I had an idea yesterday about connecting a Gameboy to the internet, similar to the whole Twitch Plays Pokemon thing. The idea is simple; I will use a Nintendo Gameboy with a special port that directly interacts with the buttons, a webcam to have a live feed of the screen, and an interface for the buttons.
What I will do for this one is have a set of female pins inside the Gameboy that will all directly connect to the traces of the Gameboy's controls. there will be a set of male pins that will fit in the female pins to make the connection, then with this it will either go to something like a Raspberry Pi, a computer with a parallel port, or just use my microcontroller connected to a computer.
It would be cool to have the Gameboy connect to a circuit board or a bread board with pins that directly connect into the back of the system, and then use those to interface with the computer.
I am also getting a 16x2 character display in the mail soon, I could somehow use this to display information from the computer about the system as a whole, things like up time IP, and how many people are connected.
I have both Gameboy Pockets and Gameboy Colors, the issue is that I need to decide on which one to use.
here are the pros and cons
Gameboy Pocket pros:
Gameboy Pocket cons:
Gameboy Color pros:
Gameboy Color cons:
Seems easy enough, the real pressing factor now will most likely be seeing how well the webcam can see each screen (I am expecting one not to work as well).
I will leave this project open for now to see what you, the viewers, think about whether I should use the Gameboy Pocket or Gameboy Color.
I am up for suggestions too, so please let me know what you think.
Please fill out this poll
What I will do for this one is have a set of female pins inside the Gameboy that will all directly connect to the traces of the Gameboy's controls. there will be a set of male pins that will fit in the female pins to make the connection, then with this it will either go to something like a Raspberry Pi, a computer with a parallel port, or just use my microcontroller connected to a computer.
It would be cool to have the Gameboy connect to a circuit board or a bread board with pins that directly connect into the back of the system, and then use those to interface with the computer.
I am also getting a 16x2 character display in the mail soon, I could somehow use this to display information from the computer about the system as a whole, things like up time IP, and how many people are connected.
I have both Gameboy Pockets and Gameboy Colors, the issue is that I need to decide on which one to use.
here are the pros and cons
Gameboy Pocket pros:
- Easily hide the port under the battery cover
- I have a power adapter that will fit and power the system
- The screen is slightly larger
Gameboy Pocket cons:
- Black and white screen
Gameboy Color pros:
- Colored screen
Gameboy Color cons:
- Awkward curvature in the back will prevent it from being able to connect to a back board as easily
- Smaller screen
- More scratches on the screen
Seems easy enough, the real pressing factor now will most likely be seeing how well the webcam can see each screen (I am expecting one not to work as well).
I will leave this project open for now to see what you, the viewers, think about whether I should use the Gameboy Pocket or Gameboy Color.
I am up for suggestions too, so please let me know what you think.
Please fill out this poll