Dreamcast ETX ?

[PhiseJr]

I know there wasnt a way to make a BBA for the dreamcast. And i heard of people trying to change or modify the RAM on the dreamcast. And some say that they suceeded with that.

My question: is it possible to update ram like an expansion. like the sega saturn had expandable ram via the Cartridge slot. Maybe we can access the Dreamcast PCI like port to add some expansions ?

Just a thought

[Alec1382]

Thinking back to the N64's expansion pack, the N64 was designed to natively go to the expansion slot for RAM. The only reason it was functional without it was because the jumper pack was there essentially to reroute the information back to the inbuilt RAM. I imagine the Saturn is built in a similar way. The Dreamcast, however, does not send information to the expansion port for RAM. Instead, since the system was never designed for such a peripheral, the information goes straight to the inbuilt RAM. Basically, what I'm saying is that the Dreamcast's EXT port isn't designed for a RAM expansion.

[PhiseJr]

So the way of transfering data is the only way possible from the Dreamcast expansion ? im just brainstorming here. Maybe there can be a way to access data from that port without a LAN/BBA ?

think thats possible ?

[Alec1382]

People have already created SD card readers for the EXT port, and they're fully functional. You can even boot from the SD card.

[PhiseJr]

maybe im mentioning the wrong port. The Modem Expension port not the Serial Port is what i'm talking about. I know about the SD cards. Im just thinking about an expansion or something of the like. I know theres one guy making a GDROM emulator.

The gamecube has a HDD through its Memory card slot.


just thinking up somethings

[Alec1382]

That's a little more plausible, seeing as how the Karaoke unit and zip drive would connect through the modem port. Not sure though.

[PhiseJr]

That's a little more plausible, seeing as how the Karaoke unit and zip drive would connect through the modem port. Not sure though.

Being that the Extension Port on the dreamcast is able to transfer Data much quicker than any other port or the Dreamcast GD rom. Maybe that's the key to getting a Ram Upgrade not just plug and play but maybe thought Dreamshell since it can flash the bios. Maybe this can be a way to have a "Hardware Accelerator" RAM, VRAM, CPU? I'm thinking of a way for the dreamcast to improve on homebrew. If there's one thing that's hindering us is definitely the BBA if the BBA is available we could definitely help the community out MUCH more.

[BlueCrab]

You really wouldn't want any sort of expansion that is in constant use sitting on the bus that the expansion port uses. The bus itself is flaky as hell, and very picky about how things go across it. Not to mention how god-awful slow it is in comparison to the CPU-HOLLY bus (HOLLY is the ASIC that contains the PVR and a bunch of other logic... in case you aren't familiar with it). Oh yeah, and anything that does go out on that bus has to go through HOLLY as well.

Basically, unless you put a whole separate system on the other side of the expansion port, its pretty much useless. If you're going to do that anyway, why would you want to saddle the Dreamcast to the side of it? Sure, its an interesting EE project, but it serves pretty much no purpose, unfortunately. At that point, you wouldn't even really be able to call the monstrosity a Dreamcast anymore.

[PhiseJr]

Yeah im just thinking in to have a much "easier" time developing

[PhiseJr]

Yeah im just thinking in to have a much "easier" time developing

Maybe we can make a More OpenSource Console ? thats upgradable ?