Why does everyone keep telling me that FPGAs are better suited to do this kind of stuff? They're expensive to prototype and design with most of the time, difficult to program with open-source tools, and usually have high power consumption for a device that actually is capable enough for what would be normal(ish) battery-powered applications.
I think this project may be the largest/most complex project I've taken on aside from GBAudioPlayer, so I wouldn't be making this public without a good reason! The purpose of this on the surface is just to convert the Gameboy's LCD signals to display via HDMI, pretty simple. However, my motives for this project aren't as simple. I want to:
- Prove everyone that it CAN be done
- Challenge myself
- Push the RP2040 to its limits
- Learn how to program in ARM assembly and how to interface with more advanced hardware than the Gameboy (I come from a background of programming in assembly for the Gameboy)
- Create the cheapest DIY HDMI output solution for the Gameboy in the wild
Documentation about my journey and the info I gathered to make this project possible can be found in the docs folder. Since this is a relatively new project, I will be updating it frequently.
I don't know when I'm going to finish this project, but I predict that it's going to take a few months to get it fully working. However, I will get some parts of it working one by one, and I might even upload progress clips to YouTube and put the links here.