The Integrated Pico Fighting Board (IPFB)
Starting in August 2022, I embarked on a journey to take some of the work that FeralAI (https://github.com/FeralAI/GP2040-Config-PicoFightingBoard/) was doing with the Raspberry Pi Pico as a Fighting Board and bring it to the next level; specially I wanted a PCB that had the Pico circuitry integrated into it, this way it looked and felt like a polished final product. The idea was simple: if the fit and finish was like the Brook PCBs, all the accessories on the market would just work with them and installation would be a snap. We could finally have a Fighting Board that was super-fast, community supported, you can tinker with it, and wouldn’t break the bank. I think I managed to accomplish this with my version of the Pico Fighting Board – The Integrated Pico Fighting Board or IPFB (catchy name, right?!). Along the way I found out that FeralAI had moved on from the project and the community picked it up, created a fork, and a lot of smart people have moved it along. The current GP2040-CE Community manager, TheTrain, is doing an excellent job coordinating things.
There are a lot of great makers out there and community efforts to do similar things and some may already have gotten there. Admittedly, I haven’t sought any out because I didn’t want it to affect my design process. I’m certain no board is better than any other board and each method is clever. The Pi foundation offers a lot of resources for building projects off their chips which makes this even more awesome. Add in that PCB manufacturing is getting more and more affordable for the hobbyists and I suspect more projects like this will take off.
My PCB will be $24.95 with volume discounts available. For each PCB manufactured (not sold but manufactured) I will provide a $2.50 donation to the GP2040-CE.INFO team to help support their efforts. They are the true heroes in all of this; the firmware is just that good. The GP2040-CE Community Manager, TheTrain, politely asked that no contributions be made to the project. I respect their decision and will not provide them with contributions as they have asked. I am open to making donations to high quality Animal related charities, to keep the good karma moving, so make recommendations in the comments!
The IPFB works with PC, MiSTer, Android, Raspberry Pi, Switch, and PS3. It will work with PS4 for games that have legacy mode. You can find more details at Community Edition Firmware Page: https://gp2040-ce.info/. You will find that I made this as close to the existing PCBs on the market as possible in terms of connectors (JST PH, USB Type B, 20 Pin male headers, etc.) and their locations so things would just work with it.
There are a number of testers that have helped me make this a reality – they include The Real Phoenix, Wren, Black Majic, imbord3rlin3, Paik4Life, and neo702. TheTrain did offer some troubleshooting and help along the way on one minor issue that was resolved even though I didn’t “read them in” to what I was working on. He’s also the GP2040-CE Community Manager and is really easy to work with and bounce ideas off of!
If you want to become part of the GP2040-CE Community, please take a look at their Discord: https://discord.gg/g87cDH3nVJ
I will be starting production on 100 PCBs this week and they will be ready to ship in a few weeks. I will be taking pre-orders for them so you can lock one (or more in) for your coming projects; but this is not to fund the run. It’s already paid for so there is no risk with the production schedule or minimums, etc.
Learn more from the JasensCustomsIPFBOverview-V1.1 Design and Overview Document. If you are interested in the schematics of the IPFB, please reach out via my Contact Form.
Ready to order? Please purchase your IPFB here!
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