Freeplaytech Forum - Freeplay Zero/CM3 (AKA GPA) Hardware

Freeplay CM3 --> CM4S

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 17:13:41 +0000

This thread will record my adventure swapping out a raspberry pi CM3 with a CM4S that i found on my Freeplay CM3 device.

The benefits of moving from a 3 to a 4 seem to be pretty good:

https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/commen..._worth_it/

https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/co...rformance/

I bought a CM4S that i found on ebay.

A straight swap from CM3 to CM4S didn't work. I got a small error about unable to load something. is it running?. Avoiding the troubleshooting for now, i am imaging a new SD card and will start from a fresh image.

Found a CM4S on ebay

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 02:22:05 +0000

I just found and purchased a Raspberry PI CM4S

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266907636933

I assume that most of the software will need to be updated like in the other CM4 thread that used an adapter. Am I correct in assuming that this will be a nice increase in computing power from a CM3 and that I won't necessarily need to have active cooling?

FreePlayZero Getting Burning Hot

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 20:38:56 +0000

Hello,

Just recently finished seating my Freeplay and everything was working absolutely fine up until the very very end. I was screwing everything closed and when I plugged int eh battery one last time to test it, the charging(blue led) and charged(green led) lights began to flicker. After a bit, the console simply shut down and refused to come back on. i took it a part and checked through everything I could. It wont charge, it wont turn on and it wont recognize the battery. I did notice that the chip in the picture provided, began to get extremely hot. Let me know if you need any further information and really hoping I can get this solved.

Thanks again!

[img]file:///C:/Users/adibm/Downloads/20240420_154602~2.jpg[/img]

  20240420_154538.jpg (Size: 244.78 KB / Downloads: 2)

  20240420_154550.jpg (Size: 150.78 KB / Downloads: 0)

  20240420_154602~2.jpg (Size: 161.22 KB / Downloads: 1)

All White Screen and a strange Buzzing Sound

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 05:32:32 +0000

Hi everyone!

So I've finally gotten around to setting up my first Freeplay CM3, However I appear to of run into a bit of a snag

When I go to turn everything on for the first time to do the initial boot my screen stays completely white a d the speaker starts to make a buzzing noise

I've got a green light so that end appears to be fine

I've followed a video on here to make sure the ribbon cake was connected properly and it sure is

I'm left wondering what else I could do

This is being used in conjunction with a boxypixel case I purchased before covid

The gofile link will take you to a video so you can see what I mean.

Hoping someone might have the answers for me because I am stumped

https://gofile.io/d/Bupvdo

White line on screen and joystick code (cm3)

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 19:21:13 +0000

Hi, after awhile I’ve finally got everything put together on my cm3 and I’m having a couple issues. First I have a white line and an overlapping of what’s already being displayed on the screen, I have a boxy pixel screen lense and second I am wondering is there anyway to get the github code on my cm3 and run it for the joystick and l2r2 I don’t have a way to connect it to the internet directly but I can download everything to the sd card thanks in advance!!

Freeplay CM4

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 04:38:36 +0000

tldr; It is possible to use a CM4 Lite (no eMMC) with an adapter board on the Freeplay CM3. The process involves using a fresh Retropie image and manually installing the changes required from the Freeplay-Support repo on top of it. The CM4 will not fit inside the GBA so a few mods to the case are also needed. Finally, the adapter board I used does not connect the pins required for the "L2R2 Dual Analog (4 ADC) Add-On Board" so individual wires must be rerouted in order for the analog joysticks and L2 and R2 to work. A low profile heatsink fits if it's carefully sanded off.

  final.jpeg (Size: 130.32 KB / Downloads: 19)
  final2.jpeg (Size: 166.13 KB / Downloads: 19)

The purpose of this post is to log my progress while I try to connect a CM4 Lite (no eMMC) to my Freeplay

So far I was able to make a fresh retropie image (buster) boot up on the Freeplay. There seems to be something missing that keeps sending current to the pi after holding the switch for 5 seconds.

I manually installed everything that's in the Full_Install.sh script that's in Freeplay-Support repo but it still won't stay on. And I found the script that does it when shutting it down but nothing similar for turning it on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

  Project 202207112136.jpg (Size: 358.73 KB / Downloads: 22)

Freeplay Zero shoulder tactile switches?

Thu, 26 May 2022 17:08:07 +0000

Good Afternoon,

Is there a part number for the tactile switches for the L and R buttons? A co-worker dropped my Freeplay Zero and broke the tactile switch on the R button. I would like to replace it.

Thanks,

Adding a new hot key / button

Thu, 26 May 2022 00:12:06 +0000

Hi, trying to add a switch thumbstick and was wanting to use the middle click as a hot key so I wouldn’t have to flip the power switch to achieve that the #41 data pin is open because I’m using the l2 r2 single thumbstick board can I use that with a short to ground to make a new hot key?

CM3 i2c configuration

Fri, 13 May 2022 23:41:37 +0000

Hi all,

Posting to describe an i2c config issue I found while setting up my CM3 kit. I resolved it; just leaving a note that may help someone else. I have the CM3 board v1.5 with a non-plus compute module, no add-on boards installed.

I've already had many hours of enjoyment with this kit; thanks to the Freeplay team for making a cool product. Also congrats on launching the new Zero 2 hardware version!

I found i2c did not work on my build (integrated brightness controller wasn't recognized), but only with the newer SD images (dated after 12-May-20). The 'Freeplay_CM3_20051201' image worked as expected. The fix was to apply a different device tree overlay. Working from the 21110201 SD image, I replaced the default:

'dtoverlay=i2c1-bcm2708,sda1_pin=44,scl1_pin=45,pin_func=6,combine=off'

with:

'dtoverlay=i2c1,pins_44_45=1,combine=off'

baudrate was set to 400000. i2cdetect then returned all the expected addresses, and brightness control worked.
I couldn't find an exact reason why this change was necessary, other than dtoverlay help text stating that 'i2c-bcm2708' is deprecated. Help is accessed by 'sudo dtoverlay -h '.

Has anyone else encountered this?

CM4S!

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 13:49:10 +0000

Didn't see this posted here yet, but there is a CM3 pin compatible CM4 module coming.

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/n...-module-4s

BCM2711 and 1GB of LPDDR5 on the existing Freeplay!

Hopefully they will make this available to order for end users.

"IPS ready" GBA shell?

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 19:39:34 +0000

Hi! I was wondering if anyone here has used one of these "IPS ready" shells for a Freeplay build.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IPS-Ready-Upgra...632-2357-0

I saw a setting in the display driver menu that seemed to take advantage of the full size of the screen. While I adore my Freeplay zero, I sure wouldn't mind a larger screen size!

Thanks in advance,

boxy pixel l2 r2 machined shoulders

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 01:27:10 +0000

trying to complete my boxy build with their machined L + R shoulder buttons

in order to do so i need to cut holes to allow the L2 + R2 buttons to poke through

has anyone achieved this yet or can point me in the direction of a service that could do this for me?

i have reached out to boxy directly and they told me they can't do this in-house

Raspberry Pi 3a+ & Funnyplaying IPS V2 compatible with Freeplay CM3 PCB?

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 01:23:35 +0000

Hi all, I know the CM3 PCB is meant to work with the screen sold by Freeplay, but I already own a Raspberry Pi 3A+ and I was wondering if I should go with the Freeplay or the Funnyplaying V2 screen? Now, The ribbon connector would be something that I'd have to manually solder to the "Display" connector on the Pi, or the GPIO, right? I have found the GPIO pinout but haven't yet found a pinout for either screen. If someone could help me please. THANKS!

CM3+ w/ eMMC (non-Lite)?

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 22:14:42 +0000

I assembled my Freeplay CM3 but couldn't get it to boot. I followed all the instructions I could find, making sure I didn't miss anything. I then checked the forums. After a bit of hunting, I happened upon "You must use the CM3 (+) Lite. You cannot use a CM3 module with eMMC."

I only have the CM3+ w/ eMMC.

I'm looking for a CM3+ Lite now to get this working. But in the mean time, I wonder:
1.) Perhaps this should be more clear on the web page? It says it can be purchased with a CM3+ Lite or you can provide your own. But it doesn't mention that non-Lite won't work.
2.) Why do the non-Lite versions not work? Do they boot from eMMC instead of the SD card with no option to reconfigure that? If so, perhaps there is a roundabout way to install onto the eMMC?

Thanks!

Trouble With ROMs On SD Card

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 19:05:42 +0000

Does anyone know an easy way to permanently put ROMs onto the micro sd card?