why cant you use a replacement gd-rom drive and connect it to your computer to read the files of a original dreamcast disk?
if it might be able to be done contact me at [email]martynbeech@hotmail.com[/email] and we can talk about the technical sepics involved!!
Wouldn't that be the same as connecting it to your computer via the Dreamcast, except in this case the GD-Rom drive is actually in your computer? Then comes the hassle of connecting it and making sure it works.
Why can't you just use a BBA or Serial Cable and rip the files to your hard drive?
If you have some spare parts, try it yourself, you might be able to do what ever you want if you can think of something. Just tell us if it worked or not. It's your idea, try it.
And if this works, tell me, or someone with an extra gd-rom unit try it.
I don't think it'll work in my opinion, but anyone can do anything these days, so just try.
I heard a while back that you need extra hardware as well as the gdrom for such a use. There was a guy who was working on a pci card for that purpose. Also, shorlty after the utopia boot disk first came out and everyone was trying to figure out how it was done, someone in this forum had exchanged the gdrom laser with the laser in his cdrom without success.
im pretty sure it wont work since groups like Kalisto, Echelon, and others would rip their games like that
from what i hear in the DC's short life, all games were ripped with the adapter and jsut connecting a GD-rom to ur PC wont work since there are no drivers for it
also how, and where will u connect it?
i'll rip my dc open tomorrow and have a look at it.
hopefully the firmware is within the GD unit and not the main board (although i doubt this as the drive does not appear to be anything but the laser some plastic a motor and some wires).
if the firmware (or whatever controlls the drive) is in the mainboard then it you would have to (theoretically)
a) somehow rig an old cdrom drive with the GD Laser unit and
extract the "firmware" from wherever it is stored on the mboard the edit and flash it into the drives eeprom.
or
b) somehow connect the mboard to the pc by way of a SCSI or IDE adaptor (or sloppy solder job LOL).
the only advantages to b) would be its cheaper then a bb adapter and it would enable file system level access.
thats all i can be bothered to say till i have a look at it in the morn.
use a gd-rom drive!!!
Linear Mode
