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G-net multi?

penrhos

penrhos

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obviously there are a few versions of modified bios floating around that allow you to use CF cards and the CHD's from MAME.

And I'm sure I saw a post where someone was working on a multi G-net CF card.

But is it feasible to put all the g-net games and a menu on a single card?
 
My gut feeling is the card would have to be modified or the bios further modified.

I use the 2011 modbios and just use "dd" to flash new games to the card itself. In linux, basically dd if=file.bin of=/dev/sdb

I would wonder if you could create multiple partitions like sdb1, sdb2, etc and flash games to them, but without modifying the card or BIOS further obviously that's not going to get you anywhere. I would have to wonder if a multi bank CF card could be created, or if the bios could read a specified partition.

It would certainly be awesome to see an "all-in-one" but for now I just keep some extra cisco CF cards around and flash them as needed.

It only takes a couple gb of room for all the games. something like a CF card with 32 slots / 64MB each would pretty much cover it. If such a thing could be made easily with jumpers or switches like the STV cart, the gnet or bios probably wouldn't even need to be modified.

I'm just rambling... the 2011 bios in the .bin shows "dumped by darksoft assembled by aje_fr". Obviously both are members here so would probably know much more about this than I would.
 
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penrhos said:
obviously there are a few versions of modified bios floating around that allow you to use CF cards and the CHD's from MAME.

And I'm sure I saw a post where someone was working on a multi G-net CF card.

But is it feasible to put all the g-net games and a menu on a single card?
Click to expand...
I would buy one of these!

Taito G-Net Rocks!

:D
 
I would buy one too. I don’t mind swapping out cards. But to have the whole library switchable easier would be a treat.
 
Alright fellas, I'm revisiting this idea 💡

I have gathered a few tools to start at this, but I have a couple angles to look at.

One angle, there are compact flash to SD adapters which broadcast a wireless SSID. There are/were also wireless SD cards but those seem hard to come by. But, hacking the firmware on an existing device with both wifi and storage would be a dream solution.

I also grabbed some CF debugging boards, MicroSD PCB extensions with test points, random types of storage etc etc.

The other angle of course would be a large CF card, (possibly) a [further] modified BIOS, and some form of selector.

Anyone willing to help in this somewhat pointless but also hopefully fun adventure is welcome to chime in.

Who knows if I can make this happen, but I think WE can 😀
 
skate323k137 said:
The other angle of course would be a large CF card, (possibly) a [further] modified BIOS, and some form of selector.
Click to expand...
Down vote this option big time!
If you are going to do a multi you should do it right, and step 1 is absolutely ditching the (trash) CF storage medium.

I would think modified BIOS and custom LCD screen'd device that replaces the entire CF reader with microSD and a small amount of work RAM+Actel chip to expand/store the selected/loaded image.
 
jassin000 said:
Down vote this option big time!
If you are going to do a multi you should do it right, and step 1 is absolutely ditching the (trash) CF storage medium.

I would think modified BIOS and custom LCD screen'd device that replaces the entire CF reader with microSD and a small amount of work RAM+Actel chip to expand/store the selected/loaded image.
Click to expand...
Shootin for the sky! CF+Selector, Not my 1st option for sure, but I wouldn't hate it if it was cheap. And, it might be pretty easy in theory.

I would, hopefully, like to keep cost down on this (but hey, I like opinions and options). With CF cards getting more expensive I could see people paying for an affordable solution, but something of that capacity to replace the whole CF reader might be a little costly. Would be cool though.

Also I have little to no motivation to actually sell a completed device at scale, that is, I'm not trying to make this as a product personally. I would hope more for a github and open kicad situation, and maybe assemble a small run. In general, I really just think this ought to be possible, and I think it would make a very fun project.
 
skate323k137 said:
In general, I really just think this ought to be possible, and I think it would make a very fun project.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I see the biggest hurtle actually being peoples "what we have now (CF) works so why bother" attitudes.
 
Incremental steps are fine. What about very large CF card with all images, and a bios where you can use OSD to pick which image is loaded?
 
ekorz said:
Incremental steps are fine. What about very large CF card with all images, and a bios where you can use OSD to pick which image is loaded?
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A bios to allow selection of bios would be a start ;)

Anyways mr @ekorz , you will have a setup soon enough so you can experiment hahah
The more eyes looking at WTF blocks out *full* compatibility (and generally messing around deeper in this system) - the better.
 
im not a huge fan of the CF cards myself. i tried over 7 different brands and only the sandisk 64mb ones work for me. would totally be down for buying a multi for the g-net if it were to be realized. its got a healthy mix of good tate and yoko games that makes for a great board to have.
 
Hammy said:
There's still a few things to figure out but it's slowly getting there.

There's also likely a way to connect a HDD/SSD/CD(emulator)

Everybody wants it but seems like only me working on it :(
Good that the number of testers is going up slowly....

If you have time to do a loader system contact me :)
Click to expand...
Glad to hear you are working on it, I have been poking at this for a while now and figured it time to bring it up.

Let me know if/how I can help, even if just providing things/hosting/whatever
 
Damn, should read the entire thread first already proposed :D:D:D

It's been a while I used the G-NET but does the hack of G-Darius not use an on-screen-menu where you can choose the revision?
Perhaps that can be extended for OSD selection and put everything on one CF?
 
About the only way you would be able to have a multi from the CF side is having some form of bankswitching into 64MB chunks to house an image. The non-g-net games that are available on the platform use very custom hacks that won't scale outside of their design. Long story short is that there's no file system and the hacks operate at a lower level to use the data for the game.
 
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