History of video games/Platforms/Gamebuino

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  The front and back of the Gamebuino Meta.

History

Saint-Etienne, France, the provenance of the Gamebuino Meta.

Development

The original Gamebuino was initially a project done for the amusement of its creator.

Gamebuino Launch

The launch of the original Gamebuino classic occurred in 2014. Thousands of Gamebuino classic consoles were distributed. Outside it's home nation of France, the console was typically exported to countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

An open source DIY kit called the MAKERbuino was demoed at Maker Faire Rome 2016 and later crowdfunded through kickstarter. This version was designed by a Croatian developer, and through collaboration with the original Gamebuino team, was made 100% compatible with it. This developer also received some assistance from the Pokkito developer.

Gamebuino Meta Development

A Kickstarter in November 2017 was held for the improved Gamebuino Meta with a planned launch date for January 2018.

Gamebuino Meta Launch

Gamebuino production started on the 9th of February 2018, with the option of picking up units in St-Etienne, France. Gamebuino began shipping on February 20, 2018. Uniquely for a console launch, members of the community were invited to come to an office to see production, and were also invited to a February 26th, 2018 party to help the team ship consoles.

In 2019 Python programming support was added to the Gamebuino.

Temporary Closure and Revival

On October 1st, 2020 the Gamebuino line was quietly discontinued when Gamebuino maker Aadalie SAS entered judicial liquidation. This closure is said to be unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic. A DIY Kit for the Gamebuino Meta had been planned, but not released.

In February of 2021 it was announced that the company Papillon Ingénierie would revive the Gamebuino project By the 25th of 2021 the GameBuino was fully relaunched.

Gamebuino Technology

The original Gamebuino was a simple Arduino based portable system which used a black and white display and a rechargeable battery.

Gamebuino Meta Technology

Compute

The Gamebuino Meta is powered by a 32 bit ATSAMD21 ARM Cortex M0+ architecture microcontroller.

The microcontroller has 32 kilobytes of RAM and 256 kilobytes of flash storage built in.

Hardware

A 1.8" backlit color TFT LCD with a resolution of 160 by 128 pixels is included. By default the display runs at half resolution to highlight pixel art. Eight RGB LEDs on the Gamebuino Meta offer off screen lighting effects.

The system sports a microSD card slot for expanded storage.

The Gamebuino has a 10 bit DAC and a class D amp for audio.

Battery life is about 16 hours on the included 900 mAh LiPo battery.

The Gamebuino Meta was made in France, leveraging French manufacturing facilities.

Software

Games for the Gamebuino are typically free and open source games coded in C or C++.

Gallery

Gamebuino Meta

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  Button labels are marked onto the PCB.
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  The Gamebunio Meta with no wood grain.
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  The back of the Gamebuino with no wood grain.
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  The Gamebuino Meta with a wood grain applied.
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  The Gamebuino Meta with a different wood grain.
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  The Gamebuino Meta developer backpack.
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  The wood grain kit.
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  The Gamebuino next to a Pokitto and an Arduboy.
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  Gamebuino Meta packaging.
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  Gamebuino Meta packaging.

MAKERbuino

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  A MAKERbuino handheld game console, powered on.
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  A MAKERbuino compared to an Gamebuino classic. The MAKERbuino is somewhat larger.
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  A MAKERbuinoo with no casing.
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  A partially populated MAKERbuino board in a vice.
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  A MAKERbuino PCB. Note that instructions for assembly have been silkscreened on the board.
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  The ATMEL ATMEGA 328P microcontroller used in the MAKERBuino.
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  A closeup of the LiPo charger board.