Saturn CD Block ROM dumped

Precisely. Feasible in theory, but it'd be a tremendous effort; you'd have to route all the high-speed signals all the way over the card, find an appropriate connector (and I've looked, they are not easy to find), add a bunch of gating logic - and leave a fragile connector with a cantilevered card hanging out the back of the console. Not even a little bit tempting for the incremental functionality.

 

I was thinking of cannibalizing the cd-block card on va0 units to get a connector. But yeah, the only reason to even get it working would be because "someone said it isn't possible".

Also,

you learn a new word every day.

 

jhl, it's great to see a progress update. Looking forward to what you come up with!

 

This project is really cool. I would love to get one of these.

 

This sounds awesome. I'll be excited to see this released. From when you first talked about your project using the MPEG card slot I thought it was a better idea than the others we have seen so far.

 

Been away for awhile, and was hoping for an update on this thread, was pleasantly surprised!

I'm down for ordering the first shipment of these cards, because its an MPEG card solution no need to worry about the model of Saturn? I'd assume based on what I've read in the past that it'd still be region locked though (much like the GDEMU is in the sense that it will act as a true drive emulator and make no attempt to do any region patching). I've love to get a Skeleton Saturn with one of your cards assuming some solution existed to play US games.

 

Correct. It will work on all release Saturns - at least those with an MPEG slot of course.

I have incorporated the region patcher that I wrote for Pseudo Saturn into the menu's discbooter, so it is in fact region free. The actual underlying drive emulation doesn't do any disc patching since only the BIOS checks afaik.

Edit: just to clarify the process - normally the BIOS loads and checks the disc header before executing the IP, which causes the game to boot. The discbooter I wrote for PS feeds the BIOS a patched disc header with the local region wired in, so it accepts and boots it in the normal way - even though the (emulated or real) disc header remains with the the wrong region.

 

This is great news! I'll start my hunt for a Skeleton Saturn.

I LOVE the styling of those, I wish they'd do more OEM Consoles like this. The N64 and Original Xbox are the only other home consoles (not counting handhelds) are the only other ones I can think of that had an official "clear case" design.

I'll assume its the Valve Time "When its Done" as far as a release goes, I'll keep checking back regularly, thanks jhl!

 

My white jap Saturn and I are waiting for this card.
Excellent effort!

 

Hey jhl, any updates to offer after 6 months?

 

Well, I submitted my PhD and got a real job! So I'll be Dr. jhl shortly. In the mean time I've been getting to grips with spending 40+ hours of every week working; I'm finally starting to find my balance.

This project hasn't moved much in the last couple of months. It boots games and has a nice menu; I demoed it at the Sydney Mini Maker Faire last year. There are approximately three major things to complete before I can release it: redbook audio, firmware updates, and a production PCB. I'll be getting back to those very soon.

 

Congratulations, Doc!

 

Congratulations on your PhD!

 

Great to hear that this project is still alive and congratulations! I look forward to the opportunity to purchase one of these from you

 

congrats!

 

I know I've mentioned how there will be direct filesystem access from within Saturn software. Well, I've decided it's time to open up the beta menu software, along with a fork of Yabause that emulates the new card. Here it is:
https://github.com/abrasive/satisfier
https://github.com/abrasive/satisfier-yabause

As of several months ago, this menu boots real games on real hardware. It's ugly but it works.

And yes, I am going to change the name from Saturn Satisfier once I think of something better

 

Good stuff, my dear engineer.It's gonna be an exciting fight between your device and Deunan one although approachi is different.You engineered your device in a way similar to PSIO.

 

It looks to me this device will be compatible with all Saturns? If thats the case this would be better, depending on compatibility though. You can swap it between Saturns of any model by pulling out the card and plugging it in another (plug n play)?

I would love to get this device or two of them. Will there be a waiting list for these? Prepayment? I'm serious.

 

Yes, except the ones without an MPEG slot!

That was part of the reason for doing it this way and not through the cart port - the original CD block code is still running so it should be 100%.

Sure, it just plugs in. I'd also like to do an internal installation kit where you replace the CD drive with a 2.5" hard drive... at the very least there will be an official guide on how to mod it that way.

Not until the final hardware is ready (or very close to).

One lesson I've learned from watching other retro HW projects is that taking people's money before you have product to ship is a double-edged sword and it often cuts the wrong way. Lots of buyers get burnt, of course, and from my end I don't want to be under time pressure to ship hardware - that gets the wrong compromises made. I want to make my dream hardware first. When I finally get done, there will be enough for everybody, I can assure you

 

+1
I prefered to give proto carts to beta testers rather than being told "I paid for this. Hurry up to fix everything !"

What is the magic you're using to assemble your cartridges ?!?
On my side, I'm assembling and testing everything here while debugging firmware and while doing real life things (work, family, etc), so I can assure I won't produce enough carts for everybody.
(Don't worry, I don't plan to compete with you ^^ I don't have the skills to copy your project (and I won't do it even if I had theses skills), and our projects are complemntary (ODE vs memory cartridge).)