Hello everyone,
I recently acquired a GBA with some interesting modifications done to it. Here's some photos of my unit. Note that the pink unit is a totally standard one, for comparison.
Two modifications are present:
1. TV-out mod. The back half of the plastic shell was replaced to afford a display connector, as seen on the left of the pictures. This connector is a simple breakout of the display connector that runs to the internal display. It's designed to connect to a converter box.
Here's a picture of the whole setup. (Not my photo, credit to this page on gameboy-advance.net and to marshallh for bringing it to my attention.)
2. Debugger harness. This four-wire plug connects internally to the battery terminals, as well as to the RESET and FIQ lines on the motherboard. RESET allows the console to be reset. FIQ is sort of like a debugger button. The plug is supposed to attach to a special game cart, which in turn is connected via an umbilical to a ROM emulator box. Here's a picture of the box it connects to, and documentation. Note that the doc calls it the "6P connector"; the plug has 6 connectors but only 4 are used. (Not my photos. Credit to these Twitter posts by GerryRobotics and AndrewEarley7, and to Endrift for bringing them to my attention)
The other hardware inside is bog-standard retail stuff-- PCB, CPU, and front half are all standard. One interesting thing is that the battery terminals have been snipped, so batteries do not work in this console.
I would be interested in learning more about units like this one.
EDIT: forgot to mention that I bought it on this very forum! Thanks to Diablodin for selling it to me.
I recently acquired a GBA with some interesting modifications done to it. Here's some photos of my unit. Note that the pink unit is a totally standard one, for comparison.
Two modifications are present:
1. TV-out mod. The back half of the plastic shell was replaced to afford a display connector, as seen on the left of the pictures. This connector is a simple breakout of the display connector that runs to the internal display. It's designed to connect to a converter box.
Here's a picture of the whole setup. (Not my photo, credit to this page on gameboy-advance.net and to marshallh for bringing it to my attention.)
2. Debugger harness. This four-wire plug connects internally to the battery terminals, as well as to the RESET and FIQ lines on the motherboard. RESET allows the console to be reset. FIQ is sort of like a debugger button. The plug is supposed to attach to a special game cart, which in turn is connected via an umbilical to a ROM emulator box. Here's a picture of the box it connects to, and documentation. Note that the doc calls it the "6P connector"; the plug has 6 connectors but only 4 are used. (Not my photos. Credit to these Twitter posts by GerryRobotics and AndrewEarley7, and to Endrift for bringing them to my attention)
The other hardware inside is bog-standard retail stuff-- PCB, CPU, and front half are all standard. One interesting thing is that the battery terminals have been snipped, so batteries do not work in this console.
I would be interested in learning more about units like this one.
EDIT: forgot to mention that I bought it on this very forum! Thanks to Diablodin for selling it to me.