GameBoy Digital Sampling Oscilloscope in 2021 ?
I remade the Nintendo GameBoy digital oscilloscope by Steve Willis from Elektor October 2000... in 2021.
I remade the Game Boy digital oscilloscope (GBDSO) by Steve Willis from Elektor October 2000... in 2021.
You might ask why I made something that's 20 years old by now and the answer is pretty simple.
Since the day I discovered the GBDSO a few years ago I wanted to build one, and so I did.
Before I go any further, everything you need to make a GBDSO is available on my github: https://github.com/pyroesp/GBDSO.
You can find the schematic, PCB, BOM list, some documentation and lots of pictures and more on the repository.
Let's review what the original GBDSO was capable of:
Very impressive features coming from a Game Boy if you ask me!
When I first contacted Elektor about this project I asked them if they still had a ROM available for a GBDSO and they had one left. So of course I had to have it and I bought it for around 10€.
Making the BOM list for the GBDSO I needed to find a few new components due to it being 20 years old:
The original MC33182D opamp wasn't available on digikey, so I went with the TL072.
The DS1267S100 100k digital potentiometer and 27C256 ROM are still available, but with a slightly different part number.
Total cost of the BOM, at the time of making, was around 31€ for 70 components.
Adding a (prototype) PCB to that from your favorite PCB fab (mine is JLCPCB) and the total price would be around 35€ to 40€.
After discussing the possibility of releasing the bin file of the ROM with Elektor, I got permission from them to upload it to my github repository making it available for everyone!
So you can build your own GBDSO for around 40€.
One addition to the GBDSO I made is the possibility to program the 27C256 ROM chip in circuit thanks to a little extension board that maps the PLCC32 ROM to a DIP32 socket and a few jumpers on the board.
It took me three hardware revisions to get it right, due to a few errors on my schematic and PCB, but it worked in the end and I couldn't be happier.
Not only do I have a GBDSO, but the whole project is available online for anyone to make.
Please visit the github repository for everything you need to make your own.
You might ask why I made something that's 20 years old by now and the answer is pretty simple.
Since the day I discovered the GBDSO a few years ago I wanted to build one, and so I did.
Before I go any further, everything you need to make a GBDSO is available on my github: https://github.com/pyroesp/GBDSO.
You can find the schematic, PCB, BOM list, some documentation and lots of pictures and more on the repository.
Let's review what the original GBDSO was capable of:
- Dual trace display
- Sampling Rate: DC to 1 Msps
- Time Base: 100 s to 5 µs/Div
- Inputs: AC/DC 1 MegOhm
- Input gain: 50 mV to 10 V/Div
- Line or chart recorder trace modes
- Real-time FFT mode with dB scale
- Variable persistence XY mode
- PC link for screen or data transfer
- 5 hrs operation from NiMH batteries
- Averaging and Auto trigger functions
- Reference trace storage
Very impressive features coming from a Game Boy if you ask me!
When I first contacted Elektor about this project I asked them if they still had a ROM available for a GBDSO and they had one left. So of course I had to have it and I bought it for around 10€.
Making the BOM list for the GBDSO I needed to find a few new components due to it being 20 years old:
The original MC33182D opamp wasn't available on digikey, so I went with the TL072.
The DS1267S100 100k digital potentiometer and 27C256 ROM are still available, but with a slightly different part number.
Total cost of the BOM, at the time of making, was around 31€ for 70 components.
Adding a (prototype) PCB to that from your favorite PCB fab (mine is JLCPCB) and the total price would be around 35€ to 40€.
After discussing the possibility of releasing the bin file of the ROM with Elektor, I got permission from them to upload it to my github repository making it available for everyone!
So you can build your own GBDSO for around 40€.
One addition to the GBDSO I made is the possibility to program the 27C256 ROM chip in circuit thanks to a little extension board that maps the PLCC32 ROM to a DIP32 socket and a few jumpers on the board.
It took me three hardware revisions to get it right, due to a few errors on my schematic and PCB, but it worked in the end and I couldn't be happier.
Not only do I have a GBDSO, but the whole project is available online for anyone to make.
Please visit the github repository for everything you need to make your own.
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