How do I find whats on my Katana?

I only have two terminators, so I connected the other to SCSI-A instead of the GD Writer connector. It boots with the animated logo and tries to load a game from the disc as it isn't in emulation mode. I'm going to try with it in emulation mode and with a project mounted (Though I'm not sure mounted projects are kept mounted after a power down?).
Edit: With SCSI-A and B terminated in emulation mode, my unit powers on, displays a black screen for a few seconds then plays the animated logo and goes straight to the bios menu. It doesn't attempt to load the previously mounted project.

 

Two terminators should be plenty when connecting to an HBA, one in SCSI-B and one in GD-writer. HBA goes to SCSI-A. If you are running unplugged termination shouldn't matter, but then again the Katana is such a strange beast SCSI-vise that nothing would surprise me.

Come to think of it I don't think I've ever tried to use a Katana without having the debug host plugged in, except when debugging hardware errors. Something for future me (the one with free time) to do.

 

Okay, got further with this... If I terminate the GD Writer port, I get the non-animated start up problem... So on a whim I decided to just hook up the Writer to it, and that seems to have solved the problem. No idea why, but the system want's the GD Writer connected...

So, it's working, the computer sees it fine, the software made me update the firmware... Now just to get the files on the drive to mount. GD Workshop functions properly, but there are no project files on the Katana (I guess that's expected), so I have to try to make them myself (which I've never done). I've made several attempts, and I've gotten the audio track on the disc images to be recognized (the low density area), so it seems like it just has to be formatting the project correctly... My first problem was not having the System Area File for the high-density portion, which apparently is necessary to make this work. The project has a WCEDreamcast folder with a 0winceos.bin file, so I'm assuming that should be the first-start file? I set that up in IPMaker to get the System Area File, but I get error saying things aren't in the right place (specifically the 0winceos.bin). When I got it to not give me that error, the system just asks to 'insert a disc' when I select play (which, so far, is all I've ever gotten it to do when I select 'Play').

What I have are these folders/files in a folder called 'sample0721' (There's a couple of projects on the drive, but I was starting with this one...)
D1S1T1
D1S1T2
D1S2T3
D1S2T4
D1S2T5
sample0721-SAMPLE07211.HCD
SAMPLE07211-S0-0.VDS
SAMPLE07211-S1-0.VDS

Figuring T5 is the exciting folder , it contains a C, D, and X folder
In C is the 0winceos.bin file, and an OS folder with a bunch of OS-looking files (DLLs and such)...
In D (several folders deep) is one file: cfs.exe
In X/tempdata has a _LOT_ of files (almost 1000) and a GDROM directory. Almost all the files have a .kdm extension with a few .dlls, .bins, etc.
The GDROM directory has about 25 files with .sfd extensions and one data.bin

So, without a project file for GD Workshop, are there any tips to getting the files in the D1Sx folders in a project in the correct place? Or is there another way to mount something to the emulator? (I may just be doing all of this wrong... )

Also, the project file I created I gave a unique name, so it made it's own folder on the drive... Should I make a project with the name 'sample0721' instead? Not sure if that's the problem or not...

I'm still not ruling out the possibility that there is some small problem with the Katana itself... But other than seemingly not trying to launch the first-start .bin file, it seems to be working okay.

I may just walk through one of the tutorial building the sample project and mounting it just to see if that works...

 

Thought I'd politely bump this to see if there's been any progress with the discovered files? I'm sure a lot of other ppl are curious as well!

 

I've managed to confirm that there is something wrong with my Katana... I tried running the Sample project that comes with the SDK called QUIKTST2.elf, and I get a gradient background with square blocks of gibberish graphics on the screen (instead of the spinning text or whatever it should do). Any thoughts on the cause of that? Switching the unit to disc mode causes the loading screen to display (the generic screen that has the copyright info and maybe 'powered by Windows CE' or something), and then it never loads anything...

I'm going to look into the internals of the system a little more to make sure there aren't any loose connections or anything. Hopefully it's something simple-ish... That's my mission for the weekend...

 

Have you tried running a self check? I've never tried running the samples so I'm not sure what you're supposed to get.

 

Hope it goes well Psycho - What's the likelihood that the files on the devkit are for the unreleased "Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator"?

Is there any way to get the project running via an emulator, given that you have an image of the hard drive? (yes, probably a stupid question! but I figured I'd give it a shot!)

 

....and a bumpity bump (one month later!)

I'm really hoping there might be something more on this unreleased Flight Sim for the Dreamcast in this devkit - has there been any progress?

 

bumping in anticipation of where this all goes, and what can be salvaged!

 

Not forgotten! Life sort of got in the way and it got pushed aside for a bit...

I'll dig back into this weekend though, see if I can make something happen.

 

Any progress? I'm still curious as hell to know what's on that Katana!

No hurry of course, take your time - I know just how much real life matters can get in the way...

 

How was that dig?!

 

Damn, such a shame I didn't see this thread! The likelihood of you seeing this is low so I have quoted you so you are notified when you do get on. Did anything ever come out of this? I am a huge Flight Sim PC gamer, and I even own the Deluxe edition of FSX boxed copy. The idea of playing a game in the series on my Dreamcast is a lot to process. Have you preserved the files at least in case the HDD ever goes bad?

 

Everything is definitely backed up, both as files and a complete image of the HDD. I just haven't had a chance to get back into it to try to get it working again, always seems to be something taking up my time...

 

Well thanks a lot for replying to us here after over a year. Appreciate it! If you do get back to it please keep us updated!