Possible to make a BBA Style IDE-EXI?

[FoxxOTG]

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

[emu_kidid]

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.

[liquitt]

...i have a feeling thats it good to have you here on these forums

[FoxxOTG]

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.

[liquitt]

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.

[iggunr]

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

[sumas]

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

[_Nold_]

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..

[infact]

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)

[emu_kidid]

Yes it can definitely be used. If you guys go the professional way, make it support SATA and DMA

[liquitt]

Yes it can definitely be used. If you guys go the professional way, make it support SATA and DMA

oh yes please!

sata ssd

[KirovAir]

It's not SATA I'm worried about. DMA has been a pain in the *ss for a while now..

[emu_kidid]

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

[KirovAir]

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.

[Jaecus]

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

[yamaharacer]

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?

[liquitt]

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!

[infact]

@yamaharacer: you need a special build of swiss for that (different hdd patch code, with other selected device)

[yamaharacer]

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.

[Jaecus]

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?

[emu_kidid]

Great idea Jaecus

Yeah I can add in support for that port if anyone out there has one ready to test.

[liquitt]

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

[_Nold_]

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
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!

[Jaecus]

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.

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..

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..

[emu_kidid]

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