Sophia Saturn setup

I've been having a sort-out, and for the first time in years I got my Sophia gear out. As I get asked questions on this, I thought I'd take a picture for you all to see a (nearly) complete setup.



The Target Box is in the middle. You could use a Graphics box instead, but would lose some functionality, most notably the CD drive.

To use a Sophia, you'll either need a second SH2 or a E7000 ICE unit. Both are custom Sega versions, so quite hard to find. Here are some old pictures I took for a comparison of the SH2:


Sophia SH2


Retail Saturn SH2

As you can see, they are very different!

On the right of the main picture is the E7000 ICE unit. This links to a pod, which fits inside the Target Box. You can see the Sega pod (left) and the standard Hitachi pod (right) on top of the Target Box.

On the left of the picture are two options for CD emulation - the Cross Mirage and the JVC VCD card.

Other items not in the picture include the software and the (very rare) SCSI cable for connecting a CD emulator.

I didn't include the Target Box or the Sound box, as they're separate items. Oh, and sorry for the backdrop... the kitchen was the easiest place to take the picture!!

I hope this might be of use to someone with their setup!

 

The spare drives actually cost a LOT... more than a retail Saturn IIRC, so I'm guessing its different. I've never really opened the drive up, though, so I'm not too sure. It looks different, though. I would have thought that developers would have tried that it it were possible, and I know that they complained about the poor reliability of the Sophia's drive, so I am very doubtful that it would work.

The pod is indeed different.... I was chasing a PGA adapter for a stock Hitachi one, but it wouldn't have worked anyway! I was very fortunate to get my Saturn pod - thanks again to the supplier ;-)

I only have one Target Box and one Graphics box, but I've been offered a few of each over the years. They're getting harder to find, though, and you're right - you really want to find one that's complete! Getting a pod or chip is otherwise very difficult, as is Sega's software. My setup has parts literally from all over the world (USA, UK, Japan, Hong Kong) and took me about 5 years to acquire. I still need the SCSI cable to get the CD emulation going. Oh, and one of the original dev pads, for completeness ;-)

 

No - when I bought it, it had one SH2 and no pod. I've only recently got the Sega pod and the system was in storage. It is back in storage now, and I won't get a chance to set it up for a while, unfortunately.

 

It's all in storage, I'm afraid.

The ONLY pod that will work is the one that came from Sega. If you buy an E7000 that didn't come from Sega (i.e. still with a dev kit) it will more than likely not have the PGA connector needed. The one on the left is the correct one - the other is a non-Sega.

 

Yup.... like I said, Hitachi made pods for standard applications (the SH2 being a generic processor, not just found in Saturns) that had other connectors. ONLY a PGA connector will work with the Sophia. AND you need the PGA extension, which was only available with the Saturn kit. The others look nothing like a PGA connector - as you can see from my photo.

By the way, their price is laughable. As you'd expect from Weirdstuff.

No, it's not. It's an ultra rare SCSI cable, only used in Japan. Wide SCSI-2 wasn't really used in the early Nineties - not until SCSI-3 came out in 1996 - by which time, the Sophia units were a few years old.

The manufacturer don't make them any more. I have adapters from Japan... and they don't fit. The only manufacturer who have something similar, like the adapters, make them differently and they don't fit. I've got samples galore from loads of sources and none fit.