SD-card or HDD replacement for CD drive?

[mj9123456]

From what I gather, no one's gotten very far (or put in much work) on an SD-card or HDD option for the Turbo/PC Engine CD -- something similar to the GDEMU or PSIO. Does anyone have information about a project in the works? Or is this unlikely to ever happen?

[ccovell]

Unlikely.


(now for the ee's who disagree, time to put in the time for board/mcc layout.)

[mj9123456]

Unlikely.


(now for the ee's who disagree, time to put in the time for board/mcc layout.)

Do you think it's unlikely because it's not possible, or because not enough people would buy one, or what?

[Bernie]

I cannot remember who it was, but the guy that did it for the 3DO I believe said he was planning to tackle the Duo next.

[pdiggitydogg]

The gent working on sd card units on Dreamcast and Saturns.
GDEMU.WordPress.com

so far it has not been going well.

[ccovell]

Do you think it's unlikely because it's not possible, or because not enough people would buy one, or what?

If it were technically impossible, I would never use such understatement.

By unlikely, I mean it's a rare case to find the intersection of (1) passion for the PC-E, (2) technical skill and know-how regarding CD drive protocols AND SD / MCC stuff, and (3) free time to bring this device from concept to completion, in a single person.

For example, I have plenty of (1) but lack (2) and (3), and generally if someone has lots of (2) then they have very little (3).

[thesteve]

well it would require a loader program similar to the flash carts
the system side interface would be serial data stream on 1 or 2 ports depending on the system used
4 bit status and interface data compliant with the sony CXD1167
in the duo the CXD is switched between data and audio modes, but in the CDR2 it remains in data mode
the rest of the system would remain intact as it would still need to route data to the CORE/PCM/DAC
note the DAC is expecting 1 data line, 1 sync line, 1 bit clock and 1 L/R clock (4 pins)
everything else is controlled by reset, interrupt ,parallel bus or serial data, direction, frame

[Bernie]

well it would require a loader program similar to the flash carts
the system side interface would be serial data stream on 1 or 2 ports depending on the system used
4 bit status and interface data compliant with the sony CXD1167
in the duo the CXD is switched between data and audio modes, but in the CDR2 it remains in data mode
the rest of the system would remain intact as it would still need to route data to the CORE/PCM/DAC
note the DAC is expecting 1 data line, 1 sync line, 1 bit clock and 1 L/R clock (4 pins)
everything else is controlled by reset, interrupt ,parallel bus or serial data, direction, frame

This proves I have none of 2......  lol

[Gredler]

Do you think it's unlikely because it's not possible, or because not enough people would buy one, or what?

If it were technically impossible, I would never use such understatement.

By unlikely, I mean it's a rare case to find the intersection of (1) passion for the PC-E, (2) technical skill and know-how regarding CD drive protocols AND SD / MCC stuff, and (3) free time to bring this device from concept to completion, in a single person.

For example, I have plenty of (1) but lack (2) and (3), and generally if someone has lots of (2) then they have very little (3).

So elegantly stated, and applicable to various facets of this hobby.

[ccovell]

Well, it's so common on the interwebs.

I even made a demographic:

[spenoza]

The PCE's use of a stripped-down SCSI interface could be helpful, but there's a lot going on that needs mimicked.

[imparanoic]

while it's unlikely that a sd card drive for pc engine duo ever  be made

what's the next best thing, hacked version or modified or official release of a cd rom drive for retro freak ( retron 5 competitor but it's more versatile and advance than retron 5), download and converted on micro sd card

the bonus is it also plays snes, megadrive, gameboy, famicom, gameboy advance   as well

http://kotaku.com/retro-console-promises-to-play-all-the-games-1705659623

[tbone3969]

while it's unlikely that a sd card drive for pc engine duo ever  be made

what's the next best thing, hacked version or modified or official release of a cd rom drive for retro freak ( retron 5 competitor but it's more versatile and advance than retron 5), download and converted on micro sd card

the bonus is it also plays snes, megadrive, gameboy, famicom, gameboy advance   as well

http://kotaku.com/retro-console-promises-to-play-all-the-games-1705659623

Holy shit that system looks nuts.

[wilykat]

Retro5 doesn't work with flash cart or some multi-rom carts. The issue is because it's emulator machine that loads from the cart once, not a clone system that has continuous access to cart like most other systems.

[CrackTiger]

It would be a neat novelty, but I'd still rather play proper games as they are supposed to behave. Something like this would still be better than emulation or cdrs that don't play right, but as long as I have the ability to play real games with a real CD-ROM and the potential to play working cdrs, it's not something I feel strongly about.

[TurboXray]

Well, it's so common on the interwebs.

I even made a demographic:

I'm a....vagina?

[ginoscope]

Well, it's so common on the interwebs.

I even made a demographic:

I'm a....vagina?

Vagina was the first thing I thought of when I saw that diagram lol.

[Dicer]

Well, it's so common on the interwebs.

I even made a demographic:

I'm a....vagina?

Vagina was the first thing I thought of when I saw that diagram lol.

A pussy pussy maybe, ew...

[Trenton_net]

To be honest, I would rather someone came up with a USB CD-ROM interface, than an SD card solution. The biggest problem to playing back games is aging hardware, not the inability to find game media.

[ccovell]

I'm a....vagina?

Don't be such a cu... so offensive, or I'll sic some dentata on you.  ;-)

[BigusSchmuck]

More than likely we'll see an ever drive that supports cd games before this happens.

[Bernie]

Ya never know......

[NightWolve]

To be honest, I would rather someone came up with a USB CD-ROM interface, than an SD card solution. The biggest problem to playing back games is aging hardware, not the inability to find game media.

That's an interesting idea. Less difficult too. Add to that, modern CD/DVD drives can read CD-Rs burned at any speeds no problem.

[Trenton_net]

To be honest, I would rather someone came up with a USB CD-ROM interface, than an SD card solution. The biggest problem to playing back games is aging hardware, not the inability to find game media.

That's an interesting idea. Less difficult too. Add to that, modern CD/DVD drives can read CD-Rs burned at any speeds no problem.

Right! Modern drives have non of those CD-R issues for playing translations or homebrews. Not to mention, to get a replacement USB CD-ROM drive is dirt cheap. Getting a proprietary working CD-ROM2 for the PC-Engine? Considerably more expensive (more so as they age and replacement parts become harder to find).

[spenoza]

The problem is that the CD unit also has the ADPCM hardware and a little RAM built into it, so an SD mod would have to be on an existing CD unit unless additional hardware was added. Same for the EverDrive.

[thesteve]

well yes and no
the ADPCM hardware is in the interface unit, not the drive, so any drive replacement would require IFU/CD base/DUO, but not an existing drive
unless someone replicates the mapping chip and audio chips

[spenoza]

well yes and no
the ADPCM hardware is in the interface unit, not the drive, so any drive replacement would require IFU/CD base/DUO, but not an existing drive
unless someone replicates the mapping chip and audio chips

Yes, yes... What I meant was, it would be more work to come up with a CD-mimicking SD card device for a bare PC Engine or TG-16 rather than a CD-capable system. I was using CD unit to refer to the whole package, not specifically the CD drive itself.

[Groover]

I know of the 3DO USB mod and a Dreamcast and Saturn. I would love a PC Engine CD Modded for USB. Someday maybe we will find that yellow sliver. The closest tech I could achieve is installing the mod.

[CrackTiger]

well yes and no
the ADPCM hardware is in the interface unit, not the drive, so any drive replacement would require IFU/CD base/DUO, but not an existing drive
unless someone replicates the mapping chip and audio chips

Yes, yes... What I meant was, it would be more work to come up with a CD-mimicking SD card device for a bare PC Engine or TG-16 rather than a CD-capable system. I was using CD unit to refer to the whole package, not specifically the CD drive itself.

The problem with emulating the adpcm as well is that you are getting even further away from an authentic experience.

[Trenton_net]

well yes and no
the ADPCM hardware is in the interface unit, not the drive, so any drive replacement would require IFU/CD base/DUO, but not an existing drive
unless someone replicates the mapping chip and audio chips

Right. To be clear, when I mentioned the idea for a USB CD-ROM interface I was speaking merely from the perspective of a PC-Engine Core + IFU-30 + CD-ROM setup. The reason being, PCE-Core and IFU units are very easy to find in a working state. CD-ROM units are not. This also means that if one were to produce an adapter, it would be a simpler job since the CD-ROM unit is bare-bones. Another pro to using this setup as a base is that PCE-Core and IFU-30 components are modular. So you can swap them in and out as needed when one goes bad.

[dshadoff]

Right. To be clear, when I mentioned the idea for a USB CD-ROM interface I was speaking merely from the perspective of a PC-Engine Core + IFU-30 + CD-ROM setup. The reason being, PCE-Core and IFU units are very easy to find in a working state. CD-ROM units are not. This also means that if one were to produce an adapter, it would be a simpler job since the CD-ROM unit is bare-bones. Another pro to using this setup as a base is that PCE-Core and IFU-30 components are modular. So you can swap them in and out as needed when one goes bad.

I'm not so sure that replacing the CD-ROM unit alone would be any easier than replacing the whole IFU+CDROM combination.

One reason is the connector - this is much more difficult to find than something which could fit on the back of a white PC-Engine.  The other main reason is the lack of technical information on the interface to the CDROM unit.

I understand that the overall interface to CDROM is basically SCSI...  Back in 1989 or so, I also saw an NEC CDROM interface to a PC, which used a SCSI card and had a different interface unit (but the same CDROM drive as the PC Engine).... but who says that the SCSI brains are in the CDROM unit, and not the interface unit (leaving a lower-level interface between IFU and CDROM) ?

I could much more easily see somebody coming up with an FPGA implementation of IFU+CDROM on a SDCard, than simply CDROM replacement.  I could also see this being something which wouldn't necessarily be restricted to PC Engine backplanes, but also as a modification to Duo machines.

-Dave

[thesteve]

well that would be ideal, but due to memory and sound mapping being controlled by the IFU it would require a much more complicated circuit

[TDIRunner]

Well for what it's worth, Deunan's most recent update indicated that he is stil planning on going after the PC Engine.  That doesn't mean it will happen, but since Phoebe seems to be about finished, maybe he can dedicate more time to it.

I will use that time to get some rest, finally finish the next proto PCB for PCE, and play Fallout 4.

https://gdemu.wordpress.com/


Also, first post, so hello everyone.

[pdiggitydogg]

Well for what it's worth, Deunan's most recent update indicated that he is stil planning on going after the PC Engine.  That doesn't mean it will happen, but since Phoebe seems to be about finished, maybe he can dedicate more time to it.

I will use that time to get some rest, finally finish the next proto PCB for PCE, and play Fallout 4.

I've been following that. I wasn't aware there was a new update.
It's encouraging

https://gdemu.wordpress.com/


Also, first post, so hello everyone.