Dreamcast SD Adaptor Coming Soon - Show Your Interest to Reserve One

[wraggster]

Chui our good friend who has a site hosted here (http://chui.dcemu.co.uk/) at DCEmu posted news over at our spanish friends Dreamcast.es of a new SD Card Adapter thats coming soon for the Dreamcast, this could be the best thing homebrew wise to happen to the Dreamcast scene in years and makes you wonder if the SD cards can be used to play emulators and games that werent prevoiusly doable by using the additional space on the SD Cards, firstly heres a pic of the adapter:

http://i43.tinypic.com/2re72va.png

Heres a translation of the Spanish Article (http://dreamcast.es/news.php?readmore=249)


After turning several months, we've assembled an adapter to connect an SD card for the Dreamcast port of the link. The truth is that the speed is amazing and we already have a library to use. More info on our wiki.

But for the production of a few adapters and selling, we need to know how many people would be interested. Cost about 20 € with shipping to SPAIN (+10 € for some foreign countries) and sent with a CD with a program that will be able to exchange files with VMU BINS and launch from the SD card.

EDIT: The prices have been changed to make them accessible to the world, remember that this is not done for profit but for the common good. For this reason we have reset the price originally agreed to cover costs of materials, and assembly time.


Later we will use the library and implemented quickly to a pager for the big games of AES4ALL, load / save snapshots DCaSTaway all emulators and ROMS can be loaded from the SD card.

Are you interested? Book your already adapted in this thread!

-------------------------------------------------- -------------
Reason for development

The Dreamcast has support CD / GD, and visual memory card (VMU). The first one is read-only, and the latter has clear shortcomings: transmission speed and size. For this reason, are always looking for an alternative storage unit that saves the main support (save states) and other files, such as the configuration in our emulators. For a time it was speculated that the port expansion (G2) where the currently connected network adapter (or modem) is ideal for access via the new peripherals. But unfortunately, its architecture and requirements are far beyond our reach. Therefore, the serial port of an alternative that, while not enjoying all the privileges of the port allows for expansion if the most part, our wishes for a new carrier additional capacity and speed. This port allows us to use an SD card adapter that are usually used in mobile devices such as phones, MP3 players, etc..

-------------------------------------------------- -------------
Key Features

* Good transfer rate in both reading and writing (about 500 KBytes / s).
* Very low average access time for reading (a few milliseconds).
* Support for cards up to 2 GBytes of SDS (not tested with larger cards).
* Loading binary from the card as a backup utility dcload and to / from VMU.


-------------------------------------------------- -------------
Driver software

Obviously the hardware is always in the hands of the software, otherwise their use is limited to decorate our desktop (because of the undesirable characteristics of the housing), so our first task was to create a driver / library to allow us to comfortably using our adapter. These are some of its features:

* Library FatFs by Chan: Support for file systems FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. Directory Management (basic operations and navigation in trees).
* Control CRC32 Cyclic Redundancy Error.
* Extremely light: less than 30KBytes code.

-------------------------------------------------- -------------
Use and objectives

Primarily used to store saved games (save states), configuration files and read-only memories (ROMs). Is scheduled for implementation in the following emulators:

* AES4All: It will allow a better performance of the MMU, making it virtually emulation is fluid, without needing to access the CD reader, which produces a constant slowdown.
* DCastaway: We will use the saved game. Can store items not currently on a permanent basis.
* Gens4all: Items stored and load ROMs.

Sounds Excellent, those interested should either reply here or at Dreamcast.ES (http://dreamcast.es/news.php?readmore=249) and be amongst the first to enjoy a storage medium on the Dreamcast that Sega never got around to do.

[wraggster]

this does bring some amazing possibilities, if it supports say 16gb cards you could just use it as a hard drive and be done with CDs altogether

[Telecomewan]

Yes, I would like one when they're available.

[kingcheese]

This looks really interesting!
So you can also use this for dc images of games? Because that would really help since the laser is really weak in reading normal cds ...

[SnoopKatt]

Very interesting, but does every program need to be updated to be able to work with this (probably not a difficult feat, but many developers are gone)? Like wraggster said, if it could support SDHC, that would be excellent.

What if this could be modded to support USB HDD's and other mass storage devices?

[paul3100]

Indeed this is a good thing and if iso's and homebrew ie emulators can run from it then im for one :-)

Though just got a wii (softmodded) and it does everything the dreamcast does but better! on the homebrew/emulator side anyway!

paul

[Cast128dreams]

Omg..thats great news..i really want one!!!...

I guess that u can read from the SD.
MP3 files,Roms,emulators,audio track,jpeg,pong,dreamcast games,homebrew,

and all these from the DREAMCAST without use of a cd-r..


woot woot woot
wonderfullll.

I WANT ONE

[kohan69]

Nice feat, but no support for SDHC limits users to only 4GB cards.

dreamcast CD-rom read speed is 1800 KB/s afaik...
I'm not sure if loading times will be faster with SD due to just faster response time...

I'm not sure why they chose SD. If you're going to make a controller, might as well make it FAT16/32 through USB 1.1

[Failedartifact]

This is what the dreamcast needs, I read a long article ages ago about some guy trying to get a harddrive working with the dreamcast, in the end, he got it to work, but then lost interest altogether..

BUT THIS, if run's dreamcast games better could make me be able to scrap the GDROM drive altogether, and that would kick ass.

[Ayla]

Hey stop dreaming : you won't be able to launch dreamcast games. Only homebrew.

[kohan69]

Hey stop dreaming : you won't be able to launch dreamcast games. Only homebrew.

No, a launcher will be made to launch GDrom images from SD.. :rolleyes:

[moi]

I'd buy it for a dollar!

...or $30 in case it's not somekind of April's Fools joke :D



And talking about pirated games: I highly doubt that Chui or any other legal coder from the dc scene will implement loading of warez to this thing. And the ppl who originally hacked and brought warez to dc are not interested in dc anymore. So this thing is a perfect addition for the homebrew scene and opens new possibility for coders: like getting rid of slow coder's cable and using sd as additional space for swaping files in their software!

[Mekanaizer]

Nice feat, but no support for SDHC limits users to only 4GB cards.

dreamcast CD-rom read speed is 1800 KB/s afaik...
I'm not sure if loading times will be faster with SD due to just faster response time...

I'm not sure why they chose SD. If you're going to make a controller, might as well make it FAT16/32 through USB 1.1

SDHC cards do work.

[pmt]

I would be all over this.

[ultraprimeomega]

i want one i been having my dc plugged to the tv for too long and not used it, time for some new fun

[TazMan47]

Wow is all I can say! I would be one of the first to order this SD reader for the Dreamcast. Unlike a lot of folks, the Dreamcast is the only game platform I own and the only one I will ever buy. Keep me informed on this great addon for my DC. Thanks!! :D

[sdreamer]

I pray this would allow me to make backups, if that's the case I would love to be able to buy one of these. That's all I would really want, don't care about launching games from it, I just want to backup my DC library that I cherish so much. It would be totally heartbreaking for me if the time came and my discs no longer loaded, or used Dreamcasts can no longer be found to use. T_T Makes me sad just thinking about it. *prays*

[quzar]

...or $30 in case it's not somekind of April's Fools joke :D



And talking about pirated games: I highly doubt that Chui or any other legal coder from the dc scene will implement loading of warez to this thing. And the ppl who originally hacked and brought warez to dc are not interested in dc anymore. So this thing is a perfect addition for the homebrew scene and opens new possibility for coders: like getting rid of slow coder's cable and using sd as additional space for swaping files in their software!

It's gonna be 30euro (outside of spain) not 30$. And it's going to be about the same speed as the coder's cable, and from all description slower than the usb coders cable.

[glf999000]

form SD card run GDI ??

[-=FamilyGuy=-]

I pray this would allow me to make backups, if that's the case I would love to be able to buy one of these. That's all I would really want, don't care about launching games from it, I just want to backup my DC library that I cherish so much. It would be totally heartbreaking for me if the time came and my discs no longer loaded, or used Dreamcasts can no longer be found to use. T_T Makes me sad just thinking about it. *prays*

Using the original JJ1ODM app named DCSDRIP1.1 ; you can rip a complete game in 2352 bytes/sector in gdi format and do that in about 32 to 35 minutes. I've amde this cable a while ago and beta tested for JJ1ODM and it really does worth making it yourself (it cost me about 10$ but mine is not nearly as good-looking as the one they sell) or ordering it from these great spanish dudes!

Here's the diagram for those who wanna make it theirselves: http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/dcserial_sdcard_if_2.gif
You might need to remove some capacitors from under the DC mobo, but the Spanish guys didn't had problem without removing them (I personnally had to).

I hope I've answered your question.

FamilyGuy

[spazee]

I would buy one for sure. I have been waiting for something like this.

[GagaMan]

Sign me up for one of these! What an amazing development!

[karloz]

I'd highly prefer a cordless connector! What's the benefit of another cable lying/hanging around your DC...?

But either way, I'd be in for one, yepp.

[Deco Bryl]

I totally, totally want one of these miniature marvels! :) I don't know whether it's feasible to run uncompressed game images through this thing, but even if it weren't, at least I'd be able to keep all my game saves in one itty-bitty SD card instead of a zillion bulky VMUs. XD Hooray for the Dreamcast! :)

[GagaMan]

I know the felling too well Deco. I have over 150 games so I need lots of VMUs, and they're darn tricky to keep organized!

I've gone out of my way to get different coloured VMUs so I can tell them apart, sort them by different genres on each VMU (fighters, 2D fighters, shooters etc) and even have had tiny stickers on the back of them!

[ojdon]

Wow, this sure is interesting, I didn't read the whole OP but what can you actually do with the SD Card adapter, is it just a replacement for VMU's or what?

Hmmm an 16GB VMU. =P

anyway, I'd so buy one of these when/if they come on sale.

[a6n0rma1]

Pure awesomeness! Long live the Dreamcast! I am definetely bying one of these babies, as soon as they come out!

[SG-DC]

I'd definitely would jump at the chance to purchase something like this. (Could have sworn I had an account here a long time ago, oh well)

[Failedartifact]

Hey Family Guy, Long time no see!

Anyway, sure the spanish people won't support anything illegal, but as this is a fresh boast for the scene, people are more likily to get something working for it! Anycase, all is good. (people wanting to show interest, best to make a comment and use poll on Dreamcast.es)

[darkNiGHTS]

I would love one!

[snume]

I am in for one as well. Organizing saves on my multiple VMU's has been a royal pain.

[abzman2000]

several things:
I want one
30 euros is a little less than $40 US
I will pay that
does it support SDHC?, if not max is 2 gigs, if so max is 32 (available right now)
I also remember the hard drive thing someone did, it would be great if that would be better documented
what is this about "-=FamilyGuy=-" having made a cable to play gdrom backups? (the image didn't show up, but I nabbed it from the web page source)
having re-read his post it now seems t be able to dump gdroms over the dcserial port, is that right? if so, WOW!

[Failedartifact]

Well abzman2000; FamilyGuy is an experianced electronic, you need to have a good understanding of electronics to do the kinda of stuff he says.. and to have a good shop to supply the electronics..

[Category]

Color me intersted!

This would give some storage space to make Dreamcast Linux actually useful!

I'll throw down for one if they actually get made.

[-=FamilyGuy=-]

several things:
I want one
30 euros is a little less than $40 US
I will pay that
does it support SDHC?, if not max is 2 gigs, if so max is 32 (available right now)
I also remember the hard drive thing someone did, it would be great if that would be better documented
what is this about "-=FamilyGuy=-" having made a cable to play gdrom backups? (the image didn't show up, but I nabbed it from the web page source)
having re-read his post it now seems t be able to dump gdroms over the dcserial port, is that right? if so, WOW!

What I posted is the actual design of the cable they'll sell soon. This design is free as it was released by jj1odm a while ago, but if you can't build one yourself, you better order one from the spanish dudes as it rocks.

Yeah you're right I meant this cable can DUMP a gd-rom in about 35min at an aproximative rate of 530kB/s according to my experience.

Once the library is released, anybody will be able to code a program that will use it, so a backup launcher could be made by anybody with the skills to do so. I don't think such a thing would be of a legal problem on the DC as we all know this console can accept plain cds anyway and playing GDI would save our gd-rom from wear and tear. But I'll let the lawyer decide wether or not it's OK :P

But be sure that a elf-launcher and VMU managing utility will be made. The open sources emus might also get a mod to support rom loading and state saving to the sd-card, just like the wii does.

Hi you too Failedartifact, it's been a long time since I posted here but I still lurk around a lot :P

Cheers!

FG

[impur1ty]

Definitely interested in this. Still using my DC several times a week. Thanks for all the effort inolved.

[Cast128dreams]

Definitely i want one!!!!
Are they ready for shiping?
where can i order one?

Does anyone know?

[SnoopKatt]

If this can be modded to launch anything from the SD card, then you could count me in :)

[SonicDH]

I'm in. Who do I have to kill to get these things shipping?

[benzol]

I have one too.

Cheers

Benzol

[Iceman^2]

Even 2gb of storage for the dreamcast would be massive, and 32 gb would be unheard of. I want one!

[el_marcabre]

That´s great! I´m also interested in one of those!

[dpicciotto]

i would like to purchase you when will they be aking orders.

[-=FamilyGuy=-]

ELF/BIN loader from JJ1ODM!

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcserial_ft232bm.php#dcsdload


FG

[wraggster]

what a shame the bios cant be hacked and a DVD drive be used instead.

back on topic i cant wait for the adapter to appear, it will be interesting to see what can be done via the adapter

[quzar]

ELF/BIN loader from JJ1ODM!

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcserial_ft232bm.php#dcsdload


FG

Think you could get him to release the sources as well?

[Notanotter]

This looks amazing and I definitely want one. Please reserve me one. Been waiting for this development for years. Keep up the great work!

[Cast128dreams]

@
wraggster

If Dreamcast can reconginze bigger storrage from SD card(for example 5 or 6 giga)

it would be possible to run DVD files from the SD card to dreamcast?

if not then a program to help dreamcast play them?

[quzar]

@
wraggster

If Dreamcast can reconginze bigger storrage from SD card(for example 5 or 6 giga)

it would be possible to run DVD files from the SD card to dreamcast?

if not then a program to help dreamcast play them?

No. This will not add any processing power to the dreamcast, the SD interface will be slower than a DVD's streaming, and the Dreamcast can't even do SVCD at 100% speed, so it wouldn't quite be able to do DVD without massive rewrite.

[Masta-G]

You can definitely count me in:)
This would be great for linuxsh

[Cast128dreams]

No. This will not add any processing power to the dreamcast, the SD interface will be slower than a DVD's streaming, and the Dreamcast can't even do SVCD at 100% speed, so it wouldn't quite be able to do DVD without massive rewrite.

So what about IDE interface?Do we have any hope from the IDE hard drive?

I think that a hard drive conected to G2 bus would be faster than the GD rom drive and the Sd card.

Right?

[quzar]

So what about IDE interface?Do we have any hope from the IDE hard drive?

I think that a hard drive conected to G2 bus would be faster than the GD rom drive and the Sd card.

Right?

It would also be massively more expensive, and the Dreamcast still wouldn't be able to play back DVD content.

Think of it this way: we could just put 15 minutes of DVD content onto a CD. There's nothing special about the physical DVD. The Dreamcast still wouldn't be able to play back the encoded material beacuase of the compression.

[Cast128dreams]

Think of it this way: we could just put 15 minutes of DVD content onto a CD. There's nothing special about the physical DVD. The Dreamcast still wouldn't be able to play back the encoded material beacuase of the compression.

What about Divx compresion?will we get any boost up from and ide interface?

I though that the G2 bus its a fast port and that its possible to run comercial dreamcast games from there.

Do you know what transfer rates we can get from the G2 bus and from the dreamcast serial port?

[quzar]

No, this will not help multimedia playback in any way. This will not increase the processing power of the Dreamcast. The G2 port is fast, but I don't know of anything on the Dreamcast where the bottleneck is the reading off the GD. If someone were to design a new IDE interface with DMA and some other features, then *MAYBE* you could have slightly faster loading times in homebrew. That's it.

This does two things: 1) allows a person to very easily move data to/from the DC (faster than burning a CD, or uploading vmu stuff to the internet). 2) gives us rewritable media (as opposed to write-once CD-Rs).

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to be totally negative about this project. It's not going to change the sorts of things we do on the DC by much though, the biggest thing it will do is allow a DC homebrew user to only have to ever burn one CD-R (similar to what someone with a Coder's Cable or BBA does) and not worry about burning bad discs from then on. I'd hate to see the folks at emuforge sink a small fortune into link cables and effort, and after the first stuff comes out and people realize this won't let them magically play N64 or Saturn fullspeed they don't buy it or people get disillusioned and the scene collapses again (ala all the GOAT games, or the DreamON magazine, or even PSX4ALL which ya'll never got to try).

[dutchwombat]

I'll take one!

[SnoopKatt]

No, this will not help multimedia playback in any way. This will not increase the processing power of the Dreamcast. The G2 port is fast, but I don't know of anything on the Dreamcast where the bottleneck is the reading off the GD. If someone were to design a new IDE interface with DMA and some other features, then *MAYBE* you could have slightly faster loading times in homebrew. That's it.

This does two things: 1) allows a person to very easily move data to/from the DC (faster than burning a CD, or uploading vmu stuff to the internet). 2) gives us rewritable media (as opposed to write-once CD-Rs).

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to be totally negative about this project. It's not going to change the sorts of things we do on the DC by much though, the biggest thing it will do is allow a DC homebrew user to only have to ever burn one CD-R (similar to what someone with a Coder's Cable or BBA does) and not worry about burning bad discs from then on. I'd hate to see the folks at emuforge sink a small fortune into link cables and effort, and after the first stuff comes out and people realize this won't let them magically play N64 or Saturn fullspeed they don't buy it or people get disillusioned and the scene collapses again (ala all the GOAT games, or the DreamON magazine, or even PSX4ALL which ya'll never got to try).
Wise words. This is a device for rewritable storage (which could be among some of the best things to ever happen to the Dreamcast, and more than we see right now could come from this), but it is certainly not a magic wand that makes every emulator go full speed.

[Gleere]

Please reserve one for me, I´ll take one !

[enfilade000]

I posted a response to this at dreamcast.es also because i really hope this gets a release! What an awesome new development for the dc scene. Definately mark me down for one! :)

[Sonic the Plumber]

Oh my :D. I will buy one immediately when it comes out. Now if only we could figure out a homebrew BBA...

[descender2]

I'll be buying one when it's available!

[robpatrick]

I want one! been waiting for this for ages.

[psykotine]

Hello,

I'm very interessting by this item !!!!

How can pre-owned this ?????

please help me

[douglasamcintosh]

Even with just homebrew I would happily cough up some cash for one of these beauties. Put me down as interested. Maybe I would be able to get one before my Pandora arrives :)

[alecjahn]

Was the quoted kb/s likely capped by the serial interface itself or the card used?

[SnoopKatt]

Probably the interface, the Class 6 SD cards can go to about 750KB/sec.

[pkbunghole]

yea I want one!!!!

[mr game porter]

Yes, i Really (with a capital freaking R!!) want one!

[SiZiOUS]

This seems to be really nice to code with this. I'm fed up with coders cable... So, I want one SD Adapter!

[Irfaan]

Sorry, I have barely posted on this forum, andboth my dreamcast's GD drives have died :( and left the scene and started to use the xbox 360 ever since.

BUT if I am able to get this working (without the need of ever running the gd drive) this would be absolutely FANTASTIC to use!

If that's the case, first day purchase! Just release it quick, lol!

[abzman2000]

ok, I'm ecstatic about this, and definatley want one.
I'm actually pretty handy with my soldering iron and am competent at soldering temperature sensitive surface mount components.
also, I'm not entirely sure about the dreamcast not being able to play back video, what about some incredibly raw format that doesn't require much decompression to play and is put on a large sd card? that plus the vga output this console has would make it so incredibly awesome.
Oh, and wasn't someone working on a dreamcast divx player? if a project like that could be done on an sd card it would be much more useful.

[jay_reilly]

I definately want one of these, I really need 1 place for all my save games

[Cast128dreams]

i want ONE!!!

[semicolo]

Hi all, I find it great that this thing is coming out, but I'm afraid the speed is overrated.
Looking at the circuit, the serial port is used in asynchronous mode, it means the top speed is 1,5Mbps (maybe I'm wrong there and there's a serial configuration I don't know).
Did the spanish guys do real speed tests on this ?

[picouser]

Because the circuit was easy, it tried.
The dump speed of BIOSROM was four seconds or less though details of the communication were not understood. (There is 500KBytes/sec or more. )

[Cast128dreams]

Picouser did you make your one making diagram shematics?

[picouser]

sd card adaptor circuit:
http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/dcserial_sdcard_if_2.gif

It was easier than the corder cable.
(I used the microSD=>SD conversion adapter.)

[Cast128dreams]

it was easy to solder the Dreamcast motherboard?

[picouser]

It is possible to do easily by using the masking tape even in the small place.

[Cast128dreams]

What do you mean MASKING TAPE?
I mean its the tape that we fix electical wires?

Can this hold the tiny wire to the Dreamcast motherboard?

[Aryudsoh]

Looks like a buy for me. Hope it take SDHC.

[Jeric]

As others have said, even if all this is capable of doing is homebrew that alone would open up the 'scene' at large. After all the dreamcast needs some sort of storage drive, and this would fit the bill.


So, what kind of transfer speed are we looking for on data, and what would reasonably be possible within that speed? I'm asking because of things like emulators, apps, and the like. What would be possible here in terms of homebrew that takes advantage of this?

[bucanero]

I'll get one for sure.

Even thou I haven't been coding for my Dreamcast in a lot of time, I still love it! :)

[GhaleonX]

I'd be a bit more interested in a way to hook up a hard drive, and index all my stuff on that, but I could see myself spending ~$30 on something like this. I'd rather have my emus on SD cards than discs; easier to fine-tune a romlist that way without wasting inexpensive discs that could be better wasted on something else :P

[segafreak2]

I'll have 2!

[Smokexz]

Could this possible be used as extra save storage space? or Only petty things like... drawing and playing home brew games?

[_SWAT_]

What would be possible here in terms of homebrew that takes advantage of this?

DreamShell 4.0.0 Beta 2 support SD Card adaptor.

http://www.dc-swat.net.ru/news/12/

[VampDude]

Nice, that is a must have for me. My original VMU unit has a Godzilla game that I can no longer play (sadly) which I downloaded 9 years ago from the official Dreamcast browser portal, but with this I can play it again on one of my many VMU units I currently have within my possession since I found a site that has VMU games. :cool:

[Gotanius]

Yeah I'd definitely get one, I wonder if they are available yet.

[BuzzOAP]

I would be interested in buying one.

[dcdood]

even though its been shot down, it would still be nice to run the dreamcast games i own (legally) and some how put them on the Card to run .. just saves the he** out of the laser...

but really good for homebrew because putting the binary on a Read\Write Format is not wasteful, but using 10MB out of 650MB (or 700MB) is just wasteful no matter how cheap the CDs will get..

plus this will be better than broadband adapter because now its more available to us! (by better than the BBA i meant for coding \ debugging) i'm buying one,

[Bentbob]

I am definitely keen on purchasing one...

[Hephasto]

I would like to point out exhibit A:

fox68k el abril 24 2009 11:29:31
Me gustaria agregar un par de comentarios:

- He implementado un driver KOS, con lo que cualquier emulador/programa/juego (esto es, homebrew soportado por KOS) puede usar la SD directamente, sin cambios en el codigo fuente.
- Las tarjetas SDHC estan soportadas. Y la de 16GB? Si, lo esta. Y la de 32GB? Tambien. TODAS las tarjetas SD y miniSD funcionan -respecto a las microSD no tienen porque funcionar, aunque generalmente lo haran-. Por favor, no mas preguntas al respecto. Si es SD, funcionara.
... and exhibit B:
Wiki Entry (http://www.emuforge.com/wiki/index.php?title=Adaptador_Dreamcast_SD)

To paraphrase fox68k's statement:
"It supports SDHC cards. And 16GB cards? Yes. And 32GB cards? Those too. ALL SD cards and miniSD cards (assuming you have the appropriate adapter) work. Please, no more questions in this respect. If it is SD, it works."

According to the Wiki, the adapter supports SD, miniSD, microSD, and SDHC to as much as 4GB (more is possible, but has not been tested). It supports cards formatted with FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32 filesystems, and includes CRC32 checking. Supposedly there is also a utility included to transfer files to and from VMU's.

Thought I'd add that to clarify things.

[neckilljo]

I MUST have one of these... if it's still in time, I want to purchase (request, whatever... ) one.

i'll keep an eye... if someone could contact me via email (neckilljo - gmail) or msn messenger (neckilljo - hotmail), i'd be very gratefull

[japanese_cake]

Hello everybody ! My first post... I want to purchase one me too :)

Very fine forum...

[VampDude]

Hello everybody ! My first post... I want to purchase one me too :)

Very fine forum...

I think everyone who has posted in this thread wants one... A very nice piece of hardware. :)

And welcome to DCEmu. :cool:

[JLF65]

Once they have a system for pre-orders, I'll pre-order one. Everything should use SD cards these days! :D

[VampDude]

Everything should use SD cards these days! :D

Most things do:

Digital Cameras
GPS
Mobile Phones
Nintendo Wii
PDA
Pocket PC.

Though there are devices which use the ProDuo type, such as the PSP and my mobile phone... Everything should actually have a multi-card reader. :cool:

[maxim2boobles]

I will take 10 please

[petsnsac]

Can someone please blow up this forum? Theirs only 10 pages, and I personally know at least 50 people that would want this thing. Think of all those millions of people with a Dreamcast at home, most of them cant read discs, but with this device they could bypass that problem AND play the full game how it was meant to be played. This thing could sell like hot-cakes if someone could advertise it somehow. I'm going to other forums as we speak and posting in places that I know have interest in Dreamcast. Ill also be telling prospective buyers about the site. There is someone out there that could do it, we just have to reach them.

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Id be after one! Is there a tutorial on home to make a DIY internal one?

[StryfeDc]

Just to clarify to everyone interested in this, there is no way to load illegally downloaded games, or personally made back-ups of your games through this SD adapter.

It's purpose would be to supplement homebrew games, emulators, and utilities. It would also provide writable capabilities to the above mentioned uses, for example: Capability for the development of an operating system (OS) for the DC, or allowing VMU save transfers to and from your PC.

That being said I'll be waiting, waiting, waiting...

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Yes what you have said is very correct. I see this as being the most important homebrew app that has been made for the DC as it opens new possibilities to the system. I will be very excited when I hear that OS's or emulators are taking advantage of this. I think the developer of the technology should take pre orders and then get the serial connectors made at a factory somewhere in china. Realistically there is a market for about 200-300 people. I could be wrong though. But look at the success of Pier Solar for the Megadrive. The Euro version has already sold out and it isnt even finished yet. This would suggest not to under estimate the popularity of Retro!

Anyways as there isnt a cable in production yet and possibly might not be I think its important for a detailed tutorial to made about how to make an inbuild one to the dreamcast which doesnt need the serial connector. I think I may do this as I have experience modding electronics but I havent been able to find any info on it. This would increase the amount of users with SD card slots and hopefully then encourage developers to support it.

[MAXIMUSpowers]

OK ive found a diagram so i know how to build one. If I bought a job lot of the correct capacitors and PCB sockets(so you can easily disconnect it) would anyone be interested in buying them from me? You could either make an internal or external one without the need for a serial cable which are now very very difficult and expensive to come by.

My intentions are not to make a profit but instead to help people get an SD card adapter added to there DC without all the technical confusion surrounding what components to buy. This in turn would encourage developers to take advantage of the SD card function and therefore contribute to the community .

I may also write a tutorial.

Let me know if you are interested. liam(dot)d(dot)nicoll(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk

[neckilljo]

i think that ppl who brought all this to this forum have forgotten to do some wip report...

[chupathingy]

Hey all, I just have one quick thing to say about the "can I load romz on it?" situation.

(not condoning it at all here)

People, it's gonna happen one way or another. Hell, if someone didn't crack the dreamcast's protection scheme, we wouldn't have homebrew at all. So, while piracy isn't exactly good for business, I view it as a necessary evil.

It's kinda like the drug problem - while some drugs have medical value and the potential to save lives, it's impossible to stop someone from lighting up a fat one.

[quzar]

i think that ppl who brought all this to this forum have forgotten to do some wip report...

AFAIK there has been no progress. They announced this prior to finding a good source for link cables. A few were made, and the spanish DC devs have them.

[Darksaviour69]

I remember seeing about 10 link cable for like £1-£2 each when all the shops were clearing out there dc stock.... should have picked them up

[JLF65]

The last time I bid on a link cable on eBay, it finished at almost $70... for a simple cable! If it wasn't for the custom connectors, the cable would sell for maybe $3 at most.

[spinksy]

Hey MAXIMUSpowers - i just added you on hotmail

I'd be after one mate, if you could let me know if you can make me one.

If not/maybe aswell I'll still buy one from the other site.

Can I please reserve one :-)

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi Spinksy. My original intention wasnt to actually make everyone one but instead sell them the parts to make one themselves. The benefit of my method is that it does not require an expensive serial cable(costing up to £70) but has to be hard wired inside the system. Are you experienced with modding i.e. soldering? I havent actually made one myself yet but have looked inside to see the procedure. This would be quite a difficult mod for a new comer to soldering as there are some small solder points. I was thinking of possibly setting up a system where people can send me their dreamcasts and i do it for them and send it back. I would charge around £20 for this to cover components,time and risk.

You would receive a dreamcast with an internal SD card slot located on the front of the system. Essentially looking like this minus the led light. http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/sdcard_layout_1.jpg

Ill update you on this after i have done a few trial runs with my dreamcasts.

[Cast128dreams]

Guys we want that in the market for Preorders...Why we dont have any news yet?

Why is taking so longggg....?

[BlueCrab]

Guys we want that in the market for Preorders...Why we dont have any news yet?

Why is taking so longggg....?My guess: they don't have any way to get the Dreamcast-end connectors, nor any way to manufacture the things to start with.

Remember, these guys aren't a huge corporation with deep enough pockets to actually get things professionally made without paying dearly for it.

If you really want one that bad, the plans are all available online, you can build one yourself with just a bit of knowledge of soldering.

Also, IMO this topic's title never should have been worded the way it is. This is obviously not an official preorder thread for this thing anyway. The title is misleading at best.

[quzar]

It's that they made the grand announcement about this thing after having made one or two from some link cables they bought online....only to realize there isn't some random warehouse full of cheap DC link cables for them to cannibalize.

At least that's what I gathered from Neoblast when I asked him about it.

[аlex]

Some time ago, I have sent the letter on email Henry (hkems.com (http://www.hkems.com)) where i asked it about possibility of manufacture by them SD adapter for Dreamcast.

After dialogue, where he asked me about possibilities SD of the adapter for Dreamcast, he has answered:

I see. We would consider to develop this product seriously.

Thank you very much for your valuable information.

I think, if we make the collective letter or the petition with the request to make this adapter, we have a chance that will start it in mass production.

P.S. Sorry for my bad english

[аlex]

DreamShell 4.0 beta 3 - Loading Iso from sd card

Video

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2jwrncuY-Tc&hl=ru&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2jwrncuY-Tc&hl=ru&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m0ShSHykLmg&hl=ru&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m0ShSHykLmg&hl=ru&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

My SD adapter

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/6706/2ebp6lrmw6.th.jpg (http://img36.imageshack.us/i/2ebp6lrmw6.jpg/)

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2770/t3n6q5gjaz.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/i/t3n6q5gjaz.jpg/)

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi Alex!! Awesome videos. I am soooo happy that someone is developing for the SD card reader. Is it possible to have an OS that loads data from the SD card slot when booting? This would make it possible to have personal settings and preferences without have to reburn a CD. This will also make it possible to save files on the SD card - great possibility for OS applications!. I wish someone would make a music package like what was on the Amiga! awesome.

I was wondering what connector you used for your SD card reader? Did you make another pin out on your DC so that you could use a different connector as Serial connectors are so hard to come by? Also is there any particular reason you put the capacitors half way down the cable instead of in the housing of the SD card reader?

I am in the process of making one but I am wanting to make an internal one instead so i can just solder straight onto the serial pin outs instead of having to butcher an overly expensive serial cable. It will also make my DC look sexy!

Your work is awsome Alex! If you need any help with graphics 3D or 2D give me a shout as I am a computer artist. Visit www.nicoll-gallery.co.uk

[spinksy]

Hey MAXIMUSpowers, only just checked back on this thread (only just seen your reply to my post).

Yeah I'm well confident at soldering (fixed quite a few things with my trusty iron) so I would be ok to do it myself with the parts and some instructions:)

I'll 100% buy the bits when you have them ready so keep me posted please,

thanks!:cool:

ALSO

as said, great work Alex! Will hopefully be able to do that soon ;-)

[аlex]

Is it possible to have an OS that loads data from the SD card slot when booting? This would make it possible to have personal settings and preferences without have to reburn a CD. This will also make it possible to save files on the SD card - great possibility for OS applications!

Yes, it is possible on DreamShell 4.0 Beta 3 (Form SD Loader).

Burn DS_SD_Loader.cdi to CD and put DS folder(DreamShell OS) to your SD Card.


I was wondering what connector you used for your SD card reader? Did you make another pin out on your DC so that you could use a different connector as Serial connectors are so hard to come by?

No, it is standard dreamcast with standard serial port pin out.
I have made connector from old Data cable from mobile phone Siemens.


Also is there any particular reason you put the capacitors half way down the cable instead of in the housing of the SD card reader?

Simply they have not entered into the case. :D

[spinksy]

No, it is standard dreamcast with standard serial port pin out.
I have made connector from old Data cable from mobile phone Siemens.

Hey alex - any idea exactly what cable you made it from (as in what model phone is the data cable from) - if you know we might be able to see if Siemens still make the cable and use them (would be cheaper and easier than using DC ones.
:)

[аlex]

http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090717/35i81Fdr3I.png
Data cable for old Siemens mobile phone (s45, me45, sl45, s35i, m35i, c35i, c45, m50, mt50, sl42)

WIP guide:
http://www.dc-swat.net.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=1759

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi Alex. does this cable fit in perfect to the DC without any modification? If it does i will try to buy quite a few of these to make up and sell to people.

[аlex]

Hi Alex. does this cable fit in perfect to the DC without any modification? If it does i will try to buy quite a few of these to make up and sell to people.

No, it needs to be modified

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi alex. thanks for the reply. In what way does the connector need to be modified? sides trimmed?

[spinksy]

http://www.dc-
swat.net.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=1759 (http://www.dc-swat.net.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=1759)


from last page alex's post MAXIMUSpowers - anymore luck on the ones you were thinking of making?

I might have a go at one of these but doubt ill be able to do it.

ALSO - anyone know where I could translate that site into English?

[StryfeDc]

Hey all, I just have one quick thing to say about the "can I load romz on it?" situation.

...

People, it's gonna happen one way or another. Hell, if someone didn't crack the dreamcast's protection scheme, we wouldn't have homebrew at all. So, while piracy isn't exactly good for business, I view it as a necessary evil.

I wasn't trying to start a warez discussion with my comment, but was trying to point out a technicality.

1.) You will not be able to load GD-Rom dumps of games, regardless of whether they are legal or not.

2.) You will not be able to use any SD Card loader without a working disc drive on your Dreamcast, so hopes of running things off of DC's with failed drives is a bust.

Those two issues are due to the way the Dreamcast handles it's BIOS, and the speed limitations of data transfer from a SD card to the DC.

[JLF65]

http://www.dc-
swat.net.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=1759 (http://www.dc-swat.net.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=1759)


from last page alex's post MAXIMUSpowers - anymore luck on the ones you were thinking of making?

I might have a go at one of these but doubt ill be able to do it.

ALSO - anyone know where I could translate that site into English?

Google Translation (http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dc-swat.net.ru%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D1759&sl=ru&tl=en&history_state0=)

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi spinksy. I am still waiting to receive the components for the mod. I have ordered 10 of each so I will be doing a few tests!

Alex can you explain what the potential new possibilities are with using an SD card like "It can be used as virtual RAM so it can load larger data and bigger maps..."

Thanks

[quzar]

It's not quite realistic to use it as virtual RAM. AFAIK at its fastest the serial port cannot transfer data faster than the GD drive.

The biggest thing this gives us is the ability to save data. The VMU is *extremely* small 122Kb of usable space at best. This could allow any number of functions that require larger amounts of persistent data space, not least of which would be a VMU save management tool.

[JLF65]

The biggest thing this gives us is the ability to save data. The VMU is *extremely* small 122Kb of usable space at best.

QFT

That's why much of the DC homebrew compresses the data before saving it to the VMU. Things like settings and save games often compress really well.

[spinksy]

Ok MAXIMUSpowers - thanks for the reply.

Let me know when you have one to sell and I'll buy:)

[dcdood]

where can i find the plans for the SD Adapter? waiting is just going to take extremely long amount of time

[Roughnet13888]

I have big interest on this, money is not so matter on this too, i would like to buy one soon.

Simple interest calculator calculation rates mortgage compound high interest savings account (http://simpleinterestcalculator.org)

[MAXIMUSpowers]

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/dcserial_sdcard_if_2.gif <--- this is the plans to the sd card reader from dreamast. You only require 2 capacitors (the LED isnt required). The best way to do it is to make an internal one like this: http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/sdcard_layout_1.jpg by soldering straight on to the serial port pinouts. I hope this helped

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hey spinksy. How is the overclocked DC working out for you? What improvements are noticeable? Are there any disadvantages?

[spinksy]

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/dcserial_sdcard_if_2.gif <--- this is the plans to the sd card reader from dreamast. You only require 2 capacitors (the LED isnt required). The best way to do it is to make an internal one like this: http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcpprip/sdcard_layout_1.jpg by soldering straight on to the serial port pinouts. I hope this helped

them links don't work (for me anyway)

In reply to the question on my overclocked Dreamcast, it's awesome! On games like Quake 3 you run abit faster, no slow down when you would usually get alittle on standard. Games just seem to run alittle faster and smoother:cool:

Ive fitted mine with a switch so I can have normal or 240mhz, the next of my Dreamcast console I'm doing I MIGHT try a higher Mhz oscillator but aint sure- going to do all mods I can on next (internal VGA, reset button, etc etc)

The ONLY 1 downer I've had with it is a custom made game I downloaded crashed (but that might not have been the mhz - might have been game) - havnt tryed it on normal yet so can't say.

[JLF65]

You have to copy the link, open a new window/tab, then paste the link. Direct linking from another web page is forbidden.

[spinksy]

ok - tried that and still arnt working - I get the 404 webpage not found error message.

[JLF65]

Go to the page instead of the picture then.

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcserial_ft232bm.php#sdcard

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hey Spinksy. Have you tried any of the Half-Lifes at 240mhz as they have quite abit of slow down. Have you also tryed the snes emu?

How difficult would you say the mod is? - are their any over heating issues? If not I may just leave it at 240mhz so wont need a switch.

Ive just read that the VMU wont work when the DC is overclocked. Is this true?

[spinksy]

yo

I just tryed Half Life (just selected start a new game, blue shift) and it played perfect for first 5 minutes then crashed - there was no slow down at all and it played more like the speed of the PC version. Counter Strike was the same - played perfect for few minutes then crashed.

To me it seems like that proper games (as in not copies) work perfectly but games like Half Life and counter strike suffer from crashing.

It's definatley a worthwhile mod in my opinion (I wouldnt ever do it without a switch though because of the saveing thing and whgen you play Half Life etc) - I've been playing Tech Romancer alot lately which I love and that plays loads smoother. If you arn't confident with a soldering iron though, I wouldnt bother as it is very fidderly. I've got 2 working perfect and a about to do another (with every internal mod I can:thumbup:) Also as for the saving thing - I read that alot of 3rd party memory cards work ok - so I'm currently trying one (with saves from 240mhz and 200mhz) and so far it's been fine :-)

I havnt tryeed the snes emulater - I dont even know where to download it from......:o

[Darksaviour69]

I havnt tryeed the snes emulater - I dont even know where to download it from......:o

http://dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk/snesindex.php

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hey Spinksy. Yeah im pretty experienced with a soldering iron. Try clocking it to 220mhz and make sure the wire from the oscillator to the clock feed is as short possible because this can cause faults. This should help stop the DC from crashing and may help the VMU work also as it is at a lower clock speed. Id be interested to know the outcome of this as at the moment im not wanting to overclock my DC because of the lose of function. If it worked well at 220mhz id just leave it at that without a switch.

Dont forget the Battery mod. I replaced the internal battery of my DC and Saturn with 2x AAA's. The battery should last a lifetime. Highly recommended - especially for Saturn as you lose all your saves when the battery dies.

[JLF65]

Instead of running the clock through the switch, add a multiplexer that connects to the switch. Run both (all) clocks to the multiplexer. That way the switch just runs the select line on the multiplexer and cannot affect the quality of the clock. The multiplexer can be quite a bit closer to the oscillators than the switch, making the resulting signal better. Be sure to use high speed TTL since we're talking > 200 MHz signals here.

Also, remember that the higher the frequency, the closer to the surface an electrical signal runs. So use the largest wires you can for the clocks. Using 30 gauge wire would not be prudent for this sort of thing. :)

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi JLF65. Do you think VMUs will work at 220mhz or do they have to be connected to a DC at 200mhz?

[JLF65]

Hi JLF65. Do you think VMUs will work at 220mhz or do they have to be connected to a DC at 200mhz?

Don't know. I haven't looked at the VMUs much other than a brief glance over the dev tools available, or how to use them from DC homebrew. So I'm not sure from where the overclocking problem derives. I know they use a higher clock when plugged into the DC (because power isn't an issue then), but I have no idea if that clock is internal or comes from the DC.

If I had to guess, I'd say the DC uses hard-coded loops for timing somewhere in the VMU libs that don't wait long enough when the DC is overclocked. That's the most common reason for peripheral failure due to overclocking the main CPU. PCs suffered from that for a long time - every time a new faster CPU came out, stuff would fail because everyone was using software loops for timing. Intel specifically made one instruction slower to try to help alleviate that problem.

[spinksy]

Well the oscillator and swtich are currently outside the DC and mounted in my custom casing below my DC (this is where I was going to put my DC dvd player that I planned and if I ever make a hard drive for my DC it will also go in here:p)
quick pic
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/8366/041020092655.jpg

As you can imagine theres quite abit of wire (roughly around 20-25cm) from the oscillator to the chip - but on the new DC I'm now finishing I'm keeping the length of the wire to as short as I can. (On the new one I've nearly finsihed I've got an internal VGA mod, and a few other bits - I'm also going to have it so I can change the oscillator crystal easily)

I downloaded the snes4all disc and it plays perfect:thumbup:

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hey spinksy. When you use the overclocked DC with a normal VMU and try to save does it corrupt the save file? This is the problem I have with using my overclocked Megadrive with carts that have save options on them.

I am thinking about overclocking my DC but I think id have 3 options 200mhz, 220mhz and 240mhz. Id only add the 220mhz option if it was possible to save to the VMU.

[spinksy]

Hey spinksy. When you use the overclocked DC with a normal VMU and try to save does it corrupt the save file? This is the problem I have with using my overclocked Megadrive with carts that have save options on them.

I am thinking about overclocking my DC but I think id have 3 options 200mhz, 220mhz and 240mhz. Id only add the 220mhz option if it was possible to save to the VMU.

I havnt tried saving on a Sega vmu - I've been using a third party one. I've played Power Stone 2 with my DC in 240 and 200 mhz and saved with both and it's been fine.

Me and my mates were playing Power stone 2 earlier on 200mhz and it seemed well slow - we switched it to 240mhz and it was awesome!!

[MAXIMUSpowers]

Hi Spinksy. Can you see what it does to VMUs when clocked at 240mhz - Im hoping it doesnt corrupt the VMUs when they are present when overclocked. Also what memory card are you using when at 240mhz. Does anyone know of a list of memory cards that work at 240mhz. Do you have any over heating issues? Im thinking of clocking mine to 230.4mhz

[SiZiOUS]

Any new about this ? Where we can order to get this ? Thanks :-)

[sonic2015]

hello
i am interrested in this item too.
is it always avaliable?
please let me know
best regards

[PSP05]

I would buy a bunch of these adapters. That would be insane to have SD capabilities!!! It sounds too good to be true.. I hate to say it.

[davebaby]

Interested

[heeeche]

I would definitely like one of these for my Dreamcast. Virtually unlimited saves... fantastic!

[Cast128dreams]

DO WE HAVE ANY NEWS?
Why the project seems so stucked?

[carbonite_dj]

my main interest in this would be to have a simple way to watch .avi files on my DC with a minimum of hassle, seeming as I'm unable to find an easy way to do so over a network.

[BlueCrab]

DO WE HAVE ANY NEWS?
Why the project seems so stucked?

I doubt there's going to be any news on this for a while, if ever. In all honesty, it is probably practically impossible to get the connectors for the Dreamcast end of the cable in any sort of bulk quantity (they were a Sega-custom part after all), and its impossible to sell these things without that cable end (for obvious reasons).

For the time being, I'm going to lock this thread, because after this long without any news, I'm not counting on any happening (although, I'd love to be proven wrong on this point).

TOPIC LOCKED