Gameboy Development Forum

Discussion about software development for the old-school Gameboys, ranging from the "Gray brick" to Gameboy Color
(Launched in 2008)

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#1 2009-12-12 10:31:47

NeX
New member
Registered: 2009-12-12
Posts: 5

what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

hi all,

i am trying to get my gameboy to boot with a custom cartridge, all i need it to do is make it scroll the nintendo logo and thats it, what is the bare minimum needed to do that?

thanks!

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#2 2009-12-13 03:01:34

www.BoumPower.ch
Member
Registered: 2008-04-04
Posts: 20
Website

Re: what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

Suggest that you use GBDK... the begining of the cartridge is crucial : you need to put the Nintendo logo, cartridge information and checksum, otherwise you software will never boot

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#3 2009-12-13 04:42:56

NeX
New member
Registered: 2009-12-12
Posts: 5

Re: what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

ok thanks,

can all of that be extracted from an existing cartridge? i just need something to make the gameboy boot

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#4 2009-12-13 13:18:35

www.BoumPower.ch
Member
Registered: 2008-04-04
Posts: 20
Website

Re: what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

If you simply copy a simple game (compatible with your cartridge hardware) it will boot (and run the game)
I don't realy understand what you wont to to ?
Think you will find a lot of simple program for the gameboy on the Internet, you can download one and flash it on your cartridge...

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#5 2009-12-13 13:58:06

NeX
New member
Registered: 2009-12-12
Posts: 5

Re: what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

thanks again,

basically i am working with a project that requires the gameboy to be in a state just after the point where it has loaded the nintendo logo.

i don't want to run any software and i dont want to use a cartridge if possible, i am trying to get the gameboy past that first security check and then leave it there.

for now i am using a tetris cartridge, once the gameboy has booted i can even take the cartridge out, as i don't need it i just want the system booted.

anyway i am after the minimal hardware and software needed to get that far.

if i must i can just use the tetris cartridge, but really i am trying to compact this project and the cartridge takes up a lot of space when all it does is boot the gameboy.

i know this is a weird question, but its kinda hard to explain without going through the entire project from scratch

but thanks again for your help

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#6 2009-12-14 00:38:24

nitro2k01
Administrator
Registered: 2008-02-22
Posts: 242

Re: what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

You could use a small EPROM or Flash memory for this. The bare minimum is 256 bytes big, but any size above that will work.
Also NeX, please go ahead and tell me what you're doing. I'm curious. smile


Blog: Gameboy Genius
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step"
Old Chinese Proverb

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#7 2009-12-14 01:12:58

NeX
New member
Registered: 2009-12-12
Posts: 5

Re: what is the bare minimum needed to boot a gameboy?

ok then, i lied smile

i am trying to boot the super gameboy chip, as soon as it is booted it will happily start processing the data from the LCD but until the nintendo logo has rolled it wont do anything. But once it has gone PA CHING you can pull out the cart and let it crash or what ever. even if the super gameboy CPU crashes the IDC chip still functions and processes data,

so yea, i just want to be able to get the super gameboy to boot with the very minimum. i am also wondering if the information needed can be taken from a cart that is already in another gameboy, but i assume that not only would that take a lot of wiring, its also probably not possible while the cart is in use.

but yea a small eprom was the kind of thing i was after, i wonder how small you can go with an eprom... physically i mean

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