Hedgetrimmer, what exactly are you trying to make as far as the controller? And for what purpose? But anyway, I appreciate the offer but I don’t need any CAD files, all I need to make a mold is the original part (and I have all the parts already)

I made a new yellow button yesterday, and it works perfect. I really like the way the gray d-pads look, but I am not such a big fan of the green button. It just does not look as bright as I would like it to. Maybe I will try to make another one.

It takes about a day to make a mold (not a day of work, just a day to let the mold set), so don’t expect anything anytime soon, but I will post more pictures once I get more stuff done. The buttons were easy to do, but the rest of the parts will be much harder.

DogP,

Your one for sure came out cleaner, very nice!

I don’t know what temp my iron is at. I could measure the wattage tomorrow.

The vise is from PanaVise. You can get them from DigiKey or Mouser. It is for sure not cheap, but they are really nice! You can buy it as individual components (a “head” and a “base”) or as a complete set. You really have to look around to see what works best for you. Here is their website.

http://www.panavise.com/index.html?pageID=1&id1=1&startat=1&–woSECTIONSdatarq=1&–SECTIONSword=ww

I bought the following and bolted it to my bench…
http://mouser.com/ProductDetail/Panavise/315/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuVJC7Vq%252bMl5yUj7teiF9pL
and
http://mouser.com/ProductDetail/Panavise/305/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuVJC7Vq%252bMl56tI9Ylj3utt

Oh, and the desoldering wick is from Radio Shack. I needed it quick for senior design, so that is what I ended up with. I will for sure have to look into the stuff you linked, I had a problem with my stuff when soldering a flash chip with a fine pitch.

[mbuchman]

RunnerPack,

That is the best video I could get with my digital camera. I tried a few times but that’s the best I could get. I was thinking of making a camera mount that I could attach to my vise, but this is probably the only thing I am ever going to record as far as soldering goes.

I used flux one time, but I found it did not really help, the flux already in the core of the solder is enough (plus I am pretty sure the desoldering braid has flux in it as well). And yeah, I used a lot of solder, so that is probably why I got the flux spots everywhere.

I thought about adding sound but I just didn’t. Just didn’t know what to say, and I figured if I waited until I came up with something, I would never upload the video.

The picture I have of the finished solder joint was actually done using a scanner. I put the part in a plastic bag, and then put it on my scanner.

Oh, and I don’t have any more broken VBs, so I can’t make any more videos.

You are probably right about using too much solder, using an inch or more of braid just to remove it is probably a good indicator I used too much solder, but eh, it worked.

• This reply was modified 14 years, 6 months ago by mbuchman.

I read it over, and I have a few suggestions…

I would get rid of sentences / phrases like this…

So, you want to make a Virtual Boy game, huh? Well, it takes a buncha hard work to make a homebrew Virtual Boy game, but with a little patience, anyone can make one!

They really don’t add any value, and just make it seem sort of unprofessional. I am not saying it has to be as dry as a chemistry textbook, but in this example above, of course I want to make a VB program or else I would not be reading that document!

The first paragraph talks about what you need. This is a perfect way to start, but I would make a list with the program name, latest version, and current direct link, like this…

You will need the following programs and files before you get started
1) VIDE version x.x (link)
2) gccVB version y.y (link)
3) INCLUDE.vpg (last updated mmddyyyy) (link)
4) Reality Boy version z.z (link)

Lists are easier to follow than a paragraph, and much easier to mentally “check off” that you downloaded all the needed files. I get lost easily in paragraphs, and I don’t want to re-read stuff, so using a list makes it simple for me to know exactly what I need without getting lost in the middle of a paragraph.

Then I would talk about setting up your enviornment (such as installing programs or how to set up folders), maybe with a few screenshots if necessary. You already did this a little, but it could be more detailed.

Maybe it doesn’t need more detail, just splitting it into sections would be more helpful (just generic ideas for sections are Introduction, Required Programs and Files, Installation, Working With Images, Programming, Compiling, Running, Resources, Final Thoughts).

As far as the rest of it, an example program is extremely important. Even if it is just a box that you move around the screen with the d-pad, it gives people example images, and code to start with. The idea is just make something simple that takes up a minimal amount of code but uses the control and the display. And then you would include everything in a zip, including the working *.vb file. Don’t just leave it up to whoever is reading to come up with something, because they don’t know what they are doing!

Another thing that would be nice is screenshots of steps! What and where is the red pyramid with the arrow on it? I don’t know, but a picture would tell me (I never ran the program, so it may be really obvious, just using it as an example).

In order to get the instant gratification that every beginner programmer wants, a good introductory tutorial would include everything that is necessary for someone to compile and run a program without having to think. Plus it instantly verifies that your dev enviornment is set up correctly.

A good way to “test” your tutorial is to physically follow it step by step (from downloading to installing to running), and be real strict to never do anything that your document didn’t say.

Yeah, all I said would be a lot of work to implement, but I think it would make the tutorial a little bit more valuable.

I finally got around to posting a video. It is pretty basic, all I have is Windows Movie Maker, and I figured if I didn’t post it now then I don’t know when I would. So theoretically I can post a better video some other time but realistically I wont.

Here is the YouTube link.

I don’t see myself making a PDF like I originally said. The only thing I may add is instructions on taking apart the Virtual Boy to the beginning of the video (or maybe make that a second video).

I attached a high res picture of the finished solder joint. You can see some flux from the solder splattered onto the FFC and PCB, but other than that I think it looks pretty clean (but most importantly it works!)

Any comments are welcome, and if you have any suggestions for how I can improve the video / the video description on YouTube, then let me know!

-Matt

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I can understand all the above reasons for keeping it private, but it is too bad a “Demo” or something couldn’t be released that would just be the first level or something. If you could find where the levels were stored, all levels after level 1 could just be 0XFFed out. Doing that would keep the original rom worth a lot but still allow the common person to enjoy the experience. I know it isn’t practical and wouldn’t happen, but that game looks really cool!

Ah, thanks for that link! That should be quite handy.

As for the address values, I am a bit confused. Wouldn’t you have to divide the address you see in a hex editor in half? A hex editor shows everything addressed as bytes, but the VB cartridge has everything addressed as words. Am I missing something?

I will have to poke around the VB Dev wiki, but I’m pretty sure my questions were answered (for now at least)

Thanks for the response!

Adding oil to paper makes it transparent, and then once the oil dries the paper is no longer transparent. But the SN stickers may have a coating that would make the oil trick not work, I’m not really sure (plus you would want a non-odor oil that would dry clear). I wish I would have remembered that before I went and peeled off my old label!

DogP, just out of curiosity, what is the highest and lowest SN you have that has the bump? We may be able to “date” when this happened somehow by doing that.

The other interesting thing I noticed, according to the hardware section, it says only 140,000 Japanese systems were sold and the covered up SN was 10168481, which would make it seem like it was almost 30,000 more than the Japanese market wanted.

It’s too bad we didn’t have a more complete SN list, but I guess it doesn’t really matter, just something interesting.

Yeah, thats what I don’t understand either… the rest of the VB is the same as the American VBs… (it says EXT for the link cable, which I think is supposed to be something else for Japanese, isn’t it?) But yeah, all the text on the bottom matches up exactly the same with all my other VBs.

I think what probably happened is maybe they just manufactured a bunch of new bottoms, switched out the old bottoms, relabeled the other plastic part, and then sent them to America because they were trying to clear out stock, or just catch up with American orders?

But I don’t think they would send them over here just to sell them on clearance, maybe they needed extra when they lowered the price? (not when they did the sub $100 clearance prices, but the other lowering, to $150 or whatever it was)

I guess what could have also happened is they may have mislabeled the units, and then had to relabel them (I could see them labeling them as the last step after they verify it works)

Holy crap, my VB was living a double life!

Is that a Japanese sticker below it? Here are the two SNs…

VN104130085 <- SN that I peeled off V10168481 <- SN that was underneath It looks like we have a mystery on our hands!

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Don’t the Japanese VBs have a smaller SN sticker? I saw a picture in the SN thread (page 2 I believe) that made me think that. Anyway, my thought is maybe they used the wrong mold or something for that batch of covers?

I went ahead and took the plastic parts off (I don’t know what you would call that piece of plastic, maybe the tripod connector?), and found the number “3” on the part I posted about. My other VBs had a 1 (VN102399491) and a 6 (VN104716715). I am guessing those numbers refer to the mold revision or something?

As a side note, the one with the 6 was starting to look pretty sloppy on the back! Looked like someone may have been welding nearby, and a bunch of metal splattered on the mold (but just really fine dots, not huge spots). The outside still looked good, just the inside was bad looking. I have a picture, but it came out poorly, and I already put that plate back on (and I don’t want to take that one apart anymore, it is my original store bought one :))

I also did some measuring, and to the best of my ability, I came up with the bump being 0.00345 inches thick (0.087mm for the rest of the world). Because of the way the plastic was molded, I had to use a different plastic backplate to get my zero mark, so I can’t give a good estimate on how correct that thickness is. Anyway, that thickness is about the same thickness as 20lb copy paper (Sorry, I don’t know if the rest of the world uses 20lb paper as the default weight).

I will probably try to peel it off later, but I have no idea how to do it somewhat cleanly. I have a feeling it will be a big mess.

My VB that starts with VN1047 has no bump.

I would remove the SN sticker, but I have a feeling if it is another sticker underneath, it would be destroyed.

I have a spare motherboard and control if you are interested, just PM me.

I am sure some other people here also have spare VB parts, or you could pick up a broken vb off of ebay on the cheap.

Nintendo realized their mistake, that’s why. The system just doesn’t work, and still wouldn’t in todays market with color screens. Here are my theories on why it failed…

1) It is not social at all. And Nintendo is all about family fun and getting everyone involved (any modern commercial shows the whole family on the Wii, or multiplayer DS games), and the VB is the exact opposite of that. Even with linked play, only the people playing can see what is going on.

2) It is too much of a hassle to use. With a regular console, the console stays plugged into your tv, so all you do is grab a controller and start playing. With a portable system, you just grab the system and go. But with the Virtual Boy, odds are you won’t leave it set up all the time, so whenever you want to play, you have to assemble the whole thing, and find a place to play where the table and chair heights are just right. And if you use the AC adapter, you are entangled inside a web of wire (at least thats what it seems like to me).

3) It just cost too much for so many limitations. And they could not cut costs any more than they did.

4) Too much negative PR. Everyone knows it as the “red system that gives you headaches,” and the warning it could damage younger kids eyes only made it worse.

5) My neck/back hurt after playing. I think it is fair to say yours does too.

Even if they released a new VB with color OLED or whatever screens, they would still have most of those problems.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Virtual Boy. I would say it is my favorite system, although I really don’t play any video games very much. From a technological standpoint, the VB is really cool being it has a creative display that gave them such high resolution at a somewhat cheap price for 1995. I played V-Tetris for the first time the other day, and couldn’t believe how nice it looked. Yeah, I know that is a simple 2d display, but everything was so smooth, and well it is my favorite version of Tetris now.

I considered doing VB repair. One idea I had was to as you suggest have displays fixed on hand. In order to save on shipping, my idea was to sell a “kit” that would include 2 fixed screens, and the tool bit in order to open the Virtual Boy. The kit would be something like $25 or whatever, but shipping would be much cheaper. Then, you would offer money back if they returned their broken displays along with the tool. I hate to ship the VB if not necessary, so that was my workaround.

To remove the FFC backing I bet you could use this stuff rather than the drain cleaner…

http://mouser.com/ProductDetail/MG-Chemicals/418-500ML/?qs=X5SXQx2ktnP2R5Pl77QFKw%3d%3d

All it contains is de-ionized water and sodium hydroxide. I have some on hand, if you want I could test to see if it would work. I don’t know if it comes in a smaller quantity, as that would be a lifetime supply for just jive old VB displays!

But anyway, my experience is you don’t even need to remove the backing to solder it. I’ll try to get a video up soon showing how I do it.

I couldn’t support you if you were doing the oven method (being your heat gun method is the same thing), but if you are going to do the soldering route, then I would be happy to give you any help I can in order to save the VB population.

-Matt

It seems like no manual Nesters usually cost $20 or $25 on ebay, so I would say you paid a good amount.

But look at it this way, the system is 14 years old (so no stores sell it), the original price was $30 or $40 (I forget), and you only paid $26. Seems like a good deal to me!

Everyone is always bent up on getting the best price, but the bottom line is, just as long as you didn’t pay more than you felt the item was worth, you got a good price (assuming you are not trying to sell it for a profit).

Dude… that is such a photoshop… everyone knows that Barbie games are made by Hi Tech Expressions!

But that is a pretty good creation of what the box would have looked like, being they had not designed the box as of E3.

That is really good quality, good job!

I was actually thinking of doing a video. It would show what I mean by rolling the ball of solder around and how to use the solder wick a lot better than pictures for some people who have never done that kind of stuff before.

I was also thinking of making a PDF in hopes it would last longer than a website that may fall off the face of the earth someday.

Hopefully in a week or so I can get something up.

Oh, and I just bought another Virtual Boy today, so I have plenty of displays to take videos and pictures of. I really have to stop checking ebay so much…