Porting Flatmii to the Gamecube?

Atari

Atari

Active Member
I know there have been some attempts in the past to make a Hard Drive interface for the Gamecube, such as this one:
http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=18006
However, they all seem to be ill fated.
I also know that there is this thing called Flatmii for the Wii, and it seems to be all I've hoped for, except that it is not compatible with the Gamecube.
So here's my question: would porting it be possible?
 
No.

It's basic function is incredibly different than what would be necessary for the Gamecube.
Essentially no current-gen Wii Modchip could be used on the Gamecube, even with extensive modification.
(Current-Gen as in most of the current Solder-Free modchips, many of which support harddrives.)
The Wii and Gamecube are extremely different, despite what many people say.
 
Right. Do you think Electric Rain's board design would work then? I don't think one was ever populated. And I kind of figured Flatmii would not work. But if it did, then it would probably be the easiest way. I just like Flatmii. It's great.
 
Dunno, it's been quite some time since ER has touched this project, I haven't the slightest clue how close he got.

There are, of course, other Modchips for the gamecube, none with HDD capabilities that I know of though.

The Gamecube was somewhat of an oddity, in that, there were many, many variations of the devkits.
There were at least 5, that I know of, of radically different design.
One of them, was basically just a Gamecube with a harddrive shoved in the top.
They put the HDD's into plastic cases, and it was simply inserted into the top of the Gamecube Devkit.
People have taken these apart before, and shown that they're "relatively" simple, and in fact, did emulate the DVD Drive.
That is to say, the Gamecube itself was essentially stock.

If someone were so inclined, it would be possible to reproduce this hardware, and fit it onto a Gamecube, if you really wanted to.
 
You can cut down a Wii motherboard to very, very near GC motherboard sizes. Smaller width wise, in fact.

Now that you can buy one with a broken Disc Drive on eBay for like $70, making a GC ISO reader does not make much sense.

ER was building the hardware to interface with a loader someone wrote years ago who disappeared off the internet. Nobody ever showed it working, and the software side working properly was all just hope, I think. I am likely wrong, but that was my impression.

Oh, and the FlatMii is nice, but not good for portables, I have one, it needs to stream from a computer. Look into the SunDriver, SunDisk, Wiikey Fusion, and WODE Jukebox, those are all neat.
 
PalmerTech said:
You can cut down a Wii motherboard to very, very near GC motherboard sizes. Smaller width wise, in fact.
Click to expand...
With how much difficulty? I have a Wii mobo laying around and it is nowhere near the size of the GC mobo. I assume with a lot of rewiring you could cut it down in theory, but in practice I don't know of anybody who has accomplished it on the 'net. Prove me wrong, there is probably something out there.

PalmerTech said:
Now that you can buy one with a broken Disc Drive on eBay for like $70, making a GC ISO reader does not make much sense.
Click to expand...
Does it not make sense? Because the Gamecube is more readily available than the Wii? I had not thought of the broken disk drive ones before, though. I should look into that.

PalmerTech said:
ER was building the hardware to interface with a loader someone wrote years ago who disappeared off the internet. Nobody ever showed it working, and the software side working properly was all just hope, I think. I am likely wrong, but that was my impression.
Click to expand...
I had a similar impression. That is why I was more interested in the Flatmii port.

PalmerTech said:
Oh, and the FlatMii is nice, but not good for portables, I have one, it needs to stream from a computer. Look into the SunDriver, SunDisk, Wiikey Fusion, and WODE Jukebox, those are all neat.
Click to expand...
I have heard of Sundriver, but have not tested it out. Thanks.
@ Jleemero, thanks for the info as well.
 
Just throwing it out there, what about that SD Gecko thing for the Gamecube. Can't it boot backups from an SD card? Eliminating the need for the disk drive?
 
michael_0u812 said:
Just throwing it out there, what about that SD Gecko thing for the Gamecube. Can't it boot backups from an SD card? Eliminating the need for the disk drive?
Click to expand...
ISO emulation only works for a select few games under the SD gecko interface. I think the compatibility list includes 5 or so games. The Gecko is used primarily for homebrew purposes.
 
You can actually replace the gamecubes drive with the Wii's drive. The firmware for the drives is nearly identical, you just need a way of communicating the two (not difficult if you have the tools) However, for portable purposes the size would be too big since it pretty much requires an FPGA to do the talking.

SD Gecko runs in memory card port. That ports bandwidth and speed is too low to support most commercial games.
 
Yeah, the issue was never "can it be done?", it is "Would it make sense to do?".

To answer your questions:

1. As far as I/everyone else here knows, I am the only guy with a cut down Wii motherboard. :p I have show it off on a few ModRetro videochat sessions, still getting around to taking proper pics. You can cut off a lot, and if you only need GC, boy can you get small! No need for bluetooth, wifi, SD, and all that, and the Wii lacks a hardware check at boot for those. :) Power and eject buttons, you say? Traced those all the way back. :)

2. The GC is more available, sure... But remember, we are a very, very niche hobby, and nobody really cares about making a GC loader anymore. The driving force behind the Wii disc drive emulation hardware is piracy, and the massive amount of people who want to buy them. There is just no way any company will come out with a GC disc drive replacement at this point, especially when the Wii plays GC games. So that leaves us to homebrew solutions, which are just not practical. Even the thing ER was making was going to cost at LEAST $100 or so, if I remember correctly, and it cannot get much better than that for the low number of units we need. In that case, it sadly does make more sense to just cut down a slightly more expensive Wii.
 
This is all understandable.
Well, for the Wii, then, which (in your opinion) is the best modchip capable of addressing a Hard Drive for portables (in terms of size, power consumption and the lot)? Also, how much more does the Wii consume (Amps please, but Watts are fine) than the Gamecube? I imagine even with the Wifi and Bluetooth removed, the higher clock speed of the PowerPC in the Wii comes at a price.
Thanks for your help everybody. (especially PalmerTech and Jleemero)

And yes, Mako, I am as well waiting for those board scans. I wish to get it the same size as the Gamecube motherboard. Large portables are horrific.

...Or maybe I could help trace them. PalmerTech, do you have an extra Wii laying around?
 
Currently, the SunDriver is the best option. The WiiKey Fusion, when it comes out, will also be great (Uses SD cards!).

Me and Tchay are working on getting actual Wii power measurements down. It varies a LOT depending on what it is doing, but you can count on it being less than 2 amps at 11.1v no matter what.

Check out the modern consoles section, and check out some of the threads me and Tchay have posted, there is lots of info in them. Tchay has been sanding down the Wii, it has multiple layers, so scanning it means you need to sand them down one by one.

Especially check the later pics in my "WiiBoy" thread, as you can see, a Wii/GC portable does not have to be huge. ;) I have no spare Wii mobos, in fact, I am buying another one tomorrow to experiment with. :)
 
I have looked at them already. To be honest, I find real information lacking or nonexistent. But the board scans are nice. In regards to the board scans thread, that is. Sorry, that statement was rather vague.
 
Atari said:
real information lacking or nonexistent
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much. :p

Nobody has really done much with the Wii yet, I think this year will see a lot of new documentation on it. Tchay is gone for another week or so, but once he comes back, we will be rolling again! :)
 
As long as I can keep my wii working, I'm up for helping. It's already disassembled behind me. (And, I think I'm the only guy on the site with a sundriver :p)
 
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