XCKDIY Dreamcast IDE Board: Inexpensive GD-ROM HDD Replacement

Once he sees nobody will buy into his bullshit when they can get a better device for $23 from China he will lower the price greatly, mark my words.

 

Agree with you.

 

yeah this rocks.
I willl also wait for bad ad's solution. please keep me in mind when your boards are ready.
I dont want to destroy another dreamcast. my last attemp wit an qsb failed
the dc will power on but i don't get an signal(video+audio)
don't know what i've done wrong and I'm scared of removeing the qsb because of these crapy solderpads.
I did an gd ide mod (by aldair)with my third dc.
Works great but it's really like russian roulette to solder 40 wires without loseing pads or traces.
this solder ist heaviest bullshit i've ever had to work with. it took really long i onlay soldered 10 wires a day.
maybe someone could help me to fix the dead dc.and have some tips for me? for easier soldering especially temperature, material used (flux, solder etc)
thanks and keep on modding

 

WTF!? He can't be serious, let's hope that price changes...

Ted.

 

Yeah that's some rediciolus price tag for some Homebrew Device that's not even confirmed working 100% for every Dreamcast ...
So after reading this i'm even more convinced that i'll wait for Bad_Ad84 to release his (I'm sure much smarter build and manufactured as he is as profen often before some brillant engineer/electrician ) Device to public sale, knowing he is a great trustful seller for Console Parts for some time.
So NO PRESURE to you ;-) but we are ready for your Masterpiece to get us all some real DC-HDD Solution on our Dreamcasts

Just kidding take your time I'm looking forward to this device coming to public !
Greetngs

 

The best part is on his Facebook page his "motto"

Dreamshell is 100% free

He forgot to say but "I"m trying to make a ton of cash off this"

 

Another reason to wait for @Bad_Ad84 is this guy's bios. I'm waiting for it to be released before I decide to upgrade to one of these
http://japanese-cake.livejournal.com/
http://japanese-cake.livejournal.com/9115.html
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp3RR8fffvHARoCUgelAaXyTGnI0vEBE4

Does anyone know if writing to the IDE/CF works through the G1 port? Or is it still read only?

 

Read only as far as I know. I do know we can use the HDD to load Dreamshell without the need for an SD card. Anyhow tried to rip a disc and wasnt able to write to the HDD. I still needed the SD adapter.

 

It can write to the HDD, just use the most updated version of GD Ripper program.

 

Thanks I guess I must have used an older one but not sure how unless I loaded an older BIOS by mistake.

 

I'm waiting for my XCKDIY IDE Board and I don't know what HDD model should I buy.
So far I've found 3 working models: Fujitsu mhh2064at, Seagate st94019a, WD Scorpio Blue. But they're diffucult to find where I live. I'd like to have more HDDs to choose.

Could you post your tested and working HDD models?

Also I have a question, do I need some other mods then Dual Bios to have fully working IDE Board?
I've found this information, but I don't know if it's necessary...?

Source - http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-2246.html

 

If you are going to use IDE HDD then you don't need to worry much about compatibility issues, most IDE HDD types will surely work, just avoid the pretty old units (like a Quantumm 10GB unit I have from year 1998 I think, which doesn't work along with Dreamshell).

No, you just need the bios mod flashed with an appropriate bios.
As for this sound thing, the XCKDIY IDE Board already have an active 33.8688 MHz cristal resonator in it, so you don't need to make any further mod.

 

Thank you Gillbert.

 

does anyone have a way to order oneof each of these from taobao? i could surely pay you a coordinator fee if its reasonable... preferred payment method is paypal, shoot me a pm letting me know how much it would cost to purchase/ship and we work something out.

Edit: i want one of each. the large board and the small one.

 

I used http://www.engtaobao.com/ . I'm just waiting for the USPS to pull their heads out of their asses and deliver it.

 

Gametracks looks like a clean method and I have family in Brazil so the price isn't an issue, but do I really have to make a cut in the unit?

How feasible is it to just take a shot at this myself? My experience is limited to custom PCBs for Arduinos but it sounds like a fun project.

 

I haven't installed mine as I don't have custom bios installed, but it looks like it should be plug and play and contained fully inside the dreamcast.

Edit: The larger board, that is.

 

another question i had, is in the pictures i cannot see an oscillator crystal anywhere (the pictures arent great, but i dont see what even might be solder joints for any standard sized crystal on the fullsize board), and i was under the impression to pull the original gdrom drive, you needed to have one for one of the circuits... has anyone installed one yet? how well does it work? is there any issues? im also still seriously interested in getting someone trusted from this site to ship me one, as i dont want to have to set up an engtaobao account... i already have too many purchasing accounts to worry about... besides, its a way for someone to make a few bucks for literally ordering for me, and changing the shipping labels to my address after they get it. would be easier if he had that stuff listed on some of the other chinese sites i already have setup.

 

The oscillator crystal is in red:

There is no easy way to use the GD-ROM drive if using this device. It is really made for "no-gdrom" use.

 

i understand that, i was asking about how you get away with pulling it without the crystal, but clearly, there is the crystal its just not shown in the pics! im even more interested now! i suppose ill sit down and work out engtaobao if no one wants to get me one... i just wasnt looking forward to it.