Game Boy Color LCD

[blackbox_dev]

What is the viewing area (in mm) of the Game Boy Color LCD screen? Also, are there any pages on the internet that show how to interface it to a PIC? I searched, but haven't found much... maybe one of you guys has had more luck.

[gannon]

think http://www.bripro.com/ might have some data on it.

[bicostp]

Thanks for not asking if you can use it in a Wii portable...

The screen is approximately 2 3/8" diagonally, and about 1.75" square. On my GBC the whole thing is viewable.

[marshallh]

Forget about it. Unless you can program an FPGA to constantly refresh the LCD 60 times a second, you can't do it. I doubt a MCU could do it, but it's a very distant chance. The reason is the same for why you can't use any other sort of digital screen - they have no controller.

Speaking of FPGAs, you can get a cheap FPGA starter kit from FPGA4Fun for about $29. A little bit of reading up on Verilog and you'll be in business.


If you're looking for a cheap, small color LCD, try looking at Nokia/Epson cell phone LCDs. Most can be bought on eBay for <$10 and have a built in LCD controller. I have a Nokia 3510i which can be directly interfaced to a PIC16f84, although it refreshes slowly.
http://www.geocities.com/neil_manc/pic16f84/index.htm

[blackbox_dev]

I don't know how to do the math, but what is the size of the screen horizontally and vertically?

@Marshallh: Ok. Still need to know the size though.

[marshallh]

Type bic's measurements into Google, then type "in mm". Easy.

The physical resolution is 160x144.

[blackbox_dev]

horizontally and vertically

I know how to do that on Google. It's been pretty handy, actually.