Recently, I opened up my old Game Gear. Granted I may have broken it in the process, but under the screen is this relatively big (about the size and of an average-sized human pinky) cylindrical bulb thing.
Now, I heard that a lot of people who make home consoles portable modify whatever screen they use (whether a portable 3" TFT television or a PSone screen) to be backlit by a white LED.
Could one replace the Game Gear's backlight with a white LED? I ask because I'm sure that its current light uses a lot of battery power (SIX FRICKIN DOUBLE-A'S) and that a white LED would use less.
If not, what if someone was trying to redesign the GameGear, in an attempt to make it more energy efficient and maybe change the layout from its current landscape form to a portrait layout (read - like the old Game Boy), not to mention give a better, more modern screen?
You'd be better off using an electro-luminescent panel, the kind that illuminates the GBlight, or most modern laptops. They'd use a lot less power and provide an even light. The flourescent tube in the GameGear is dreadfully inefficient but provides good coverage. One LED would never work, but a series of them might.
This is actually something I have pondered myself in the past. As lawrence stated, it would be difficult to get LEDs to shine evenly on the screen. The plastic reflector that holds the tube would help this though. Best bet is to give it a shot.
- as a young boy I was a huge game gear fan. I wonder how many battery' I went through during those years.