I've been tinkering with Gamecube hacking for about 2-3 years now and looking for a shortcut. I have a DOL-001 (USA) with a XenoGC and a BBA. Currently my method for loading homebrew is to boot GCOS 1.X, load the Swiss DOL over the network and then boot things off the SD card (through the SDGecko). The primary reason I am doing it this way is because that GCOS disc is the only homebrew disc I have ever gotten to boot properly.

Anyway, my question is this: Is there any part of the GC boot process that supports booting directly off the SD card over EXI? If so, could we make a desktop utility that formats the card the proper way to support this? I tried looking for some clues in YAGCD but my programming experience is mostly with embedded computers (Atmel, etc.).
I am pretty sure this is how SDML worked but I know there was some additional hardware involved in that, not just an SDGecko.
I noticed an "Install" function in Swiss 0.1, is that what this does? If so, could this be adapted into a desktop program? If you can point me to the source code responsible for "Installing" I could replicate it in .NET.

Thanks for your help!