how about a solid state alternative to gdrom?

[darkblu]

well, correct me if i'm missing something but the following things need to be done in this respect:

1) the part of the dc firmware that talks to the gdrom needs to be disassembled; gdrom commands and sequences need to be figured out.
2) a test piece of code issuing valid gdrom control sequences (could be the firmware itself) need to be run on the dc with an analyser monitoring the gdrom bus activity.

rinse, repeat (2) until things start to get clear.

bottomline being, it takes a logic analyser and somebody proficient with it. the rest is software work. of course, after that comes the interesting hw work, finally concluded by some daunting sw work on the pic.

now that's a simple plan in ~two steps ; )

[Tomlo]

By attaching a flash reader to the serial or expansion port it may still be possible to boot from it. Now im not sure but maybe it would be possible to make a app for dc so it boots from the gd drive from a burnt cd then you can select an app on the flash drive to launch. With this idea the gd-rom is still the primary boot device and there is no changes to the bios ensuring that any programs made will work with a normal dc.

[Tomlo]

I think it would be smart to empty out a 56k modem, macgiver a SD card reader into it, and write the software to boot from it. If this were done it could be mass produced and the items sold online bringing DC flash drives to the masses for everything from emulators to development.

[DreamDogg]

It would be useful to know how many people would be interested in a commercially-marketed GD-Rom >> SD Card conversion kit.

Does anybody know if this forum system (vbulletin) can do voting/polling ?

[Erghize]

IPB can do it and since IPB is based on VB it would seem logical to be able to do so...

Maybe admins need to enable it or something

[MrSporty]

I know its an old thread but i was wondering if anyone could help me out with regards to the GDROM pinouts.

The GDROM interface IS an electrically identical interface to the ATA-3 standard, SEGA's very own documentation confirms this and it also goes on to mention the extensions to the packet interface they call SPI or Sega Packet Interface.

If anyone out there can grab some highish res scans or pictures of the PCB of their GDROM controller it would be fantastic. I have 2 DC's but both use the custom yamaha ASIC's that i can't find datasheets for. Im looking for pics of the Toshiba, Samsung or OTI controllers.

Thanks

MrS

[marshallh]

The first thing I thought when I saw "IDE interface" was a hard drive/CF card.
Speaking of custom chips, I'll open my DC and see what it has in it.

EDIT: Sure enough, it has a Toshiba. I'll see if I can get my scanner hooked up.

marshall

PS - hi dcemu.co.uk