Matty&Mattie Portable (Olimex iMX233-Micro)

[Matej]

I started my own opensource project (retro+indie+opensource game console / home computer) to support Olimex iMX233-Micro boards.

Webpage will be: http://www.matej.tech
Forum will be: forum.matej.tech
(I hope 20.9.2016 will be everything online)

I will call my game console "Matty" as it is nickname for my real name Matthew (Matej).
Main reason is that I allready own 2x at home...
Also I will credit Olimex, Olinuxino-iMX233-Micro on my site.
My idea is to have short name for platform like PC, Android or MSX standart.
Normal people will remember Matty sooner as Olinuxino-iMX233-Micro.
Thats reason why Matty...

Specs are good:
32Bit Risc ARM CPU / 454MHz
64 MB RAM
TV PAL/NTSC video output
720x480 pixels (NTSC)
720x576 pixels (PAL)
16,777,216 (24-bit color depth)
Pixel Processing Pipeline (PXP)
1 USB High Speed Host
Three buttons
60PIN GPIO
Stereo headphone DAC with 99 dB SNR
SDcard
Linux

Compare to Nintendo 64:
CPU: 64-bit NEC VR4300 (MIPS R4300i) running at 93.75 MHz
GPU: 64-bit Reality Coprocessor, running at 62.5 MHz
Audio: 16-bit, stereo, CD quality
4 MB RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) on a 9-bit 562.5 MB/s bus, upgradable to 8 MB with Expansion Pak
ROM cartridge (Nintendo 64 Game Pak) bus running at 264 MB/s
Resolution: 240p (320×240), 288p (384×288), 480i (640×480), 576i (720×576)
Color palette: 16,777,216 (24-bit color depth), 2,097,152 possible colors (21-bit color) on screen

Or Sony PSP:
CPU - MIPS single-core (333mhz)
GPU - Single-core (166mhz)
System RAM - 64mb DDR (333mhz)
Video RAM - 2mb
Resolution - LCD 480x272 (sub-SD)
Media - 900mb UMD, 1.8gb dual-layer UMD

So it is not so powerful as todays PCs or latest 64bit Olinuxino, RPi3 but it is very powerful as retro game console (like Nintendo N64, Sony PS1, Sony PSP, Atari Jaguar, Goldstar 3DO, Commodore CD32).

There will be 3D printed case (I will do full documentation as I am 3D CAD engineer and open source it). Design will be like litte game console from 90s (inspired). I plan to have forum for development, cms website, wiki page and every half year PDF MattyMagazine. I also will do some coding / pixelart / chipmusic competitions there too!!!

All developers will be welcomed! I will make also MattyTeam (MattyLinux,Games,Ports,Language Translations,Magazine,MattySpace Events). There is allready linux image for that board so we will just add GUI there... There will be place on my site for other indie and retro software houses / developers (download games, apps from my page).
Also games/apps will be levelware. If you will love game (few levels will be free) you will be able to buy
extra level game pack directly from your developer (I will link dev sites on my page)...

Tools for development:
C++, C ,Pascal, Basic, Lua...
TileStudio / Tiled - sprites+map (PNG, MAP)
Milkytracker (XM,MOD) - music, effects

MattyLinux will be very small just normal Linux + very simple gui like on PSP or old Nokia Phones (game loading menu, gamepad settings etc).

Please welcome to discuss your ideas here.

Have a nice day.

Matej

[Matej]

There is no audio out on board. So you need wire two pins. So yes it is DIY game console !!!

Here is how big is Matty (in the middle, red prototype enclosure) vs. Raspberry PI2 (left) vs. Raspberry Pi Zero (Right).
So Matty is very small and cute (smaller than original RPi).


First We should  make linux distro image, than nice game console like enclosure (3d printed) + buttons.
I will burn fuses, wire audio out by myself or there will be tutorial on http://www.matej.tech.
And there is RetroBit Matty under development (white pcb, stereocinch on board, 4x DB9 Atari joystick)!!!

For 3D maybe some 3D engines from DS or TinyGL!

During weekend I will setup cms, forum...

Also I am thinking about "Mattie" = Portable Matty (composite TFT+battery+gameboy like 3d printed case and buttons, paddle knob)... Modern handheld for chipmusic, games...

Let me know if you want join MattyTeam or MattiePortableTeam...

[Matej]

Here is Fabiano Traple RetroBit Matty version!!!
RetroBit - Matty Compatible with 4x DB9 - Sega Genesis / Atari Joystick ports and
2x Cinch for Audio. So I will do 4x boards for experiments.

Here is His GitHub:
https://github.com/ftraple/retrobit

Here is board layout:


So with Fabiano´s RetroBit board, Matty is slowly evolving to new platform.

For now there are 2 Matty platform compatible boards:
1. Olimex Olinuxino-iMX233-Micro + audio stereojack
2. RetroBit Matty