Crafting Jaguar CDs

[Trooper Galactus]

With Orion's recent departure from developing games, I was just curious if anybody had ever tried to develop an aftermarket Jaguar CD unit or if it's even possible/legal? We seem to be stuck in a bind where producing CD games for the Jaguar is probably simpler and less costly, but it's not worthwhile because there just aren't enough operational units out there to create enough sales volume. I mean, even a lot of the people in this forum who are dedicated Jaguar players don't have a CD unit. I mean, if somebody was able to cobble together a cost effective stand-in, would that help the market for developers?

[LianneJaguar64]

With Orion's recent departure from developing games, I was just curious if anybody had ever tried to develop an aftermarket Jaguar CD unit or if it's even possible/legal? We seem to be stuck in a bind where producing CD games for the Jaguar is probably simpler and less costly, but it's not worthwhile because there just aren't enough operational units out there to create enough sales volume. I mean, even a lot of the people in this forum who are dedicated Jaguar players don't have a CD unit. I mean, if somebody was able to cobble together a cost effective stand-in, would that help the market for developers?

 

Whilst I expect it is possible to do this, would it not be easier to bootleg CD bootup through a skunkboard? And then your question would become "Can we make more skunkboards?". That, and to b fair, I think most people who are fan enough of the Jaguar to own a CD, own one, and are willing to purchase games for it

[Rick Dangerous]

 

Whilst I expect it is possible to do this, would it not be easier to bootleg CD bootup through a skunkboard? And then your question would become "Can we make more skunkboards?". That, and to b fair, I think most people who are fan enough of the Jaguar to own a CD, own one, and are willing to purchase games for it

 

Agreed 100%

 

Plus with the inbound SD cart this is all about to be a moot point anyway.

 

Plus I don't think it would be very easy, cheap, or practical to try to hook up a random CD ROM drive to interface with the Jaguar (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that.)

[LianneJaguar64]

 

Agreed 100%

 

Plus with the inbound SD cart this is all about to be a moot point anyway.

 

Plus I don't think it would be very easy, cheap, or practical to try to hook up a random CD ROM drive to interface with the Jaguar (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that.)

 

Well I'm certainly no technical expert, but you could probably do it with a Raspberry Pi, there are certainly people out there with sufficient technical knowledge to perform such a task, as displayed in the AVGN's Jaguar video (specifically part 2), where his friend attempts a go around connection for the CD unit, so to answer the question at a face value, yes, you probably can. As I say, I don't know why you would necessarily bother, but unless the Jaguar CD has/can give more power to the system overall, it's not something I would bother pursuing

[Rick Dangerous]

But to be fair, that complicated work around didn't work, and that was with a stock CD unit.

[LianneJaguar64]

But to be fair, that complicated work around didn't work, and that was with a stock CD unit.

 

No, admittedly it did not Either away, SD Carts and Skunkboards are the way forward

[Trooper Galactus]

Okay, fair enough.

[racerx]

I'd think that most people that would buy new homebrews would have at least one working CD drive. Plus, CD releases are cheaper than carts.

Of course, I've been wrong before...

[LianneJaguar64]

I'd think that most people that would buy new homebrews would have at least one working CD drive. Plus, CD releases are cheaper than carts.

 

Of course, I've been wrong before...

 

Enough to justify the manufacture of homebrew games on CD, that's for sure! Homebrewers for Jaguar are hardly playing to a massive audience, in reality you might make 300-400 copies of a game at the absolute most (correct me if I'm wrong), so there's got to be several hundred Jag fans with CD Units,,,

[+madman]

 

Well I'm certainly no technical expert, but you could probably do it with a Raspberry Pi, there are certainly people out there with sufficient technical knowledge to perform such a task, as displayed in the AVGN's Jaguar video (specifically part 2), where his friend attempts a go around connection for the CD unit, so to answer the question at a face value, yes, you probably can. As I say, I don't know why you would necessarily bother, but unless the Jaguar CD has/can give more power to the system overall, it's not something I would bother pursuing

Using point to point wiring instead of edge connectors and emulating a Jag CD with a Pi are two totally different concepts. I don't think ANY Jag homebrew has reached 300-400 units and that includes carts. I think Another World probably sold more than any others and I believe that was a little below 300. I think CJ posted the number recently in another thread. As mentioned many times on here, the Jag CD does not add anything additional to the system, there are no extra processors or memory or capabilities. Just the ability to read data from CD instead of cart.

[LianneJaguar64]

Using point to point wiring instead of edge connectors and emulating a Jag CD with a Pi are two totally different concepts. I don't think ANY Jag homebrew has reached 300-400 units and that includes carts. I think Another World probably sold more than any others and I believe that was a little below 300. I think CJ posted the number recently in another thread. As mentioned many times on here, the Jag CD does not add anything additional to the system, there are no extra processors or memory or capabilities. Just the ability to read data from CD instead of cart.

 

Well ok, but I DID preface this by saying I am not a technical genius I deal with making board games, not video games. As for how many times it's been mentioned... I haven't been here as long as everyone else, so I wouldn't necessarily know... Not like I'm asking you specifically every time for info :/

[UHATEIT]

I am not technically saavy at all, but I bought a Raspberry Pi initially in hopes that I could play all the Jaguar games. getting the roms is not the problem, but the Virtual Jaguar emulator completely sucks balls and it cannot play anything for me. So I got back into collecting and probably spent $1500 in the last couple months collecting up the Jag Games I needed. I would love to have access to the homebrews and the Jag CD games but I cannot get a Jag CD for a good price at all.

 

Talks of a skunkboard I just don't understand them or how they work or what to do or perhaps I would try to buy one of those and try it. Not to thread jack but if anyone has a link to a good how to or walkthrough on how a skunkboard works and how to use it I may be interested in that. I could swear someone shared a link within the last week on available skunkboards that were pretty cheap but I can't seem to find where I saw that.

[+madman]

Talks of a skunkboard I just don't understand them or how they work or what to do or perhaps I would try to buy one of those and try it. Not to thread jack but if anyone has a link to a good how to or walkthrough on how a skunkboard works and how to use it I may be interested in that. I could swear someone shared a link within the last week on available skunkboards that were pretty cheap but I can't seem to find where I saw that.

I've said it before and I'll probably say it another 100 times this year: Search is your friend. http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=skunkboard

 

A handful of Skunks were available in the market last week or the week before. They're gone now.

[skip]

Here's the person selling them: http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/skunkboard-flash-cardridge-for-jaguar-27561

[+madman]

Here's the person selling them: http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/skunkboard-flash-cardridge-for-jaguar-27561

Has anyone purchased one of those? I realize with the PCB files anyone can make them, but just curious about the build quality. Not that it matters to me I suppose since I have one of the rev 3s already.

[UHATEIT]

yeah that was the one. I searched around and couldn't find them, I remember seeing them last week for fairly cheap. Thanks for sharing, that's the same one I saw, I think it was posted on the Atari jaguar Fans page or Jaguar Sector III page, I went through both for the last 2 weeks and couldn't find it, sometimes my cell doesn't update.

Edited August 29, 2017 by UHATEIT

[+orpheuswaking]

I would love one of the cases from that build...

[+Sporadic]

Has anyone purchased one of those? I realize with the PCB files anyone can make them, but just curious about the build quality. Not that it matters to me I suppose since I have one of the rev 3s already.

I grabbed one. It seems good and solid. I had to clean the edge connector. It's also running the latest firmware. The only main concern to note is that it didn't have a beveled edge connector. It's completely square and just waiting to screw over the cart slot.

 

So if anyone gets one of these, I recommend looking into how you file down the edge connector to more of a point like other carts. I've not tried this yet myself.

[LianneJaguar64]

I've said it before and I'll probably say it another 100 times this year: Search is your friend. http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=skunkboard

 

A handful of Skunks were available in the market last week or the week before. They're gone now.

 

Maybe you could entertain the idea that not everyone thinks of the search function...

[UHATEIT]

 

Maybe you could entertain the idea that not everyone thinks of the search function...

I searched, I even said I remember seeing it before, but couldn't remember where it was posted. I am on here and then 2 groups on Fb for the Jaguar and then went back and forth and reviewed the last 2 weeks of notes on each page to see where it was posted. I wouldn't mind learning how to use one and see how it goes. But at the price and they are not available anymore I likely wont need to worry about it.

[+madman]

Maybe you could entertain the idea that not everyone thinks of the search function...

Yeah, I gotta put part of the blame on me. I should know better than to expect Jag fans to want to educate themselves and seek knowledge on their own.

[UHATEIT]

Yeah, I gotta put part of the blame on me. I should know better than to expect Jag fans to want to educate themselves and seek knowledge on their own.

It's a fair assumption, some search and some don't. I'm glad I was one that actually searched so it didn't apply to me!

[LianneJaguar64]

Yeah, I gotta put part of the blame on me. I should know better than to expect Jag fans to want to educate themselves and seek knowledge on their own.

 

Come on man, ease up a bit!

[neo_rg]

Quite a few people on the Atari Jaguar code & dev Facebook group have bought them. I posted up a link to the them about 2-3 weeks ago.