Hi folks, I have an odd question. I have an idea for a DS/DS Lite homebrew project that would have a nice progression of (relatively) easy to more difficult programming goals. I am not very proficient at coding at the moment and haven't really found the right thing to sink my teeth into to get better. The absolute last thing to implement in this idea would be controlling addressable LEDs (preferably neopixels, but I'm not picky) via the Slot 2 GBA connector.
My question is, would this be even remotely possible? I've done some research and from the documentation I found I think the GBA slot can be addressed in such a way directly without an intermediary device such as an arduino (I've seen some stuff where the GBA port is connected to a microcontroller dev board and then the board does the controlling of the LEDS but I would like if it did not require any hardware other than a flash cart, a DS/Lite, a simple cartridge connector, and the LEDs themselves), but I am very clearly not knowledgeable enough (not yet, hopefully) to know if it can be done with strict enough clock timing*, if it would require learning assembly instead of sticking to a higher level language, and/or if it would require bit bashing to accomplish.
Is this a really dumb idea? Yeah. Am I thinking way too far ahead? Definitely. Is this just another flash-in-the-pan ADHD special interest that I will furiously fantasize about and then burn out on within a week? Probably. But I'm just curious if the end goal is physically possible, even if it only goes as far as a disorganized notes file in my google docs like most of my other great/terrible ideas.
If you end up reading docs and have the time, knowledge and patience to answer, I really appreciate it!
*while typing this post out I found an article about neopixel timings being a little less strict that documented although I cannot post it due to newbie restrictions. If you google "NeoPixels Revealed: How to (not need to) generate precisely timed signals" you'll probably find it.
My question is, would this be even remotely possible? I've done some research and from the documentation I found I think the GBA slot can be addressed in such a way directly without an intermediary device such as an arduino (I've seen some stuff where the GBA port is connected to a microcontroller dev board and then the board does the controlling of the LEDS but I would like if it did not require any hardware other than a flash cart, a DS/Lite, a simple cartridge connector, and the LEDs themselves), but I am very clearly not knowledgeable enough (not yet, hopefully) to know if it can be done with strict enough clock timing*, if it would require learning assembly instead of sticking to a higher level language, and/or if it would require bit bashing to accomplish.
Is this a really dumb idea? Yeah. Am I thinking way too far ahead? Definitely. Is this just another flash-in-the-pan ADHD special interest that I will furiously fantasize about and then burn out on within a week? Probably. But I'm just curious if the end goal is physically possible, even if it only goes as far as a disorganized notes file in my google docs like most of my other great/terrible ideas.
If you end up reading docs and have the time, knowledge and patience to answer, I really appreciate it!
*while typing this post out I found an article about neopixel timings being a little less strict that documented although I cannot post it due to newbie restrictions. If you google "NeoPixels Revealed: How to (not need to) generate precisely timed signals" you'll probably find it.
