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Thanks to Alpine for compiling this for me.

It even works on my Keyboard!

2/7/2013       7:37 pm

While I'm waiting for imgur to upload all of my images, I'm posting a video.
Yes, I sound like a 90's stoner cartoon character.
And, just like every other DMG video on youtube, half of this shit is out of focus...

2/5/2012       7:58 pm

DISCOVERY!
I didn't try all of my games (forgot the ones in my backpack).
Apparently it has something to do with batteries and the save feature.
When I plugged in Link's Awakening and my Pokemon games, the same thing happened: The "Nintendo" came down, BLING!, and then NOTHING.
Seriously guys, I have no idea what's going one here. Help me out.

2/5/2012       8:45 pm

There was a wiring issue. I found a solder bridge between pins 15 & 16 on the board side of the ribbon cable.
I'm also going to shorten the cable by several inches (I had left it long just in case something like this happened).
I'm gonna cross my fingers and solder this pig back together.
Wish me luck.

2/5/2012       10:27 pm

*sigh* I rewired the whole thing. Still doesn't work, but there is progress: Both Pokemon and Link's Awakening bleep and bloop before not booting.
Again, the only games that don't work are the ones that have a memory bank. I guess the wires are too long.
Well, this complicates things a little bit. Not sure how I'm going to solve this one... guess I'll go study some DMG schematics (it's probably something stupid/simple that I overlooked).

2/6/2013       2:11 am

Okay, here's some happenings of untold weirdness:
I went over ALL of the connections, implementing visual and electrical inspection... no issues found.
I re-soldered all of my work. I literally took everything apart and reassembled it.

When I put everything back together, it still wouldn't boot LoZ, Pokemon, or LSDj...
I was getting ready to go to bed, and decided I would sleep better if I installed my rocker switch and completely assembled the keyboard. Just for the hell of it, I plugged in Zelda and flipped the switch.
For no apparent reason, Link's Awakening started... it was glitchy, but it was working. Here's the thing: it only works intermittently, and I can't actually play the game. Every time I try access the stored data, it freezes, crashes, or restarts.

I'm thinking that my motherboard might be the problem...
Thoughts?

2/6/2013       1:15 pm

After carefully reviewing pretty much every DMG schematic on the internet, I think I can safely say that the length of the ribbon cable has nothing to do with my problem. After consulting my old man, I have come to the conclusion that what's happening is there's some contact problem along the system, and the higher addresses aren't being accessed.
For example; here are some of the games that don't work at all. [spoiler=(save for Zelda, but that can't be played, so we'll call it "not working")

Here's an example of address lines not being accessed. Gex plays just fine on my gaming DMG.
But when it's plugged into the keyboard, it glitches heavily, and doesn't boot.

Now here's some games that play, but are heavily glitched (graphically). Again, they play perfectly fine on my gaming DMG, but look hella messy on the keyboard. Ninja turtles is interesting, as it plays just fine until a bad guy is on screen, then it freezes and dies.

I suspect that I may have warped the old cartridge port or the pins while working on this thing (I've been bending pins and soldering on it A LOT). So, I'm just going to replace it. We'll go ahead and use this Prosound DMG. Don't worry, it's the first one I built, so the mod isn't that great, and it's parts are going to the greater good.

I have this weird feeling... like I've done this before...

Okay. Let's test it...

Hmmmm... so, now it won't make it past the BLING! This is kinda interesting. Well, I'm already through the rabbit hole on this one. Let's swap motherboards!

Let's take this thing for a test drive!

Damn... more of this bullshit.
Time for lunch and then I'll check my wiring. I suspect this hangup is actually my fault.

It's almost 2:30 in the morning where I am. I'll finish rebuilding this thread in the morning.

I'll be sure to do that.

2/1/2013       2:28 pm

So, now that the plastics are done, I can start in on making this thing work.
I wanted to relocate the cartridge port to a more centered location. Having the keyboard be a toplaoder with a cart poking out of a prominent position just tickles my nerdy bits... let's just yank you out of there, eh?

Remember how I was saying there was no room for the motherboard? That was only half correct; there's room for the board, just not the things attached to it.

Now, say goodbye to the volume control, link port, power switch, and the a/c jack. In fact, I don't need any of these pieces for the rest of my build, so they'll be tossed in my parts bin.

Now it'll fit.

Now, back to my cartridge port. I needed to mount it, so I took careful measurements, and drilled some holes in my case to run some plastite screws through.
(this photo is of spectacular quality, no?)

Then I had to cut off the plastic pegs and bend up the pins on my cartridge port.

Puttin' the screws to 'em.

Then there was the issue of connection back to the motherboard.
Simple, Ribbon cable... and a lot of frustrating soldering.

I'm a master of improvising. There was a short lived snag, where I had no way of running the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the cartridge port. Enter careful cutting with a small razor saw. This alone took me about 20 minutes, but I'm glad I invested the time to do a clean job.

TIME OUT! Let's do a quick test to make sure everything fits.

This is the part where patience and finesse come into play: Cutting out the cartridge slot. This was done with a drill, a small razor saw, a pattern file, and a large flat rasp. I wanted it to be perfect, so I really took my time, and did dozens of test fits. I was at it for almost 45 minutes.

Fuck yeah. I'm awesome.

2/2/2013       1:05 am

Now, to be completely honest, I only got into chiptune stuff about a week ago. This is only my third DMG mod, and it's the first that involves more than installing optional audio-out. So, don't be too critical of how long it takes me to get this stuff done.

I spent most of my day soldering, being angry, troubleshooting, and then being angry again.
I'm amazed there aren't any references for spreading your Gameboy as thinly as possible throughout a keyboard, and have it still work.
I honestly spent a lot of time being frustrated, and didn't take many pictures today, but I'll show you what I've got.
We'll start with wiring the cartridge port.

Then there was a lot swearing, and tons of this:

Until 11:00 pm...

IT LIVES!!!!!

HOLY SHIT!
I'm going to bed.