"Let's make GD ROM emulation happen" Facebook group.

darcagn: did you try make eSata port? what did you use: cable from sata(ide-sata bridge) to eSata connector? does it work?

 

This would be very nice, would certainally beat having to mess with multiple VMUs, or the Nexus card. I wouldn't care for emulators, just original DC games; I'd say a lot of us have Xbox for playing with emulators.

I'm beginning to gather the parts for this. Not having to deal with using disks is the only reason the Xbox and PS2 get any use over the DC.

Any idea what speed of CF would be sufficient/adequate for this project?

EDIT: From what I can ascertain, a 266x rated CF card is 45MB/s read, so that would be more than adequate, even a cheaper 133x might be more than enough, possibly more than the bus could deliver at least.

 

@polyfusion, I guess 133x would be fine as long as it's a real 133x, not a 133x in a particular case in a lab. I had a cheap CF card that was slower than a HDD in my old iPod.

@darcagn, Very Nice Set-Up! Though I'd prefer an internal hdd for some reason. I could live with an external one though.

 

deunan will make new production run.

 

@darcagn, can you show more pic's, how it looks , what inside of DC (i'm about eSata)

 

@cybdyn - Pretty sure darc used the SATA adapter he recommended on SWATs forum...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZLM9IA

I bought one too, but haven't tried it yet (I don't have any spare SATA drives atm).

I think he then just used a SATA to eSATA cable (like you get for PCI slot blanking plates), but I'm just guessing there.


How are you getting on with the CDDA stuff? Is it playing back OK now?

(I'm currently soldering an N64 CPU to my FPGA board, so don't have too much time atm for the DC stuff.)

OzOnE.

 

OzOne, if you chk your email more often you will get more info))) pcm stream works well. sound is good))) next step is just define right TOC and think how/what better use image: gdi separate files or make one big.

 

@cybdyn, I think the best thing feature-side would be compatibility with standard cdi images and gdi dumps; that is one file per track plus gdi description file (and data track blocksize determined by gdi). This along with a menu to select games, DreamShell support and reasonable price would make G1-IDE-ADV a must-have for any DC fan!

 

I know, but I'm lazy, and I get many e-mails to check through. lol

I just printed out my test of the IDE flex cable (on paper) to see if it is even feasible.

I think it can be done, but it will require very tiny pogo-pins to attach to the underside of the mobo.

Hopefully it won't be too expensive in bulk.
It will allow the GD drive to stay in the DC, and the case to be closed properly.

But, the isn't much room inside the DC for even a 2.5" drive (it just squeezes underneath the GDD with the metal shield removed, but it's not ideal).

Best way still is probably to do the eSATA mod, like Darc did?

OzOnE.

 

What I plan on doing once this is out is to simply replace the DC PSU by a picoPSU or homemade regulators. This would give me almost enough room to fit a Saturn inside the DC.

 

I was thinking that too, @FG.

I saw somebody using that microATX module, and a small one of those would be great for making more room, especially if it's low-profile.

Beware some of the cheapo PSU modules though - they don't regulate the 12V line, so they depend on the external DC input to be exactly 12V.

I've been running a big 3.5" 80GB IDE HDD on my poor DC PSU for a while now, and it's still going strong.
It does struggle a bit to spin-up the drive ofc course, but soon sorts itself out.

It's probably nearing the limits of the DC PSU tbh, but it doesn't get hot or anything.
(Well worth replacing all the electro caps on the PSU as well before trying that.)


I think this flex cable might just work - I made it way too long atm, but it's still very much at the design stage.

If we can get an idea of how many people prefer SATA, then it would help perfect the measurements for the flex cable + SATA adapter.
I'm not sure it's worth getting the flex made with the SATA chip on it though? Probably be more expensive, and fiddly to solder.

Keeping a standard IDE port is better IMHO - it allows people to choose what they want to plug in.
I'm sure we'll find a cheap SATA adapter which works fine in Slave mode too.

As a bonus, the IDE port let's us plug directly into an FPGA board for testing too.

OzOnE.

 

Oh, Pico PSU - that's the one. hehe

mATX are the bigger type.

This is the cheap Pico board I was thinking of...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-24pin-...omputing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item2ed1e61419

I'm 99% sure that doesn't regulate the 12V line, as it only has the 5V and 3V3 regs by the looks of it.
As long as it's used with a decent 12V PSU, it should be fine.


I think we could actually mod the DC to work without 12V when the G1-IDE Adv is ready, and the GD drive is removed...

It would require doing the mod to stop the DC resetting when the small fan is too slow / disconnected though.
I've done this to mine, so I could get rid of the noisy fan and use a bigger but much quieter one.

The 12V mod on the "region flash" chip wouldn't work either ofc, but it's just an idea for future mods or "portable DC" mods.

Sorry, I'm rambling again. hehe

I might grab one of those Pico boards to play with - might then be able to fit a 2.5" HDD inside, for people who want to keep the GD drive.

OzOnE.

 

The DC accepts like 7v on its 12v input. I'm not saying it's optimal, but it works.

I have a different picoPSU but in any case that'd allow for more than enough power for both the DC and a hdd. The flex cable (ribbon-like I guess) is a good idea, but I don't understand how it'd connect to the motherboard. I humbly believe that IDE should be the target and people could buy adapters easily.

 

Yep, I like the idea of keeping the normal IDE port too - it's the simplest and cheapest option, but still allows for easy expansion with SATA / CF / SD adapters.

The flex cable will sit underneath the mobo, and make contact with the test pads under the G1 / GD port socket.

You can buy very short pogo pins, as there is only about 6mm of clearance between the bottom of the mobo and the metal shield.
There is just enough room between the plastic modem housing and mobo / shielding to allow the cable to fit through.

It should be thin and flexible enough to route it between the edges of the metal housing, and bend upwards.

The pogo pins may sound a tad expensive, but it should actually work out OK as it will do away with the cost of the G1 port Molex connectors.

The mobo has some holes drilled in it on either side of the G1 connector too, which will allow easier centering of the flex.
The lower metal shield should keep the flex in place once I find the correct thickness for the end part.

Personally, I'd love to ditch the GD drive still, but that's just me.
I really don't see the need for it now that the full GD Emu / DCIO boards are starting to appear.

I can see that many people will want to keep the GDD though, as they have collections of original disks etc.

The design of the flex cable will be a challenge, but should work out quite nice in the end (as long as the connection can be made reliable).

It might not let everyone fit a HDD inside the DC, but being able to close the case fully will be nice.

OzOnE

 

Interesting stuff.

Does this mean you're scrapping the simpler G1-ATA board in favour of the G1-ATA-ADV?

 

Well, the simple G1-ATA boards are still very useful, as they are relatively cheap to make, and are great for Dreamshell.

But, cybdyn is working on his G1-Adv version, which will be a full GD-Emu as well.
That should in theory give 100% compatibility with all GD rips. (no pressure, cybdyn. lol)

I'm still looking into the flex cable idea though, as one of the biggest "complaints" of the simple adapter is that the DC case can't be closed fully.

Well, also - SWAT and the other guys are still working on getting their custom Dreamshell BIOS to run (by bypassing the HOLLY chip protection).
That will mean very good game compatibility, but with the ability to completely remove the GD drive.

A hardware GD emu is still the best solution though IMHO, as it will have excellent compatibility and CDDA support.
It will be a true plug 'n' play solution as well (unless people really want to keep the GD drive?), and doesn't require a Flash BIOS mod or anything like that.

OzOnE

 

I actually had this same idea but trying to route the traces proved almost impossible and I even have a library file I made that has all test pins and holes for resistor arrays cut out so it all lines up. The spacing for all the traces in that space is too small to hold them all. If you want the library file just PM me and you can use it or modify it for this project.

 

Not entry level by any means for mass appeal, but this is the way I'm going to attempt to add a connector on: http://yam.20to4.net/g1_ext/index.html

 

Good to know that the simple G1-ATA would be available, as it's the one that I would be after, as I too, after doing a BIOS mod, would be looking to ditch the GD-ROM.

In fact, if you were to make them with just the one SlimStack connector to the motherboard, I'd be up for a few of those, as I envision reusing the GD-ROM circuit board housing plate to secure the G1-ATA and CF adaptor or hard drive inside the DC casing. I'm not sure a G1-ATA board with 2 SlimStacks would fit in there.

 

Nice! I like how you bypassed the whole lot of test points below the connector and went for some further up. Did you have to compensate anything because of the resistor arrays that some test points go through?