Saturn Optical Drive Emulator

Yeah, and at the risk of sounding repetitive, this is *also* something that happened with the Drag'n'Derp. I got busy finishing my PhD and just never had the energy to overcome the various hurdles that came up, and it'd end up out of stock for months. For example, at one point I could no longer get the USB ports cut in the cart shells by the manufacturer. When I finally got around to it it took me just (?) a day and a half in the local hackerspace to cut 500 carts myself, but then when those ran out... now I don't even have a shell supplier anymore. And with the Satiator no energy to sort that out ;-)

 

Glad to hear you've had great results from folks pitching in.

 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/shiny-shiny-menu-19938316

Lovely menu designed by Victoria Dominowski.

 

That looks great! Not sure I understand what the thing in the upper left corner is supposed to be though?

 

@jhl That's gorgeous.

Do you an to publish an API or open the menu code for modders?

 

It's a space for a logo. The designer helpfully put the Saturn logo in as a placeholder, but I think I would be unwise to use that ;-)

Yes, open source. The existing Ugly Menu is open source already, along with a modded Yabause for development purposes - though these are a bit out of date, I will bring the releases up to date once I get beta hardware out the door.
I'm not sure when I'll find time to actually implement Beautiful Menu - because I will have to basically learn graphics programming on the Saturn from scratch... Hoping to find a little help from someone who's experienced, we'll see what happens.

 

I like you.

 

Have you spoken to Krikzz or Stone Age Gamer yet? the PSIO guys went with Stone Age Gamer.

 

I've spoken to a few people, there are several options on the table. Not making any commitments yet though.

 

@jhl I have been a dedicated follower of your project for a long time and I wanted to say thank you and that you are doing God's work

I am an avid poster on reddit.com and I always try to push future purchasers for your product your way. Please keep up the great work!

I have given up on efforts to try to purchase a rhea/phoebe because of mythical availability and due to your honesty and involvement with your followers.
I enthusiastically say shut up and take my money..

 

https://twitter.com/prof_abrasive/status/1039856310416625665
"Today's iteration of the production test board for the Satiator. This should be the last stop before betas!"


EDIT: Just to be clear, this is not a Satiator! It's his testing device, for newly built cards, which get inserted to the right.

 

I see that there are a few more updates on his Patreon page.
Looks like things are moving towards picking a manufacture and board assembler. As Greg showed above, he has also developed devices for the factory to fully test and debug the cards. This is an amazing amount of work and should result in a great product at the end. I'd also be hopefull that the production volume can be enough to avoid the GDEMU/Phoebe/Reah situation where we have a supply,demand,availability and price unbalance....if that makes sense....

 

Yes, I agree. Hopefully the Satiator can fill the market so everyone that wants one can have one. I will definitely purchase this product!

 

Any updates?

 

Whenever there's news it's on Patreon first. There will be an update this week.

 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/beta-is-entering-23201639

Waiting to get beta PCB's back from the factory. If they pass tests, will be sent out. May 3D print cases for them. Will be working on his test system GUI as well.

 

I was following this project but i lost it along the lines... Is there a recap of the status of the project so far, the features planned and all?

Or does the project have a webpage?

Edit: found info on the patreon page.

Got a question, would it possible to save on the usb drive and load from there in any way?
My saturn eats battery and i lost so many saves to it...

 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/features-and-23766725
So he just posted in lengthy fashion about the features but regarding game saving in particular....

 

Does becoming a Patreon get you in on a pre-order?