USB-to-Serial Module based coders cable

[wraggster]

makes you wonder if you could sell these yourself and how much for etc, once you have all the details sorted

[Eric]

Damn i just read this and this would be good news for the coders i dont know how fast the original cables are but it seems its a hell of a lot faster

[Alexvrb]

Eric, you're making this a habit. It is a lot faster, but you need to have something to compare it to. The standard coder's cable uses the serial port on the DC and the serial port on a computer. That only gets you up to about 115 kbits. The Dreamcast's serial port is capable of much more, so by building a USB <-> DC interface you can get much closer to the DC serial max. ~1.5 mbits would be a huge boost for coders who don't own a BBA/LAN adapter.

Axlen: I'm glad to hear you're working out its issues. Once you have something you're happy with, you should definitely see if someone is interested in building them. You could build them yourself, if you were so inclined. I'm sure the price would beat the pants off buying a BBA off ebay.

[quzar]

i need one of these!

[Eric]

hey thanks alex for the info on that but i dont know why you make a habit of making me look stupid

[elefas]

There are in the market some serial-to-usb adaptors for pc. They cost around 30 euros (in Greece). if we connect a DC coder's cable to the one end and the other to a usb port on the pc won't it work faster than the usual rs232 interface???

[Alexvrb]

Perhaps that is because they designed it to be compatible with standard RS232 serial devices. Or perhaps it is a limitation with the serial coder's cable itself. I don't know. But it's not the same as a custom USB to DC serial solution like the talented Axlen is working on.

Eric: I'm sorry if you feel that way, but you really do need to reign in your enthusiasm sometimes. If you don't know, you can always ask. But if you assume, you make an ass out of some guy named Ume. (that's the Home Improvement version of that joke)

[pboese]

I'm working on revision B, no I should say revision B is designed. This version will be built on a printed circuit board. Just submitted the layout to ExpressPCB lastnight. It's a 4 layer board and it will fit into a RadioShack 3x2x1 project enclosure. I went a little overboard and ordered the soldermask and silkscreening options. So if the boards don't work at least they will look pretty ;D

As far as manufacturing goes I have not made up my mind. A kit version of the current design would be too advanced since the surface mount parts are terribly small. A design based on the DLP module would be kitable, and may make more sense in the long run as far as kits are concerned.

A built and tested unit would probably be easier to market and sell. I'm doing this for fun now with an eye on possibly making them available for sale. It costs more to build then a standard serial coders cable, but should be less than a BBA. It seems there is interest in this USB-Serial UART based coders cable, but I'm not sure if there is enough to make it cover the costs and still make a modest profit. After I test and debug this next version perhaps one of the admins can setup a pole to plumb the hearts and minds of the DC faithful. The last thing I want to do is get everyones hopes up and then end up with a vaporware product.

[Darksaviour69]

polls can be missleading, someone could vote, so u will make them for coders, but might have no intention of buy one.

a pre-pre-order, like cagame's did would be more usefull cause u will know how much people willing to pay and u will have there names too.

i think quzar would be your first customer

[Alexvrb]

If you don't want to go it alone, but still want to get this into people's hands, you could contact one lik-sang, lan-kwei, one of those sites. They might be interested in your work. Otherwise you have to figure out what you can get the cost down to on your own and see if there's enough people who want one. I know one big problem is that a good amount of coders caved and bought a BBA.