So I'm going to mod a Gameboy Pocket...

[J.D]

And if my GBP from Bo ever shows up, I guess I'll have two modded GBPs.

I'm gonna mod (backlight, bivert, prosound, overclock, in that order) the GBP I'm getting from Zeturi

So here's my order of operations, and questions.

1. Apparently the screen the Gameboy has fading lines. Should the soldering-iron-on-the-ribbon-cable trick work?
2. I wanna spray paint the front half of the Gameboy White, and the back half Black (along with the buttons and screen cover.) What's the best paint I can use, while keeping the matte texture of the Gameboy.
3. I'm trying not to use so much money on this project. Anyone have any spare parts I can buy for cheap? Otherwise, which backlighting kit should I buy from Nonfinite? (I'll get the bivert chip too.)
4. How hard is it to solder everything (backlight kit + bivert) together? There's a couple of guides, but which one's the best for a newcomer? Are there any sort of diagrams? How good is the picture quality?
5. Same as 4, but with the prosound mod.
6. Where can I get the clock crystals for doing a 3 way clocking switch?
7. Any guides on how to do the clocking switch?
8. This is more of a personal question, but is it really worth it? I could just play Game Boy games on my DS or my PSP, in near perfect quality.

Thanks all.

 

[bud]

1.I have never gotten it to work.
2.Probably what Ish uses. (Montana)
3.I have a few biversion chips I can sell you. They are the SMT ones.
4.It's not very hard to do.
5.Prosound is easy. But if you want to put in a prosound jack you may have trouble finding room for it.
6.Ebay
7. There are a few, check the stickies and there is one at BH I think.
8.It's worth it a way where you can say that you did it.

I know all this and I still fail at gameboys. ;_;

 

[McBlasian]

6. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/25pcs-4MHZ-8MHZ- ... 3a5a1dd74d
I got them from here, seem perfect to me.

7. viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4314&start=0 Ish and R00 helped me. If you want to replace the on||off switch, you'll need a DPDT switch.

8. And I'm just doing it for personal enjoyment. If you really want to have a fully unique gameboy, then you should do it.
And this sounds like a pretty epic mgb.


Hope this helps.

 

[Ishwhale]

Cheer up bud, es okay
JD, if you have any other questions or need clearer explanation of something, I'm your man, unless Bud gets to you first again.

 

[R00man]

I can help too.

 

[bud]

Ish made it all better.

 

[J.D]

I might do all of this to a GBC instead, and send my GBC to Thursty to get it frontlighted. Before I do that though, I need to do the paint job, prosound, and clock mod.

I saw this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwJQxD8LLNY). Would it be realistically possible to do something like that, but way smaller, and with less power input?

Also, would it be possible to prosound the speaker on the GBC itself? I can't help but notice the buzz that the speaker emits, similar to an unmodded headphone jack. Also, would it be possible to install stereo speakers in the GBC? Would it all fit?

 

[R00man]

http://www.linear.com/pc/productDetail. ... 1096,P2069 That is probably your best bet for the variable oscillation, but any other square wave function generator will work if it is in an appropriate range.

 

[ubernoober1477]

1. as far as i know, the fading lines are more for the dmgs, not the mgbs. i used a hair drier on the sides of the cable and it worked for me. (on a dmg)
2. cant help you there, sorry.
3 & 4. i just ordered my backlighting kit. ill tell you if its worth it (but from what ive heard, theyre way worth it.
5. Prosound modding is the first thing i did to my dmg. its super simple. remember its meant to be used with some kind of an amp, so make an extra jack if you want to still be able to use your
6. sorry, cant help you there. i know a lot of gameboy modding sites have them though
7. all over the site. sorry, too lazy to look =P
8. well for things like lsdj or nanoloop yeah. its the only way to get that authentic sound.
i personally would use a psp or a dingoo if i were to want to have a huge library of games.
im more used to just playing donkey kong or pokemon, so i dont mind carrying a cartridge or 2. i like the feel of playing on my brick haha

 

[J.D]

I got my Game Boy from Zeturi on Tuesday. I don't see any of the line problems on the screen, as long as you turn the contrast down. So no screen worries. I'm buying a yellow GBP case from Budnespid, because I lurve the color yellow on portables (loved my yellow Game Boy Color when I was super young)

Now, is there a convenient way I can make the speaker louder? I also may frakencase the speaker grill from the other Game Boy Pocket case and make a Game Boy with external stereo sound! If only I knew how2gameboy

 

[XCVG]

1. Apparently the screen the Gameboy has fading lines. Should the soldering-iron-on-the-ribbon-cable trick work?
As far as I know, you're supposed to use a clothes iron, but somewhere along the line someone interpreted it as soldering iron and that stuck. Not sure which works better. I could be wrong though, the article was pretty confusing.
2. I wanna spray paint the front half of the Gameboy White, and the back half Black (along with the buttons and screen cover.) What's the best paint I can use, while keeping the matte texture of the Gameboy.
Fusion, in flat or ultra flat. Or possibly the stuff that Ish uses.
3. I'm trying not to use so much money on this project. Anyone have any spare parts I can buy for cheap? Otherwise, which backlighting kit should I buy from Nonfinite? (I'll get the bivert chip too.)
I think you need the thinner V2 for the GBP.
4. How hard is it to solder everything (backlight kit + bivert) together? There's a couple of guides, but which one's the best for a newcomer? Are there any sort of diagrams? How good is the picture quality?
Depends on your definition of hard. Have you soldered to small stuff before?
5. Same as 4, but with the prosound mod.
Prosound is pretty easy IIRC.
6. Where can I get the clock crystals for doing a 3 way clocking switch?
The eBay link that guy posted. A nice variety.
7. Any guides on how to do the clocking switch?
I think you need a 3-pole switch. Wire up the common to one point where the old crystal was, wire the other old crystal point to all the crystals and the switch to switch between the other leg of the crystal. I don't think you have to switch both legs.
8. This is more of a personal question, but is it really worth it? I could just play Game Boy games on my DS or my PSP, in near perfect quality.
For practical use? Not really, a DS is a lot more practical since it can play everything from GB to DS fairly well and sort of do Neo Geo, SNES, and NES. The PSP is a bit better I think. But for cool factor? Modded GameBoy is totally worth it, and it's still usable unlike my behemoth of an N64p.

 

[desmin88]

How good does biversion really look compared to nonbiversion.

Same for prosound.


Any before and after pics for biversion?

 

[J.D]

How good does biversion really look compared to nonbiversion.

Same for prosound.


Any before and after pics for biversion?

IIRC all Biversion does is improve contrast, and prosound removes the buzz from the headphone jack when you plug headphones in. Both sound worth it to me.

 

[desmin88]

Cool.