chipmusic.org is an online community in respect and relation to chip music, art and its parallels.
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
I have a new to me Gameboy Pocket and I was wondering if I should backlight it? I have experience with electronics innards and some soldering ability but I dont want to mess up this gameboy. So is backlighting an mgb as hard as it appears to be?
Last edited by z3r0 (Apr 27, 2012 2:23 am)
Yes. Getting the reflective mess off the back of the screen in mgbs is very tough. Everything else is pretty easy.
So get a junker MGB, try that first. If you somehow magically nail it the first time, you can just use that screen in the good one.
Or find someone willing to sell you just a cleaned off screen.
I was wondering the same thing... I ended up ordering a backlight, I'm still not super confident about it. In the worst case scenario, MGBs only cost $20 or so, it's not a massive loss.
The real pros just hold a flashlight in their mouths 
I could backlight it for you, or for money and trade (for your screen) I can send you an LCD with the film peeled off and ready to have backlight dropped in. Let me know
That flash light idea is pretty awesome but I might hold out on backlighting it for a little while.
I've always found mgbs to be way easier to remove the film for backlighting
Dmgs are really easy to get the film off depending on how you do it. The hard part for me is when I remove the screen holder (the white piece) it is hard to cut up and remove without cutting the screen/cables. But if you remove that it gives you so much room to remove film. On a poker I have been using a different technique than I used to. I may post a video of it. not sure how justinthursdays method of desolder img a pockets lower ribbon cable is, but this method I use is really fast, and hasnt damaged a screen yet
If you are good with soldering then I highly recommend desoldering the ribbon cable at the bottom of the LCD, peeling and cleaning it, then soldering it back together.
If you are good with soldering then I highly recommend desoldering the ribbon cable at the bottom of the LCD, peeling and cleaning it, then soldering it back together.
Yes! I did this and it wasn't too hard. All you do is heat the back side of the pads (thin board thingy) even if it turns black. The pads will get loose quick and you will have a clean job done.
If you are good with soldering then I highly recommend desoldering the ribbon cable at the bottom of the LCD, peeling and cleaning it, then soldering it back together.
This is something I'm going to try on the next Pocket I backlight for sure, sounds 10x easier. My first few I did it the hard way.
The real pros just hold a flashlight in their mouths
Or a headlamp like Homesweet. 
Update: I successfully backlit my MGB, it turned out great. It's not incredibly hard, it just takes a steady-ish hand.
Why not just use the lamp accessory that plugs into the link-cable port?
Why not just use the lamp accessory that plugs into the link-cable port?
GENIUS!
SketchMan3 wrote:Why not just use the lamp accessory that plugs into the link-cable port?
GENIUS!
Saw one on ebay for 5 bucks
SketchMan3 wrote:Why not just use the lamp accessory that plugs into the link-cable port?
GENIUS!
are we seriously to the point where suggesting using an official accessory counts as "genius"?