Hi, I'd like to share some pictures of 3DO Development Station v.5.0. Click for higher resolution shots (2560 x 1920):
Agree. 3D0 DEV stuff is always welcome. I wonder about the encrypted switch... 3D0 had any kind of encryption?
Just like TurboDuo, NeoGeo CD and SEGA CD, 3DO doesn't have security rings (as opposed to PS1 and Saturn). Many people beleive that at the time the cost of duplicating a CD would be so prohibitive, that no one would bother. However all the 3DO CD images are encrypted by 3DO prior to mass duplication. Companies used 3DO development stations and 3DO debug units to create and playtest unencrypted images, but those would not work in retail units. This is the reason there is no homebrew for 3DO that runs on retail units. The guys behind FreeDO evaluated an idea to create a "modchip", pretty much a replacement BIOS without encryption check. But since it's only useful for homebrew and isn't needed to play "backups" of the games, public didn't show enough interest. This chip would effectively turn retail units (at least FZ-1 and FZ-10) into debugs. At some point I was interested in all this, but due to lack of time and skill I decided to get rid of all 3DO stuff. In part due to apathy of folks from the only 3DO tech community (FreeDrg). There are better platforms with friendlier scene, for example SegaXtreme SEGA Saturn development forum is plain amazing.
as dhau said, yes the discs are encrypted. Although i don't think they're encrypted well... i don't remember... Be careful with those switches. I've seen several where the switches just flat out broke off. I would just leave it on "unencrypted" and play retail discs on retail hardware.
