[HN Gopher] Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended
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Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended
Author : spansoa
Score : 336 points
Date : 2022-11-15 18:16 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (posts.decontextualize.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (posts.decontextualize.com)
| smrtinsert wrote:
| Gorgeous, but I'm throwing money at my monitor and nothing is
| happening.
| [deleted]
| 1letterunixname wrote:
| An intended one: Super Game Boy is an adapter cart for the SNES
| that has a GB CPU (Sharp LR35902 - 8080-like) inside.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Game_Boy
| Felger wrote:
| I'm always amazed and impressed by the amount of effort and
| energy needed for those ultimately "useless" (said not in a
| sarcastic way) personnal projects... I personnaly absolutely
| can't muster so much efforts for almost anything. And sooo would
| love to be able to...
|
| Documenting being a major drag.
| eisbaw wrote:
| Samsung Gameboy.
|
| Hopefully this doesn't have builtin ads ;)
| jansan wrote:
| Just to confirm that I understand this correctly, that clear case
| is really 3D printed? I don't follow 3D printing too closely, but
| I did not think that something like this would be possible.
| [deleted]
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| I did not think so either, although, SLA is the one method I'd
| guess, if I had to, just going by the main picture. SLA is
| indeed the process they used, but what really surprised me was
| that it's offered as a 3D printing service from JLPCB and
| PCBWay.
| echeese wrote:
| I don't get how they got it so clear and without support
| marks.
| kube-system wrote:
| Did some searching because I was impressed with the quality
| as well, and I think they may technically be using polyjet
| instead of SLA.
| javawizard wrote:
| Yeah this is definitely an SLA print. SLA is capable of
| amazing quality with respect to both dimensional tolerances
| and overall appearance of finished product.
|
| I've been on the fence about getting one. This post might be
| the thing that pushes me over the edge.
|
| HN readers: what SLA printers do you recommend?
| skykooler wrote:
| I have an Epax 3D and I've been pretty satisfied with it,
| although it does have a pretty small build area.
| [deleted]
| johnwalkr wrote:
| We had a form labs printer at work and while the resolution
| was great, it was very messy to deal with, parts were
| brittle, curing took a long time, support structure was
| annoying to remove (and very time consuming to remove
| traces of), and over weeks or months most parts with any
| significant feature longer in one dimension warped. I don't
| think anyone used it once as soon as we got an FDM printer.
| javawizard wrote:
| > and over weeks or months most parts with any
| significant feature longer in one dimension warped
|
| That's alarming. How bad are we talking about, like
| millimeters or fractions thereof?
|
| I really, really like the appearance of the case from TFA
| and would love to build similar enclosures for my
| projects, but if that comes at the expense of noticeable
| long term dimensional instability, no thanks.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| I have an SLA printer (Prusa SL1) and rarely use it
|
| Unless you get an industrial printer, dimensional accuracy
| gets messy with SLA. Slicers can try and compensate, but
| you end up having to work around warping
|
| For organic shapes like figures I'm sure it's great, but as
| someone who prints functional items 99% of the time I'd
| rather tune an FDM printer than fight with my messy SLA
| machine
| javawizard wrote:
| Good to know. How bad exactly would you say accuracy is?
| Are we talking about a few hundreds of micrometers or a
| millimeter or more?
| BoorishBears wrote:
| Tenths of a millimeter not much worse than FDM in
| vacuum... the problem is those tenths vary based on shape
| (even more than with FDM), and can be non-uniform across
| a surface (flat surfaces tend to end up warped pretty
| easily)
| [deleted]
| drewzero1 wrote:
| I've just been getting started with FDM printing since this
| summer, and after getting to know the limitations of my printer
| I'm even more amazed at the smoothness and resolution that some
| resin printers are getting. (I've even heard of people starting
| to print optical lenses[0], which I can hardly imagine.) You
| can really see the difference in resolution in the image with
| the different bottom shell!
|
| 0: https://www.cuddleburrito.com/blog/2015/10/13/3d-printing-
| vi...
| vintagedave wrote:
| > heard of people starting to print
|
| That article is dated 2015! If they could do that seven years
| ago, what is state of the art now?
| sdenton4 wrote:
| Note that the lenses do require extra work after the initial
| printing: "Finally, endless sanding and polishing created a
| clear-enough lens."
| adamweld wrote:
| It's SLA resin printed by PCBWay.
|
| https://www.pcbway.com/rapid-prototyping/3d-printing/plastic...
| deergomoo wrote:
| I absolutely adore the Game Boy modding scene that's exploded in
| the last few years.
|
| Case overhauls like this or the Boxypixel slab pictured in the
| article, numerous backlit high-res IPS screen replacements, mods
| to improve sound, Li-ion battery packs with USB charging. And
| that's to say nothing of Analogue or the MiSTer project, creating
| full FPGA reimplementations of the hardware.
|
| It's a really cool example of what some very creative and
| passionate people can do with commodity technology. The only
| downside is it's actually becoming quite pricey to get original
| hardware.
| lapetitejort wrote:
| Retro Future on YouTube has made some similarly cursed builds,
| such as the original GBA but with a hinged screen for some
| reason, and double screen GBA SP (it shows the same image on
| two screens).
| doublepg23 wrote:
| Completely agree. It's a really cool scene and inspired me to
| collect some old Gameboys.
| derefr wrote:
| I love it too, though I wish that along with it there was
| renewed interest in Gameboy game development. There are GB
| game-jams, but more-often-than-not the results of those just
| languish in obscurity rather than seeing any community
| attention; and so there's no incentive to put any polish into
| these titles. (There's nobody trying to make anything like
| David Murray's Planet X3 for the GB scene.)
|
| I feel like something that would really kick such an ecosystem
| off, would be some sort of wi-fi-enabled GB/GBC flash-cart,
| which boots to Mario-Maker-like UX for downloading, playing,
| and reviewing (liking/disliking, making playlists of, etc)
| bite-sized GB/GBC experiences from a community-maintained cloud
| service; where the supply side of that cloud service would be
| easy upload integration with tools like GB Studio.
| hnlmorg wrote:
| There's loads of homebrew Gameboy games released each year.
| One of my friends reviews games and receives lots of new GB
| and GBA titles.
|
| You can also get GB carts that support SD card. I appreciate
| you're describing a more complete, end to end, UX but we can
| already do everything right up to inserting the SD card into
| the Gameboy cart. With Gameboy emulation as good as it is,
| you could do away with original hardware for 99% of players
| too (though for me, the joy of retro gaming is using the
| original hardware. But I'd never look down on anyone who
| preferred emulation).
| kjkjadksj wrote:
| Sadly the original hardware is slowly degrading over time.
| Nintendo DS lite screens for example are all yellowing at this
| age. Buttons suffer too, my gameboy color is just a paperweight
| now because the buttons hardly register a press. Maybe these
| issues can be repaired but I'm not skilled with a soldering
| iron which is a big requirement it seems.
| 22c wrote:
| It's relatively easy to learn soldering basics, and even if
| you're not good at soldering, it's pretty forgiving
| (especially on older hardware where the components aren't so
| finicky).
| bennysonething wrote:
| I bought a no solder IPS screen for gameboy color. Think I
| bought the kit off eBay, it came with a new case and buttons
| too. It's pretty great! (And if I can do it anyone can)
| amiga-workbench wrote:
| The GBC is quite easy to disassemble (If you have one of
| Nintendo's silly triwing screwdrivers). Give the pads under
| the buttons a rub with some isopropyl, and at an extreme buy
| some new conductive silicone pads for about PS8 online.
|
| No soldering required to get you back up and running.
| vlunkr wrote:
| This is awesome. I miss hinges. The Switch is great, but I loved
| being able to throw my sp or ds into a bag or pocket without
| worrying about scratching it.
| kibwen wrote:
| Now that folding-screen smartphones are a thing that actually
| exist on the market, it's not entirely impossible to imagine
| that the next Switch could be foldable like the SP. :P
| gambiting wrote:
| At the pace Nintendo adopts new technologies, maybe in 20
| years ;-)
| glonq wrote:
| Divine intentions notwithstanding, I think the author intended to
| say "Adding a hinge that God never intended to a Game Boy"
| jollyllama wrote:
| >Purely in terms of industrial design, I don't think a Nintendo
| handheld has matched the elegance of the SP.
|
| 100%.
|
| Awesome post.
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| The SP was pretty painful to hold and use for long times in my
| experience. The shoulder buttons were particularly hard to hit
| comfortably. The original GBA horizontal design is my favorite
| and most comfortable. Swap it to a nice backlit LCD or even
| OLED and it would be perfect.
| jollyllama wrote:
| GBA wasn't bad but it was bulkier to carry on your person.
| The portability of the SP was killer and the beautiful LCD
| screen was protected in your bag or pocket.
|
| As far as ergonomics, it wasn't so bad. For more action
| oriented games, it could be a bit tiring, but for Pokemon it
| was the perfect machine.
| [deleted]
| uni_rule wrote:
| I think the relative peak was the micro's black and silver
| (either way) design, personally.
| kjkjadksj wrote:
| Ds Lite imo is even better. Its thinner so it fits easier in
| the pocket even though its wider. You put in a flashcart with a
| 32gb micro sd and now you can store every game worth playing
| from the nds, gba, gbc, gb, snes, nes, sega genesis, various
| ataris and other early game systems. It has the longest battery
| life for a nintendo handheld I believe. Plus I find it pretty
| comfortable in adult hands still, definitely moreso than the
| nintendo switch.
| purpleflame1257 wrote:
| The one pain point on the DS Lite is that if you want to put
| in an actual, physical GBA cartridge it sticks out.
| Everything else is great.
| jollyllama wrote:
| Good point but I'd contend that the SP might have been more
| durable. I'm not sure. Either way, I liked the weight of it
| over the DS lite. Both great devices though.
| padobson wrote:
| I like that the title implies that Gunpei Yokoi[0] is God.
|
| [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi
| BoorishBears wrote:
| I lived down the block from that NYU makerspace and walked my dog
| past it every day.
|
| I'm also a self-taught dev who's wanted to go back to college and
| get a degree for posterity.
|
| So naturally applying to NYU made sense, get started on the
| education stuff I was putting off, get access to a really cool
| makerspace, etc. I talked to someone from admissions at the
| school, learned more about the process, but then we got to
| pricing and the fact I wouldn't qualify for assistance... well it
| turned out it was practically unaffordable for me, a senior SWE
| in NYC making a "FAANG-like" salary.
|
| I say "practically" because technically I could pay it, but to
| what end? I'd be looking at over 150k over the next two years for
| a simple bachelors with no appreciable change to my career
| trajectory.
|
| -
|
| It really blew my mind. I was making what their graduates can
| expect to make years out of school and the math wasn't working,
| how is it supposed to work for someone coming out of high school?
|
| The cynic in me would look at that makerspace that easily had
| *40k in Ultimakers that never actually seemed to be printing
| anything peeking out the window and think "is this what they're
| paying for?", but I guess on the flip side you get things like
| this post?
|
| * Actually I went and looked at an old picture, I only counted 8
| or so in view of the window...
| [deleted]
| hancholo wrote:
| If I may ask... what specialization are you in? and is it the
| same thing you started off in? I've been thinking of pivoting
| and have narrowed it down to 1-3 niches, but also don't have a
| degree but currently working in a FAANG company.
| rhacker wrote:
| What are you complaining about?
| jsight wrote:
| Presumably the amazing high cost of education and how it
| isn't always being used efficiently.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| The idea that schools get to use 18 year olds as unsecured
| loans to build out extravagant facilities.
|
| Then those 18 year olds grow up, can't pay back the loan, so
| the government uses bailing them out as a political
| bargaining chip.
| [deleted]
| 999900000999 wrote:
| What's the point of this, you can easily go to cheaper school
| and pay about 10K a year. Software Engineering is a fields
| where you don't even need a degree to be honest. I know at
| least 2 colleagues who make much more than me without degrees.
|
| Just make side projects.
|
| Or spend a bit more , go to UC Berkeley and you can attend one
| of the best CS schools in the world. Just live in California
| for a year to get residency first
| BoorishBears wrote:
| That's my whole point, I don't have a degree and it's been a
| long time since that came up.
|
| In my most recent position I got an offer before the
| recruiter found out I didn't have a degree: We were making
| small talk waiting for someone to join the call and they
| offhandedly asked where I went to school... I didn't.
|
| -
|
| So with that in mind, how are they justifying their value
| over those cheaper (or free) options? With an expensive
| makerspace? Pedigree? (as you point out there are cheaper
| schools of a similar calibre)
|
| To me it doesn't add up and something has to give at some
| point. I've long felt that if we get student loan relief, it
| _must_ come with tightening the purse strings on the tuition
| side by downsizing how much the government is willing to
| finance per student.
|
| The schools are using the money for everything from vanity
| projects to real-estate plays, that needs to stop.
| 999900000999 wrote:
| If people want to pay for prestige let them.
|
| For the most part you either should logically come from
| money or get a scholarship. At 18 your free to ruin your
| life in a variety of ways ,college isn't the worst.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| I never liked the SP form factor. It's too cramped. The original
| GBA is absolutely perfect. It's like a DS without the weight of
| the top screen. It's too bad it couldn't have had the SP 101
| model backlit screen.
|
| One of these days I'll do that mod.
| hazn wrote:
| Personally, I find the gameboy advance sp one of the slickest
| designs ever. You could say that the sp is one of the most
| iterated on designs in later nintendo products
| [deleted]
| danesparza wrote:
| Thank you for this detailed article. I don't have a Game boy (and
| don't intend to start). But man o man. Articles like this remind
| me of why I being a geek. Thanks.
| sho_hn wrote:
| > _Another thing I learned about myself: I kinda like being old.
| I recently turned 41 and sure, my back hurts all the time and I'm
| going grey, but I have enough experience and domain knowledge at
| this point that picking up CAD and PCB design over the summer
| isn't that big a deal. It feels nice to reap the rewards of all
| of my experience._
|
| Lovely quote.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| hanniabu wrote:
| Documenting all this seems more daunting than the actual
| conversion
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