Gamecube SN-TDEV

Discussion about SN-TDEV and Unversities.

 

Your university work? oh come on

This is not a development kit convenience store son

Very unthoughtful first post, smells funny to me.

 

Well to be honest lots of game development courses actually use devs.

 

Just to add:

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/gamecube-dev-kits-allowed-in-academia-20030925/

Another link:

http://www.igda.org/wiki/Northumbria_(UK)_CM511_Programming_for_Games_4

Though your first post shouldnt be on here and you should introduce your self in the correct thread and fill out your profile.

 

of course they do, just not the T-DEV. Even digipen doesn't do GameCube last time I checked. Furthermore, when a course provides work on a licensed development kit it also provides the means to do so, in a legal way.

Considering all the corporate presence the forum attracts it made a very suspicious first post. That said, the T-DEV's owners are now Sony so that's an odd request to start with, yet a rare piece of development equipment in its own right.

 

Did you not read the link saying that they were supplied to universities with these. Also just because they are available in scheduled class hours does not mean they are easily accessible outside scheduled hours. Not an odd request at all if he is trying to replicate his setup at the unverisity.

 

Sorry to disappoint you but there are 4 universities in the UK that use TDEV development kits and use them in their software modules. There is no conspiracy at play here; just a simple question.

We have 25 of the TDEV units on the desks in the games lab there. Paulo was kind enough to give you a link proving that. But here's another link:

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/?view=CourseDetail&code=UUSCGS1

I'm after one because the 2 projects we have this year and next are to produce full working games on the Nintendo Gamecube and I'd like to have more access to the hardware than I already have; the lab is shared and we all get kicked out at 8pm which is a problem if you really want to get your project polished.


Sony own SN Systems but the TDEV's still belong to Nintendo. We all had to sign NDA's before we were allowed to use them.

@Nitro734: I was thinking of getting a GDEV but I was concerned that any work I did might not work on the TDEV's straight away. It's primarily the reason why I was looking for a TDEV. Thanks though.

 

Not sure why,but I seem to have missed your post containing the link.

You'd think using unlicensed materials, including hardware, would be against university policy and even illegal, especially with regard to the legitimate credibility universities are known for:lol::lol:.
A bit unfair too, considering that you' ll have an upper hand compared to your law abiding buddies who don't own a TDEV :110:

 

I don't see why you couldn't use a GDEV or an NR reader (if you have a writer and a stack of blanks! Hmm, maybe an NPDP, then!).

 

you can use a modded gamecube if your alternative was the NR-Reader

However, the official tools best support the GDEV - no idea of how the TDEV is put in "development mode" or if it's just accessed through the custom SN interface/debugger.

Indeed, the TDEV is the most elegant of the rest, although I ve never used one to know how it deals with real-time debug (RS232 on the DDH and GDEV/GBOX) or if it can handle Optical Disk Emulation, the ORCA's task (DDH of course does this internally). Feel free to tell us about the TDEVs full feature-list for developers!

 

Irrelevant to whether you are using this for university or not you can still join the back of this very very VERY long que!!! :icon_bigg

 

First off. Let me apolgise for coming straight on here to ask about TDEV's. I read the general rules but completely overlooked the WTS/WTB rules. Sorry. I've been a little eager to try and get myself hooked up.

Now, to address the following:

I don't see it like that. If they are prepared to spend the money needed to aquire one then as far as I'm concerned there is no problem. You either have the will to do it or you don't. I don't consider it as "having the upper hand"; I don't need practice. I just want access to the hardware at times when it's convenient for me since I also have a family and the lab hours are pretty poor.

I'm perfectly aware of the legal ramifications of owning an unlicensed TDEV but I'm only wanting to work within the boundries of what the NDA I've signed already allows me to do. We aren't allowed to use the TDEV's to produce demos to show off to developers or provide concept ideas. We have to stick solely to producing projects which are part of the course syllabus.

We've only been using the TDEV's for 5 weeks so my knowledge of the ins and outs of it are limited. But I can tell you what I do know.

We use Visual Studio as the SDK for all our projects; we have an SN Systems plug in that allows us to compile gamecube elf files from within the microsoft IDE.

Testing and Debugging is done through the TDEV interface program which connects to the TDEV via USB. All we need to do is point it in the direction of the compiled elf file and set disc emulation to treat the elfs home directory as the root of the optical disc. All loading is handled via the PC.

We can also debug in the SN Systems application but we've not had much need for debugging so far. It's fairly straightforward from what I can see but at present all we're doing is moving simple objects through space and doing some lighting and camera work. No doubt when the project starts proper we'll be debugging like mad.

When I go back in on Monday I'll take screen grabs of the software and the debug screens if you're particularly interested.

 

I'm not aware of the legal ramifications. If you acquire a physical object, through means other than theft, Nintendo and their NDA can fuck themselves. The perverse notions of the DMCA-enabled media culture and their various protection schemes (and accompanying licenses/EULA/etc.) has subtly indoctrinated, it seems, everyone.

If I don't sign an NDA/EULA, I can do whatever I want with a TDEV or my XBOX or any other physical object I own.

Maybe I'll use it for a paperweight. Maybe I'll tenderize meat with it. Maybe I'll write gamecube code for it. Doesn't matter.

I am glad you are here. Please do share this information and these screenshots, etc. Further, while there is a posting requirement for WTS posts, there is none for WTB posts, IIRC.

Welcome!

 

As far as I'm aware, the only thing Nintendo can do is ask for the hardware back since it supposedly always belongs to them. Whether or not they'd be inclined to go to the lengths of starting legal action to secure the hardware is another matter.

From what I understand, it's the University who have the more stringent rules and regulations about what we produce. Technically, anything I make in the lab belongs to them. There are "concerns" that since the NGC and the Wii are pretty much the same thing we could develop a Wii game for free and sell it to a publisher. Pretty pathetic really.

 

you must be one sneaky bastard to develop an entire Wii game in the lab

Looking forward to screenshots and more info on the TDEV Also, is there extra hardware inside the TDEV besides more RAM? I m wondering if the USB-EXT. cable can be used with a retail or NR-gamecubes.

 

More pictures of the unit itself would also be nice!

 

Some precious shots I found via google:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s192/ALCAMJI/Game Cube/tdevtop-1.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s192/ALCAMJI/Game Cube/tdevside.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s192/ALCAMJI/Game Cube/tdevbottom.jpg

My personal highlight:
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s192/ALCAMJI/Game Cube/todas.jpg
TDEV-Box O_O

 

From what I understand TDEV is really SN-Systems devlink with an brown NR-reader with extra ram.
Maybe they did more to it then add some ram? But from what I understand that's basically it.

How I've been looking for that little hardware thingy >=/
None seems to have it (for sale).

 

You'd think so, as they only licensed the hardware to developers. However, the rules change when a company faces bankruptcy. When a company files for bankruptcy, most contracts become null and void, and the liquidators would contact Nintendo ask what the value of the hardware was, following a paper trail, and paying some value back to Nintendo. This effectively forces Nintendo into selling the equipment. The hardware is then auctioned off legally and the people who purchase it become the legitimate owners of the equipment. This is my understanding after reading a few Wikipedia pages, which may be way off... but makes sense.

 

Nintendo could state it is their property and they want it back if they wished - there's probably something in the contract that says something like that. They certainly have recalls on items at their end of life - look at the IPL ROMs.

However, when you have such auctions, people like Nintendo ensure that the equipment is only sold to other developers who have NDAs.