Hey guys. I bet you know more about lcd's then me. I have a broken gameboy here, and could use some of the parts inside it. Maybe I could even use the lcd in it. Or should I say vfd. Someone please tell me the difference so I wont forget (again). Anyway, I'd like to wire that thing inside my case. Is it possible? Maybe you have found more on it then me. I found only a FAQ telling me it is possible but very hard. Who knows more (I bet if someone ever got the thing running, he must be around these forums as well )
A gameboy uses a LCD not a VFD i think. I very much doubt you would be able to connect it up to a pc because i doubt it has a compatable controller chip
I work on LCD's and other parts like that, I build and repair pocket pc's and laptops, You will defenatly be able to link up the LCD to you computer using your COM Ports. But first you need to make a conection PCB with a decoding type IC on it so that your computer will recognize it as a display panel. Thats all I can help you with right now, I hope that has made your quest more optermistic.
Any Lcd should work for you, But try to avoid mono's unless its just for text display. Can I ask what you want to use ot for? Our mods are displayed at Our first cool mouse mod our finnished cryobot mod
As Sam said connecting the gameboy's LCD to your computer isn't easy, dealt with in an FAQ here - http://hiwaay.net/~jfrohwei/gameboy/faq.html (thanks to lin for the link ) Rob.
I just want to use the display for viewing stats of my cpu and temps and stuff, and of course the famous winamp 2.x title scroller
You can't without a lot of electronics A decent mono display with do that for you though, 2x20/4x20 LCD's are nice and cheap... also don't miss the noritake graphic VFD (see the article discussion board), 'tis a very impressive display! Cheers, Rob.
VFD's are brighter, have a much better contrast and look a lot nicer Generally they are more expensive, though there are exceptions... small character LCD's (2x20, 4x20) can be had for around £5-15 a pop if you look in the right places (bare LCD, needs a little wiring though nothing too taxing). decent quality small character VFD's (noritake) cost about £35 (2x20) and £50 (4x20), with the graphics being around £60-70... so they're more expensive. If you keep an eye on ebay you often find them going for cheap money (I saw a batch load of 2x40's go for $10 a pop) and also some small companies resell cheaply, BGMicro used to do a nice 2x20 for $20 though I don't think they do anymore If you're after a nice and easy solution then you'll want a serial display (no wiring and the software is a LOT better), then there's no real cheap solution (will cost around £50 or £70 for the stonking graphic vfd I reviewed). Have a read of this http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5582 for loads of info/link (+ the guy who wrote it's a clever bloke ). Cheers, Rob.
Just in case someone wants to go further with messing with the gameboy, here's a good place to see any gameboy related docs and schems (including the LCD schem): link
Can I print text to the GBA LCD display? Yes. The GBA graphics controller is capable of much more, but displaying text is good for user feedback and debugging. Example C and C++ libraries are included in the Xport Software Distribution that allow printf calls to display text on the GBA LCD display. These libraries allow 30 columns by 20 rows of text to be displayed on the GBA display at once. These same libraries allow user input through the GBA keypad. http://www.charmedlabs.com/ looks good would have to see it in action b 4 buying and would like to see what u can dispaly
thnx for the feedback guys. It would be really cool to get a game boy lcd running on a pc, but knowing myself, it will never happen. I'll just stick to a 20x4 or maybe a 40x4 lcd. Lots easier...
I looked into doing this ages ago, but I couldn't find anything apart from that link earlier in this thread and one schematic drawing that could have been made up. Loads of people want to do it, but noone so far has had the knowledge to do it.
