Does the use of the external control board need to have the RPI?

Peabo wrote on 2025-04-11, 00:50:

Does the use of the external control board need to have the RPI?

No -- the external control board does not need an additional Pi Pico. The only reason you would want an additional Pi Pico is if you want the HTTP control interface instead.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-03-21, 17:13:

Looking more-or-less ready to go. These pictures are just a test mount to make sure the footprints for everything is good, nothing is actually wired up for real here.

I've added some chamfering to the inside of it so that the board will slide into the tray a little easier, and so it's easier to screw down.

There are two versions of the drive mount -- one that takes tactile switches, and another that takes SPST-NO pushbuttons. See below for the parts needed for each.

Just printing it....

Ever thought about splitting this into two parts so the front panel could be printed face down for a smoother surface and later screwed or glued to the main part?

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-04-11, 12:48:

Just printing it....

Ever thought about splitting this into two parts so the front panel could be printed face down for a smoother surface and later screwed or glued to the main part?

I've tried a couple of things -- PrusaSlicer has a function where you can add studs to a cut surface for a press-fit -- but so far, this has been the best solution I've come up with. Not saying it can't be done, of course, but I'm going to need to dig out a few extra brain cells as my mental capacity has been a bit reduced this week 🤣

mbalmer wrote on 2025-04-11, 04:23:

Peabo wrote on 2025-04-11, 00:50:

Does the use of the external control board need to have the RPI?

No -- the external control board does not need an additional Pi Pico. The only reason you would want an additional Pi Pico is if you want the HTTP control interface instead.

Thanks, that wasn't clear. I received the final parts for the control board today and assembled it. Works like a champ. The encoder I bought does do 4 or so indents before changing, but not too annoying. It beats having to change out an SD card or use the web interface to change an ISO.

I've tested .iso and bin/cue so far with no issues. Doing great on this project, thanks for all the effort

So far I've tested over 100 CD images - 4 refused to load & 2 it gave read errors at boot or while playing (obviously I didn't play each game for hours so there may be more) but these might be bad images or may be corrupted in some way. I'll rip them from my own media.

I'll post my Excel file here when I've tested enough and after I've tried other images to see if it's inherent to the ZuluIDE or just a problem with the ISO or BIN file.