Does a game boy color.....

typamc95 · Post by **typamc95** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:21 pm

Have a screen that meets the minimium needs of the Superjoy III?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:27 pm

You can not use a game boy screen for anything other than a game boy.
Thats it.
You just can't unless your really smart, and then you'd be better off buying a different screen.

typamc95 · Post by **typamc95** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:34 pm

Why not?

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:40 pm

search it. Basicy the gameboy uses a digital signal not composite. And besides that it's complete crap.

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:53 pm

The yellow composite video plug we all know and love is an analog connection with a set standard for the video signal. This requires both an encoding module to take the grunts and groans of the processor and turn them into composite video. Then a processing unit on the other end takes this signal and processes it into a code its screen would understand.

The GameBoy screen, on the other hand, talks directly to the motherboard, eliminating the need for bulky encoding/decoding hardware. This saves space, cost, and image quality. (Composite degrades the video signal greatly, S-Video is better, RGB is top of the heap. It has to do with all the video signals interfering with each other.)

In order to use the GBC screen for anything besides a Game Boy Color, you would have to figure out what signals to send the screen over its many wires, then figure out how to build a board that can take RGB, S-Video or Composite and decode it into the screen's signals. This is a lot more complicated than I'm making it sound. You have to program and burn an EEPROM on a computer peripheral, then come up with a PCB design, and THEN etch the PCB, solder the components together and pray that it works. If you didn't understand that last sentence 100%, this is way over your head.

Besides, it's cheaper and a better idea to buy a Hip Gear, or Intec controller with an attached screen, or a console LCD. For one thing, the GBC screen cannot be backlit. The colors disappear if the light shines through them. I have seen it with my own eyes.

Here's our companion site with information on screens and basically everything else you could need:
http://portablesofdoom.org/page.php?page=screens