Curious about optical media. And a few other things.

[Tagrineth]

OK, so a few things from IRC right now that I need to resolve.

I'm talking to a "console dev".

I've been told that GameCube GOD's have the TOC on the outside edge of the disc, and that they read from the outside inward.

They also apparently use a standard format, 'Mt. Rainier'.

Then there was another thing...

I heard a little while ago that a small group basically tore up a PC CD-ROM drive and a dead Dreamcast, replaced the PC drive's laser with the Dreamcast's, replaced the voltage regulator, rewrote the firmware, and wrote their own software to have that drive read Dreamcast GD-ROM's.

This console dev claimed that this is IMPOSSIBLE. Is it impossible?

And finally, this part of the argument was resolved in the channel, but he asserted that no consoles use AA or AF. Naturally when I pointed out N64 and Dreamcast, he said no consoles use "Traditional" AA/AF. Snippet:

http://www.bash.cx/?29113

Anyway, I'd just like the questionable bits discussed a bit. Do GOD's read inward or outward? And is it physically possible to "create" a PC GD-ROM drive with enough tenacity?

 

[PC-Engine]

AFAIK the DC's GDROM drive is a regular CDROM drive with custom firmware that allow it to read the higher capacity GDROMs.

 

[jandar]

From what the emu scene has been saying is that the GOD reads the inside first, then moves mid disc, reads some and kinda skips back and forth when first loaded.

Thats been the key thing I think that has blocked copying GOD for now.

 

[darkblu]

And is it physically possible to "create" a PC GD-ROM drive with enough tenacity?

very damn unlikely. it's another matter that some pc drives' mechanics actually *can* read gd-rom disks, and some of those drives have the needed firmware too

 

[London Geezer]

And is it physically possible to "create" a PC GD-ROM drive with enough tenacity?

very damn unlikely. it's another matter that some pc drives' mechanics actually *can* read gd-rom disks, and some of those drives have the needed firmware too

BUT.... if they CAN read them, then what would be the problem?

 

[darkblu]

BUT.... if they CAN read them, then what would be the problem?

they may be able to physically read them but that means squat if the drive's firmware threats a GD-ROM as something the cat dragged in.

there are two sides to reading a disk - the drive must be able to physically seek the track(s) from the beginning to the end, _and_ the firmware should actually make use of that ability. i.e. the first is a prerequisite to the second, but both should be present in order for the data from the disk to actually appear on your cd drive's pheripheral bus.

 

[Tagrineth]

they may be able to physically read them but that means squat if the drive's firmware threats a GD-ROM as something the cat dragged in.

there are two sides to reading a disk - the drive must be able to physically seek the track(s) from the beginning to the end, _and_ the firmware should actually make use of that ability. i.e. the first is a prerequisite to the second, but both should be present in order for the data from the disk to actually appear on your cd drive's pheripheral bus.

I heard a little while ago that a small group basically tore up a PC CD-ROM drive and a dead Dreamcast, replaced the PC drive's laser with the Dreamcast's, replaced the voltage regulator, rewrote the firmware, and wrote their own software to have that drive read Dreamcast GD-ROM's.

 

[London Geezer]

they may be able to physically read them but that means squat if the drive's firmware threats a GD-ROM as something the cat dragged in.

there are two sides to reading a disk - the drive must be able to physically seek the track(s) from the beginning to the end, _and_ the firmware should actually make use of that ability. i.e. the first is a prerequisite to the second, but both should be present in order for the data from the disk to actually appear on your cd drive's pheripheral bus.

I heard a little while ago that a small group basically tore up a PC CD-ROM drive and a dead Dreamcast, replaced the PC drive's laser with the Dreamcast's, replaced the voltage regulator, rewrote the firmware, and wrote their own software to have that drive read Dreamcast GD-ROM's.

thats it....

beats me as to WHY someone would want to do such thing, but hey thats what geeks are there for...

 

[Reznor007]

Why? For Dreamcast/Naomi GD-ROM emulation using original discs. And yes, there is a Dreamcast emulator that works surprisingly well. No public release yet though.

http://icarus.boob.co.uk

 

[Fox5]

Wouldn't it be easier just to hook a dreamcast up to a computer through a serial port, rather than ripping the dreamcast apart?

BTW, wasn't there some Yamaha drive that could read and copy dreamcast discs? I believe yamaha made the dreamcast drive...

 

[darkblu]

they may be able to physically read them but that means squat if the drive's firmware threats a GD-ROM as something the cat dragged in.

there are two sides to reading a disk - the drive must be able to physically seek the track(s) from the beginning to the end, _and_ the firmware should actually make use of that ability. i.e. the first is a prerequisite to the second, but both should be present in order for the data from the disk to actually appear on your cd drive's pheripheral bus.

I heard a little while ago that a small group basically tore up a PC CD-ROM drive and a dead Dreamcast, replaced the PC drive's laser with the Dreamcast's, replaced the voltage regulator, rewrote the firmware, and wrote their own software to have that drive read Dreamcast GD-ROM's.

tag, above post of mine was in reply to london-boy, not your original question.

my original reply to your original question was saying that a hackers group 'boosting up' a drive's mechanics under 'garage conditions' (so said drive would be eventually able to phisically seek GD-ROM tracks) is very damn unlikely, and i still stay behind my words.

what casual, 'fab-less' indivuduals can do, though, is to take a drive which is known a priori to have GD-ROM-capable mechanics but is just being short of proper firmware, and flash the firmware of said drive with one of a compatible-enough (tm) device known to handle GD-ROM drives. but that's as far as educated hackers can go, unless the guys are the original designers of the drive under consideration, or otherwise engineers heavily involved in the original development of the device, and have the proper equipment available, of course.

 

[Simon F]

Why? For Dreamcast/Naomi GD-ROM emulation using original discs. And yes, there is a Dreamcast emulator that works surprisingly well.

I wonder how they are doing the per-pixel translucency sorting?

 

[Reznor007]

Why? For Dreamcast/Naomi GD-ROM emulation using original discs. And yes, there is a Dreamcast emulator that works surprisingly well.

I wonder how they are doing the per-pixel translucency sorting?

No clue, but if you ask on their forum I'm sure they'd give info about it.