Hacking a dreamcast

[Lilwolf]

Ok, finally have my dreamcast in a standup cabinet (it was in a sitdown driving cabinet... until... I...sniff...gaveitaway...)

Anyway.. Now I'm considering hacking the dreamcast itself and wondering who has done what.  Now that they are so cheap... I don't mind killing one here or there either.

The ideas.

1) Moving the power and reset buttons to the outside of the cabinet.  Doable?

2) mounting it on its side so that the CD is facing out.  So open the coin door and there is a spinning CD.  And try and have the coin door trigger the top is open / close.  Anyone?

3) Removing the top lid.  I will have the coindoor for that. 

I really never heard of anyone spending time hacking the dreamcase case itself and didn't know if I am just throwing away money.

Thanks!

[pmc]

I've seen websites that get into modding the DC. I remember replacement cases, modified LEDs, and overclocked DCs. you'll have to search around as I cannot recall where to look. Probably lots to play with there.

[Hiub1]

That's mine. The power button should be a breeze to hack, just solder the 2 wires to an arcade button and that should be it. I have removed the case, and used the holes at the bottom of the DC to mount it to the side of my cab. I had to tape down the little thing that tells the DC the door is closed but that is about it.

[Sephroth57]

thats cool as hell, easier to swap games too dont even need to open the lid! i think im gonna do that to mine, any tutorials you used or is it pretty easy to decase, ive changed the case on my PS2 and it was only like 8 screws

[Edgedamage]

That's mine. The power button should be a breeze to hack, just solder the 2 wires to an arcade button and that should be it. I have removed the case, and used the holes at the bottom of the DC to mount it to the side of my cab. I had to tape down the little thing that tells the DC the door is closed but that is about it.

Very cool setup. I wish someone could hook up a hard drive to a deramcast and make the system think it is a optical drive.

[Sephroth57]

that would be awesome, im assuming thats possible really cause PS2 has that HD loader thing?

[mnm1200]

http://hw001.gate01.com/ikehara/dc/dcwdc.html

I'm sure since there is a DC deleloper's set, you could make the HDD work with it

[Hiub1]

All I did was take out the top case, find screws long enough and secured it to the side of the cab using screws. Other than that, I found the little pin that tells the DC if the lid is open or closed and taped it down. Works like a charm, and looks plain cool

[PacManFan]

I'm waiting for DC to arrive in the mail. I plan on making it into a  portable system. and shoving Linux and a bunch of emualtors into it.

As a  final touch, I'm building the IDE interface and upgrading the BIOS with a flash chip version to boot from the HD.

I'll post some pic's after I'm done. My custom made Playstation portable is about 95% done at this point now.

-PMF

[Hiub1]

Could you give us some more info on the HD setup? will it load games from the HD, or just apps?

Thanks, Fred.

[Dave_K.]

I'm waiting for DC to arrive in the mail. I plan on making it into a  portable system. and shoving Linux and a bunch of emualtors into it.

As a  final touch, I'm building the IDE interface and upgrading the BIOS with a flash chip version to boot from the HD.

I'll post some pic's after I'm done. My custom made Playstation portable is about 95% done at this point now.

-PMF

FYI Linux is dog slow on the DC...not sure what you expect to be doing there.  MameD only supports a handfull of games at full framerate with sound.  As for the IDE interface, I only herd of one guy getting that wired up, and he wasn't going to help people outside of posting the schematic and parts list.  Unless you are a strong EE major, thats going to be one tough project.  Lastly, I've never herd of any bios hack that allows you to use the HD.  So far, you would only be able to use the ide device under linux (so don't think you'll be able to use it like HDhoader for PS2)...

[PacManFan]

Ultimately, My goal is to have the DC boot from a built-in HD, and let the user select a Game to play on the HD from a FrontEnd. Linux on a DC is NOT Dog-Slow. It's fast enough to support lot's of differant EMU's so far, and yes, I am an EE major, so I know what I'm getting myself into as far as re-flashing the BIOS.

Instead of building the IDE interface through the parallel  expansion port, I intend on it being a replacement for the GDRom drive. The GDRom drive already works through an IDE interface, so if I replace it with a laptop HD, I may not even need to re-flash the BIOS.

MY Dreamcast arrived yesterday, and I've already got Linux up and running on it with several EMU's.

Ultimately, my goal is to create ahandheld unit that can play several pre-loaded games on it with no attached GDRom. The NAOMI hardware works in a simular way by pre-loading the games into ram, so they don't access the GDRom after booting the machine.

-PMF

[Hiub1]

Man, when you got all that figured out and you want to make some cash, I will ship my DC to you or you can give me some instructions on how to do this. I would be VERY interested in doing something like this. I am guessing is that since the GD rom already works through an IDE interface, all that would be needed would be some sort of software to interact between the DC and the hard drive. Also, in what format would the images have to be in order for the DC to recognize them? I am guessing it would all have to be raw data from the GD Rom.

This sounds really interesting, let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

[Dave_K.]

Ultimately, My goal is to have the DC boot from a built-in HD, and let the user select a Game to play on the HD from a FrontEnd. Linux on a DC is NOT Dog-Slow. It's fast enough to support lot's of differant EMU's so far, and yes, I am an EE major, so I know what I'm getting myself into as far as re-flashing the BIOS.

I know this has been an elusive goal for many (even the best of the DC hacking scene) for such a long time...so excuse my skepticism.  But I do hope you succeed, so please keep us informed of your progress.

[Trimoor]

As far as I know, the GD-rom is not IDE.  I believe it is proprietary.  If you do attach a HDD, you will need to flash the bios in order to select a game.

Sega would be wise to release a HDD kit.

Hacking the power switch is not as simple as it seems.  It is a push-on push-off button that switches the AC mains.  Not something you want running to a pushbutton.  It would easier (and do nearly the exact same thing) to use a switched outlet for the power cord and leave the power button on.

You can extend the open/closed switch easily.  Wire it in parallel across the original switch, and have a second switch that the coin door hits.

You might want to leave the case on.  It improves air circulation and heat dissipation.  You can leave the lid open (or off) if you hack the switch.

[Lilwolf]

I now have everything the way I want it (temp that is)...  With the dreamcast just inside.

If I do anything else it will be to replace the case with wood so only the cd is showing... Then build it at the bottom of a box... that is the only then you see when you compen the coin door.  So you open it up... and there is where you plug in the GD in.  But since its not really required... I will probably put it off for a bit. 

I love the idea... but I found last weekend spending time playing games instead of cracking open the case. 

[kujina]

Ultimately, My goal is to have the DC boot from a built-in HD, and let the user select a Game to play on the HD from a FrontEnd. Linux on a DC is NOT Dog-Slow. It's fast enough to support lot's of differant EMU's so far, and yes, I am an EE major, so I know what I'm getting myself into as far as re-flashing the BIOS.

Instead of building the IDE interface through the parallel