Connecting a TI-84+CE to a GBA [gba] [nintendo] [ds]

b/Hardware publicado por u/caleb1997 January 19, 2016, 09:12:58 PM

Connecting a TI-84+CE to a GBA [gba] [nintendo] [ds]

All right then.... I just bought a ~~Gameboy COLOR~~ GBA and taking a look at it, I noticed something...

The Gameboy has a USB port.... that just happens to be almost the exact same as my C~~(S)~~E's.

Immediately, the idea popped into my head that I could possibly link it to my CSE.

What do you guys think? Is it possible to link my calc to a ~~Gameboy~~ ~~Nintendo DS lite~~ GBA?

I just noticed that the port doesn't fit a regular USB. But I can mod a cable to go in between the calc and Gameboy. After all, a cable only costs $2-$3.

~~EDIT: I will be using the I/O port on my CSE for this.~~
EDIT #2: Since I can't find my CSE, I'll guess that I'll have a lot of fun writing USB protocols to do it with my CE. ._.

Last Edit: February 26, 2016, 04:45:55 PM by caleb1997

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u/kegwaan January 19, 2016, 09:16:10 PM

You probably could link it to a CSE, but programming it to recognize each other and perform actions is something different. And also, what would you even do with a GBC linked to a CSE

You might also want to check out KermMartian's Gameboy camera connected to a CSE.

u/caleb1997 January 19, 2016, 09:17:58 PM

Quote from: kegwaan on January 19, 2016, 09:16:10 PM
You probably could link it to a CSE, but programming it to recognize each other and perform actions is something different. And also, what would you even do with a GBC linked to a CSE
You might also want to check out KermMartian's Gameboy camera connected to a CSE.

I want to be able to play calculator games on the GBC. Or, to be more specific, make the screen of the CSE go on the GBC. And yes, I've seen the camera hooked up to the calc.

u/kegwaan January 19, 2016, 09:21:27 PM

Ah I see

So when/if you do this, are you going to map the A/B buttons to 2ndAlpha respectively, and so on for the other buttons?

u/caleb1997 January 19, 2016, 09:23:33 PM

Yes, I will. Should be interesting

u/kegwaan January 19, 2016, 09:25:22 PM

Absolutely. You could also try and condense a CSE into the housing of a GBC, but then you have the problem of all of the buttons not being able to fit onto the thing.

u/caleb1997 January 19, 2016, 09:26:40 PM

Quote from: kegwaan on January 19, 2016, 09:25:22 PM
Absolutely. You could also try and condense a CSE into the housing of a GBC, but then you have the problem of all of the buttons not being able to fit onto the thing.

Rather than cram a CSE into a Gameboy, how about I put the Gameboy into a CSE?

But that's later. Much, much later. I just want to link the two together.

u/kegwaan January 19, 2016, 09:28:48 PM

Quote from: caleb1997 on January 19, 2016, 09:26:40 PM
Rather than cram a CSE into a Gameboy, how about I put the Gameboy into a CSE?

In Soviet Russia...
Maybe I'll find a GBC I can cram into a CSE... if I had money.

u/Ivoah January 19, 2016, 09:39:01 PM

Quote from: caleb1997 on January 19, 2016, 09:17:58 PM
Quote from: kegwaan on January 19, 2016, 09:16:10 PM
You probably could link it to a CSE, but programming it to recognize each other and perform actions is something different. And also, what would you even do with a GBC linked to a CSE
You might also want to check out KermMartian's Gameboy camera connected to a CSE.

I want to be able to play calculator games on the GBC. Or, to be more specific, make the screen of the CSE go on the GBC. And yes, I've seen the camera hooked up to the calc.

The only way for this to work would be to request screenshots periodically using the ti link protocol, and that would only work when a pure basic program is running.

u/Dream of Omnimaga January 25, 2016, 05:26:40 PM

I am curious about if game data (eg saves) could be transfered between the calculator and GBC and be modified on-calc by another program?

u/caleb1997 January 25, 2016, 07:37:22 PM

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 25, 2016, 05:26:40 PM
I am curious about if game data (eg saves) could be transfered between the calculator and GBC and be modified on-calc by another program?

To be honest, I doubt it. Because the two systems weren't made to work together, it's like trying to modify a eZ80 ASM program with Python. I would have loved to do that, though.... (starts wishing he could do this so he could hack GBC save files)

Quote from: Ivoah on January 19, 2016, 09:39:01 PM
Quote from: caleb1997 on January 19, 2016, 09:17:58 PM
Quote from: kegwaan on January 19, 2016, 09:16:10 PM
You probably could link it to a CSE, but programming it to recognize each other and perform actions is something different. And also, what would you even do with a GBC linked to a CSE
You might also want to check out KermMartian's Gameboy camera connected to a CSE.

I want to be able to play calculator games on the GBC. Or, to be more specific, make the screen of the CSE go on the GBC. And yes, I've seen the camera hooked up to the calc.

The only way for this to work would be to request screenshots periodically using the ti link protocol, and that would only work when a pure basic program is running.

What if I use Assembly? Would it be fast enough to capture the screen and send it to the GBC, and still retain a decent amount of FPS? (idea: request it only when a event happens, like a keypress, to avoid lag)

Last Edit: January 25, 2016, 07:39:50 PM by caleb1997

u/Yuki January 25, 2016, 07:45:26 PM

I'm definitely not sure that port is USB. Last time I checked, USB usually have 4 or 5 pins and the GB link port have 6 of them (3 on each side) and looking at the wiring, it looks pretty incompatible. If you want to make your Game Boy believe your calc is a Pokémon game and trade hacked Pokémons, or act as a GameBoy Printer (I had one of those that was kinda fun), well, that would be an interesting thing to do, but you'd probably need custom wiring.

Last Edit: January 25, 2016, 07:48:15 PM by Juju

u/novenary January 25, 2016, 07:49:26 PM

You can design the protocol however you want, the only real problem is to get code running on the GameBoy. For that you can use a flashcart.
For transferring save files, you would need a game that is able to transfer its save file over the GBC's link port. I don't think such a game exists, however you should be able to make a program that can trade with Pokemon on the calc.

Also Juju is right, though that connector uses a serial bus that is similar to the N64 and the GameCube's JoyBus (half duplex serial protocol, using pulse duration to differentiate between 0 and 1).
http://www.int03.co.uk/crema/hardware/gamecube/gc-control.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20150817140850/http://www.mixdown.ca/n64dev/
These documents won't be relevant in terms of binary protocol but the electrical protocol should be helpful. Also you should look up documentation on how the GameBoy itself works, I just happened to have these bookmarked.

u/caleb1997 January 25, 2016, 07:50:37 PM

Quote from: Juju on January 25, 2016, 07:45:26 PM
I'm definitely not sure that port is USB. Last time I checked, USB usually have 4 or 5 pins and the GB link port have 6 of them (3 on each side) and looking at the wiring, it looks pretty incompatible. If you want to make your Game Boy believe your calc is a Pokémon game and trade hacked Pokémons, well, that would be an interesting thing to do, but you'd probably need custom wiring.

I guess all of those years spent messing around with wires did help..... Creating a custom wiring connection shouldn't be too hard. But that depends on what the GBC port needs, and doesn't need. It may be (I've encountered this), that not every single contact on the GBC port is vital to receiving/interpreting info. And there are 6-pin USB links.