Chankast and Images

[Aceldamor]

I'm a big fan of what I've read of Chankast, but I can't test it because I can't manage to make my own bootable ISO files from my DC games...

Is there a was to make an image from a DVDRW drive? I've read you can and you can't. Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks


Mods: If this post is inapropriate (sp?), I apologize. Please delete if it can potentially break rules of posting.

Thanks again

[Lilwolf]

I never tried... I heard it was a pain in the butt..

but if you download an bootable image (one you already own I'm assuming)... then use alcohol 120% to burn it... It will work.

you can also just use the image and daemon tools are alcohol 120 to test the iso before burning.

[pointdablame]

Making an image of a dreamcast game is a very difficult process.  When I wanted to make copies of my games to take with me to college, I had to resort to downloading images as was mentioned.  As far as I know, properly extracting an image takes at least a bit of specialized equipment, although that may have changed in the 2 years since I have tried.  It may be possible to make one nowadays, but you would have to break through the GDROM's file structure.

As you probably know, a dreamcast game has an audio file, then a physical break in the burning process, followed by all of the game data.  Last time I checked, no PC optical drives could read the discs natively.  Hope that helps a little, and if anyone has tried this more recently and can debunk my claims, please do, because I was actually recently wondering if this had gotten any easier.  Finding working images online is such a pain, I'd much rather deal with my actual copy of the game.

[Generic Eric]

Man...as much as i would like to get into this conversation...  I feel it safe to talk about principles...

Principly you are faced with the issue of the GD ROM, and the GDROM reader <-- The disc drive.
No matter what drive you have...cd, cdr, cdrw, dvd, dvdr etc... unless they are GDROM readers, your pc won't be able to read the data.

Having said that...
You are left with finding away to make your PC communicate with the Dreamcast.

[Howard_Casto]

That's not necessarily true.  In theory at least, dvdroms have the ability to read the discs.  

The problem is special software/drivers will have to be written to skip the physical break and then piece the data back together.  At this time nobody with intimate knowledge of how a dvdrom drive reads data has stepped up to make it work.  I see it happening eventually though.  

[Generic Eric]

It would be a boon for me to be wrong, but I hadn't heard that before.

it sounds like good news.

[rchadd]

Is it possible to take a GDROM drive out of an old dreamcast machine and interface it directly to a PC?

[Snarbald]

I think there was some kind of serial cable that went from a dreamcast to a pc that was used to make the copies. If I recall, it was a very slow process though and would take more than a day for one disc.

[Minwah]

I think there was some kind of serial cable that went from a dreamcast to a pc that was used to make the copies. If I recall, it was a very slow process though and would take more than a day for one disc.

http://mc.pp.se/dc/serifc.html

I believe it takes 1 day for 1GB to be transferred...cable doesn't look too difficult to make tho...

[Generic Eric]

Is it possible to take a GDROM drive out of an old dreamcast machine and interface it directly to a PC?

depends on if the drive has an ide eide interface...i don't know, but that info should be on the 'net...

also, it would need special drivers as howard suggested

[Minwah]

depends on if the drive has an ide eide interface...i don't know, but that info should be on the 'net...

also, it would need special drivers as howard suggested

Making the lead and spending a week or two transferring the games would be easier, IMO...

[Generic Eric]

depends on if the drive has an ide eide interface...i don't know, but that info should be on the 'net...

also, it would need special drivers as howard suggested

Making the lead and spending a week or two transferring the games would be easier, IMO...

it sure would...

It occured to me earlier, with the much sought after broadband adapter, can this process be sped up?

[MadEditor]

depends on if the drive has an ide eide interface...i don't know, but that info should be on the 'net...

also, it would need special drivers as howard suggested

Making the lead and spending a week or two transferring the games would be easier, IMO...

it sure would...

It occured to me earlier, with the much sought after broadband adapter, can this process be sped up?

I think that's the way... using the braodband adapter, the problem is finding it ...

[sc1103]

Broadband adaptors are incredibly hard to find...check ebay periodically.  Also, I believe that Sega's Japan website sells a few, or at least they did when I was looking for one.  Biggest problem is $$$ after you find one tho.  I have talked to several people who have created their own ISOs and the serial cable is the best option and somewhere on the internet there is software for doing so, try http://www.dchomebrew.org/

[DeathMonk]

That's not necessarily true.  In theory at least, dvdroms have the ability to read the discs.  

The problem is special software/drivers will have to be written to skip the physical break and then piece the data back together.  At this time nobody with intimate knowledge of how a dvdrom drive reads data has stepped up to make it work.  I see it happening eventually though.  

I have a feeling it might come from someone in the Chankast team or someone who wants to help them out.

[Howard_Casto]

Is it possible to take a GDROM drive out of an old dreamcast machine and interface it directly to a PC?

For the record and only for the record.  NO

The dc doesn't use ide communication, it doesn't even use scsi communication.  It uses some odd serial protocol.  Short of making a pci interface card it'll NEVER work.  

[Lilwolf]

And someone already wrote a gdrom driver... but for the 'other' dreamcast emulator that isn't released...

[Alucard90]

all my broadband adapter came with was newest browser disc

[Lilwolf]

How people are ripping them (I believe... haven't done research for a while) is to copy the gdrom through the network adapter to a pc.

I guess you could do it with the dialup modem on the dreamcast... but it might take a week to download a full gdrom to the pc.

You still need the software to copy it.  

[Howard_Casto]

And someone already wrote a gdrom driver... but for the 'other' dreamcast emulator that isn't released...

Yeah which is dumb....

I know first hand that developers are protective of their works, but come on. The fact of the matter is, other dc emus have been a "w.i.p" for years now... chankast has been in development a whole 3 months and is already running.  The developers of these "other" emus should suck it up and start contributing to chankast in any way they can.  The gdrom driver would be a big help.  

[Aceldamor]

Well....I've looked around and checked the sites mentioned here and it's too much of a pain in the arse to make my own images....which is a bummer

MvsC2, SF3, JoJo's, and others would have been a great add to my cab.

[Generic Eric]

depends on if the drive has an ide eide interface...i don't know, but that info should be on the 'net...

also, it would need special drivers as howard suggested

Making the lead and spending a week or two transferring the games would be easier, IMO...

it sure would...

It occured to me earlier, with the much sought after broadband adapter, can this process be sped up?

I think that's the way... using the braodband adapter, the problem is finding it ...

I had posted, and quickly removed this link to an auction where the BBA sold for $122.50.   I put a couple of bids in for it, but I imagine this guys max was fairly high.