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Improving the hardware 
25th-Apr-2009 01:40 am


- what is RS232 and it's limitations
- why we should stick to low-voltage signaling
- what is USB and why use it


















Hope that helps!
21st-Sep-2009 09:45 am (UTC) - Re: module power
Inspite of the opening post saying that you can't figure out where to get a serial cable for the Dreamcast (so you could have the needed end connector for the Dreamcast), I found one for $60 on ebay after about 30 seconds. It is a NeoGeo Pocket to Dreamcast cable, that you can easilly cut the wire and just keep the Dreamcast end of it to solder to your USBtoSERIAL converter. Now I haven't made that mod yet because you have yet to post a color coded pinout of the cable and associated tutorial for how to use this cable to make the DREAMCASTtoUSB converter. And I won't spend $60 until I'm sure I know the instructions on how to use it for this hack. But you really need to look better online for the needed cable before you suggest in a tutorial something as crazy as actually OPENING UP A VIDEO GAME CONSOLE and doing a SOLDERING JOB on the main board. I'm sure MANY people would rather spend $60 for a cable than doing a hardware modod of a video game machine which might end up RUINING the machine, which (if they bought in the store while the DC was still being sold) was a $150 to $200 game machine! Spend $60 or waste $150 to $200, hmm, what should I do. OBVIOUSLY I'll spend $60 on a cable so I don't have to fry a $150 to $200 video game machine, when doing my modification.
21st-Sep-2009 12:01 pm (UTC) - Re: module power
60 USD? This a joke, right? That's enough for the USB converter and a preowned Dreamcast (in good condition!) to experiment on.
Just because you don't feel comfortable holding soldering iron doesn't mean everyone is like that.
26th-Sep-2009 09:49 am (UTC) - Re: module power
Hello, is this one OK ?
26th-Sep-2009 09:25 pm (UTC) - Re: module power
It will do. It has one minor flaw though, someone forgot to make use of the 3.3V output. There are three ways around it:

1) Ignore it, run the I/O at 5V - it will work and is pretty safe. I've been doing that a lot, but there is always some risk and it might cause audio/video interference as long as the cable is connected.

2) Route 3V3 from DC mainboard - just one more wire from B10 to the module J2 pin #1 (VCC). Rejumper J1 to 1-2. You can now switch between 5V and target power supply with J1.

3) Fix the problem :) Desolder R1 since it's not needed, only revision A chips needs it and this is R, then solder a wire from chip pin 17 (3V3OUT) to pin 4 (IOVCC). The easiest way would be to use the solder pads of R1 and C4, just be careful to get it right. It's permanent 3V3 now as long as the wire is in place (or you can solder it to J1 instead of C4 and have it selectable).
26th-Sep-2009 09:51 pm (UTC) - Re: module power
Thanks for your reply ! :)

I removed the EMI capacitors, so no 5V for me...
But I think adding a 74VHC244 chip could work. I just need to know what a "3 states" buffer is, I'm not that familiar with that kind of things.

By the way, I plan to use the connector of my old coder's cable, I hope baudwidth will still be good enough.
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