The DSpi Is a Fully 3D-Printable Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5-Powered Take on the Nintendo DS

Pseudonymous maker "borpendy" has created a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5-powered dual-screen handheld inspired by, and capable of emulating, Nintendo's classic DS — with modern dual-analog-stick control and twin touchscreen displays.

"The DSpi is a Dual Screen Linux handheld powered by a Rasberry Pi Compute Module 5, designed primarily for [Nintendo] DS emulation," borpendy explains of the gadget. "The device features a 5000mAh battery, [Microsoft] Xbox-pattern controller with dual analog sticks, dual 480p [MIPI] DSI [Display Serial Interface] touchscreens, stereo speakers, and a DAC [Digital to Analog Converter] + headphone amp."

The design of the device, installed in a custom-built 3D-printed housing, roughly mimic's Nintendo's DS, the first in its family of dual-screen clamshell handhelds and originally launched in 2004. Where the Nintendo DS had only one resistive touchscreen and one non-touchscreen, though, the DSpi has dual capacitive touchscreens — no stylus required.

Inside the housing is a custom carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, the computer-on-module variant of the popular Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer. It's connected to the two 800×480 IPS displays over MIPI DSI, with stereo speakers driven over I2S via a pair of Analog Devices MAX98357 amplifiers. The headphone output uses a Texas Instruments PCM5102 digital to analog converter and a dedicated Diodes Incorporated PAM8908 headphone amplifier. There's a TI BQ25890 battery management chip for the 5Ah battery, and the Xbox-inspired dual-analog control system is driven by a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.

The DSpi isn't borpendy's only plan for a Raspberry Pi portable: the maker is working on a more modular design comprised of a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 carrier that connects to daughterboards adapting it to a range of formats including a DSpi successor, a larger dual-7"-display handheld, a "controller-sized PC" with HDMI video output but no on-board display, and a laptop-size cyberdeck with a final form factor yet to be determined.

Borpendy has released design files, 3D print files, firmware, and the promise of operating system images to follow on GitHub under an unspecified license, but warns that "this is still a mostly experimental project, and could still use a lot of work — especially on the software side in improving the user experience."