129 Reply by nitro2k01

(7 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

BennVenn wrote:

You can drop in a $4 boost converter and won't have to worry about battery quality/charge.

Are you sure? The GBP (like all GBs) has a switching voltage converter built-in. If the voltage cut-off of Nintendo's converter is set too high, it may stop batteries from working before they're fully discharged, and then a boost converter would help. But I thought the problem with the EMS cart was that it's using excessive power, so that it both drains the battery faster, and is using more power than a typical AAA battery can deliver when partially discharged due to ESR. In that case, no boost converter in the world would help.

curtinparloe wrote:

In other news, I had a spare Li-ion 3.7V, 810mAh/2.997Wh which I jumpered up to the Pocket's terminals and it worked better than I expected. Is there a reason I can't/shouldn't put a single Li-ion AAA size cell with a dummy cell in the back?

That should work, better than using AAA batteries in fact. One thing to keep in mind: If it doesn't have protection circuitry built-in, you may want to be careful not to over-discharge it, or accidentally short it.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

130 Reply by nitro2k01

(8 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

There's a new player in town. You may want to check out re-303, with the tagline, it's not a clone, it's a replica.

Go to forum: Other Hardware

131 Reply by nitro2k01

(7 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Both of you are probably wrong. If it was a USB cable problem, the cart wouldn't detect at all in the computer. It wouldn't randomly give glitched Nintendo graphics.

Probably, the cartridge contacts are dirty, or misaligned. Open up the cart and clean the edge connector with isopropyl alcohol.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

132 Reply by nitro2k01

(14 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Link?

I doubt the innards are fake, unless they are obviously using something that looks like a new LCD. Rather, I would guess that they are repro cases with refurbished/reused electronics.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

133 Reply by nitro2k01

(6 replies, posted in Bugs and Requests)

Should work now.

Go to forum: Bugs and Requests

134 Reply by nitro2k01

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Zetetica wrote:

Yeah this is an easy solution but kind of annoying fix, because you have to use a hot soldering iron and reconnect the bottom ribbon cable wires by running the iron across and getting it hot enough that it doesn't actually melt the ribbon cable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7D4wZ6a1ZA

Different problem.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

135 Reply by nitro2k01

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Try checking the solder connections between the board and the LCD ribbon cable that is under the screen. Likely, something has come loose which makes it not drive the horizontal lines at all.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

136 Reply by nitro2k01

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Saskrotch wrote:

I thought this said "preserve his honor" and I was like have you MET the guy?

I have now restored my honor by removing that typo. (The typo wasn't "honor" but repeating the word "horror" in the sentence.)

Go to forum: General Discussion

137 Topic by nitro2k01

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Glomag, in case you didn't know, is one of the early players in the LSDj scene. But he's a man with many talents. He was also horror movie music composer in the '80s. Now he's looking to preserve those movie scores before they rot away in the dark. That's what this kickstarter campaign is for. And some of the rewards are chiptune related. Go check it out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cb … film-compo

Go to forum: General Discussion

138 Reply by nitro2k01

(20 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

What I meant was that while the mod was incorrectly installed, this problem existed and could have damaged the CPU or inverter (but probably didn't). Although thinking about it, I forgot this mod board has you lift the pin, so the inverter output would never have been connected to the CPU output unless there's an excessive blob of solder that touches the pad. Which also means that you shouldn't really have to cut the traces at all if you're careful when installing the board.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

139 Reply by nitro2k01

(10 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Hnclone01 has been posting all over the internet about how he "found" this cool song. So I mod-abused this thread a little bit, hehe.

Go to forum: General Discussion

140 Reply by nitro2k01

(20 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

catskull wrote:

The yellow line is the trace coming off the via to the CPU pin. So the header pin I soldered the chip to wasn't contacting the CPU pin at all.

Yes. And also, if you don't also cut below the via, you're connecting an output to an output! The deadly sin. (At least potentially deadly to the chip outputs although it probably didn't cause permanent damage in this case.)

catskull wrote:

As a side note, what the heck is the deal with this HHL bivert board needing the wire for ground? There's a ground on the LCD board right on the end with a huge blob you could easily bridge. What's the deal with that? Kind of makes me want to make my own bivert board with only a 2 gate chip. I really like the design of the HHL board otherwise.

Or, you could use a smaller inverter chip and use one of the grounds in the 6 pin array. Hmm!

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

141 Reply by nitro2k01

(14 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Not sure that will work as expected for anything below 5 V at least. I think that circuit will make the emitter follow slightly below the base voltage up to a base voltage of 5 V. Plus, it has the disadvantage of needing to break out +5V from the link port.

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

142 Reply by nitro2k01

(14 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

The short answer is, it would depend. The long answer is: At least DMG (not sure about GBC etc) has protection diodes on the link port inputs which will conduct anything above 5 V plus the diode drop to Vcc. What actually happens depends on the output impedance of the module, and how much current the Gameboy is using from Vcc. Usually, a synth module will have its outputs coupled in series with something like a 1k resistor, mainly to protect from a short circuit if you connect an output to an output.

So that gives you something to do a rough calculation on. 10 V-5 V=5V. 5 V/1000 ohm=5 mA. So, the Gameboy must use (ie be able to absorb) >5 mA to survive. If we go by the 0.7 W rating on the back, it will use maybe a maximum of 0.7 W/5 V=140 mA. Less than that typically, but ballpark figure much higher than 5 mA. Especially with a backlight installed.

Note that this is not guaranteed behavior. A short 10 V pulse edge might still slip through and destroy something. The safety calculation I made above relies on the module having an output series resistor, which it may not have. Using one module might work, but using another might destroy the Gameboy.

What would be better is to make a sync adapter with a series resistor and parallel zener diode to guarantee protection from excessive voltage.

DMG schematic: http://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/DMG_Schematics

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

143 Reply by nitro2k01

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Random - Micawber's Moan.

Go to forum: General Discussion

144 Reply by nitro2k01

(29 replies, posted in Tutorials, Mods & How-To's)

4mat wrote:

I'm surprised the editor can literally run out of rastertime though, what sort of effects are causing that?

In LSDj, tempo is governed by the timer interrupt. In addition There are 5 raster interrupts per screen refresh that are used for sample buffer refresh and HF vibrato/pitch slide. Because the timer interrupt is not synchronous to the frame rate, it can happen at any time, even during VBlank. Johan made the decision to make the UI run in the main thread and use a counter to communicate that a VBL interrupt had happened. The interrupt does almost nothing more than increment the counter, and the mainloop decrements the counter every time it has processed one UI frame. This means that when the program is out of CPU power, the UI will suffer first.

Go to forum: Tutorials, Mods & How-To's