The DMG-Boy HDMI w/ Dock!

[curtismods]

When a Gameboy, Nintendo Switch, and a Nintendo Wii love eachother very much...

It took me way too long to make this post but @supertazon has kept telling me to do this, so here we are!

Presenting: The DMGBoy HDMI! This was quite the undertaking and required a lot of learning new software. I need to learn Fusion, but for the time being I made all of the modifications in TinkerCAD. This version of the G-Boy is based on @Dustin's G-Boy Revision, but also includes a Screen Lens, Volume Wheel, Screen Navigation Switch, HDMI Output, USB passthrough for Gamecube Controllers, and more!

The screen lens really adds to the overall aesthetic - I hope the iterations I've made give people more options for how they go about their project! I've included a new retainer bracket for the 480p IPS that requires hot gluing the driver board to the screen: it makes the screen area low-profile for extra clearance.

The video output is done through using Electron Shepherd's VGA to HDMI adapter, with their VGA Switch enabling auto switching between the internal screen and the external screen via HDMI Hotplug detect.


The ports on the top look a bit janky, especially as I had to use superglue at one point to mount the USB port for the GCC passthrough :')


Features:
- HDMI Output with automatic switching
- Gamecube controller dock with BlueRetro integration
- Volume wheel
- Screen navigation wheel
- Screen Lens
- Bluetooth relocation, MX relocation

I've included a version of the shell without the HDMI port as an attachment to this post. This is because it's not properly reinforced and quite janky so needs futher refinement in Version 2 of this which is coming... someday.

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the G-Boy, and an especially big thank you to @supertazon for the constant encouragement and sourcing the screen lens in the first place!

 

[supertazon]

Such a beautiful build deserved its cutting edge post, congrats!

 

[Customledmods]

Super clean great work! By the way how does the screen navigation wheel work ?

 

[Wrn_]

How did you integrate the GC controller dock? Is it just a generic usb gcc hub?

 

[curtismods]

Super clean great work! By the way how does the screen navigation wheel work ?

The screen navigation wheel is a bit misleading in its name: it's a 3-way tact switch (left, right, and press) and this allows for navigation on the Display Board

How did you integrate the GC controller dock? Is it just a generic usb gcc hub?

The GC controller dock is done by passing through each data line to its own USB pin on the female end, and matching that up with the pin on the male end. Completely non-standard USB wiring, but USB 3.1 had enough pins so I went with that

 

[image24]

Could you have done the video out over USB (or USB-C) as well?

 

[Zini]

I don't know, most portables seem to use VGA for video output, I don't think anyone has made a DP adapter for the wii yet, which would be needed for DP over USBC. Would be an interesting project though.

 

[image24]

It definitely would be! I like the idea of a portable with a dock that works like a Switch one (ie. charging, video, and gamecube controllers, over one port) but don't know if that's feasible.

 

[YveltalGriffin]

Super clean build, Curtis! The transparent blue looks awesome.

Could you have done the video out over USB (or USB-C) as well?

The Lontium LT6711 can convert an HDMI source to USB-C DisplayPort alt mode. You can buy this relatively compact eval board for it.

A Switch-style dock with video out and controller ports is doable, but way more work, especially if you want it to be spec-compliant!

 

[Wrn_]

It definitely would be! I like the idea of a portable with a dock that works like a Switch one (ie. charging, video, and gamecube controllers, over one port) but don't know if that's feasible.

Kinda planning something like this for my first build, using a rewired AV port - it has 16 pins, which is enough for 5v, 3v3, GCC 1-4, VGA (rgbhv), L/R audio, gnd, and 2 extras. Not sure if you could wire charging into those 2 extras, but i would just use the pms pd 3 port for charging anyway. Could even integrate them side by side into the dock if you lined everything up.

- Gamecube controller dock with BlueRetro integration

How did you do the internal integration, and does it have auto switching for wired connections? I found a wired dongle (https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804476307142.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa) but am coming up blank on searches for internal wiring diagrams.

Edit: Found the github documentation

 

[subierekt]

dang those bt and reset buttons arent in the original file i downloaded, you should upload that one too, though im not sure if ill put bt in here

 

[Bayou]

All of this looks pretty magical, brother. Are you using Electron Shepherd's VGA to HDMI? Can gcvideo achieve automatic switching for HDMI output when a VGA screen is inserted into the dock?

 

[Bungbung123]

Super clean build, Curtis! The transparent blue looks awesome.


The Lontium LT6711 can convert an HDMI source to USB-C DisplayPort alt mode. You can buy this relatively compact eval board for it.

A Switch-style dock with video out and controller ports is doable, but way more work, especially if you want it to be spec-compliant!

question about this board you linked. I want to make a dock for the ashida and I'm wondering if I can just connect this to the pms pd 3 usb-c port and connect the hdmi to a TV. would that work? I'm also looking at electron shepherd's vga switch and connecting that to the board.

 

[Stitches]

question about this board you linked. I want to make a dock for the ashida and I'm wondering if I can just connect this to the pms pd 3 usb-c port and connect the hdmi to a TV. would that work? I'm also looking at electron shepherd's vga switch and connecting that to the board.

You cannot get video out of a PMS PD. The PMS PD boards only have the required hardware to handle power negotiation and USB data switching

 

[Bungbung123]

You cannot get video out of a PMS PD. The PMS PD boards only have the required hardware to handle power negotiation and USB data switching

Thanks for getting back to me! I'm wanting to avoid putting a hdmi port on the console so I'll keep looking for a way to make that work. Again thank you!