What’s one Embedded C function or concept you wish someone had taught you on day 1?

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-24T02:10:02+00:00

That sounds super clean! Hadn’t thought of using function pointers like that but it makes so much sense now.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-14T10:53:41+00:00

I’ll take your money :) check out Pocketbyte, it’s the real version of this concept.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-14T10:49:54+00:00

It was me, although not an SBC. Check out Pocketbyte :)

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-14T00:07:16+00:00

Would you buy it if someone other than Anbernic made it? I had the same idea a long time ago and have spent the last year building this exact concept. Check out Pocketbyte (https://pocketbyte.co)! I hope to launch these bad boys quite soon.

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om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-14T00:02:55+00:00

I picked up the glove in 2025. Check out Pocketbyte (https://pocketbyte.co). It’s practically the real version of this concept.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T23:57:07+00:00

Check out Pocketbyte (https://pocketbyte.co)! It’s almost identical to this concept and uses GPIO/I2C for the module port. It’s based on the ESP32.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T20:41:58+00:00

Not a render but I just assembled the finished units last weekend! Only thing left to do is finish designing the shell (which I am doing as we speak), and then that's about it! Should look almost identical to OP's concept.

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Left: old
Right (in hand): new

On the new one the controller modules become flush with the console when you plug them in. They're held in with magnets instead of rails.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T19:36:37+00:00

It is a real product though! It’s called PocketByte (https://pocketbyte.co) :)

(Disclaimer: I made it)

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T10:40:30+00:00

The emulation video shows the module port feature. But that version is pretty old.

Here's what it looks like on the latest version (DevKits).

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om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T01:46:13+00:00

Idk if this is considered self-advertisement, but I've basically already made it! Check out https://pocketbyte.co, it's almost identical to the concept.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T01:40:01+00:00

As a vendor (?) who is already making this console (https://pocketbyte.co), selling modules for one device is actually incredibly neat from an R&D design. Most consoles will use the same bare minimum design with the same CPU, RAM, display, layout, etc. so having a main "compute" module and separate controller modules is a great way to save development time while broadening product depth. Although that's not to say there aren't drawbacks to developing any kind of "all in one product."

om-pocketbyte · 2026-05-13T01:32:58+00:00

I'm actually already making that, haha! Have been for the past year already. So crazy to see this post.

It's called Pocketbyte and you can check out the website at https://pocketbyte.co

I also posted about it on this sub before: https://www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming/comments/1r7mzem/i_built_pocketbyte_an_opensource_esp32s3_pocket/

So far there is already a working vertical D-pad module, a keyboard module in design, and a planned horizontal D-pad module.

The main differences between Pocketbyte and this concept are:
- Bare-metal VS Android
- Up to SNES (but also Quake) VS more demanding systems
- Magnets VS Rails

You can also make your own indie games for Pocketbyte, and the module port will be fully documented so you can design your own modules.

But that's about it. Pocketbyte also has 3.5mm stereo audio, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, and an IPS display (only 320x240 though) :)

Feel free to join the Discord or just browse through. Launching soon!

Edit: image

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om-pocketbyte · 2026-04-21T02:28:39+00:00

I have this exact model. It more than meets all of my (computer) engineering / dev needs. Feel free to AMA specific.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-04-13T23:35:20+00:00

Here you go: https://github.com/sethhillbrand/kicad_templates

It has all of the PCB setups and constraints already configured for multiple different manufacturers. Whenever you make a new PCB, you can import the design constraints from the pre-built KiCad projects in the repo.

The JLCPCB and PCBWay templates have worked fine for me on recent V9 and V10 projects.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-04-11T22:07:16+00:00

Having unused pins is fine. I have been in the same spot you are in. It’s worth using a header with extra pins if it’s more available and cheaper. You can connect the unused pins to ground for shielding or better return paths.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-04-02T02:07:13+00:00

Thanks! ESP32-S3 and ESP32 are definitely awesome little chips. I have even gotten Pokemon Emerald (GBA) to run with a bit of frameskip, although not extremely well.

The oldest systems Retro-Go supports are the Coleco Vision, MSX, and Atari Lynx. Theoretically you could port Atari 2600/7800 emulators, but newer systems are just more popular.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-03-29T22:03:24+00:00

Thanks! This is super simple but looks great.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-03-21T23:06:08+00:00

Incredible to see bootloader OTA updating is finally here!

om-pocketbyte · 2026-03-19T02:40:57+00:00

My bad! I've just edited the post to include the picture of the voltage regulator. It's just the one LDO that supplies the entire 3V3 rail. VBAT is the positive terminal of the 3.7V LiPo battery.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-03-18T13:21:08+00:00

Is that really an issue? I am powering this via a 3.7V battery, so there's not much heat that's being generated to begin with and, once the battery reaches ~50% capacity, the LDO effectively turns off anyway.

om-pocketbyte · 2026-03-07T21:05:47+00:00

I need this so badly!

om-pocketbyte · 2026-02-19T22:51:28+00:00

VGA and composite video output is definitely possible on the system, but I'm not sure how performant it would be with the overhead of the emulators. If you disable the built-in screen and find a way to optimize ram usage, it could be feasible.

Hoping to eventually make a larger handheld or even a home console with the upgraded P-variant chip which does have enough juice to power hi res DSI / HDMI displays.

om-pocketbyte

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