GDEmu, Sega Dreamcast ISO loading add-on device

[Another World]

Dreamcast back-ups and homebrew have had a good run on a system that was never too difficult to exploit. The issues always fell on the way in which discs were prepared and the amount of discs required to maintain a relatively healthy collection. All that is about to change thanks to the GDEmu, a project which aims to put the storage in the palm of our hands, quite literally on an SD card. More information such as installation instructions and availability can be found via the link below. The add-on device is currently estimated to sell for 100 Euros.

GDEmu Homepage

 

[Foxi4]

Take all my money, GDEmu - this is exactly what I need for my Dreamcast. There's nothing more annoying than having to burn and juggle stacks of discs (and gradually cause wear and tear to the precious laser lens while using CD-R's) and the current SD solutions are quite disappointing due to the slow transfer rates of the serial port, so they're not a viable solution either. Full-on ODDE's are the future for all retro collectors who want to keep their systems healthy for years to come, this device is definitely on my radar, even if the price tag is a tad hefty.

 

[xxNathanxx]

Haha, this is cool.

 

[VashTS]

i totally suggested this a while back! glad to see if coming to fruition. now if i didn't sell my dreamcast

 

[b17bomber]

Is this like previous SD card mods that use the serial port and are really slow, or is that like the DCIO thing I saw before?

 

[Foxi4]

Is this like previous SD card mods that use the serial port and are really slow, or is that like the DCIO thing I saw before?

From what I understand, it's a disc drive emulator.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Take all my money, GDEmu - this is exactly what I need for my Dreamcast.

This is all you could ever dream for, amirite?

 

[the_randomizer]

I guess you could say this type of device is a dream come true.

 

[Mr_Pichu]

Damn that is sweet!!

 

[emmanu888]

Wasn't there something similar to this but for the PS1 ? Anyway, this sounds awesome, it will finally let us play those proper GDROMS dump on a real system

 

[trumpet-205]

Full-on ODDE's are the future for all retro collectors who want to keep their systems healthy for years to come, this device is definitely on my radar, even if the price tag is a tad hefty.

Dreamcast and PS2 ODDE (if it ever will be one) are what I'm looking for right now.

 

[chartube12]

My dreamcast is the late 2000 model with the exploit patched so I can't just run pop in a burnt disc. So would this work for my dreamcast or no. I do not much about the dreamcast modding.

 

[kristianity77]

This looks a nifty piece of kit. If someone does come out with an ODDE for the PS2, I would actually go out and buy a PS2 just for it!

 

[tbgtbg]

Forget ODDE or SD or whatever, where do you get a tiny Dreamcast like that? It looks neato.

 

[fille]

i was just in time to order 1,now wait for payment orders and the gdemu ofcourse.

 

[DaFixer]

Take my money!!!
This is great, now you can use Full game ripps and no more laser damaged by CD-R's
A led display/iso selector will be nice, to see witch iso you are running.

 

[Vappy]

Gdemu isn't the only project of its type currently being developed. There's also the DC-IO, development thread for it under the Dreamcast development subforum on assemblergames. It's being designed by cybdyn, who's also one of two people working on the equally promising PS-IO, and OzOnE, who iirc was the first one to kick start that project, and also has a few other plans under his belt. I believe they're working with the dreamshell developer to integrate it as a UI.

User by the name of Mario is also designing his his own equivalent of Gdemu, and posting some progress in that same thread. It'll be interesting to see how the three compare.

And to people mentioning a ps2 odde, it's already possible to hard drive load ps2 games through freemcboot with like 90%+ compatibility. So I'd be surprised if anyone goes out of their way to develop an ode when an alternative already exists that can be put together for the price of the parts.

 

[Chaosruler]

this is a dream come true

 

[Thomas83Lin]

My dreamcast is the late 2000 model with the exploit patched so I can't just run pop in a burnt disc. So would this work for my dreamcast or no. I do not much about the dreamcast modding.

• GDEMU is compatbile with VA1 model Dreamcasts from all regions

IMPORTANT: VA2 model is not compatible. Mating GDEMU with VA0 model mainboard is possible but will cause permanent damage to the device. See installation instructions.

you can check the revision on the bottom beside were it shows the region, (ntsc-j models won't show the revision number here on the bottom though).

 

[Clarky]

Awesome. Time to get those gd rom dumps out and enjoy some awesome stuff like MSR again