BBA Cloning

[Lollipop]

Hi guys,

So I noticed that there were a few vendors on Alibaba selling IC's with the same serial number as the MX chips found on the Broadband Adapter (mx98730ec). I won't be able to order any currently but maybe this is a starting point to cloning the BBA?

Lollipop

[Sierron]

Saw them too some time ago when I looked for that chip. There are also some chinese chip suppliers which sell too.

As far as I understood from the docs it's an SPI like interface. But I doubt a normal spi ethernet adapter would understand the protocol used by the gamecube. At least not without further chips.

[novenary]

The gamecube talks to the bba over exi (which is pretty much spi mode 3). If it's the same chip, all that's needed is a way to physically connect it to the console (since the connector is custom) and a PCB layout (need someone to pin out the original).
According to the wiki, it also needs a pulse transformer and I can see a serial eeprom on the pictures. That might contain some vital data so it needs to be dumped.

[Lollipop]

Yeah by some basic visual inspection the circuit on the BBA board is really simple there is only one or two other major components that we need.
Also Sierron, where did you find the Docs for the the Chip? All the providers and spec sheet databases that I checked are missing this particular model (not surprised).

[Sierron]

I think my post was kinda misleading to you, Lollipop I meant the available docs online like yagcd or the docs of the similar chips (xxx26EC and xxx28EC).

[tueidj]

Most NICs have a prom of some sort for their MAC address.

[Papy.G]

There are some Ethernet and Wifi devices designed to work in SPI mode with Arduinos, Raspis and other trending SBCs that are basically a MCS core and a dedicated communication core packed in one chip. Some of them may be reprogrammed to support the specific protocol that the GameCube and BBA use.
Or maybe a null-modem alternative can be programmed with just a µC with dual SPI support beside both Cubes, or even a Bridge with a PC or tiny linux box running an emulator through a serial port to ethernet?