32-Bit Game Console Known as RBox

Overview

The RBox is a game console that does not require any PCB but just a crystal, a few capacitors, and resistors while making use of the smallest and cheapest 32-bit CPU to generate sound and 3D graphics.

Explanation

The design of this game console is based on one of the smallest ARM Cortex LPC111x microcontroller and has the ability to produce 256 color 320x240 composite or s-video signal and 8-bit 15kHz stereo audio with only few components. The LPC111x parts have enough horsepower for black and white video. A single analog joystick can be used to control the game.

The chroma phase can be manipulated by the SPI while the luma is written by the CPU using GPIO. The chroma writes are queued to relieve pressure on the luma timing since the SPI has a 16 byte FIFO on these parts.

The two supported pixel formats include 4 bits of luma with a 4-bit chroma index or 5 bits of luma with 3 bits of chroma index. The actual 8-bit value emitted by SPI is mapped by the chroma indexes. Up to 8k colors on the screen is allowed at the same time.