Dreamcast Hard Drive

[Darksaviour69]

you could use a lan cable to send homebrew over it (like a bba only a lot cheaper)

[kohan69]

you could use a lan cable to send homebrew over it (like a bba only a lot cheaper)

Are you referring ot the Lan adapter? that goes into the modem slot

[Darksaviour69]

yeah

[Morph]

So is anyone going to try making a Serial NIC? I will willing to contribute parts/money to such a project. I am not mechanically inclined to THAT degree, but would be willing to fund someone else to do it.

[Elven6]

So that means this will only be availble to users who have a Network adapter correct? Unless they find use for the maple port.

[henzenmann]

I've started reading the M-BUS patent (http://boob.co.uk/docs/MaplePatent.pdf) and as far as I understand it, while the BUS transfer rate is 2MBit/s the maximum transfer rate that could be achieved by a device connected to the BUS is 60KByte/s (one transfer of 1020 bytes per V-Blank, ie 50KB/s on a PAL system).

Also a "Super VMU" would not seem to be possible, because the maximum number of blocks seems to be limited by the BUS protocol (<256).
One could somehow attach a larger storage device to the BUS, but it would not work with any commercial/exisiting homebrew software, and a lot of people would have to have such a device in order to make it worthwile for homebrew developers to support it.

Any device connecting to the M-BUS will be rather complicated to build, compared to the existing serial port interfaces, or even the extension port interfaces by bitmaster and chaos/jj1odm (G2 BUS). A CPLD and a microcontroller would be needed to properly implement the M-BUS protocol.

Now on the other hand, if someone designed and manufactured a working device it would be very easy to connect. Just cut a game pad cable in half and solder it's five wires to a connector (one could even plug the game pad cable back together to make it work again).
This part would be a lot easier than with the serial port (cables/connectors are becomming rare, alternative is soldering 10 wires directly to the DC motherboard), and a hell of a lot easier than with the extension port, where one has do butcher the modem, like semicolo and chaos/jj1odm did (http://semicolo.free.fr/Dreamcast/tutorial.html).

It is really a shame with these proprietary connectors. Chaos/jj1odm already built an USB host controller for the extension port (http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/#dcmouse2), which could become a HUGE thing for the DC homebrew scene, if only it could be easily reproduced... :-/

[picouser]

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/g2bus.php

Can the BBA clone be made?

[ßüboni¢ $oñic]

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/g2bus.php

Can the BBA clone be made?

http://translate.google.com/translat...lr%3D%26sa%3DG

here. im not sure too much what to make of that site but that should help everyone understand it's text. now try reading it thru that link.

[henzenmann]

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/g2bus.php

Can the BBA clone be made?

I guess that is what jj1odm is trying to find out at the moment

[Morph]

Ok, thats what I was talking about. Most people do not want to:

A) Sacrifice a modem, or have the skills to do it correctly without turning it into a 4 ounce piece of junk

B) Have the technical skills or soldering complexity to take advantage of the expansion port


Unlike this "G2" bus, the Dreamcast's serial bus is the SAME as the PC serial bus except for different operating frequencies and voltages. The expansion port, to take advantage of it, would require recidulous amounts of time and labor put into it, which would make it not worth it. A PC/DC serial adaptior with correct drivers (heres looking at you, kalistiOS), would not only be easiest, buit would still be worth it.

Ok, so it's not 50MB/s, but thats rediculously uneeded anyways.