DEV Community: Kenji Wada

Disassembling the original Game Boy

Kenji Wada — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:56:13 +0000

My hobby is Game Boy repair, and I've repaired many Game Boys. I'd like to rewrite some of my past blog posts here to give you a taste of what I've written in the past.

About the original Game Boy

The Game Boy is very simple in construction.

As it should be, the original Game Boy (DMG-01) was released in April 1989, 27 years ago. Even though it was the culmination of the latest technology from that time, does it look so simple when compared to today's handheld gaming hardware?

But thanks to its simplicity, even a hobbyist novice like me can fix it with a screwdriver and a soldering iron, and you can also implement a backlight to make it playable in a dark room. Since the Game Boy Pocket, the successor model, the board will be more and more complicated, so it's impossible for me to handle it.

So today, let's take apart the first Game Boy #1.

Remove the exterior and separate the screen side board and the power supply side board.

The exterior is Y-screwed.

Be careful not to force open the case as the cable harness is connected inside.

Remove the harness and remove the board

At first, you'll be afraid to pull this harness out.

It's a sturdy Gameboy that survived being bombed in the Gulf War, so don't be afraid to pull it out slowly. You'll probably have to pull it out many times later, so you'll get used to it.

The first generation Game Boy, which was so big compared to the current model, has been ridiculed as a bento box, but it looks like a bento box when disassembled. We were able to divide it into a board for the power supply side and a board for the LCD side.

It can be seen at the time of assembly, but some screws are missing from the LCD side base. Perhaps the previous owner fixed the vertical line loss and did not close the screws properly. I would like to write about how to repair the vertical lines that often occur with Game Boy if this article is well received.

Disassemble the power supply side of the board.

Once opened, the base can be removed from the exterior with just a Phillips screwdriver.

The base of the earphone jack is corroded or turned white. The base of the earphone jack is corroded or turned white. Maybe flux is floating on it.

If you remove the Phillips screw, you can remove the base from the exterior.

I removed the metal part that corresponds to the part where the cassette is inserted. I guess that this part is made of metal because a lot of removal of the cassette is required and load is applied. Metal is used in this part until the successor's Game Boy Pocket, Color and Game Boy Advance.

I also removed the battery box's battery receptacle. There are traces of corrosion on it, as if the battery had a leak. But one of them has some polishing marks.

The part where the battery comes in contact with the metal is rusted, which can cause the battery to not turn on. Be careful when you take it apart.

At this point I began to suspect that I had bought a used Game Boy with a leaky battery that had been repaired for corrosion.

Disassemble the liquid crystal side of the board.

I removed the screws.

The LCD seems to have volatile traces of instant glue that may have been used to hold the cover in place. Also, the speaker is dirty and will be cleaned.

I was able to take the Game Boy apart.

The exterior was finally removed.

That concludes our introduction to disassembly of the original Game Boy.

The yellowish exterior of this Game Boy can be restored to its original light gray color by soaking it in a bleach containing hydrogen peroxide, such as Kitchen Haiter, and exposing it to sunlight and other UV rays.

Also, if you're okay with a non-genuine product, you can order an exterior from a Chinese or American Game Boy custom website to replace it.

Note

The original article is "ゲームボーイ(DMG-01)を分解する". I use machine translation.

Installing Android Jetpack Compose (September 2020 ver)

Kenji Wada — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 11:20:20 +0000

Android Jetpack Compose is still under development and there is no stable version. Installation method also differs by version.

The official documentation doesn't seem to keep up with it, and the Japanese introduction document uses 0.1.0-dev13 in the description. The English introduction document uses 1.0.0-alpha01 in the description.

I was unable to install Jetpack Compose because of build errors in every deployment document I read.

The way described in Compose's version information is the only way I could install it without any build errors.

I found "Compose | Android Developers" helpful. I added the following in the build.gradle file, which enabled me to install Android Jetpack Compose.

android {
    buildFeatures {
        compose true
    }

    composeOptions {
        kotlinCompilerVersion "1.4.0"
        kotlinCompilerExtensionVersion "1.0.0-alpha02"
    }
}

tasks.withType(org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.tasks.KotlinCompile).configureEach {
    kotlinOptions {
        jvmTarget = "1.8"
        freeCompilerArgs += ["-Xallow-jvm-ir-dependencies", "-Xskip-prerelease-check"]
    }
}

Now that we're finally at the starting point, I'd like to experiment with implementing the UI using Jetpack Compose.

Note

The original article is "Android Jetpack Composeをインストールする (2020年9月版)". I use machine translation.

Can't use UIFont for Text in SwiftUI

Kenji Wada — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 10:50:07 +0000

I want to specify a font to Text() but UIFont didn't work. What should I do?

Environment

Xcode 11.6
iOS 13.6

I have a problem!!

I decided to create a utility class like UIFont.futuraMediumFont(ofSize:) to make custom fonts easier to use.

import UIKit

extension UIFont {

    static func futuraMediumFont(ofSize size: CGFloat) -> UIFont {
        return UIFont(name: "Futura-Medium", size: size) ?? UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: size, weight: .medium)
    }
}

I wanted to use this font as a Text() font as shown below, but a build error occurred.

Text(R.string.localizable.home_title()).font(UIFont.futuraMediumFont(ofSize: 22)

I've solved the problem!

The SwiftUI doesn't use UIFont. Instead, I used the Font class.

import SwiftUI

extension Font {

    static func futuraMedium(size: CGFloat) -> Font {
        return Font.custom("Futura-Medium", size: size)
    }
}

Note

The original article is "SwiftUIで Textのフォント指定にUIFontが使えない". I use machine translation.

Application crashes when using displayMode in SwiftUI's NavigationView

Kenji Wada — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 10:17:39 +0000

When you specify displayMode in NavigationView, the app crashes when it starts. This bug has been fixed in Xcode 12 beta 2. However, the crash will always occur on Xcode 11.6.

Environment

Xcode 11.6
iOS 13.6

I have a problem!!

This example code is correct.

struct HomeView : View {

    var body: some View {
        NavigationView {
            VStack {
                Text("ねこ")
            }
            .navigationViewStyle(StackNavigationViewStyle())
            .navigationBarTitle(R.string.localizable.home_title())
            .navigationBarItems(leading: Text("設定"))
        }
        .onAppear {
            FA.track(page: "ホーム")
        }
    }
}

This sample code crashes when the app is launched.

struct HomeView : View {

    var body: some View {
        NavigationView {
            VStack {
                Text("ねこ")
            }
            .navigationViewStyle(StackNavigationViewStyle())
            .navigationBarTitle(Text(R.string.localizable.home_title()), displayMode: .inline)
            .navigationBarItems(leading: Text("設定"))
        }
        .onAppear {
            FA.track(page: "ホーム")
        }
    }
}

I've solved the problem!

Apparently this has been fixed in Xcode 12 Beta2, but as of Xcode 11.6, the app will crash if the navigation bar transparency flag is set to false.

UINavigationBar.appearance().isTranslucent = false

If you set it to true, the app will not crash.

UINavigationBar.appearance().isTranslucent = true

Note

The original article is "SwiftUIで NavigationViewでdisplayModeを指定するとアプリ実行時にクラッシュする". I use machine translation.