PC <-> GBA link lead?
Author
Anyone know if theres a link cable for connecting a GBA to a PC? Not for uploading roms onto a cartridge, but for interfacing with the GBA while its running, I assume it would be using the same system as when linking multiple GBAs together for multiplayer.
I have this crazy idea of using a GBA as an extra debug output window, but I don''t know if its possible..
This is probably what you''re looking for. I''ve build mine and it''s working fine after I figured out I put the IC in the socket the wrong way 
According to Devr''s GBADev FAQ you can use GNU GDB to do remote debugging of your software although I''ve never tried it. Refer to GBATek on how to use UART mode on the GBA.
This one looks even more promising but I''m unable to get one of the ds89 microcontrollers to build one
It doubles as an UART / Multiboot cable so you get all in one. Hope this helps, good luck,
Jasper
According to Devr''s GBADev FAQ you can use GNU GDB to do remote debugging of your software although I''ve never tried it. Refer to GBATek on how to use UART mode on the GBA.This one looks even more promising but I''m unable to get one of the ds89 microcontrollers to build one
It doubles as an UART / Multiboot cable so you get all in one. Hope this helps, good luck,Jasper
Author
So the UART protocol will let me send data from the PC to GBA in the way I want? I was imagining using a small program on the GBA (either via multiboot or flash cart) which would accept info from the port and display it on the screen. Am I way off base here or is this going to be a good way to do it?
I''ve stumbled across this hardware as well, which sounds promising - if possible i''d prefer to buy the hardware (its not likely to work otherwise
)
I''ve stumbled across this hardware as well, which sounds promising - if possible i''d prefer to buy the hardware (its not likely to work otherwise
)
Oooops I thought you wanted to do remote debugging of your GBA software, but now I see you want it the other way around. My mistake...
Anyway the cable mentioned is still useful as it is the only way (to my knowledge) to interface the GBA and the PC. It uses the standard UART / RS232 so you can connect it to your COM port and start sending bytes. In win32 this is done I believe using CreateFile I believe but it''s been a while so you''ll have to look into that. I can provide you with an example program but it''s not for the GBA and really messy so it can only serve as an example on how to use COM ports. Also you can take a look at Tera Term Pro which is pretty handy when working with COM ports.
What you do on the GBA with the bytes you receive is entirely up to you. Using Multiboot would only be possible by the other cable mentioned above or else you would have to switch cables after downloading your program which would be quite a pain.
As for a hardware you can buy: the MBV2 is the only thing I can think of that might support UART comms but you''ll have to look into that as I''ve never seen it been used for that purpose.
Jasper
Anyway the cable mentioned is still useful as it is the only way (to my knowledge) to interface the GBA and the PC. It uses the standard UART / RS232 so you can connect it to your COM port and start sending bytes. In win32 this is done I believe using CreateFile I believe but it''s been a while so you''ll have to look into that. I can provide you with an example program but it''s not for the GBA and really messy so it can only serve as an example on how to use COM ports. Also you can take a look at Tera Term Pro which is pretty handy when working with COM ports.
What you do on the GBA with the bytes you receive is entirely up to you. Using Multiboot would only be possible by the other cable mentioned above or else you would have to switch cables after downloading your program which would be quite a pain.
As for a hardware you can buy: the MBV2 is the only thing I can think of that might support UART comms but you''ll have to look into that as I''ve never seen it been used for that purpose.
Jasper
The MBV2 cable I mentioned is in fact the same as the one you found. According to the FAQ it can do UART / RS232 comms. So you can buy that one although it looks a bit pricey at $29 + $6 shipping. I was a complete n00b at soldering myself but building Dark Fader''s cable only took about one evening when I got all the parts and made a layout. And the cheap link cable I bought only costed 6 euros (with 4 plugs). The rest of the parts you can get virtually for free. So I would build it yourself unless money isn''t an issue...
Jasper
Jasper
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