New to forum: Coders Cables?

[squiddon]

Hi guys,

I'm new here and to DC programming in general but I'm really excited about getting started! I've got a pretty awesome design for an RPG I want to crack on with.

However I was wondering if you guys might be able to help me? I'm trying to track down a coder's cable. I've contacted sellers who are out of stock, gone to ebay, and trawled the net to find one but can't! Other than making one how can I get hold of one? Are there alternatives that don't include the BBA (I'm not exactly made of money!)?

Cheers in advance :)

[V3N0M]

I've actually got one I never use. I'd be willing to sell it probably less than what I got it for... I payed $75.

[BlueCrab]

I payed $75.

$75?! When did Coder's Cables become that rare? I paid less than $75 (total) for both of my BBAs!

As a side note, its pretty easy to build one into a Dreamcast as long as you're decently adept with a soldering iron. Heck, its even possible to make a USB-based one (and actually probably easier than a serial one).

[squiddon]

I think you must have paid $75 for a BBA tbh.

I'm a madskillz coder rather than a madskillz solderer. I'll see if I know anyone that can sort me out.

[Darksaviour69]

or you could use muilt session disc and dchakker...

[squiddon]

I've found someone that could solder one together for me.

One thing though, where can I get hold of a DC serial 'plug' to connect to the DC itself?

[BlueCrab]

I think you must have paid $75 for a BBA tbh.
The only Dreamcast related thing I've ever paid more than $60 for is my HKT-0120 (Official Devkit). That was $250.

My first BBA comes in second place at $60, then my LAN adapter ($50).

My second BBA was actually given to me by a friend who had nothing to do with it any more, and figured it'd be more useful to me than sitting in a box not getting used. I offered to pay him for it, but he refused.

[squiddon]

Would you be willing to sell a BBA? :cool:

[JLF65]

The last DC serial cable I saw on eBay sold for over $60. I got my DC BBA for $140, which is cheap these days. The last three DC BBAs I've seen on eBay all went for over $240.

[squiddon]

Hello, hello,

Back again! I've been looking at coders cable options and yep, everywhere is sold out. There's the possibility of making one but trying to get hold of a DC serial plug (via a DC->Neo Geo Pocket Colour for example) is also tricky.

I'm keeping purchasing the BBA as an uber-last resort.

What other options do I have? Can I upload homebrew using the modem in the same way as the serial cable/BBA? Is the DC capable of reading CDRWs with the right method (my DC is 'chipped' but came with over 100 legit games so haven't got any 'copies' to test with)?

If these are going to be slow in general, would testing my homebrew on a DC emulator be feasible, ie are the emulators a decent speed (I'm running Dell XPS m1710 specs)? I do so when making Nintendo DS homebrew.

I know there are an epic amount of questions but I gather that you chaps have a lot of experience in these areas, and would save me a lot of time trying to find out all this info.
Cheers again!

[JLF65]

Most DCs will read CDRs, so that is a prominent way of doing homebrew. Search on SBI, Self Boot Inducer, and you'll find lots of DC homebrew, including my port of Doom. CDRWs don't work, which is irritating to devs as you have to burn a lot of CDRs while testing because of that. I burned nearly 60 CDRs while testing Doom, but fortunately CDRs are really cheap. Buy them by the 100 count spindle if you plan to develop on the DC via CDRs. :D

[Darksaviour69]

you can use CDRWs but you have to tweet the laser and that will shorten your DCs life: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-2531.html

[squiddon]

I think CDRs will have to be the plan until I can afford a BBA, or a Coder's Cable appears.

I'll check out your port of Doom for sure!

The game I'm making will be cross-platform so it will mostly be a case of putting the logic into C++ syntax and optimising. Hopefully this will bring the amount of CDRs needed down to a minimum.

That is damn annoying though, all we need is a way of manufacturing the DC serial plug. I've seen there is a mod that you can replace the port with a USB port, but I'd rather not modify the DC in any way.

[JLF65]

My Doom conversion comes with the source, so you don't have to hunt around for it like other conversions. ;)

I also posted an archive of my DC toolchain for linux in another thread. One thing you might find interesting is my port of libWildMidi. It's what I use for playing music in Doom, so the code will show how to use it. My Doom also comes with a really good set of instruments that aren't too big (4MB for the whole set).

I suggest tracking down as much other DC homebrew source as you can - the more examples you have, the easier your own coding will be.