GameBoy as external HDD

[doesi87]

I decided to give ghouls idea a shot and replace the display with a nice picture from the original Super Mario Land game. Will buy a OHP printable film tomorrow. This way I can print out the picture with my printer and simply attach it in front of the screen. The characteristic screen colour will shine through and the picture will look quit realistic. Not sure about the picture though. I downloaded a speed run from YouTube and searched for nice shots. Then I pasted three into a picture of the gameboy and made them overlay to get the result the OHP film will produce. Here are the three possibilities. Please feel free to choose one, but explain why if it's possible and not just a feeling (post feelings to). I really can't decide which I will choose and need to hear some other statements.

Shot 1:

Shot 2:

Shot 3:

The actual image looks way better, but the resizing tool couldn't really shrink these files down.

[DaveW]

Looking good, +Rep! If you can get away without putting a vent in there, that's what i'd do, but you seem to like the mesh, so just go for what feels right.

-Dave

[scar~face]

id say the third one

[doesi87]

I did a test to determine if I need the top vents or not. I did one hour of test in idle and another hour of copying files directly after the idle time.
Shut-off temperature: 22°C
after 1 hour idle : 27°C
after 1 hour copying: 35°C

So I decided to give it no top vent because it is not necessary. Knowing that I went to the hardware store and bought some spray paint. I'll go with black and stainless steel effect spray. This is the nearest I can come to the overall paint job on my desk. So I bought primer, black, stainless steel and clear coat. Have to think about the paint job now.

I also bought the OHP film. But not sure which one to pick yet.

EDIT:

I will go with this paint job:

So I primed the case and made a first layer of the titan paint (stainless paint, but really looks like titan, which fits well). I think it came out quit good. Will get a closer look when it is dry. So here are some pics about the painting:

Covering the parts not to be painted:

painted rear side:

painted front side:

[si-skyline]

It would of been better if you could keep the original colour of the gameboy, but the black and silver would look nice too..

well done with your process so far!

[doesi87]

I'm going with a slightly different paint job as planned, but nothing really different. Just a Titan stripe under the display and the letters will be black. Here's a pic of the black painted case. Titan areas are masked:

I choose the third picture because it reminds me the most of the old Mario games. So I printed it on the OHP film and cut it out. It looks really nice:

The picture doesn't really show how nice it looks. Hope I will get better pictures of it, when the whole case is assembled.

[XcOM]

thats looking sooo sweet dude, Keep up the great work.

[vidas7de7jesus7]

I like the idea of the paint job. It'll look nice. I'm not sure what you mean by a titan stripe, so can't comment on that. I also think you shouldn't put any words on it. I'm personally a fan of sleeper mods, and the "Nintendo Game Boy HDD" just would ruin the effect. Overall, it looks excellent.

[doesi87]

Glad you like it. I just call it titan because "stainless steel effect spray paint" was very long to write. And it looks nearly the same as some titan paint on my pc. There will be a stripe in this colour directly under the display and all around the case. Will show some pictures as soon as the paint is really dry and I can remove the masking tape. Will also post some pics with and without the lettering. It isn't painted yet, because it will be the last step to take.

[Bopher]

Awesome idea. To bad you can't get something that would let you use the screen to display harddrive space and status when it was hooked up.

HDD Temp: XX
Status: Idle, writing, reading, etc.

Maybe to show up the screen picture some though you could hook a clear LED or something to kinda spread the light all over and flash as the HDD activity light. Or maybe I'm making to many complicated suggestions.