crans Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 (edited) @Greg2600 Yes still not shipping yet and im hitting tracking many times a day. **The Heat problem** Resent findings from AG with the sd solution gdemu now points its the users sdcard or the gdemu or img not his system. dreamshell can now auto launch via hacked bios for ide or a micro chip sdcard and ide. @icemanxp300 Wow what did i set off? Im not making any one buy it the price sucks i would agree. the first preorder i did was for a select group of users many who own the full dreamcast library. in the mind of a cheap solution lets total up your cost should you own the full library. #1 ide mod (that XP tower sitting on the corner has a ide cable and drive)- has issues but works Cd-r $0.26 works better then the sdcard on serial port #2 cd backup with content down sampled,region patched Cd-r$0.26 x 324 =$84.24 (your laser is going to die from junk media! if your finding taiyo yuden archival at this price hook me up) works 1-1 like original but will kill your dieing laser if the spindle motor dont die first. #3 sd card on port $11-23 depending on what one you buy Cd-r $0.26 SD cards to hold your games $8 for 8gb quality card x 57 cards = $456 many issues on most games #4 gdemu $120usd SD cards to hold your games $8 for 8gb quality card x 57 cards = $456 or one 500gb sdcard $599.00 (alpha testing but functions*) great solution and still wip #5 USB-GDROM $200 500gb usb hdd $59 OR 2tb usb hdd $89 great solution and still wip Edited March 19, 2015 by crans 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemanxp300 Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 (edited) @icemanxp300 Wow what did i set off? Nothing. Just making sure it is what it is. Which is a $200 board to play roms. We agree the price sucks especially since you have to rip the entire system apart and cut the housing, none of which excites me. It's not for me is all. I have no desire to play the entire dreamcast library. The fact that the dreamcast already has the capabilities to play burned games as is kind of makes an item like this a little redundant. In my opinion dreamshell is quite useless as well. I have it but it was only to have it, plus when I got my card reader it was only $15. It is really quite pointless. The few games I would want to play that would be so costly to not buy, burning to a simple cd is fine for me. Plus I use verbatim cd's which I got 200 for like $30 years ago. It's cool if people want this and it makes them happy that's all that matters. Edited March 20, 2015 by icemanxp300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Correct me If I'm wrong but doesn't dreamshell have issues with some games? Lag related issues? From what I understand this board doesn't need dreamshell to load your owned games from the SD card meaning the games will load without issues. Also there would be no more worries over the rom drive dying on you. If all that is true then to me it's worth the money just to avoid the wear and tear on our console and I'll probably skip the serial port SD card reader and dreamshell cd to boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickcris Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Correct me If I'm wrong but doesn't dreamshell have issues with some games? Lag related issues? From what I understand this board doesn't need dreamshell to load your owned games from the SD card meaning the games will load without issues. Also there would be no more worries over the rom drive dying on you. If all that is true then to me it's worth the money just to avoid the wear and tear on our console and I'll probably skip the serial port SD card reader and dreamshell cd to boot. This uses a USB hard drive or flash drive, not an sd card (that device is the GDEMU). You do not need dreamshell though for it. This device runs off the same bus the GD-ROM does so it is much faster than the previous sd card dreamshell solution that runs off the slow serial bus. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianoid Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 I can't speak for this product, but I'm always enthusiastic to see people create hardware for old systems. I hope it works well. As far as the price, it is rather high, but the production and design costs for hardware aren't trivial. Large volumes are required to get prices down, and can require initial investments in the thousands just to order a few hundred boards. When you compare it to some of the SD card systems out there for consoles, it's not THAT much more. Just sayin'- I support folks who develop for old systems, although I won't just buy any product. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 It's about the same price as the SD2SNES. However, it's a fair criticism. GDEMU is MUCH cheaper, for what is likely similar component costs and labor. My problem with the SD/serial port adapter/internal mod beyond the smaller storage capacity is Dreamshell. I could probably live without games that use streaming audio, as I probably own them on disc anyway. For me the entire drawback is having to reformat ISO's to work with Dreamshell over SD card. It's absolutely AWFUL!!! So much so that the entire solution is really a non-starter. At least in the case of the Gamecube SD-adapter, for compatible games you can use a regularly dumped ISO, no crazy modification needed. I'm kind of perplexed why SWAT.ru are still developing Dreamshell, when it seems nothing uses it. I'm also a bit curious about how MNEMO may eventually get multi-disc games to work. Some have suggested a lid switch, which I really hope not, as that would require custom modification by the end user. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 It's about the same price as the SD2SNES. However, it's a fair criticism. GDEMU is MUCH cheaper, for what is likely similar component costs and labor. My problem with the SD/serial port adapter/internal mod beyond the smaller storage capacity is Dreamshell. I could probably live without games that use streaming audio, as I probably own them on disc anyway. For me the entire drawback is having to reformat ISO's to work with Dreamshell over SD card. It's absolutely AWFUL!!! So much so that the entire solution is really a non-starter. At least in the case of the Gamecube SD-adapter, for compatible games you can use a regularly dumped ISO, no crazy modification needed. I'm kind of perplexed why SWAT.ru are still developing Dreamshell, when it seems nothing uses it. I'm also a bit curious about how MNEMO may eventually get multi-disc games to work. Some have suggested a lid switch, which I really hope not, as that would require custom modification by the end user. That is why this solution is really attractive to me since it doesn't need dreamshell. I'm still doing a lot of searching and reading to catch up on all things related to dreamcast and from what I keep reading, dreamshell doesn't seem to work very well. Correct me if I'm wrong about that. In the meantime I'm hanging around to see if this heat issue is resolved 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crans Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 for the lid switch its no complicated to desolder and swap from original board. i do it on all the usb hdd internal mods since i have the boards with me at that time. It is wired on the usb gdrom but not required or implemented in functions currently for the two known games that require live swap. Mnemo has said he has a d2 multi working but has not pushed it public fw. why not idk. Heat issues- the gdemu sd solution issue has pointed at the users sd card ,img,gdemu as the issue not the heat. I will be including a resistor in all boars i offer. it will require one to place on the 12v rail and ground to keep it from spiking when in use. Currently 300ohm is what we are determining 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemanxp300 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 That is why this solution is really attractive to me since it doesn't need dreamshell. I'm still doing a lot of searching and reading to catch up on all things related to dreamcast and from what I keep reading, dreamshell doesn't seem to work very well. Correct me if I'm wrong about that. In the meantime I'm hanging around to see if this heat issue is resolved 100%. From my experience Dreamshell itself only serves as 2 purposes which is saving cd's and playing roms on emulators of other systems. The only reason I even bothered getting dreamshell was so I could play a hacked Super Mario World on a snes emulator playable on the dreamcast. I wanted to play the game on a console and not the pc. If you don't mind burning games that take only a few minutes in Discjuggler on a $.25 cd and a $50 burner you probably already own that is the way to go. Dreamshell itself isn't that great. You are limited in space due to the sd card memory. I'm fairly certain back when I was into it that the smaller mem cards are the only ones that worked well w/out problems. Also certain brands gave issues as well. I personally never noticed any problems w/my set-up but I didn't do much with it either. I would just rather burn the cd than swap sd cards between a reader w/the pc and the adapter and dreamcast. Plus waiting for dreamshell to load and navigating through the menus took more time. You have to decide what you are looking to get out of each item whether it's dreamshell or this GDrom and decide if either suit your needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 for the lid switch its no complicated to desolder and swap from original board. i do it on all the usb hdd internal mods since i have the boards with me at that time. It is wired on the usb gdrom but not required or implemented in functions currently for the two known games that require live swap. Mnemo has said he has a d2 multi working but has not pushed it public fw. why not idk. Heat issues- the gdemu sd solution issue has pointed at the users sd card ,img,gdemu as the issue not the heat. I will be including a resistor in all boars i offer. it will require one to place on the 12v rail and ground to keep it from spiking when in use. Currently 300ohm is what we are determining Even the easiest of soldering applications is sometimes not something end users (including myself) prefer to do. Does the resistor need to be soldered? Only two known live swap games? D2 and ? From my experience Dreamshell itself only serves as 2 purposes which is saving cd's and playing roms on emulators of other systems. The only reason I even bothered getting dreamshell was so I could play a hacked Super Mario World on a snes emulator playable on the dreamcast. I wanted to play the game on a console and not the pc. If you don't mind burning games that take only a few minutes in Discjuggler on a $.25 cd and a $50 burner you probably already own that is the way to go. Dreamshell itself isn't that great. You are limited in space due to the sd card memory. I'm fairly certain back when I was into it that the smaller mem cards are the only ones that worked well w/out problems. Also certain brands gave issues as well. I personally never noticed any problems w/my set-up but I didn't do much with it either. I would just rather burn the cd than swap sd cards between a reader w/the pc and the adapter and dreamcast. Plus waiting for dreamshell to load and navigating through the menus took more time. You have to decide what you are looking to get out of each item whether it's dreamshell or this GDrom and decide if either suit your needs. I had lots of failures just getting DC homebew like all the Beats of Rage stuff to work. You can't run anything without a Class 10 SDHC card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crans Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) Even the easiest of soldering applications is sometimes not something end users (including myself) prefer to do. Does the resistor need to be soldered? Only two known live swap games? D2 and ? D2 request swap with system remains on. The second game is not really a game. Disk one is full game live swap is The Pop'n Music Append disc Resistor will be simple jam in 12v and ground slot. Use supplied tape to keep in place Edited March 23, 2015 by crans 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 D2 request swap with system remains on. The second game is not really a game. Disk one is full game live swap is The Pop'n Music Append disc Resistor will be simple jam in 12v and ground slot. Use supplied tape to keep in place Geez people are complaining over ONE game? Albeit a game that costs $40 but still. All the Shenmue's will work though? Glad I won't have to solder the resistor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crans Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 it has been reported working. Pre order list is full. Back up list should pre orders fail to pay is also full. All current paid USB-Gdrom have been packed and shipped. Please contact me if your not getting usps.com updates 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crans Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) All usb-gdrom sold out. Taking preorder reservation like last order. Thank you all atari age clients who acquired from last pre-sale Edited April 2, 2015 by crans 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Just got mine today. Will update when I'm able to install the board. Crans is excellent to deal with, great communication. Rey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Just got mine today. Will update when I'm able to install the board. Crans is excellent to deal with, great communication. Rey I concur, has gone above and beyond in communicating and helping. I installed mine very easily, although temporarily. Planning to get a derelict DC with a bad drive before hacking that one up, as well as installing the 300 ohm resistor permanently to the PSU, as well as buying a larger USB drive. A true GDI dump did work as expected. Tested Evil Twin, which was not released here, but has tons of cut scenes, and it loaded fine. Awaiting full CDI compatibility. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I'd like to do that Greg. Test the board on my DC and make a permanent install on the one coming in which should only have a bad drive. My dreamcast is too minty to cut up for a slot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Well I put the board in my DC and wow. I'm using a 64gb flash drive I had laying around and it's very easy to load up a game. Tried Soul Calibur and Sonic without any issue, GUI is simple and games load fast. Besides the capacity you get from the USB GDROM, it'll be great once I'm done putting this in for the other DC, that air flow will remain intact. Cosmetically it will pretty much look the same even with the small cut out for the USB port which for me is a non issue. Fantastic piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 My dreamcast with broken drive came in. Fully installed this and with the resistor I don't see any heat issues. Very happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldendark007 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Hey anyone want to lend a helping hand? I installed my board and tried running a couple games and had MAJOR slow down issues. I tried Street Fighter 3 and it took over a minute for the game to start.. The audio played at about 2x the sloooow frame rate of the video, but once the match loaded it played fine. Super Street Fighter 2x just stayed slow. Took nearly eight minutes to start a match... Then it kept playing slow/choppy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 What version of dreamcast do you have? V0-2? NTSC U? The games are PAL, JP, US? GDI format or ISO? What USB drive are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Hey anyone want to lend a helping hand? I installed my board and tried running a couple games and had MAJOR slow down issues. I tried Street Fighter 3 and it took over a minute for the game to start.. The audio played at about 2x the sloooow frame rate of the video, but once the match loaded it played fine. Super Street Fighter 2x just stayed slow. Took nearly eight minutes to start a match... Then it kept playing slow/choppy I'd try different USB drives and see if performance was affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldendark007 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 That's what I was planning to do. I'm using a v1, us-ntsc, Dreamcast. I set the 300 ohm resistor and they are .GDI, good dumps. Ssf2x is jap and sf3 is us. I'm using a 2gb usb (2.0 I believe). I tried a 64gb (2.0 also I think) and the games didn't even appear on the drive (although I had all sorts of files in there with them) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 The USB drive must be formatted as FAT32 though not NTFS. For drives larger than 4GB, you have to use a program to format them and get your full capacity. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 That's what I was planning to do. I'm using a v1, us-ntsc, Dreamcast. I set the 300 ohm resistor and they are .GDI, good dumps. Ssf2x is jap and sf3 is us. I'm using a 2gb usb (2.0 I believe). I tried a 64gb (2.0 also I think) and the games didn't even appear on the drive (although I had all sorts of files in there with them) Did you format the usb drive as Greg mentioned above? My 64 GB flash worked great and even my VERY old 150gb USB external hard drive works too. It's a tad slower loading the files in the GDROM menu but games work great. It was just laying around so might as well put it to some good use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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