Frontlight into a GBC

[Tanooki]

I know you can go with the SP, there is another method too(looks not as nice without using added adhesives.)

Anyway I was curious what people thought about this, quality wise, how the screen from the SP looks within the GBC since youtube and camera pics only say so much not being in your face. Also I'm noticing some people say to tie the power to the four points on the board towards the bottom to the side of the speaker, then I saw another looking like to a capacitor and a ground off a point on the power switch. I'm kind of confused which would be best/safest/most durable. I think I could find a wrecked SP somewhere around here and do something like that as 2 bits of wire and solder are hardly a dangerous task.

I swore I'd never get another GB, but saw an adult owned one this afternoon on craigslist so cheap that barely was used and not a scratch anywhere on it at all screen and everything with tetris so I snapped it up as a desk game. It got me thinking it being lit up would be of great use.

[ninjainspandex]

Don't bother, not worth it don't sac a SP. The screen makes the colors washed out and there is some annoying color banding with the screen.

[MrPopo]

Don't bother, not worth it don't sac a SP. The screen makes the colors washed out and there is some annoying color banding with the screen.

I gambled on a non-functional SP and modded my GBC. You are right that the colors get washed out, but I don't think it's actually a problem when you compare it with a non-modded GBC. Since you'd be working off of reflected light you get a similar effect. It's only when it's on a properly-lit GBA or an emulator that you get the rich original color it was programmed with. I don't think color banding is the right word for the other effect you're talking about; I think it's some kind of polarization going on. But it definitely causes some vertical lines on the screen, though I don't mind them.

If you do go through with it don't use the translucent GBC; the SP screen sticks out to where the controls are and it is distracting.

[Anapan]

If you wanna bump the quality up in a GBC, most of the stuff I read about it was on 8-bit-collective and that's all gone now. It's a good idea, tho I think I saw the same pictures you did. There was some harsh fringing/moire going on. The same thing happens even in direct sunlight on a GBC, but it looked a lot more prominent, and a lot more blue. There's some diffusion plastic magic going on to redirect evenly the LED onto the screen and with the two combined it appears something horrible is happening visually. I've never seen one in person but the comments and replies leaned that way.

My first suggestion:

Buy a GB Boy Colour.

It's cheaper than the effort to mod a GBC let alone the parts. The screen isn't perfect (not RGB square pixel the GBC uses or even the BGR LCD the SP uses, but 50% matrix-offset kinda honeycomb arrangement and really-well backlit - you can see it in the pictures tho the result is hard to photograph to make it look OK), but it is really good brightness and color-wise - comparable to the AGS-101 in it's startup brightness before you press the center-button to brighten it up, tho a touch more yellow (actually closer to the correct color - the Backlit SP's white is actually too blue). it's far beyond an AGS-001 screen except for the previously-mentioned honeycomb-patterned/offset pixel arrangement. The sound's a little more high-pitched too, but only noticeable if you've spent many hours on the game you're listening to (I had to load up Final Fantasy Legend 2 with the intro song playing to hear it myself). It's compatible with everything in my collection I could find to throw at it. I keep my GB Everdrive in it most of the time now, despite having every other official Gameboy mono and color compatible console within arms reach. Battery life is great too. The buttons and case build quality are really as good as the original, if not better.

I think modding an AGB-001 (original wide-type) with an AGS-001 front-light is a worthwhile endeavor tho. It's easy to fit it all in and the result is pretty great. I donated a beat-up AGS-001 to my buddy for the project. The shoulder buttons are the best in the original, and the comfort is unmatched in any other handheld - the result was very cool. If I were to attempt it myself, I'd replace the LED with a more neutral colored one.

Oh yeah, to decipher this message see here

[Tanooki]

Good tips.

Last night I drove over the river into Indiana and picked up a GB Color (original solid purple model) for $20 in a nice pouch with Tetris and (ugh) Killer Instinct. The only reasons I did it was because I thought Tetris would be a cool desk toy, and being adult owned and barely used there's not a scratch on it anywhere at all, it's like out of the bag and forgotten.

I then started reading online. I saw two options. Sacking(or already destroyed) a GBA SP, or there's this dude who makes screens, but they have horrible vertical and horizontal lines unless you use a specific type of liquid adhesive that is a pain to lay out smoothly and not get bubbles under like a bad rear window of your car tint job. (This stuff: http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/frontlight-kits here.)

The SP screen does have some wash out, it's bright, and it's not so much lines but I think it's just how the screen was designed (as Popo said) and how it's dealing with light inside instead of light being fed to it as it was a light absorbing TFT panel. The wash out though isn't a problem, it's the same as the wash out the front lit SP had anyway. Which I saw here: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... boy-Color/ in text and I found another on youtube here:


I just wanted opinions if anyone tried it. Also wondering how much life the LED eats off the AAs.