Dreamcast modding beginner

[Blargaman91]

I am here because I do not know the first thing about a Dreamcast. I am building a portable for a friend but I've never seen the inside of one and I feel it's quite necessary to replace the big disc drive. I don't see answers to my questions on the megasticky or readily available anywhere else, so I'm asking here.

First, how small does Dreamcast motherboard trimming get? Is there a ton of relocation if you want to go small or is it a fairly simple task? I haven't been able to find a whole lot centered on making the Dreamcast small.

I also need to know if there is any way I can get rid of the disc drive. I do not want to have any large disc drive on the back if it's not completely necessary, so is there a way of loading games through SD or something of the sort on the Dreamcast?

 

[gman]

I am here because I do not know the first thing about a Dreamcast. I am building a portable for a friend but I've never seen the inside of one and I feel it's quite necessary to replace the big disc drive. I don't see answers to my questions on the megasticky or readily available anywhere else, so I'm asking here.

First, how small does Dreamcast motherboard trimming get? Is there a ton of relocation if you want to go small or is it a fairly simple task? I haven't been able to find a whole lot centered on making the Dreamcast small.

I also need to know if there is any way I can get rid of the disc drive. I do not want to have any large disc drive on the back if it's not completely necessary, so is there a way of loading games through SD or something of the sort on the Dreamcast?

The dreamcast doesnt get very small and trimming it just a little bit would require a lot of relocations. You can only safely trim the ground edge.

You can use the sd card mod for the dreamcast. he software is called dreamshell and you need a simple sd adapter that you can build or buy. I hear it doesnt work well but its a nice feature to have. I would concentrate on trying to make the disc drive smaller. Good luck.

 

[Abyss]

The reason you don't see a whole lot of Dreamcast portables is because the Dreamcast isn't meant to be a portable. A much more fitting case modification would be to put it into an arcade cabinet.

But that's just like, my opinion man.

 

[Abyss]

Re: Re:

The reason you don't see a whole lot of Dreamcast portables is because the Dreamcast isn't meant to be a portable. I'm pretty sure you still need a disc drive with the SD card mod. A much more fitting case modification would be to put it into an arcade cabinet.

But that's just like, my opinion man.

Edit: I can't into Tapatalk, sorry.

 

[Blargaman91]

I wonder, an arcade cabinet... thst sounds interesting.

gman, are you implying this sd card mod requires no disc drive to be connected, or is it something necessary like on a GameCube?

Also, I've read that there is a Dreamcast mobo with a seperate GD-ROM daughterboard and a mobo with an integrated one. It seems like the mobo with the seperate board would be better trimmable. Is it?

 

[gman]

I dont know if it still needs the disc drive with the sd card mod but i would keep the disc drive anyway since the sd mod isnt reliable. I dont think either mobo is more trimmable but idk.

 

[laingsoft]

The DC doesn't run without the Disk Drive connected. It reads a bunch of signals down an array of pins every few ms. The only way to remove the daughterboard would be to emulate those signals.

As far as the motherboard itself goes, it is pretty complex, and it has 3 layers, so cutting it would be an absolute Sega. It also helps to note that the dreamcast itself is really, REALLY finicky and easy as Heck to fry. You need to remember, the DC is essentially an arcade board that has already been shrunk. IF you did manage to cut it down, I can't see it being all that much, and even then, it would be a first for the forum, if not the world.

My first project was a dreamcast, and I *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ed it really, really hard.

Also the SD card hardly works for day-to-day use, the DC backup community is pretty lame because you can just burn discs.

 

[DuHasst0]

I read somewhere about gdrom emulation similar to the wkf for the gc. I am pretty sure its dead because the dev saw a huge pirating frenzy with the games and scrapped the project. I have a dc I would love to do that to but for now it just sits.