Hardware GBA Backlight! (AGB-001)

constantgamer247

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Oh cool. So they include that for bench testing?

Also when you say, "You wan't be able to see without the light on." Are you saying just the backlight can be shut off while the screen still works leaving it looking like an OG gameboy advance screen, or will the screen not work at all without the back light?
 

Thatotherpirateg

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I decided to make a quick video comparing the AGS-101 and what I like to call the AGB-101


@Constantgamer, I'm not sure if the screen will work with the backlight off, but even if it did, I don't think you'll be able to see a thing
 

Auyx

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Thanks for the Video man, nice to see it in action. Looking forward to getting mine but im gonna have to wait until the end of the month at least as Im moving house so I got the guy to ship it to my parents place as not to get it delivered here after we have left.
 

constantgamer247

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thanks for the video. Great music. I have a theory that the screen should run just fine without the light on, it would just look like a normal OG gameboy advance.

How were you able to order it? I'm stuck cuz I don't have a chinese phone number to verify the account >_<

*EDIT: never mind, just got past that phone verification part.
 

DanTheManMS

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Regarding the switch to turn the light on and off: It wouldn't be the same.

Frontlit screens like an original GBA SP can easily work without the frontlight by just finding another external light source. After all, that's really all the frontlight is doing, just at a closer distance to the screen. Backlit screens are much harder to see when the light itself isn't on, and that's just due to the nature of backlit screens in general.

To test this, I took my DS Phat, used the LoveLite homebrew program to turn off the backlight entirely and return to my slot-2 Supercard menu, and launched another random DS program (tried a few games in SNEmulDS). Even in the brightest of bright light, it was very difficult to make out what was going on onscreen. I then put my original GBA under the same light and everything became instantly viewable.

So if you have a switch, you'd want to switch between a low and high brightness level like the AGS-101 does instead of a blanket on/off switch, or if you really do want to get it all the way dark for battery reasons, a dial might be better.
 

Thatotherpirateg

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I just noticed that he updated his TaoBao page with some english info. He also says he will start selling on ebay later, so that will make it much easier for people to get as well
Here is a link to the TaoBao page: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14045909056&spm=2014.12367366.0.0
 

Auyx

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Just for comparisons sake I found a guy that sold one with a GBA SP front light installed. Nice job by the guy but the backlight one looks a crap-ton better in my opinion.

XxIBP.jpg

5SjT5l.jpg


http://youtu.be/T405HZA8cB4

(Sorry cant figure out how to get this to embed properly.)
 

Devante

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There was a mod kit to do this yourself. It was called the Afterburner.

I installed so many of these.

I remember on the Triton Labs forums there was a guy who came out with a digital screen dimmer so you could hold buttons down and press L or R to brighten or dim the screen.

I regret selling mine to Gamestop back then. I just disabled the light and never told them it was "hacked". Also modded the LED blue.
Why did I sell it?! >
 

constantgamer247

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Regarding the switch to turn the light on and off: It wouldn't be the same.

Frontlit screens like an original GBA SP can easily work without the frontlight by just finding another external light source. After all, that's really all the frontlight is doing, just at a closer distance to the screen. Backlit screens are much harder to see when the light itself isn't on, and that's just due to the nature of backlit screens in general.

To test this, I took my DS Phat, used the LoveLite homebrew program to turn off the backlight entirely and return to my slot-2 Supercard menu, and launched another random DS program (tried a few games in SNEmulDS). Even in the brightest of bright light, it was very difficult to make out what was going on onscreen. I then put my original GBA under the same light and everything became instantly viewable.

So if you have a switch, you'd want to switch between a low and high brightness level like the AGS-101 does instead of a blanket on/off switch, or if you really do want to get it all the way dark for battery reasons, a dial might be better.

@[member="DanTheManMS"] Thank you for clarifying. I thought the SP+ screen without the back light on would look just like the OG gameboy advance's screen but the light's power must be heavily integrated with the power of the actually screen preventing us from easily being able to change the resistance to the back lights power as that same power feed is also powering not only the backlight be also the display resulting in display dimming and not just a light source dimming. (I dunno if display dimming makes any sense as technically the display is the collective of the screen and backlight. I mean display as the image producing part separate from the backlight. More simply they both probably get their power off the same circuit)

Just for comparisons sake I found a guy that sold one with a GBA SP front light installed. Nice job by the guy but the backlight one looks a crap-ton better in my opinion.

@[member="Auyx"] I don't know why, might be due to a lot of factors, but the OG gameboy advance is one of the few consoles front lighting is not the best on. Most mods I have seen, while done will, produce a washed out screen or glare and other problems.

I remember on the Triton Labs forums there was a guy who came out with a digital screen dimmer so you could hold buttons down and press L or R to brighten or dim the screen.

I regret selling mine to Gamestop back then. I just disabled the light and never told them it was "hacked". Also modded the LED blue.
Why did I sell it?! >
 

Devante

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@[member="Devante"] Imagine the kid that bought your OG GBA's reaction when he/she first discovered your GBA's screen light (if they did). I bet they shit brix.

I wonder about that sometimes and hope they did. They'd think they have a super rare GBA worth millions!
But I then realise the key combination to turn the light back on was something like double press and hold select and both shoulder buttons or something.
 

constantgamer247

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I wonder about that sometimes and hope they did. They'd think they have a super rare GBA worth millions!
But I then realise the key combination to turn the light back on was something like double press and hold select and both shoulder buttons or something.

I could see some kid getting it, figuring it out, thinking it was normal/all OG GBAs have it. Then try to show his friend on their GBA :P
 

constantgamer247

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I just noticed that he updated his TaoBao page with some english info. He also says he will start selling on ebay later, so that will make it much easier for people to get as well
Here is a link to the TaoBao page: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14045909056&spm=2014.12367366.0.0

Yah, thanks for your post. I'm checking out that english translation now. Just a bit confused. So it's easy to get that there have been various different models/revisions of OG GBA. I guess the main thing to note is that there are two different screen connectors on the MOBO of the OG GBA (a 32 pin and a 40 pin).

What I'm confused about is when he says there are two connectors for SP screens. Is he talking about the ags-001 and ags-101 screen? Each one having their own different connector resulting in two different SP connector/cable types?
 

gusmento01

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I just noticed that he updated his TaoBao page with some english info. He also says he will start selling on ebay later, so that will make it much easier for people to get as well
Here is a link to the TaoBao page: http://item.taobao.c...14.12367366.0.0
I will order as soon as he starts selling on ebay, I have many years of experience in electronics and I own 2 Gba agb-001.
 

Thatotherpirateg

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I just noticed that he updated his TaoBao page with some english info. He also says he will start selling on ebay later, so that will make it much easier for people to get as well
Here is a link to the TaoBao page: http://item.taobao.c...14.12367366.0.0

Yah, thanks for your post. I'm checking out that english translation now. Just a bit confused. So it's easy to get that there have been various different models/revisions of OG GBA. I guess the main thing to note is that there are two different screen connectors on the MOBO of the OG GBA (a 32 pin and a 40 pin).


What I'm confused about is when he says there are two connectors for SP screens. Is he talking about the ags-001 and ags-101 screen? Each one having their own different connector resulting in two different SP connector/cable types?
The Ags-101 has two different models, I'm not sure why, but there are. If you connect a screen from one ags-101 to the board of the other type you get weird lines on the screen, and the screen is washed out
 

constantgamer247

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The Ags-101 has two different models, I'm not sure why, but there are. If you connect a screen from one ags-101 to the board of the other type you get weird lines on the screen, and the screen is washed out

Interesting... why did nintendo make 2 different revisions to such a limited run of products? Really... the ags-101 came in a whopping 3 colours. Not that the colours have anything to do with the sales or production run, the colours are totally relevant or irrelevant, but it shows you how few and limited the production run of the ags-101 was.

Does anyone know about how many ags-101s were sold? Someone in my memory I have a voice saying the gameboy advance line sold ~200 Million units total. < 1 million
I think it was like ~950,000; just under 1 million but it could have been more than 1 million; again this is my probably inaccurate memory voice talking
of those 200 million gameboy advances were gameboy micros. So the gameboy micro did not even account for 1% of sales.


EDIT: Wikipedia is saying the
Gameboy advance sold 81.51 million units all versions combined
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Advance
I don't know if that is all versions of OG gameboy advance or all of the gameboy advances total.

Wikipedia is also saying the SP sold ~44 million units. I'm going to guess that is both SP and SP+ sales.

Does anyone have any detailed/better sales data on this? Or more specifically a breakdown of all the gameboy advance models including the different hardware revisions within each.
 

constantgamer247

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Just got one :P I'll post a video review tomorrow. His work is really really good. I got a pre built one (I've been a bit pressed for time recently; enough so that I don't have the time for a mod project, and I decided I didn't want to scrap my SP+ for this mod. Plus I'll be traveling soon so I wanted this for the airplane). I was expecting it to come in a chinese knock off shell with shitty gummy buttons (bought a lot of replacement shells over the years for mods and none of them have been on par with official nintendo quality) I was just going to swap out the guts of it into my official shell and use proper official nintendo buttons and rubber. However I believe he took a used japanese OG gameboy advance and slapped an SP screen into it, connected the adaptor ribbon cable and soldered the wire on for power. I could tell it was a japanese gba because of the sticker on the back. The plastic bumpers/plastic bits on the side of the gba, and the R+L trigger were also heavily yellowed, so I just poped the back off, put a USA gba back on (just so it has the USA sticker and barcode ect...) and put in new R+L triggers with the side bumpers/plastic strips on the side of the gba.

It was really really nice when I got it. I just wanted something a bit more shiny for my R+L buttons and those side plastic bits, so that was 2snds work.

The other reason I believe it to not be a knock off shell is because it had tri-wing screws in it. Most (98%) of all replacement shells for all nintendo consoles, especially the GBA, I have bought/ordered have come with + screws, but he could have just put those in.

Another nice touch was he put a screen protector on it. I think it's just some clear sticky film. Dunno if it's designed for the GBA or not, but it was a nice touch. Then again it could have been there as it looks like a used GBA. I would highly recommend buying this fully made or the mod kit from him. It is so worth it. Kirby Tilt'n Tumble was almost imposible to play, now it's so easy with a screen light.

I think it was ~$65 and ~$18 for shipping. The chinese website was a bit difficult to use, google chrome does a beautiful job translating, but some parts of the check out process were difficult. LIke having a chinese phone number and when I had to entre a foreign shipping address it was impossible to get the form to validate. I just communicated with the guy, Zerey Zhang, over eMail and paid via PayPal. I gave him $90 USD for his time and good service. Shipping was damn fast; shipped 12/July, arrived 18/July

I also have a(n)
  • OG Gameboy Advance (un-moded)
  • Gameboy Advance SP+ (ags-101)
  • Gameboy Micro
  • OG DS (DS Phat)
  • DSi XL
That I will compare it to in my video.

Also does anyone have an update/new information about him selling on eBay? Did he ever end up taking that route? I have to write and thank him now before bed.
Stay tuned, I'll post it tomorrow; just a bit late here and I need to be up early and response-able :P For now I'll leave you with one picture

Oz8sX.jpg
 

Auyx

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Awesome! I had mine delivered to my parents house as im moving in a week or so back to my home town and with chinapost I wasn't sure if I'd miss it. Its been sitting there waiting for me and I cant wait to get my hands on it. Looking forward to seeing some HD video of the thing in action. Funny you mention about the buttons because I ordered a spare shell real cheap at the same time for that very reason. I guess I will know more when I get a hold of it.
 

Auyx

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That looks like a thing of beauty. Looking forward to the video.

Just shot the footage, editing/stitching now. 720p; all my d90 will do ~_~

-----EDIT-----

Uploading @4% with 216 minutes to go.
Not to take this from you dude (and I will delete if you want me to) but I found the Video on youtube and I figured you are away from you PC, so here ya go everyone:

[yt]qdx8w1Q4EBY[/yt]
 

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