoulder button and part of the top of the A button. Depending how you are cutting away at the plastic, your bit actually might walk or jerk since it's not a clean uniform edge. In other worse, when you get near those walls, you are hitting irregular terrain.
I honestly don't know how to improve this. I suspect if I were to see you do it in person, it would "just" work. I actually doubt you have some magical technique you haven't described in the doc. I think you must have good muscle memory or maybe a special talent to screw really straight or maybe eyeball it well.
Sound
I haven't modified the config.txt entry so the suggested audio entry is still present. I can live with the sound and I can't think of anything else I can really do to fix it. I guess it's just a "thing" that audio out via the speaker is pretty bad for these small systems. Just curious - how is audio handled? Is there an onboard sound card? Does it take audio out from the 3.5mm out?
Slowness
This one is an oddity since I didn't change a single thing except put it in a new shell. It was updated to Retropie 4.3 prior to the swap. Since then, it's just really glitchy and seems like it freezes at random points. For example, when you first start it up, if you press left or right to enter a console then press A to enter, then down to scroll, there's a noticeable delay. Like it just pauses for 2 seconds, then it finally moves. Or right now, it's been running for 10 mins, I am in SNES and I pressed up from Tetris to Super Mario Bros. Deluxe and a full 2 seconds passed before the Mario game was selected. Last night my gf was playing Tetris and she said it was slowly down, and you could actually hear the music slowing down, like the opposite of a Turbo button on 486 days. If this is a Retropie config issue, that's on me but I am wondering if anything could have happened that would make the board act funny. For example, if I made a mistake somewhere and maybe the L button is being held down (not true but just go along), would that cause some kind of issue with the OS?
Screen
I just realized I never removed my front screen film so I just took it off and wow it looks a lot better, lol! But I noticed an issue with the screen. I can see that the display is sitting to the lower left corner. In other words, I can see a clear border all along the top and right of the screen. It's uniform. Is this true in your builds too? I assume I can probably adjust this in software, but I never noticed this before. Also, I should mention that in my second shell mod, I accidentally took off to much off the wall right below and next to the speaker slot. This wall previously acted as a physical part for the screen to rest against, to prevent it from sliding down too much. I can't put the plastic back, obviously, so I just make sure that the screen is flush against the top edge of the LCD slot. Then with the board screwed on top of it, I figure it was sandwiched in there. Now I am wondering if it's shifting? Now I can't unsee this alignment issue. Any ideas?
I've included a photo, hopefully you can make it out (look to the top and right)
Having no experience with GBA modding or third party shells previously, I didn't even know they used security screws. I bought the shell and parts from Retromodding since it was recommended and it didn't come with the screwdriver. Only later when I bought the exact same shell from an eBay seller, did I notice it was very common for sellers to include both a Tri--Wing and small Philips screwdriver. This leads me to my second bit of feedback which I am kind of dissatisfied with Retromodding as a vendor. They fulfilled my order just fine but there are some issues with them as a "preferred" vendor. First they are in Canada so slower shipping times and no tracking (though they are up front about this). You can pay extra if you want tracking. Processing took about 3 days before it even shipped. Then I had a problem with the d-pad and found their only support venue is through Facebook Messenger. No email; at least not an address they easily want you to find or use. They are supposedly sending me a replacement d-pad and silicone pad, so that's nice. And finally, like I mentioned - no screwdrivers for a shell that comes with these things "stock" from other sellers. Come to think of it, I had to buy pads separately from them too, which were also included in the shell I bought from the eBay seller.
X & Y Holes
I was only half joking about the template being off. I know you can get them working perfectly but for my second shell, even with double checking, the hole I drilled was immediately slightly off from the template, then got progressively worse. I think the real tough part is the X button since it's path goes straight through the walls near the right shoulder button and part of the top of the A button. Depending how you are cutting away at the plastic, your bit actually might walk or jerk since it's not a clean uniform edge. In other worse, when you get near those walls, you are hitting irregular terrain.
I honestly don't know how to improve this. I suspect if I were to see you do it in person, it would "just" work. I actually doubt you have some magical technique you haven't described in the doc. I think you must have good muscle memory or maybe a special talent to screw really straight or maybe eyeball it well.
Sound
I haven't modified the config.txt entry so the suggested audio entry is still present. I can live with the sound and I can't think of anything else I can really do to fix it. I guess it's just a "thing" that audio out via the speaker is pretty bad for these small systems. Just curious - how is audio handled? Is there an onboard sound card? Does it take audio out from the 3.5mm out?
Slowness
This one is an oddity since I didn't change a single thing except put it in a new shell. It was updated to Retropie 4.3 prior to the swap. Since then, it's just really glitchy and seems like it freezes at random points. For example, when you first start it up, if you press left or right to enter a console then press A to enter, then down to scroll, there's a noticeable delay. Like it just pauses for 2 seconds, then it finally moves. Or right now, it's been running for 10 mins, I am in SNES and I pressed up from Tetris to Super Mario Bros. Deluxe and a full 2 seconds passed before the Mario game was selected. Last night my gf was playing Tetris and she said it was slowly down, and you could actually hear the music slowing down, like the opposite of a Turbo button on 486 days. If this is a Retropie config issue, that's on me but I am wondering if anything could have happened that would make the board act funny. For example, if I made a mistake somewhere and maybe the L button is being held down (not true but just go along), would that cause some kind of issue with the OS?
Screen
I just realized I never removed my front screen film so I just took it off and wow it looks a lot better, lol! But I noticed an issue with the screen. I can see that the display is sitting to the lower left corner. In other words, I can see a clear border all along the top and right of the screen. It's uniform. Is this true in your builds too? I assume I can probably adjust this in software, but I never noticed this before. Also, I should mention that in my second shell mod, I accidentally took off to much off the wall right below and next to the speaker slot. This wall previously acted as a physical part for the screen to rest against, to prevent it from sliding down too much. I can't put the plastic back, obviously, so I just make sure that the screen is flush against the top edge of the LCD slot. Then with the board screwed on top of it, I figure it was sandwiched in there. Now I am wondering if it's shifting? Now I can't unsee this alignment issue. Any ideas?
I've included a photo, hopefully you can make it out (look to the top and right)