Prototype Sega Dreamcast Zip Drive on eBay

[Mark30001]

http://segakatana.com/images/news/dreamcast_zipdrive.jpg (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250163670619)


It may be something most of us would've never expected to see on eBay, some could even compare it to the SNES CD-ROM attachment unit, the unreleased Sega Dreamcast prototype Zip Drive!

http://digg.com/hardware/Prototype_Sega_Dreamcast_Zip_Drive_on_eBay

Here's some information about this unit via DCEmulation Devcast (http://devcast.dcemulation.com/other/prototype/prototype.php):



Made by Imega Corp, the makers of the Zip Disc format, this Zip drive was made to increase the Dreamcast's storage capacity but mainly for emails, web pages, and other internet based files.

The 100 Mega-Byte storage disk drive is essentially the same as the ones made for PCs with slight modifications made to make it compatible with the DC. "We chose the Zip drive for its durability and low cost. For gaming purposes, durability is essential," said a Sega spokesperson.

The drive was conceived after there was a strong demand for more storage space than Sega's servers were offering to save email and web pages onto. The drive could also save game-updata data so all those extra quake maps could be played at home.

The drive was made to fit under the DC and would connect to the expansion port with the modem, then being plugged into the Zip drive. This was to help promote the DC from a console to a home entertainment/information system with the release of other accessories (which were also never released).

This Zip drive was not going to be compatible with the PC Zip drives, but it was suggested that software for the PC would eventually be released to make it compatible with the DC Zip drive.

The Zip dive was to have a retail price of $199 USD and to be released sometime in the third quarter of 2000.


:: Click Here to Visit the eBay Auction :: (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250163670619)

[quzar]

Does the person just not intend to sell it at all?

[Elven6]

Wow this is amazing, I hope its manufactored by a hardcore 3rd party, it will make homebrew much better.

[cal360]

Floppy Drive not zip, it confuses me, but this would of been intresting if it had been released.

[ron]

I didnt see the price, now I fell scared !!!! This guy is off of his mind !!!! Ten Thousand bucks !!!!

This prototype should be at the appropiate hands in the Dreamcast Scene, could be a door to know more about the I/O, and sure that some hard homebrew will arrive soon.

Anyway, happy to know that the prototype does exist. But sad when saw the $$$$

[PSPdemon]

I didnt see the price, now I fell scared !!!! This guy is off of his mind !!!! Ten Thousand bucks !!!!

This prototype should be at the appropiate hands in the Dreamcast Scene, could be a door to know more about the I/O, and sure that some hard homebrew will arrive soon.

Anyway, happy to know that the prototype does exist. But sad when saw the $$$$

I agree with ron on this one.... 10,000 is quite a high price... sure, it might be the "only proto out there" but i cant see 10,000...

wish i could get this :(

Thanks for Everything,
PSPdemon

[wraggster]

if oonly an hardcore hacker could get there hands on this, it could be a major breakthrough for Dreamcast Homebrew development

[JKKDARK]

This is really amazing. Too bad I don't have enough money :( :( :(

[ron]

That's right Wraggs !

We have been doing some experiments with a CPLD, and having a clear schema of the g2's pinout, and at the moment without any success. The software and that hardware is the key to !!!!

The main idea was to connect a compact flash adapter to the DC , with a HardDisk. But I think, this one should be acquired at the right price. For a prototype is still being so expensive....

regards

[wraggster]

what id love to see is the Dreamcast Bios hacking to use a DVD Drive and use that instead of gdroms for a purely homebrew console. can it be done i dont know but a DVD lens isnt expensive but hacking the bios to read DVDs maybe too hard a job ?

[jerrt]

why would you pay ebay to show off to the world you have something they don't.

or does he really think it is worth 10 large?

[Cast128dreams]

This is really madness.AS a proud Dreamcast collector i was amazed watch it at ebay but the prize untouchable.10.000 is he crazy?
Well its the protopye but the prize is.....f@##$%!78
This guy has to help this site.Dreamcast coders have to get it now!!!!.It will be the key for more homebrew scene.

CANT believe it exists.Man JUST LOOK AT THAT.ITS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JKKDARK]

why would you pay ebay to show off to the world you have something they don't.

or does he really think it is worth 10 large?

I'm sure some collector will buy this prototype

[moi]

How about asking Dan Potter or BlackAura if one of them was interested in reverse engineering this zip drive. In case of one of them agrees, the members of the community could donate to their Paypal account to help them buying the drive.
But honestly I don't expect 10k to be donated by the community. The dc scene had some incredible moments in the past such as Half-Life/Bleemcast betas being leaked or Propeller Arena seeing light of the day but in the case of the zip drive I just can not see it happen :(

[Elven6]

Why not use the funds DCEMU gets from those ads? Afterall this is for a worthy cause! And no one has bid on it yet!

[Darksaviour69]

lol, you think we get anything near $10,000 from the ads on this site?

also, that $10,000 could go to a better cause (usb coder cables, coding contests etc)

[onetwentyeight]

it should be a zip drive. i remember waiting for this device to come out while i was in college and using those pesky zip drives at school and having them screw up all the time. i guess the serial output to pc didn't make homebrew as easy of an outing as a simple zip drive would have. in the end i'm not sure of this device's actual purpose except to save downloaded attachments from the web browser? to put things in a quick strange time machine, at the time i was using free internet from kmart (bluelight.com eventually bought out by yahoo), since free dial-up accounts were everywhere, to surf and check email at home on my dreamcast. having access to way too many computer labs around campus kept me from ever buying my own pc in college.

[Elven6]

lol, you think we get anything near $10,000 from the ads on this site?

also, that $10,000 could go to a better cause (usb coder cables, coding contests etc)

Better cause? You call potential unlocking the Dreamcast true ability not a valuable cause! Hopefully no bids on his auction, forcing him to donate it, better yet, what if he reveals where he got it from, I am assuming more then one was made.

[quzar]

Better cause? You call potential unlocking the Dreamcast true ability not a valuable cause! Hopefully no bids on his auction, forcing him to donate it, better yet, what if he reveals where he got it from, I am assuming more then one was made.

We already have devices whose workings are unknown for the Dreamcast without having to pay 10000$ and they aren't really breaking any new ground.

[Elven6]

We already have devices whose workings are unknown for the Dreamcast without having to pay 10000$ and they aren't really breaking any new ground.

I was thinking more of the lines that someone will examine it and make a 3rd party device/cable, making it capable for the homebrew community to possible use it.

[Masta-G]

Yeah, if someone would bring a storage device like that to the dreamcast, it would sell definitly.
Weather its a usb port hooked to the G2 bus, or a zip-drive, when someone massively produces storage devices for homebrew purposes to the dreamcast (for a decent price).. he would become rich:P

[Nitrosoxide]

lol, you think we get anything near $10,000 from the ads on this site?

also, that $10,000 could go to a better cause (usb coder cables, coding contests etc)

exactly !!! I'd love to see a good old fashion coding contest.

Saturn emulation on DC for the win!!!

This hoarder can hoard his zip drive if he wants. We got better stuff to look fwd to!

Heck, for 15,000 maybe we could convince the Bleem staff to finish off Bleemcast j/k. But, seriously think of all the better prototypes 10 K could get!

Everything from Castlevania Resurrection to the final Bleem proto could probably be gotten for that.

[quzar]

Yeah, if someone would bring a storage device like that to the dreamcast, it would sell definitly.
Weather its a usb port hooked to the G2 bus, or a zip-drive, when someone massively produces storage devices for homebrew purposes to the dreamcast (for a decent price).. he would become rich:P

There are already at least two different interfaces for hard drives that attach to the G2 bus and nobody uses them. The zip drive would MOST likely work similarly.

[Elven6]

There are already at least two different interfaces for hard drives that attach to the G2 bus and nobody uses them. The zip drive would MOST likely work similarly.

Link

[quzar]

One year ago (exactly), you asked the exact same question and I answered it:

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35959

[Masta-G]

There are already at least two different interfaces for hard drives that attach to the G2 bus and nobody uses them. The zip drive would MOST likely work similarly.

I know,
I've seen 'm all but unfortunately nobody wants to start distributing them.
I think the market is just too small. It costs way too much to start massively producing products like the ide-interface.. and as long as there isnt any homebrew ready to use for it, nobody will buy it.

[Cast128dreams]

so someone somehow has to go it further!!!!!!!!

[Elven6]

One year ago (exactly), you asked the exact same question and I answered it:

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35959

Oh I thought you meant via a external source, not a internal one.

[quzar]

Oh I thought you meant via a external source, not a internal one.

it is external... there is no modification to the DC required.

[Elven6]

But you have to physically open your Dreamcast to do it.

[quzar]

But you have to physically open your Dreamcast to do it.

As far as everything I've seen shows, you do not need to open the Dreamcast at all, and once the interface is built, you just plug it into any DC.

http://www.fuzzymuzzle.com/Kiyoshi/Images/p0201n004.jpg

[JKKDARK]

PAY ATTENTION, PAY ATTENTION

The price lowered to $4,000

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250163670619

[Cast128dreams]

Hmmm if these "chips" packed in a white small box producted from a third party company(like the one who made Treamcast) then we got something more than Sega offered.A Dreamcast Drive in 2008!!!!!!..
Why everything is abadoned?
It will sell and cost less.

[dcfan1]

Its gone down to $4,000 ... I wonder if anyone will buy it..

[Mark30001]

It's been lowered again to $500, with a reserve price.

[VampDude]

It's been lowered again to $500, with a reserve price.

The reserve price is probably something stupid like $3000, I would bid to raise the current price but I don't want it! lol :p

[steve520]

damn he went from 10,000 to 500 wtf this guy is weird i want it though im gonna levitate it to me with my mind.

[VampDude]

damn he went from 10,000 to 500 wtf this guy is weird i want it though im gonna levitate it to me with my mind.

He obviously wanted to make more than $10,000 from it to begin with as that was the original starting bid, but nobody is stupid enough to pay $10,000 for something that possibly wasn't catered for towards it being released (which it never was released). I wonder what his reserve is now thou?

[steve520]

yeah who the hell would pay $10,000 they must be nuts. $500 sounds reasonable but u never know what the reserve is.

[VampDude]

yeah who the hell would pay $10,000 they must be nuts. $500 sounds reasonable but u never know what the reserve is.

I doubt that the $510 it's at now is even close to the reserve, I would say to times that by at least 10.

[quzar]

I doubt that the $510 it's at now is even close to the reserve, I would say to times that by at least 10.

I doubt the reserve is set above 1000$. I might end up bidding on it yet ...

edit: alright, well I've been proven wrong (and am now definetly not bidding on it). The high bid is now at 1000$ and reserve has not been met.

[JKKDARK]

bidding is over. high bid is $1,631.02

[jonezybaby]

best the reserve is sumet like $5000.

sum1 should send him a message askin wat price he is willin 2 sell it for?

[Nitrosoxide]

EDIT: Nvm auction is over...

[Mekanaizer]

what id love to see is the Dreamcast Bios hacking to use a DVD Drive and use that instead of gdroms for a purely homebrew console. can it be done i dont know but a DVD lens isnt expensive but hacking the bios to read DVDs maybe too hard a job ?

Doing a BIOS hack for a purely purely homebrew DC console is not that hard. With the right tools you can replace the DC BIOS chip with your own. The harder part (at least for me) is to get official games to work...

As i remmember right the GD-ROM drive is ATAPI based so it shouldn't be hard to do a drive hack. Thou, you need to write a driver for it.

[Mekanaizer]

As far as everything I've seen shows, you do not need to open the Dreamcast at all, and once the interface is built, you just plug it into any DC.

http://www.fuzzymuzzle.com/Kiyoshi/Images/p0201n004.jpg

The BBA and the Modem, are the only two known devices that have glue chips that map the device's PIO into the SH-4 address.
And if i remmember right the BBA is the only device that uses some type of PCI bus interface if not a true PCI interface/bus.

[VampDude]

I doubt the reserve is set above 1000$. I might end up bidding on it yet ...

edit: alright, well I've been proven wrong (and am now definetly not bidding on it). The high bid is now at 1000$ and reserve has not been met.

lol, I was right then! (it had a stupidly ridiculous reserve price) :p

[Nitrosoxide]

Yeah the item definitely wasn't bought.

And btw who actually thinks they'd have the talent to reverse engineer this thing in a way that would be meaningful to homebrewers.

Indeed unless the guy gives you alot of info on it you won't have much to go from...

Though tech documents are always important. I hope the buyer would release those.

If anyone who truly is trustworthy thinks that perhaps they could do something by winning this hardware.
Plus release any tech documents related to it, perhaps Wragg or a admin could set up a community donation thing.

I'd love to see any progress to DC homebrew and would happily spare something, if the volunteer really had a plan set forth of what he could do.

[quirkykid]

Looks like he's back at it with a relist of the item. Check out the updated link,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250181741840

[quirkykid]

...with a starting price of $300, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250181741840