# Dreamcast USB loader



## VashTS (May 9, 2010)

I've been thinking about how AWESOME that would be, but of course very difficult to make.  Anyone know if this would even be possible?  I'm thinking like the WODE but for dreamcast.  Intercept the communication between motherboard and laser and make it read from a usb drive.  

Its just a daydream, but I'm guessing its a little simpler than todays systems, so I'm taking a guess and saying this is possible, but probably not able to be created by an amateur like me.


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## monkat (May 9, 2010)

Uhm...does the Dreamcast even have USB ports? Or any form of external storage outside of...CDs?

--Also---
Why bother with having a different type of loader? Most of them read regular CD-Roms...if you don't have enough space in your apartment to house a few CD-Roms, I suggest getting a different system ^^!


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## Potticus (May 9, 2010)

monkat said:
			
		

> Uhm...does the Dreamcast even have USB ports? Or any form of external storage outside of...CDs?



My thoughts exactly.

The thing is you can burn any game you want to a cd-r and they play fine.

You accomplish saving cd's ($5 for 50?)

To the Monkat
Of course, no USB, and not even Ethernet, you had to get a third party adapter.


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## foxgrey (May 9, 2010)

you do know that you can just use plain old cd-rs to burn backups. There are several programs out there that can do it. In addition the utopia loader(think swap magic ala ps2) is great, and it plays like everything in case you don't want to mess with autobooting backups.


Don't get me wrong a dreamcast that had a hard drive hacked into it would be really sweet, but its just not practical.
heck I'd probably even get mine out of storage if such a hack surfaced. Just as a see what I did kinda thing lol.


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## DKAngel (May 9, 2010)

you could add usb to it via hardware like the wode does


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## foxgrey (May 9, 2010)

Ok just to put this in perspective. Some peeps actaully did some dev testing on the hardware and attempted to make some useable loaders for running linux on the dreamcast. (At least thats what I can gather, I sadly do not read japanese.)

adding a ide(hard drive) interface using the serial ports already on the dreamcast
http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/g2bus.php#hit0300_clone

and maybe just as cool if it worked properly, adding a sd card slot, which in conjunction with a loader disc looks like it maybe able to launch if nothing else some homebrew.

http://f17.aaa.livedoor.jp/~takotako/dcser...32bm.php#sdcard

Not sure how well any of this works, but seems rather complicated


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## VashTS (May 9, 2010)

dkangel gets it.  I mean adding it in, like a WODE.  Thats what I said in my post.  you plug in a piece of hardware between the laser and the dc motherboard that basically emulates the gdrom drive, and it would have its own USB port for an external drive.  

yes i am aware of DC games on cds, a few hundred cds are very cumbersome.  have you ever seen 800 discs up close before?  well I'll show you. 








yeah those are smb3 pajamas.  and yeah im 26.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





while there isn't 800 dreamcast games, you get my point, it becomes bulky to have cds around and as well, its more convenient to load from a HDD.  i'm too lazy to search through the stack of discs to find a game i want to play.

and i did find an SD loader.  but its looks very basic and not easy to make.


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## monkat (May 9, 2010)

DKAngel said:
			
		

> you could add usb to it via hardware like the wode does



I'm not sure exactly how wode works (I just did a quick google search and read the first sentence on their site hehe!), but from what I can tell, it just pretends like it is the Wii's disc drive, and goes from there, correct?

Ok, assuming that that's even possible with the Dreamcast, it would require hardware manufacturing, which takes money. That (and the time it would take to develop for a 10-year-dead console) is where the problems start. Who provides investment money? Who would actually buy it? Would the consumers realize that it would be cheaper to just use CD-Rs?

So, I'm going to go on record and say that it will never happen, unless Sega gets back into the hardware business with a backwards-compatible Dreamcast 2 that is able to load DC games off of a hard disk. And that is beyond impossible.


---EDIT---
Nice pajamas. My girlfriend got me mario pajamas for yule last year...best gift ever.


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## Potticus (May 9, 2010)

VashTS said:
			
		

> dkangel gets it.  I mean adding it in, like a WODE.  Thats what I said in my post.  you plug in a piece of hardware between the laser and the dc motherboard that basically emulates the gdrom drive, and it would have its own USB port for an external drive.
> 
> yes i am aware of DC games on cds, a few hundred cds are very cumbersome.  have you ever seen 800 discs up close before?  well I'll show you.
> 
> ...




Goddamn, I see my future self.

And to the guy who posted the link to the Japanese site, that proof of concept is interesting.
I CAN see it being possible now, not sure that I would want it.
BUT

I happen to have an extra dreamcast with a fucked GDROM drive that I would be willing to attempt to try this on if I could get me some English directions


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## Monty Kensicle (May 9, 2010)

VashTS said:
			
		

> dkangel gets it.  I mean adding it in, like a WODE.  Thats what I said in my post.  you plug in a piece of hardware between the laser and the dc motherboard that basically emulates the gdrom drive, and it would have its own USB port for an external drive.
> 
> yes i am aware of DC games on cds, a few hundred cds are very cumbersome.  have you ever seen 800 discs up close before?  well I'll show you.
> 
> ...


What a cute cat, what's its name?


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## Potticus (May 9, 2010)

Monty Kensicle said:
			
		

> VashTS said:
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rufilin


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## VashTS (May 9, 2010)

thats mieux.  i also have toey, hes got extra toes.  thanks.

it just hit me, this would be cool for gamecube and for my sega cd as well.


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## Potticus (May 9, 2010)

VashTS said:
			
		

> thats mieux.  i also have toey, hes got extra toes.  thanks.
> 
> it just hit me, this would be cool for gamecube and for my sega cd as well.



Gamecube, now there is something we should work with.


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## VashTS (May 9, 2010)

monkat said:
			
		

> DKAngel said:
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the hardware of course would cost money, but i'm not talking about marketing it, I want to make it for myself and make a DIY project for the average person.  i don't even know where to start i guess i'd have to start with understanding the way the dreamcast uses the laser.  you basically emulate the dvd drive using a processor, this is the way the wode works from what i understand.


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## monkat (May 9, 2010)

Hehehe, in that case, you may as well do it yourself if you want it...

It'll be that hard without knowing exactly how everything works anyway, to do it yourself, even with a guide.


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## Elliander (Jan 13, 2012)

monkat said:


> Hehehe, in that case, you may as well do it yourself if you want it...
> 
> It'll be that hard without knowing exactly how everything works anyway, to do it yourself, even with a guide.



I believe that there is a market for it, but not a mass market. I have looked from time to time for a USB loader for Dreamcast. I did find something though. An SD card slot that attaches to the serial port. In theory one could make something similar for USB instead of SD. I wouldn't pay for an SD hard mod unless it was SDXC, but I would pay for a USB hard mod. Most of my old dreamcast games are scratched up and would need to be downloaded somewhere (which is legal if I own the original discs) so a mod like that would allow me to play them again.

http://i827.photobuc...alsdcardif2.gif

http://i827.photobuc...tripblayout.jpg



Failing that, if anyone could make a hard or soft mod for ANY system which would allow me to play my old dreamcast games again from a USB hard drive I would buy it.


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## Maverick Lunar X (Jan 15, 2012)

Holy shit im wearing those same fucking pajamas right now, and I'm 24.


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