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that would be my project in the youtube video. sorry if i haven't replied to any messages via youtube but i had no idea that people even found those videos anymore i haven't had any email notifications or anything.

that project was in my early years before i knew anything about electronics. it was a super lame hack in which i used an optical sensor directly on a small secondary LCD screen that read the BPM light in the program. problem is (which is why i stopped the project) after the first play the BPM light flashes at whatever point it was at from the last play meaning that it is only in sync on the first play, unless you stop the music exactly on beat.

i have a new version in the works (for a very long while now) it involves the higher quality sound processor of the early playstation motherboards, a fancy clear case and a parallel port hack which should hopefully give me full midi out of the serial port once i understand how the game works by hex editing. unfortunately there is a lot of work still to do and it has been pushed to one side lately.

check the gameboy itself, if there is a loose bit of metal or solder shorting the pins in the link port then it can lock the arduinoboy.

you make a fair point, and to be honest i am not really worried about gameboys becoming extinct, there are a lot of them and they are not so commonly dealt with these days, is just more the attitude that for the sake of slightly higher contrast, tearing apart a bunch of gameboys seems wasteful if it can be done with non original parts.

and you are right manufacturing has its costs too, but then that is a whole other subject, but i get your point.

thanks for the complement i want to get back into being an active member on the forums and put up all the mods i have been doing, just gotta find the time for it.

well the idea was to develop a board, and then populate it with components on request. so if someone wants an RGB controller, it can be added, but the board would be generic for everyone. the main difference is that it would take longer to design than just a direct replacement board. it would also be very possible to offer it as a kit, people could populate the board with what ever they wanted, and still get the satisfaction of doing a modification without risking their gameboys.

hi guys,

i haven't been on here in ages, had loads of other things going on.

i just wanted to explain why i didn't post the info on this mod,

firstly all my info was in scraps on the desk, i didn't get round to doing a proper write up.
secondly anyone who has done this or attempted this will know it is a fiddly job, i have been emailed by lots of enthusiastic modders who have attempted things way beyond their limits and destroyed gameboys in the process. my aim was to prevent damage to DMG and pocket gameboys.

its not possible to even begin to do this mod without first removing the DMG screen, this is a one way move. then the pocket screen must be soldered to the board or the connector from the gameboy pocket. this will most likely make the pocket useless as well. if after that it does not work, or the screen is damaged, for example during backlighting, then the modder will end up with two broken gameboys.

my aim was to produce a replacement front PCB that would allow a pocket screen to be attached without destroying any gameboys. the front panel was also going to include extra parts such as an arduino based RGB controller, on board arduinoboy, mounting points for extra crystals, a pitch bend, battery level monitor and a few other ideas. this idea would be finalized with a replacement back board as well, possibly including a lithium battery pack controller to bring the gameboy up to modern portable standards.

this hasn't happened yet because i am still learning Eagle, the program used for making PCBs. i have sent my first PCB to the printer to see if i have a grasp of the program.

if people REALLY must have this information then i can make it public, not that that matters now, but i hope that people will understand that this mod is not like a pro sound or an underclock, it can very easily leave you without a working gameboy.

sorry no its not, unfortunately due to the location of the arduino (behind the motherboard) it is very difficult to get the pins out, also for some reason the smaller 6 pin opto isolator drags down the receive pin, so the opto has to be disconnected before the arduino sees any data,

i have built arduinoboys before that have a switch and access to the FTDI pins, but its just too complex in the midi gameboys. instead i am trying to work out a way of using the actual midi ports and build a simple converter from FTDI to midi, but it would still mean there was no reset line available so the gameboy would have to be switched on just as the IDE uploads the code. not impossible just inconvenient.

as for the gameboys themselves, i am glad people realise they are a lot of work, if you took someone like a car mechanic who charges maybe $50 an hour, these things would cost millions, also shipping is free world wide, and also because they are produced in Sweden, things like buying arduinos from outside the country costs 45% import tax, which really pushes cost up. there is nothing cheap in Sweden at all, with it having nearly the highest tax in the world. prices would be cheaper if i lived in the US. but as a side note i have sold maybe 3 gameboys with full RGB lighting for $600, so some people do have the money, but i respect that the chiptune scene is not a well funded one.

Also don't forget these are fully kitted out midiboys, they come with:
backlight
bivert
switchable pitchbend
full in and out midi
flush mount pro sound
colour coded buttons, including power switch and link port
all have their battery covers
some have new screen lenses
some have lights inside or battery lights etc

also unlike normal arduinoboys, the midi gameboys can be linked to other gameboys using a normal link cable giving you as many midi gameboys as you like (with some modification to the link cable)

so these were a lot of work. i am going to try and build some budget midi gameboys which will be significantly cheaper, as well as some more basic gameboys in general, also some add ons like my GBLFO, if anyone has seen that, and other few things when i get the time.

if anyone is waiting on stuff (i know a few people have bought stuff already) i will get it posted asap, i will send emails when its been sent, just its totally crazy right now, just got back from a long holiday, also proposed to my GF so now i have a nightmare of "family" moments to deal with lol

as i have got older, i have noticed more and more how ready people are these days to slate a project, its very easy to pick holes in other people's work especially with the internet opening ideas up to the whole world.

but i don't see many people actually starting new things, in fact i think there are less people starting new projects because they are afraid of what people will say. I don't bother to make my projects public anymore because of how people react, especially people who couldn't even begin to understand how it all works.

with china undercutting labor costs, people assume that labor is free, they calculate the cost of parts it takes to make something and disregard the R and D costs, and assembly costs, and the intellectual value of the original idea. That kind of thinking leads to companies producing quantity not quality. everywhere you look there is cheap crap for sale, and as soon as something well built comes along people complain about its price.