Official Gamecube IDE/USB interface thread (PROJECT BEGUN!)

[andoba]

Like it? It has USB, and CF slot.

Shall I put something else? Something to correct? Some suggestion?

Please, tell now, I really refuse to reroute if you want something else.

So well, like it? Should I continue???

[Electric Rain]

Wow... okay... I can't see the pictures, but obviously you're... working on it... and I think you know what you're talking about... umm... what do I have to do to make you forget about the flame I threw at you earlier? I'm sorry... you really just seemed like some guy that decided to pop in just to say "Oh, that's gonna be WAY too hard. You might as well quit now, stupid." Your post count confirmed that for me, which is why I asked who you were. But... apparently I was dead wrong. I assume the pictures are schematics you've drawn up. I wish I could see them... could you upload them to Imageshack or something, maybe?

I'm going to ask you the same thing I asked R3ason... how much of this do you understand, and do you think you can pull it off in the end? You say it's actually pretty easy, after looking at the source and schematics, but do you truly understand what the rest of us here don't? I'm mostly confused about the software end... hardware is always pretty straight-forward to me. Like... what has to be loaded onto the CF card to tell the 'cube to boot the ISO game image? Or, for example, what kind of bootloader program would have to be loaded on to select from multiple ISOs on the same drive? Is that even possible?

Destop didn't really explain any of this, I didn't feel. If you can better explain anything about this, I would... do... something for you... >.> I have nothing to offer... sorry.

Anyway, yes! Please continue! Let us know how everything is going and PLEASE tell me if there's anything I can do to help. Thanks for picking things up again.

Edit: N/m... pictures work now. Wow... that's really nice... What program did you use, anyway?

[andoba]

First of all, you don't have to tell me sorry. It was my fault for talking that much hard.

Then, on that guy's website there is a bootloader for this. So well, I assume that it won't be that hard to do.

The images are the actual PCB. Not schematics, the PCB.

Here's it from ImageShack:



PD: Sorry for the image quality.

About how much of this I do understand, hell this is easy as cake, since all the coding work is alredy done. I don't know VHDL, I know Verilog, but well I understand VHDL more or less.

EDIT: I use PCB123.



A screenshot of the program.

[Electric Rain]

Sweet man, sweet. So, do you have the funds for this, or what? I estimate it'll cost around $100, maybe less... what do you think?

[andoba]

Sweet man, sweet. So, do you have the funds for this, or what? I estimate it'll cost around $100, maybe less... what do you think?

One will cost 200$, but 20 will cost 30$ each one, this does all work by volume pricing. Obiously, those 30$ must be given before the manufature (since 30$ x 20 = 600$).

Of course this should be made or home work (insolating UV PCB's) or through massive buying (like, 50 forum users want it, we pay 10$ each one for the PCB, total cost = 500$).

The components the same way, though all the components except for the IC's can be bought in any electronics store for 1$ (SMD resistors and capacitors) or 60 cents (DIP resistors or capacitors). The connectors cost around 1$ or 3$.

EDIT: Sorry for my crappy English, I'm spanish, like Dudex .

[jeroen]

Dumb question: Will this support pal?

[andoba]

Dumb question: Will this support pal?

That is a DVD emulator. It has nothing else. So it supports PAL if your machine is PAL.

EDIT: The board is 3" x 3".

[jeroen]

but doesn't it emulate the copy protection? However for the gamecube side that might just mean a certain memory location being high.

[gannon]

If/when it gets to that point, I'd be willing to get the PCBs made. I only did cost estimates at 3"x3" (76.2mmx76.2mm) with 2 layers though.
Edit: Although, if someone wants to put a big investment into this, they could go the route of getting them made & assembled in china

[TheOnlyOneHeFears]

Wow...this looks like it's really going to happen. It's cool that this has finally come together. Count me in for a PCB!

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

Wow. Very cool, andoba. I'd say we'd be able to find plenty of people to want these. I'd buy a few for $10-20 each.

[Electric Rain]

I think this thing will completely negate the GC's copy protection... I don't even think the GC will know what copy protection is without the DVD drive.

As far as PCBs, well, I'm pretty sure Sparkfun still does them for $2.50 per square inch, no setup fee, no minimums. But, that's still $22.50, now that I think about it. Do you guys think we could make our own PCBs? People do it all the time with the whole laser printer toner method, but it'll probably be hard with skinny SMD traces.

[Metroid fan]

I would soooo pay 22.50 for one of these! It would be really cool if the drive could plug into it too so you would still have all the original features. I hope this get's done.

[Nonsense Man]

Well I would buy a PCB. One question though would we need a modchip to do this??

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

We'd probably need a modchip if we wanted to put more than one game on a card. In order to have more than one, we'd need some sort of game selector, which, as unsigned code, would need a modchip. I'm not sure if you'd need a modchip if you only have one game though.