Hi, about Serial port 2 USB for Swiss, any chance?

[Ikewise]

To see the masters of GC hacking finally tackle the serial port 2.

Real epic, going to keep an eye on this.

[Papy.G]

The only thing I found could be improved is if the SD card port itself goes closer to the Serial Port 2 Cover's Side hole.

You can remote-wire the µSD slot wherever you fancy (still, the shorter the cables, the better).

If I might ask a dumb question, what's the point of using that port when SD adapters already exist for memory card port B? Is serial port 2 faster or going to give you a way to launch Swiss without needing to use a game exploit every time you boot the system (or Xeno + Swiss DVD-R)? It seems like a redundant solution...

AFAIK the speed may be the same as the SP2 is an EXI port, but it will free up the B memcard slot for the games that need: A dance mat, a Microphone, a second memcard, Nintendo's own SD card adaptor…

Emukidid, when you mentioned this, do you were thinking in terms of reading speed? or maybe just GB size ? Cause if the speed is not a factor , what about using a USB to SD adapter plugged there at the side's hole of the SP 2? I am figuring an usb connector there will be easiest to find the plug by touch than placing a small micro SD, But of course if Using an external secondary adapter or the USB speed itself is the problem please let me know.

It is a matter of physical connections and logical behavior, SD cards can be used in SPI mode, that is very close to EXI, and much of the work has already been done hacking the Memcard slots. Using USB would need additionnal interfacing hardware, programming almost from scratch, and added slowdownds due to protocol-specific behavior.

Sorry if these answers seem redundant, but original answers didn't seem to be understood the way they were wrote, many people here are not familiar with english.


Extrems/EmuKidid: Has someone already succeeded or trying to code a DoLauncher for SP2, or do we still need to first boot SWISS/GBI/EmGBA off the Slot B first?
I was planning to buy a second WiiSD for my second GC, maybe I would be better get that SP2 adapter and help testing what you code?
Link from the github to buy kits is dead, tell us if somebody orders a PCB batch. (I'm gonna see if I can group with somebody in France not to ruin the cost only because of huge shipping fees).

[BimboBoop]

The only thing I found could be improved is if the SD card port itself goes closer to the Serial Port 2 Cover's Side hole.

You can remote-wire the µSD slot wherever you fancy (still, the shorter the cables, the better).

If I might ask a dumb question, what's the point of using that port when SD adapters already exist for memory card port B? Is serial port 2 faster or going to give you a way to launch Swiss without needing to use a game exploit every time you boot the system (or Xeno + Swiss DVD-R)? It seems like a redundant solution...

AFAIK the speed may be the same as the SP2 is an EXI port, but it will free up the B memcard slot for the games that need: A dance mat, a Microphone, a second memcard, Nintendo's own SD card adaptor…

Emukidid, when you mentioned this, do you were thinking in terms of reading speed? or maybe just GB size ? Cause if the speed is not a factor , what about using a USB to SD adapter plugged there at the side's hole of the SP 2? I am figuring an usb connector there will be easiest to find the plug by touch than placing a small micro SD, But of course if Using an external secondary adapter or the USB speed itself is the problem please let me know.

It is a matter of physical connections and logical behavior, SD cards can be used in SPI mode, that is very close to EXI, and much of the work has already been done hacking the Memcard slots. Using USB would need additionnal interfacing hardware, programming almost from scratch, and added slowdownds due to protocol-specific behavior.

Sorry if these answers seem redundant, but original answers didn't seem to be understood the way they were wrote, many people here are not familiar with english.


Extrems/EmuKidid: Has someone already succeeded or trying to code a DoLauncher for SP2, or do we still need to first boot SWISS/GBI/EmGBA off the Slot B first?
I was planning to buy a second WiiSD for my second GC, maybe I would be better get that SP2 adapter and help testing what you code?
Link from the github to buy kits is dead, tell us if somebody orders a PCB batch. (I'm gonna see if I can group with somebody in France not to ruin the cost only because of huge shipping fees).

Dude thanks for the answer. I was thinking also about how to grab an SDSP2 for myself. I hope at some point someone could sell it on a fair price. People from South America like me, cant pay prices like 150 , 200 US - EU, so easily cause the big currency change. If you are able to grab some of them, at future, please let me know. I have family at France so maybe I could buy you one without too much shipping issues.

About remoting the SD slot, I founded a nice micro SD extenders at ebay, for a couple of bucks. Sadly, since the micro SD port at the SD SP2 ends in vertical after is installed, it seem it would not work either for practical purposes, so maybe I will have to figure another way soldering cables. But I think it could be a good chance to just change the board desing in order the SD card at least goes horizontal right? I am picturing my Gamceube with a small SD port at the natural side Hole of the Serial Port 2 and it still sounds like the best idea for me.

[emu_kidid]

Extrems/EmuKidid: Has someone already succeeded or trying to code a DoLauncher for SP2, or do we still need to first boot SWISS/GBI/EmGBA off the Slot B first?
I was planning to buy a second WiiSD for my second GC, maybe I would be better get that SP2 adapter and help testing what you code?
Link from the github to buy kits is dead, tell us if somebody orders a PCB batch. (I'm gonna see if I can group with somebody in France not to ruin the cost only because of huge shipping fees).

Extrems has already added support for SP2SD to GBI, I'll add support to Swiss soon. I'm waiting for WinterMute to accept my PR (of the changes made by Extrems) to offically support SD cards via SP2, for now while I add support to Swiss I'll need to use my libOGC fork.

[Papy.G]

Dude thanks for the answer. I was thinking also about how to grab an SDSP2 for myself. I hope at some point someone could sell it on a fair price. People from South America like me, cant pay prices like 150 , 200 US - EU, so easily cause the big currency change. If you are able to grab some of them, at future, please let me know. I have family at France so maybe I could buy you one without too much shipping issues.

About remoting the SD slot, I founded a nice micro SD extenders at ebay, for a couple of bucks. Sadly, since the micro SD port at the SD SP2 ends in vertical after is installed, it seem it would not work either for practical purposes, so maybe I will have to figure another way soldering cables. But I think it could be a good chance to just change the board desing in order the SD card at least goes horizontal right? I am picturing my Gamceube with a small SD port at the natural side Hole of the Serial Port 2 and it still sounds like the best idea for me.

The form factor doesn't suit me, neither the extenders, as you stated, so i'm gonna try to make a home-made one, to try at first, until an angled one is available (if I'm too slow to design one myself).
I see what you mean, with spring-loaded µSD reader, and a custom-designed cover with the dedicated slot.


Emu Kidid> There are some adapters, as the SD Gecko, WiiKey, WiiSD (that share the same PCB with WiiKey) and maybe others that are only plain cabling, with no components, not even a little Cap on the 3,3v/Vss, and it doesn't seem to make a big difference.

I'm trying to make an adapter, and was wondering if the cable lenght (less than 10cm) will fire up the need of a cap?
Is it a de-coupling cap? So it has to be soldered between +3,3v and GND, as close as possible of the SD card slot contacts?

Then, for testing purpose, I need my setup as usual, plus the SD2SP2 with the roms on its card, and once emGBA is launched from the SD gecko, I'll load roms off the SD2SP2's card?

[Papy.G]

Hi, I made the SD2SP2 adapter with some scraped components.
Is there a program to test it as it seems that both SWISS and emGBA in their latest public releases don't see anything I put in the said reader.
I didn't wire the shield ground on gc side either than the pin6 on SD side. Are they needed to detect and activate the card, or did I do something wrong?

[emu_kidid]

I'll probably have time to look at this tonight finally, I'm still waiting on that pull request to come into libOGC though

[Greg2600]

So SP2SD is primarily being looked at as an alternative for putting two SD adapters in both memory card slots?

We don't know if it's possible to "boot the system to Swiss" via SP2SD (forgoing the need for say, Action Replay)?

Do SP2SD and/or Swiss support SDXC cards?

[emu_kidid]

Swiss supports SDXC, and no this won't make any magical booting direct to it.

[Papy.G]

emu_kidid> Maybe we may wait for this PR to get acknowledged, then, the work can go on, when DoLaunchers would have been re-compiled to boot from SD2SP2, wich should be the first step?

Greg2600> It is primarily looked at as a way to free up both memcard slots for there are games that needs two ports to work (either for a second memcard, Nintendo's own SD adapter, microphone…).

SP2 is another EXI port, so it may boot SWISS as well as from a memcard slot. Forget the AR way, it is just a transitive way to boot homebrew in order to setup gamexploits, that have proven to be far more simple, fast, and compatible to boot anything.

SWISS already supports ExFat and SDXC cards, DoLaunchers only support XC cards if formatted to Fat32, no ExFat support at the moment. SD2SP2 may support whatever is supported by SD/Memcard adapters.

Swiss supports SDXC, and no this won't make any magical booting direct to it.

Just in case the IPL/Bios was designed with a "backdoor" to boot from this port and load an ipl updater.

[dilav]

The form factor doesn't suit me, neither the extenders, as you stated, so i'm gonna try to make a home-made one, to try at first, until an angled one is available (if I'm too slow to design one myself).

I think it is a good design, but of course others will have different opinion. The microSD slot is near the front side of the console instead of the back because the expansion port cover clips may be in the way of the microSD. Having the card sideway accessible near the notch would require two boards soldered together making it more complicated to assemble, ship, and possible stress on the board/socket. Or it will be on some fpc/ffc daughterboard which microsd extenders kind of take care of. Having a actual slot 2 module would be pretty cool and do able in low production with 3D printers, but this adds complexity and cost. This board is super basic, just a PCB with a card slot, it can be built easily and sold cheaply.

microSD is however cheap in the USA, we can 256GB for around $40 easily. 256GB can hold over 100 (under estimating) un-shrunk/un-scrubbed iso. I don't see the need to remove the card very much and would prefer it to be in the slot and covered.

[Papy.G]

I didn't write the design is bad, it is just plain simple to be cost effective and discreet.
It's just that it doesn't suit the use I will make, since I have SDs that I use with emulators at home in the GC and on the go in my DSes, some of them are in the plain SD format.
Plus, my main GC has a GBP, and i'm planning on getting a second one for the other too.
To finish, we may need to write and update files and programs quite frequently in the test phase that just begins.

Assembling two boards at a 90° angle is not that complicated, and there are tweaks to make it sturdy, while it will still add a little to the cost.

For the use with ISOs only, I totally agree with you, and once passed the test phase, I may buy one for one of my two GCs.

Even underestimating, you may hold over 150 games on a 258GB card.

[dilav]

I didn't mean to imply anyone is saying the design is bad. I just mean to say that I think the design choice is good and just voicing my opinion.

Assembling two boards together isn't exactly hard, but I was thinking in terms of a design that is made for sale. Having two boards will require some hand soldering the two together instead of 1 simple reflow step. If they are soldered before shipping to buyers, it will require to be package in a box or require more care. Having connectors for the two boards would solve shipping and hand soldering. But if it's design like how BimboBoop wanted it, I don't feel it is sturdy enough to be sold as-is.

If someone does design one with a 3D printed connector support/cover, I might make/buy one if they are cheap enough, just because the idea is kinda cool. It is simply a SDGecko but connected to SP2 though so I wouldn't spend a fortune on it.

You're right, I was way underestimating lol. My point was there's really not that many reason IMO to need to access the card after all ISO are stored. There's going to be updates for swiss-gc, GBI, and other homebrews every now and then though.

[Greg2600]

You might be able to fish one of these in there and have the reader extension come out the opening:


https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 94733.html

If this eventually is a way to boot ISO's without having to use crappy AR or solder in an ODE, I'm keenly interested.

[BimboBoop]

You might be able to fish one of these in there and have the reader extension come out the opening:


https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 94733.html

If this eventually is a way to boot ISO's without having to use crappy AR or solder in an ODE, I'm keenly interested.

I already mentioned those. I think cause the desing from the micro sd port point vertical and too close to the bottom from the console it cant be used to place this adapter , even more if your gamecube uses a Gameboy Player, cause there is not enough free room for it

[Papy.G]

I think this made off parts and bits off the trash (except for the copper adhesive foil and soldering tin ) will do, just for testing prupose, to begin with:

connector.jpg

(85.93 KiB) Not downloaded yet

reader.jpg

(87.43 KiB) Not downloaded yet

sd2sp2proto.jpg

(83.28 KiB) Not downloaded yet

sd2sp2inplace.jpg

(85.45 KiB) Not downloaded yet

Still, I'm not sure if the 6 and 3 must be connected, since my SD cards and adaptors show common ground, I think I've read the 3 is supposed to be able to be the sense pad in the SD specs, but can we skip one of the grounds here, or bind them one side and the other and put only one ground cable?
I have to check citrus's diagrams…

[BimboBoop]

I think this made off parts and bits off the trash (except for the copper adhesive foil and soldering tin ) will do, just for testing prupose, to begin with:

connector.jpg
reader.jpg
sd2sp2proto.jpg
sd2sp2inplace.jpg

Still, I'm not sure if the 6 and 3 must be connected, since my SD cards and adaptors show common ground, I think I've read the 3 is supposed to be able to be the sense pad in the SD specs, but can we skip one of the grounds here, or bind them one side and the other and put only one ground cable?
I have to check citrus's diagrams…

You watch it as a "made of trash" but I feel envious. I would like to have one. Hopefully emu_kidid will soon improve compatibility and watch you posting working videos.

[emu_kidid]

Hopefully emu_kidid will soon improve compatibility and watch you posting working videos.

Compatibility is the same as the front 2 memory card ports, no need to test this port exclusively.

[Papy.G]

Yes, but as long as the public release of SWISS wasn't compatible and confirmed working with Citrus's µSD card reader, I was not able to test my "homework".
And, no, it doesn't work (My homemade reader).

[BimboBoop]

So guys, now EMukidid added support for the SP2SD board, anyone owning one here already tested it? Please would you guys share some working videos? WIth a microphone game like ODAMA it will be much better, if possible.

[Rellikami]

And, no, it doesn't work (My homemade reader).

Try going by the wiring diagram i made. i have a working internal install, you may just need to swap D0 and D1 by my guess as i had those mixed up originally myself.

the pin out shown is opposite side, on top side of mobo not from under side.

So guys, now EMukidid added support for the SP2SD board, anyone owning one here already tested it? Please would you guys share some working videos? WIth a microphone game like ODAMA it will be much better, if possible.

i can confirm sd2sp2 works as it should but as for accessories i don't have any accessories like this, also would like to see this before investing in any myself.

[Papy.G]

So guys, now EMukidid added support for the SP2SD board, anyone owning one here already tested it? Please would you guys share some working videos? WIth a microphone game like ODAMA it will be much better, if possible.

I don't have Odama, but I dumped MarioParty7 and here it is.

Try going by the wiring diagram i made. i have a working internal install, you may just need to swap D0 and D1 by my guess as i had those mixed up originally myself.
the pin out shown is opposite side, on top side of mobo not from under side.

Yes, I have crossed the lines, this is because of the different erroneous sources such as your diagram.
In a dedicated serial connection, one has to cross the lines between DI and DO from both side, but on SPI, serial data lines are named MOSI and MISO, beacause the lines between Master and Slaves must not be crossed, you wire MOSI to MOSI, and MISO to MISO.
Your MOBO didn't originally have the SP2 connector? I made my male connector with the edge of a yogurt cup, adhesive copper foil and kapton tape.

Does anybody know if the chip responsible for the CS on SP2 is still on Dol-101 MB? Since we can get any of the other useful signals for an internal SD2SP2 adapter, it would be nice.

[BimboBoop]

So guys, now EMukidid added support for the SP2SD board, anyone owning one here already tested it? Please would you guys share some working videos? WIth a microphone game like ODAMA it will be much better, if possible.

I don't have Odama, but I dumped MarioParty7 and here it is.


man it was awesome!! thanks!!, I really dont know Mario Party, but it seems the game videos loaded withot any lag isn it? Did you tried games like Resident Evil 0 with the loading of the different videos at the beggining? Cause you know man, Maybe is just cause I dont know Mario party well, but is just me or the game runned better at the SP2SD than on a regular GeckoSD adapter?

[Papy.G]

I didn't test the loading times, but we have quite decent reading speed with the last patches in SWISS.
In fact, I did the Video on the fly, with no prepared text, and it was originally so boring (yes! much more that it already is!) that I had to cut the most useless parts here and there.
Anyway, it can't load faster than on the SD Gecko, since it's the exact same thing as if the SP2 were just a third memcard slot (unless interrups priority is involved, which I don't think would be even noticeable)

[Extrems]

RE0 may not benefit much from the recent read patch improvements, as it is a two disc game and the alternate read patches don't already support that in the r685 release.

? It is supported.