Dreamcast-Talk.com

dave_van_damn wrote:Does this improve compatibility with the serial SD adapter?

Man, the serial adapter will never have good compatibility. The interface isn't high bandwidth enough to even stream all the audio let alone play full speed on the majority of larger titles. You should give up hope now of that thing ever working full speed. I gave up hope in 2011 and moved on. I am a much happier person now for it lol. Although I do use a GDEMU now, I would seriously love to have an IDE modded console as well. Dreamshell is an amazing piece of software.

Anthony817 wrote:

dave_van_damn wrote:Does this improve compatibility with the serial SD adapter?

Man, the serial adapter will never have good compatibility. The interface isn't high bandwidth enough to even stream all the audio let alone play full speed on the majority of larger titles. You should give up hope now of that thing ever working full speed. I gave up hope in 2011 and moved on. I am a much happier person now for it lol. Although I do use a GDEMU now, I would seriously love to have an IDE modded console as well. Dreamshell is an amazing piece of software.

Haha, yeah I know - I'm clinging onto the SD for as long as I can! Honestly the speed doesn't bother me as usually the game play is unaffected. BUT I *do* need to move on - I just dunno what to get...GDEMU? IDE? Anything else?

It is all up to you and what you prefer. Now that Dreamshell and the IDE mod is pretty damn much nigh 100% compatible, I can't recommend it enough. If you are great with soldering irons, I would wholeheartedly recommend the IDE mod and Dreamshell. If you just want an affordable cheapish plug and play solution, then GDEMU can't be beat, it is what I have and absolutely LOVE it. It has way better interface than the USB-GDROM. Although that device is rated for up to a 2tb hard limit, the GDEMU has definitely been tested successfully with 512mb SD cards. I personally use a 128gb micro SD card with adapter. You will be able to have no moving parts and a super compact easily portable system with the GDEMU for sure.

Although with some adapters or a USB flash device you can also have solid state flash based storage on the other 2 methods as well. So if you are deeply invested in Dreamshell and can solder well, for pretty cheap you can get the mod up and running, but if you are like me and have a hard time with soldering get the GDEMU. I don't really see any benefits with the USB-GDrOM other than the 2tb storage capability, but the GDEMU has consistently worked with every size card produced. I see no reason why it wouldn't also work with a 1tb+ card.

If 128GB cards work, then 2TB cards will also work, because the SDXC specification covers 64GB - 2TB SD cards. I doubt GDEMU supports SDUC cards for > 2TB capacity, but you probably don't need a card that big.

pcwzrd13 wrote:

dave_van_damn wrote:Does this improve compatibility with the serial SD adapter?

No, it's for IDE only.

https://youtu.be/j16_kpqFXWw @ 2:05

He talks about your stuffs

Anthony817 wrote:It is all up to you and what you prefer. Now that Dreamshell and the IDE mod is pretty damn much nigh 100% compatible, I can't recommend it enough. If you are great with soldering irons, I would wholeheartedly recommend the IDE mod and Dreamshell. If you just want an affordable cheapish plug and play solution, then GDEMU can't be beat, it is what I have and absolutely LOVE it. It has way better interface than the USB-GDROM. Although that device is rated for up to a 2tb hard limit, the GDEMU has definitely been tested successfully with 512mb SD cards. I personally use a 128gb micro SD card with adapter. You will be able to have no moving parts and a super compact easily portable system with the GDEMU for sure.

Although with some adapters or a USB flash device you can also have solid state flash based storage on the other 2 methods as well. So if you are deeply invested in Dreamshell and can solder well, for pretty cheap you can get the mod up and running, but if you are like me and have a hard time with soldering get the GDEMU. I don't really see any benefits with the USB-GDrOM other than the 2tb storage capability, but the GDEMU has consistently worked with every size card produced. I see no reason why it wouldn't also work with a 1tb+ card.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I think I'll go with the GDEMU as my soldering skills are limited at best! Are the Chinese GDEMUs reliable or crap?

I been using mine since August of last year, it has been pretty reliable for me besides a few issues I had to take care of like incompatible SD cards and I recently cleaned the contacts on my PSU pins just last night due to slow Dreamcast Bios jingle, This is due to 20 years of oxidization on the pins, so a quick dear down and some light sanding to the pins et voila...

So the issues I had wasn't due to the GDEMU being a clone, just due to it not getting a good enough connection. I am quite happy with my clone, and seriously can't recommend it enough.

Can you tell which firmware the clones are running?

Aleron Ives wrote:Can you tell which firmware the clones are running?

I think they are one version old. Version 1.5 I think.. whoever has a clone should be able to see the version from the menu.

If you plan to do the DCHdmi mod and you use a clone board you will need to replace the crystal on the board as its apparently the wrong one.

I still recommend USB Gdrom as the best option Its compatible with VA0 dreamcasts and D2 disc swapping always works. All gamed except for bleem work with it too.

Yeah, but think about all those poor Dreamcasts who gave their lives to make USB-GDROMs. ;(