If you're making a portable you probably need something to watch it on. (Unless you want to guess what's happening in the game, but I wouldn't advise that) Anyway, this forum is your "Hacking a pocket TV/screen" one-stop solution. Share your experiences and knowledge here.
So I was in Radio Shack frantically trying to come up with an emergency power source for my battery-dead phone (I'm at university, but both the charger for home and the car were at home an hour away at rush hour and I can't drive 40+ miles, namely because of gas prices) and while frantically walking around, I spy with my little eye something white and small.
Obviously made to look like a PSP, it's screen is small, measuring in at just 2.5 inches, but its brightness appears decent. The unit itself only uses 3 AAA batteries, so power consumption seems relatively low. The unit's screen [see below] might be very well suited for use in an NES micro or Radica Genesis Micro. The thing has some pretty bad reviews (easily scratched screen and crappy games) but what struck me was the fact that it has composite out. I am very tempted to buy one to take apart (I don't really have that much money, but I would probably take it back afterwards) and if I could decipher its video circuitry, it might be a useful little piece of equipment for future portables.
for $40 thats not too shabby... assuming the screen is good and can take input. Lets hope somebody can dig up some info on these. It could make a killer NOAC/GOACp.
We had a topic about this before, but yeah warmachine this is still cool thanks for brining it up! It's also a sweet screen if it would work considering that they actually sell and make these.
The vgPocket that I have has 1 globtop and 1 smt flash chip (29lv320).
The unit has composite output, but I haven't traced it to an input point yet. Looks like it just cuts ground to the lcd/speaker when you insert the mini jack.
I hope you find it Gannon, for if you do...my harrowing search for the f-in Hip gear can end, and I can just go to a damn sexy Radio shack...buy a gft crd, use it on the web and get the screen.
Brother: Why don't you just buy it at Radio Shack
Me: DONT OVERCOMPLICATE THINGS!
"Life's a female of the dog species, then you die.."
Interesting discovery! After having played the VG Pocket Max for a little while (those games really do bite), I have come to the realization that this gloptop is a merely a NOAC. Huh, you may ask? Well, it was a couple of things that led me to believe this. First, it's a gloptop, think about it. Second, the graphics are very much NES-like, right down to Zelda chicken and fox sprites in the Boat Racing game (don't ask, they're just sitting there on the riverbank); also, on several of the games, the top of the screen (row of maybe five to seven pixels) does that thing where it appears as though it shouldn't, like it's refreshing slower than it should be (I can't remember what that effect is called, but you guys know what I'm talking about). I remember that from several old NES games on emulators and the system itself. All in all, this is just a guess, but it seems like it might be true.
Most likely wrong.
The glop-top is TTL level where the NOAC is CMOS. Also, if it is a NOAC it is incredibly modified since it also has an integrated LCD controller. Also, the buttons go straight to the glop-top, so it has an internal PiSo register it seems.
Okay. Like I said, just a guess; you being very much more experienced than I, I definitely side with you. Still though, it would have have been nice to have a pre-portablized NES.
The VG Pocket Max screen is analog RGB, so it should work with any system that can output RGB (that throws out nearly every NOAC) The other VG Pockets use different LCDs so i have no clue how they communicate.
I am also under the opinion that it is a NOAC, as for TTL vs CMOS, that does not matter when you are not mixing the technologies. Having the integrated LCD controller does not mean it's modified, it means it's custom. There is not only one NOAC but dozens. Most (if not all) of the ones that result from university projects output RGB, and would be easily inplemented in an ASIC.
But the fact that it outputs RGB and TTL signals does mean that it's most likely modified if it's a NOAC.
Also, if it's TTL you can't (easily) use a NES cart. on it.
As I just said, not neccessarily modified. NOACs are commonly used as university system engineering projects. It usually winds up with RGB output from the get go, not modified to include it. It is actually easier to implement RGB than it is to implement color NTSC/PAL. The color burst trips up most people making thier own NOAC, so NTSC/PAL is dropped in favor of a color lookup table and RGB output.
And CMOS takes a wide range of voltages. Metal gate CMOS uses 3 - 15v, and Silicon gate CMOS uses 2 - 6v. Where as TTL is not very tolerant of voltage ranges, typically no more than 10% variation in it's intended voltage range.
TTL considers a signal very close to ground to be a 0, and about half it's intended voltage upto VCC to be 1. Where as CMOS considers GND to be 0, and VCC to be 1. So as long as the system is designed for TTL, and not relying on variable voltage ranges outside of what TTL knows, CMOS should have no problems.
CMOS draws less power than TTL at the same voltage level making it better for portables than TTL.
The final difference is that TTL is no where near as sensitive to static electricity as CMOS is, so a system intended for mixed types needs to protect the CMOS from static.
So, using TTL in a CMOS system is a no-no. But using CMOS in a TTL system is fine. Infact quite a few of my projects involved sticking CMOS circuits to the ttl level clock port of my A1200. Such as a homebuilt frame grabber, the original schematic wanted me to use the parallel port, but i didn't want to unplug my printer for that.
If it outputs RGB it can't be a true NOAC though, it'd have to be a PP10OAC. In anycase, if it is a NOAC it still stores both PRG and CHR in a single flash chip, so there would have to be some sort of logic between the cart and the cpu.
