okfox
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Minneapolis, MN

I've built a few arduinoboys and am wondering anyone's experience on running the arduino off the game boy 5V link port pin. I've built the arduinoboy strictly for MGB mode so I'm not concerned with sync, just a consistent flow of midi data with no dropouts or glitches.

According the arduino spec you are supposed to supply the VIN on the board with 7v-12v but the gb only gives around 5v. Some folks on various forums have said running it at 5v can cause problems with the circuit. I have never tried running it off a 9v battery - could this be the problem I've been having?

I'm pretty sure it's not my soldering skills or an issue with following the schematic as I've made around 8 of these. Some in a dmg and others in external cases. It happens on the dmg-01 and the color game boy. It's also not constant and never that bad but it is noticeable to me when it misses a note, hangs, or plays the wrong note.

herr_prof
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The only problem ive had is running things for a long time, like more than hour or two and that was solved by power cycling the dmg. You can mess with the aboy latency settings if you notice dropouts.

herr_prof
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http://chipmusic.org/forums/post/62681/#p62681

okfox
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Minneapolis, MN
herr_prof wrote:

The only problem ive had is running things for a long time, like more than hour or two and that was solved by power cycling the dmg. You can mess with the aboy latency settings if you notice dropouts.

Yeah, that is usually when it happens to me.

I am going to build a FAMI interface for my nes and don't necessarily want to power it through the usb and the nes controller port has a 5V out. I'll try it either way b/c I'd rather not use a battery in either case.

thanks

Kris k
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BK

the FAMI interface can be powered with an AC adapter, you don't need USB power for it.

Rolf
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Canada

The VIN pin is for unregulated power. You can bypass the regulator all together by running the +5V line into the 5V pin if you're using a regulated 5V source like the Game Boy link port. Note that Game Boy Advances and later models run at 3.3V.

okfox
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Minneapolis, MN
Rolf wrote:

The VIN pin is for unregulated power. You can bypass the regulator all together by running the +5V line into the 5V pin if you're using a regulated 5V source like the Game Boy link port. Note that Game Boy Advances and later models run at 3.3V.

This I will try! Always used VIN. Thanks

nitro2k01
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Sweeeeeeden

Rolf speaks many words of truthinessisosity.

okfox
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Minneapolis, MN

I moved the power to the 5v pin and all appears well. Thanks again.

Trash80
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Los Angeles

Also to help with lag issues and dropouts you can turn off the screen via hold Select and press A.

It will not only help with performance, but also decrease the line noise.

okfox
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Minneapolis, MN
trash80 wrote:

Also to help with lag issues and dropouts you can turn off the screen via hold Select and press A.

It will not only help with performance, but also decrease the line noise.

Will using mgb/arduinoboy on gbc help as well due to faster processor?

Also, I updated two arduinoboys to 1.2.1 and it works but when in mgb mode if I send cc data from my mpc to the game boy the midi status light stays lit even after the cc data is done sending. I tried it with sending pitchbend and modwheel and both did the same thing. I am sharing just one resistor on all leds rather than a resistor for each led but I don't think that would force the led to stay on. Only way to get it to go away is to reset. Ideas?