Summary
- Raspberry Pi owners can now create their own mini retro PC using 3D printing and a Raspberry Pi 4B.
- The project includes details such as a functioning SD card reader that resembles a floppy disk drive.
- A shopping list of components and optional additions is provided to help you bring this project to life.
Raspberry Pi owners have been on a retro throwback in the past few days. We were very impressed when Jeff Geerling resurrected a broken Sega Game Gear with a Raspberry Pi, and now a genius has combined the miniature motherboard with their 3D printing projects to create a tiny retro PC you can use.
Combining the old with the new with Raspberry Pi
This amazing project is the brainchild of fantasticmrdavid on Printables. It's designed after an old 286 PC which fantasticmrdavid says he grew up with. They have done an amazing job recreating the style and feel of the old PCs, and they didn't skimp on any of the details.
For example, fantasticmrdavid has turned the floppy disk drive port into a functioning SD card reader. Whenever you want to change things up, you can pop out and swap the SD card just like you would a floppy disk. The case has room for two 25mm fans and a Raspberry Pi speaker expansion port. And, of course, you can use it to run Windows 3.1 and all the games that were released on it.
Fantasticmrdavid posted a shopping list of the components you need to bring this project to life, so if you want a fun Raspberry Pi project to bring in 2024, this seems like a winner:
In addition to the print you'll need:
- Raspberry Pi 4B
- 3.5 inch HDMI MPI3508 LCD display (such as this one)
- Micro SD to SD Card flexible extension cable (this one). The reader drive part has been specifically designed to fit the one in the link as others I tried were too big on the micro-SD side to fit -the desktop base. The correct orientation for the SD reader is for the SD card to be inserted with label facing up.
- HDMI flat flexible cable (such as this one). I used D2 + A2 + 15cm cable from the link.
- 1x M1.5x8 dowel pin (such as this one) for the SD card drive latch.
- 40 pin GPIO extension cable (such as this one). When assembling, try to keep as much of the extra slack in the monitor as possible to leave room in the desktop for the other cables.
- 4x M2.5x5 screws for securing the Pi to the desktop base
- 4x M2.5x5 screws for securing the desktop case to monitor base
- 1x M2.5x5 screw for securing the SD drive brace to the front panel back
- 2x M2.5x8 screws for securing the desktop case to desktop base
- 2x M2.5x8 screws for the monitor
Optional:
-Pi speaker expansion board (such as this one).
-Dual 25mm fans connected to LCD display 5v pins (such as this one). I also needed a JST 2-pin extension cable.
-8x M2.5x8 screws for securing the fans to the desktop base.
All parts except the following should be printed with supports:
- monitor connector
- front panel face
- front panel back
- drive latch
- display brace