I actually had the idea and did some googling and found this “http://www.projectvb.com/linkcable.html”.

Obviously without stealing any credit, I wanted to make mention of this website and the original creator.

My plan is instead of having to “ruin” your own Virtual Boy for this mod, that I make a model of the input plug of the EXT port and wire up a simple PCB Board to run the signal from the EX PORT connector to the RJ45 port (all of this will be hidden under the VB while in use). This adapter will not make you have to mod your VB, it will allow you to remove the adapter when you’re not using it, and finally allow the use of any length of CAT5 cable you want.

Couch Virtual Boy anyone, since we have the length? lol.

I know there isn’t much going on with this and others have been making great head way, I was just thinking of doing this myself over the next few weeks and decided to post it here.

Edit:

I’ve also just seen that there doesn’t appear to be any games that actually support the link. It may say they do, but it’s not completely true.

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That would be cool and I do have two Virtual Boy’s in my possession the second of which is finally being modded like my main one. So I could definitely buy a second flash cart (in the eventual future) to be able to experience some two player 3D gaming.

What’s the plan for the molded plastic end? As you can imagine, that’s probably the hardest part of the whole thing… getting something that actually clips into place that makes reliable contact with the original connector. I think you might also run into problems from the leverage caused by having the RJ45 port offset like that (the right side will probably keep popping out with the weight of a cable hanging).

We’ve actually been making a lot of progress on a link plug for a real cable. I’ve got several 3D printed prototypes, but we’re still making a few tweaks before they can go into production.

DogP

Haha,

To test out my theory,

I used baking clay (shoved it up into the ext port (with circuit cleaner, so nothing would stick). I then trimmed the outside and then baked it. After baking, I cut it in half with a thin wire cutter. I hollowed out the inside and then on the outside for the connector portion, I used conductive liquid tape with pieces of copper attached to it and stuck them in all 8 spots.

I drilled 8 small holes into the backs of each side at all 8 spots and connected small wires to it, and soldered them to the breadboard for now. I then jumped the traces to the RJ45 socket making sure everything touched. I tested the setup using a multi-meter and then glued the “connector VB” portion together for a strong hold. I then lightly hand painted everything.

I know a lot of random work right lol? But I don’t have the tools handy to do what I’d like to do (similar to the great work you’re doing).

Now, I noticed the leverage issues as well before I started the project. What I did to compensate for it was I actually used a longer screw and I cut the breadboard to wrap around the VB further up and use the screw next to the controller port and to the North of the EXT port. I only had to use like an 2in screw. I think I’ll have to use a washer, or cut the screw down for a tighter fit.

So just messing around, it does work and it looks pretty good for about 3 hours work and just goofing around with it.

I’ll do pictures soon.

Wynd

Cool… I’d definitely be interested in seeing pics. I keep wanting to try stuff like this with clay or thermoplastics (like polymorph)… but have never gotten around to it. Though the 3D printer definitely takes care of a lot of the things I wanted to do (I’m pretty bad at artsy things, so making a model on a computer is much easier for me than sculpting things 😉 ).

DogP

Wasn’t Mindstorm 3D printing some link cable ends for exactly this purpose?

While we are on this topic. Is the protocol spoken by the Ext. port documented somewhere? I looked for it a while ago but couldn’t find much information. I’m not so much interested in having 2 VB communicating. Connecting something like an Arduino to a VB would be pretty cool though.

jrronimo wrote:
Wasn’t Mindstorm 3D printing some link cable ends for exactly this purpose?

Yes, he printed the same model that we’re still working on perfecting.

thunderstruck wrote:
While we are on this topic. Is the protocol spoken by the Ext. port documented somewhere? I looked for it a while ago but couldn’t find much information. I’m not so much interested in having 2 VB communicating. Connecting something like an Arduino to a VB would be pretty cool though.

It’s basically SPI… there’s data in (pin 4) and data out (pin 8), which are synchronous to the clock (pin 3). You can set it up as master or slave, which just tells whether it drives the clock or not. There’s also a general purpose open collector pin (pin 1).

DogP

Yup there was work on it, but he’s still working on the connector piece. I was just giving up my idea/process as well.

I’d love a legit looking non-ghetto cable.

[MineStorm]

Yes, he printed the same model that we’re still working on perfecting.

Actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting. The locking tabs were a bit weak, but printing the model on it’s side should cure that (tab layers running vertical).

BTW do you think there’s enough demand to have the plugs professionally moulded ?

Making them on my 3D printer would be very cheap.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 5 months ago by MineStorm.

from what i have seen, the interest in vb development is mostly limited to this single forum. unless their was a selection of 2-player software ready for the cable, i do not think there will be very much interest in the cable beyond this community.

i would love to play some 2-player games but i do not know a single person who has a vb, and even fewer who have ever played one.

DogP wrote:

thunderstruck wrote:
While we are on this topic. Is the protocol spoken by the Ext. port documented somewhere? I looked for it a while ago but couldn’t find much information. I’m not so much interested in having 2 VB communicating. Connecting something like an Arduino to a VB would be pretty cool though.

It’s basically SPI… there’s data in (pin 4) and data out (pin 8), which are synchronous to the clock (pin 3). You can set it up as master or slave, which just tells whether it drives the clock or not. There’s also a general purpose open collector pin (pin 1).

DogP

Ahh… cool. That makes it pretty easy, thanks. Maybe I will start a Hardware project after all.

The project I wanna see is a connect to pc with a program that uses the Internet to send and receive for online play against others… That would be absolutely brilliant!

You’re not the first one to think of that.

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=4117&post_id=18533#forumpost18533