First Entry (May 22 2025)

All I did today was make a KICAD project and added a power source to the console schematic. The CM4 doesn't require any external circutry for power so I just connected it directly to a usb-c power line set to pull 5v.

Total Time: 1 min

Making some more progress (May 23 2025)

Today I wanted to make a bit more progress on the console schematic. After some thinking I decided to add a usb debug port that would be used for flashing the EMMC. But turns out adding a USB-OTG port was a little more compilcated when you also want to have a USB hub Ic. So I decided to add a SD card connector and just use a CM4 lite instead since that would have been easier to flash anyway. I'm going to go though this slowly right now before the summer so tomorrow I will add some usb ports and also some microcontrollers for communicating with the controller.

Total time: 1 hr (including research)

Adding USB! (June 4th 2025)

I decided to actually start working on this again after a week since they where doing a zoom call :P. It's really not a lot. I just added a usb hub IC and the ESP32. The usb hub IC is connected to 2 usb ports that will be accessible from the side of the console and the ESP32 will be the chip that communicates with the gamepad to send video and audio data and receive button and touch inputs. Video, audio, and touch data will be sent and received though spi which I haven't connected to the cm4 yet. I'm just gonna do that next time because i'm tired.

Total time: 1 hr 5 mins

Adding HDMI (June 12th 2025)

This is another small but necessary addition that, you guessed it, provides a output that you can connect to a display. All I had to do was connect the hdmi tx lines to the cm4 connectors. There are also some extra lines for hotplug detect and device control. Pretty simple really.

Total time: 10 mins