Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Support forum for the IDE to EXI adapter
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FoxxOTG
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Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by FoxxOTG » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:04 am

Well the topic asks it all. I am an avid hardware hacker and always loved mucking about with my game consoles. I have a few spare Cubes' I would like to dust off and play around with. My in-use GC Is pimped out with a ViperGC Extreme with USB expansion. I dont think my memory serves me correctly but shouldn't it be possible to hook the IDE-EXI into the "BBA" socket under the GC, much like the USB EXI interface the ViperGC offers? If it is just a matter of PCB design, or if someone can point me in the direction of needed details via schematic I can likely whip something up and even make some in-home prototypes to test out before any beta/final designs are contemplated for release. Mind you I will be doing my own PCB etching, not an out-sourced bulk order. But if they work I am always fond of open-source so the PCB files should also be made open to the public same as the IDE-EXI.

If this is possible it would be nice to have something like a GBA Player that mounts under the GC that can host a hard drive and the supporting hardware, both PSU for the drive, perhaps fan for minor cooling, and the IDE-EXI
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by emu_kidid » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:26 am

FoxxOTG, it's 100% possible and that's in fact how the original design worked. Lookup the GC Serial Port 1 vs Memory card port pinout, it's identical apart from serial port 1 offering 12v too (quite handy for a IDE HDD ;))

hardware wise you'd be fine, I'd just need to add support (very easy) to Swiss to read from the device in that slot.
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by liquitt » Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:04 pm

...i have a feeling thats it good to have you here on these forums ;)
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by FoxxOTG » Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:51 am

Thanks liquitt. Its a bit of a surprise to me, I have helped Emu_ back in the day beta testing some of his work. Its nice to see familiar names I have fond memories of. Love working with stuff like this. I admit I lack in the coding department but I make up for it with hardware ability. Life is hectic right now but I have something new to get some seed money for. Making a BBA style IDE-EXI and maybe even one for the never-used port under the cube. A few people on IRC expressed an interest in that, I hope to iron out some time and expenses to get that started. I likely wont post to the forums much unless I have something positive to report though.
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by liquitt » Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:16 pm

FoxxOTG wrote:Thanks liquitt. Its a bit of a surprise to me, I have helped Emu_ back in the day beta testing some of his work. Its nice to see familiar names I have fond memories of. Love working with stuff like this. I admit I lack in the coding department but I make up for it with hardware ability. Life is hectic right now but I have something new to get some seed money for. Making a BBA style IDE-EXI and maybe even one for the never-used port under the cube. A few people on IRC expressed an interest in that, I hope to iron out some time and expenses to get that started. I likely wont post to the forums much unless I have something positive to report though.
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please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by iggunr » Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:26 am

the unused port... yeah, why don't you try to use the serial port 2? I told that to emu_kidid once, but I lack the necessary skills to implement it myself.
I think it would be neat to finally use that port
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by sumas » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:33 pm

If i look on the YET ANOTHER GAMECUBE DOCUMENTATION the Serial Port 2 wouldn´t be possible to use for EXI

http://hitmen.c02.at/files/yagcd/yagcd/ ... ml#sec10.1

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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by _Nold_ » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:04 pm

If your project is getting more serious i could offer you my help..
I just got little knowledge in (low level) Coding and PCB design, but i'm willing to lern and am pretty good at soldering ^^
(I guess that's the only thing i'm at least a little good in :/ )

I love this IDE-EXI stuff, would love to build one but just to build a single one is not worth the work.. Would be cool if we could build a complete new (professional) batch of IDE-EXIs.. I got a lot of soldering paste lying around so i could solder a lot of them together really cheap..
| DOL-001 (EUR) Indigo | WKF Plug'n'Play Diskdrive Replacement | BBA |
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by infact » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:41 pm

sumas, well yagcd has not been updated for ~6 years, so there might be some bugs, but you can see here it is an EXI port.
So it could be used with usbgecko, memcard, sd, ide-exi, bba, vua and some other SPI-compatible hardware (given that we have/create a compatible software)
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by emu_kidid » Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:47 pm

Yes it can definitely be used. If you guys go the professional way, make it support SATA and DMA ;)
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by liquitt » Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:01 pm

emu_kidid wrote:Yes it can definitely be used. If you guys go the professional way, make it support SATA and DMA ;)
oh yes please!

sata ssd :P
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
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we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by KirovAir » Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:27 pm

It's not SATA I'm worried about. DMA has been a pain in the *ss for a while now..
"The only thing more dangerous than a hardware guru with a code patch is a programmer with a soldering iron."
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by emu_kidid » Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:43 pm

DMA has been fixed by isobel: http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/EXI:IDEHostAdapter

Once I have the new version I can make Swiss work with NO stutter :)
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by KirovAir » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:29 am

emu_kidid wrote:DMA has been fixed by isobel: http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/EXI:IDEHostAdapter

Once I have the new version I can make Swiss work with NO stutter :)
Great news!! This will improve just about everything IO-related. :D
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by Jaecus » Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:39 pm

That would be quite handy freeing up slots a+b
Maybe you could add support for sd via BBA port whie your're at it?
If its just as simple as the exi wiring then I'll make an SD-BBA adapter and test it ;)
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by yamaharacer » Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:31 pm

he, I just programmed my bluechip v9 with the jed file. thanks to liquitt again for the bluechip ;-), now I wanted to ask befor I connect it to my memory card slot if there will ever be a chance that swiss will work with the ide/exi installed to the BBA slot?
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by liquitt » Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:26 pm

yamaharacer wrote:he, I just programmed my bluechip v9 with the jed file. thanks to liquitt again for the bluechip ;-), now I wanted to ask befor I connect it to my memory card slot if there will ever be a chance that swiss will work with the ide/exi installed to the BBA slot?
you're welcome, good luck with your project!
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by infact » Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:23 pm

@yamaharacer: you need a special build of swiss for that (different hdd patch code, with other selected device)
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by yamaharacer » Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:24 pm

yeah I know and cause of this I am asking if there will ever be a version of swiss for using ide/exi out of the bba slot.
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by Jaecus » Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:27 pm

hmm I have an idea..
I can make use of the old modem adapter, take it apart and use it as my IDE-EXI plug, and rewire my Memorycard IDE-EXI adapter to the old modem pins.

Might be the best possible use for the old GC modem adapters?
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by emu_kidid » Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:40 pm

Great idea Jaecus :)

Yeah I can add in support for that port if anyone out there has one ready to test.
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by liquitt » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:18 am

a SATA -> IDE adapter builtin would be cool so you could use the space that was made for the RJ11 plug as a SATA Plug and don't have to have the ugly IDE plug on the bottom :)
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by _Nold_ » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:55 am

liquitt wrote:a SATA -> IDE adapter builtin would be cool so you could use the space that was made for the RJ11 plug as a SATA Plug and don't have to have the ugly IDE plug on the bottom :)
Yeahr, that would be really awesome :D
I will build my one in normal MC-format.. at least i hope i can get all the wires inside of that MC-Case >.<

But a modem-adapter-case would be just perfect! :)
| DOL-001 (EUR) Indigo | WKF Plug'n'Play Diskdrive Replacement | BBA |
| Internalised: WaveBird, Keyboard Adapter, MemoryCard, SD-Adapter |

| DOL-001 (EUR) | >> First Gamecube Portable - Worklog
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by Jaecus » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:27 pm

emu_kidid wrote:Great idea Jaecus :)

Yeah I can add in support for that port if anyone out there has one ready to test.
I will take the iron to my modem adapter as soon as I have some time at home, Ill be sure to post with pics when its wired.
just had a quick look at the pinout. Shame it doesn't also include a 5v pin, I guess i'll just have pass a wire through a gap in the case for my 5v line.
emu_kidid wrote:DMA has been fixed by isobel: http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/EXI:IDEHostAdapter

Once I have the new version I can make Swiss work with NO stutter :)
will there be a new xilinx firmware file released so I can re-flash my ide-exi with DMA support? or is this unrelated /unnecessary..
liquitt wrote:a SATA -> IDE adapter builtin would be cool so you could use the space that was made for the RJ11 plug as a SATA Plug and don't have to have the ugly IDE plug on the bottom :)
that would be ideal, however I made my own IDE-EXI and its in an external case.. I daren't tare it apart too much, i'll just perform minimal mod just to try it for now.. :D
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Re: Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

Post by emu_kidid » Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:42 pm

Yes there is a new xilinx file I'll have to release when things get tested and are supported in Swiss.

Does the modem adapter not use the 5v/12v lines? :( would've been so ideal if it used them :)
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