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Arduinoboy Build Notes

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I stumbled upon a schematic in this forum post by way of this blog post. While a PNG is not the most convenient way to express a circuit, but I’m glad to have found it.

Arduinoboy Black and White

PNG -> SVG -> CAD

I opened the PNG in inkscape and traced it as a vector. From there, I exported an SVG to import into Fusion 360.

PCB Simulation

Milled this

Once I had that sorted out, I sent it over to my MPCNC for milling. Milled PCB

Time to solder

Following this image, I soldered it up.

PCB Schematic

To avoid damaging the link cable, I ordered up a breakout PCB.

It’s Alive

Here is a shot of my custom PCB wired up to my Game Boy Advance SP.

Soldered up

In a slick Enclosure

And here it is all finished up in a custom enclosure I designed.

Arduinoboy Finished

Parts

Note about your Everdrive choice, LSDJ is a Game Boy game, not GBA. If you go with the GBA, there is an emulator and you can use LSDJ through emulation. However, there’s a big but there. Saving songs doesn’t work in LSDJ through emulation. I own both and use them in different contexts. For the smoothest LSDJ experience, buy the Game Boy version. If you’re looking to play with Stepper, that’s a Game Boy Advanced game so you’ll need the GBA Everdrive.

Board Dimensions

1.875 x 1.55 in.

Link Cable Pins

source

Really you only need 3 wires: Gound, Clock, and Data Input. https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-gameboy-midi-communication/7151/4

Looks like clock is missing by design on GBA link cables.

ArduinoBoyConnections

Timeline

  • 2024-02-12 Milled
  • 2024-02-15 Soldered
  • 2024-02-21 Functioning
  • 2024-02-26 In an Enclosure

Resources

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