See You There

gdemu 104 Comments

GDEMU orders are accepted again. A quick reminder:

  • There will be no more GDEMU production until January 2016
  • Therefore first orders will ship in January 2016 at earliest
  • Leftovers (if any) might ship earlier but I make no guarantees

Rhea (and Phoebe) will have to wait until GDEMU rush dies down or the waiting list is full.

EDIT: I’ve redirected the requests to my personal email because gmail made a mess out of it already by grouping everything into one thread. But that should make it easier actually, you should get a reply and PayPal request from the same email now.

EDIT2: GDEMU waiting list is full so I’m not taking any more orders until Februrary 2016 or so. I had hoped there would be less interest this time but apparently not – which is bad for anyone waiting for Saturn ODEs as I will be busy making GDEMUs first. I need to think about it a bit but chances are I won’t be able to deliver any Rheas earlier than February…

104 thoughts on “See You There”

  2. Managed to get in the queue hopefully 🙂

    I completed the form and it said email sent. Is there a confirmation or anything when we have been added to the list?

    Thanks

    • There is no automatic confirmation, I answer every request myself when I have time to do so.

  6. You mentioned Rhea and Pheobe have to wait until GDEMU dies down or the waiting list is full. How does one get on the waiting list?

  8. You’ll probably notice a double order coming from me… In my excitement to finally have a chance to order one, I misspelled my contact email. Please disregard that! Sorry!

  13. What exactly are the internal changes coming to Phoebe and Rhea? Also- I know you can solder a couple of toggle UP and DOWN switches to GDEMU which I will be doing shortly. I thought maybe the same would be implemented to the Phoebe/ Rhea. Or is it a surprise? Thanks Deunan!!!

  14. Aw man seriously? I’ve been waiting for GDEMU orders to open up again and I just missed it.
    Guess I should sign up for post notifications huh.

  15. You clearly have a serious demand for all of your boards, maybe you should pursue high-volume manufacturing?
    Dreamcast laser units are dying out and there is no renewing supply.
    Demand will only increase from here on out, especially as more people find out about them.

    Please?

    • Well the main limiting factor is my free time and I’m not going to quit daily job over GDEMU.

      • Yeah man, I understand. I just thought it might not be a bad idea to outsource production, to take the load off of you and allow more units to be produced and sold. I can understand the hesitation to do that though, handing your designs off to some chinese company to duplicate. It can be sketchy.

        I don’t know. You would know more than I would about it.

        I’ll just have to wait for preorders to open up again ;).

  16. Hi,

    It seems i’m late to the party. I’m a recent engineering graduate and am getting into PCB assembly / build – since it’s so difficult to buy one of these off you, is there any chance i can get the gerber + BOM list so i can build one myself? (i have confidence provided it’s 2 layer).

    Sorry for the strange request.

    Cheers,
    Ben

      • No! :p I really don’t, what you’ve done is excellent and obviously very niche – i would love to get my hands on one for myself. I understand if my request might insult you in some way in case you were strictly protecting your IP, although it clearly wasn’t intended that way – i was just trying to see if i can build my own board without waiting a year. I was hoping that in the scenario you’re ok with it, you could transfer the hex files over. I have a bus pirate and an arduinoISP to program the atmel chip (though i noticed it’s one that’s based on ARM cortex). Alternatively, if you’re worried that i might steal something, you could program the chips and send them over after i pay? and i can assemble the board here? Just an idea.

      • Oh sorry, I thought I replied to this. In fact I did once made a “DIY” kit and frankly it’s more work than it’s worth. When I build it I have all the parts, I know what goes where, and I do all the testing.
        When you do it I should charge less, unless I send you all the parts in a bag but that’s PITA to collect and protect from damage in shipping. I have to explain the assembly and other fine details or you’ll end up screwing yourself by accident. Lastly you need the PCB and MCU ’cause I can’t program it with the bootloader as a bare chip, and I’m not sending you my bootloader code. No offense but I don’t know you and I have very little reason to trust you just on your assurance.

      • Thanks for the response.

        ‘In fact I did once made a “DIY” kit and frankly it’s more work than it’s worth.’
        I wonder, what were the difficulties for your DIY kit? That could be a good business model for you and you could still protect your IP by finding a way to send out the MCU with preloaded code (anyone can steal hardware, but the code is safe if you don’t share it).

        ‘When I build it I have all the parts, I know what goes where, and I do all the testing.’
        I understand that, but then there’s the joy of building/assembling too, and it looks like you’ve made a very nice organised layout so i doubt it’s that difficult (would drag solder the 144 TQFP or reflow in the oven). What kind of testing do you do? Would you prefer we switch to email? I wonder if the testing you do is very complex and not documented then i see your point. That’d take time for you to tell me.

        ‘When you do it I should charge less, unless I send you all the parts in a bag but that’s PITA to collect and protect from damage in shipping. ‘
        That could be a potential method, or a BOM would allow me to go off and buy the parts myself? The only issue seems to be getting a MCU with your code (which i totally understand you don’t want to share, and tbh you shouldn’t if you plan on monetizing – different story if you wanted to go opensource).

        ‘I have to explain the assembly and other fine details or you’ll end up screwing yourself by accident.’
        If that’s in regards to the assembly then i’m sure it won’t be an issue, i’ve assembled down to 0603 passives and 100 pin TQFP IC’s before using hot plate/oven reflow and drag / pencil soldering.

        ‘Lastly you need the PCB and MCU ’cause I can’t program it with the bootloader as a bare chip,’
        PCB is something i can get made here. I can have it made if you send the gerber file. I guess if you want to protect that too then maybe it’s possible to send one over?

        ‘I’m not sending you my bootloader code. No offense but I don’t know you and I have very little reason to trust you just on your assurance.’
        I totally understand this and have been in a similar position with my own IP.

        Only issue i see is the one with the MCU and any testing procedure. If it’s too annoying for you then by all means drop it – it won’t be a problem. Just tell me if there’s a way i can know when you’ll next have stock so i can jump in. But if you can find a way to program the MCU and send just that over, and you can share your test procedure then i think it’s possible, provided the build is complete, and a preloaded MCU essentially finishes the project.

      • I did. And therefore I have a question, what do you think ‘Lastly you need the PCB and MCU ’cause I can’t program it with the bootloader as a bare chip,’ means?

      • You don’t have to be rude. I was trying to figure out if there was a way to get a preloaded MCU since that’d fix any issues, you could even send over the hex and that’d be that.

      • Rude? How so? I was merely asking what you understood from that sentence since you basically proposed the very thing that I said I cannot do.

        Well, I think I had enough insults thrown at me today. I’m going to end here before I stop being polite.

      • Insinuating that i can’t read and patronising one in the process is rude – i particularly got annoyed since i spent like an hour defending you from the troll earlier. I know what you can or can’t do now, but i basically said if you think of a solution (finding a way to program the IC standalone or having a manufacturer do it) then let me know and we can go ahead.

      • At this point I’m no longer sure what and how should I say in order not to trigger you so I’ll just try to be brief.

        First, please don’t ‘defend me’, I neither need it nor does it help any.
        Second, this is a hobby, not a business. I have a job and you pay for my free time which is in a short supply.

        I found creating DIY kits and providing assembly support to be _very_ time consuming so I’m not doing it. Instead you get easy to install, tested device which is what 99,9% people want.

  17. Hello Deunan, I have a question. I had someone solder the frequency selector in my Rhea/Saturn. Most of the games are playing but some like Don Pachi i.e. crash after loading. Is that normal behaviour or a bad solder job? Any input would be highly appreciated.

    Thanx a lot for this awesome device 🙂

    • I’m not aware of any issues with Don Pach. Did you test that image before the mod, did it work then?

      • Yes it die. For soms reason don pachi and gradius worked before and not afterwards. The rest works fine.

      • OK. Mail me, I have a few suggestions but before that I would like to know more about your mod. Did you lift VDP2 pin, or did something else?

  18. Unfortunately, my GDEMU unit is a failure.
    It works fine for a couple of hours but after that, random errors occur and finally it remains stuck in Dreamcast logo. On board LED is blinking. SD card was removed in order to determine the cause. Nothing changed. Same situation
    GDrom unit installed, everything running well.
    After many attempts -power on-off- it starts, sometimes cannot read all the games list, sometimes it reboot during the game or simply stuck on boot menu.
    Another thing i noticed before this situation: If the game is paused for few minutes, it will not resume.
    At this point, the unit is unusable.
    Any ideas before i throw it to garbage?

    • If you’re in or near the UK then don’t chuck it, send it my way and I’ll see if it’s fixable.

    • You can mail it to me if it doesn’t work for you. Have you tried different SD cards? maybe you’re using some crappy card or one that’s defective. Try some troubleshooting with ALL of the components to see where the failure is.

      And try to contact the GDEMU dude offline to work out a solution.

      * This life lesson provided free of charge (Unless you want to send me that GDEMU).

  19. Unit tested with another console. Same symptoms.
    Your unit is defective.
    I was expecting something else for 110 Euro…all i`ve got is a defective unit and one ironic answer.
    Anyway, i was warned that the product is “as it is” without any warranties. Without any warranties indeed and without any support.
    Thank you.

    • You never emailed me. Apparently you just ignored my advice as well. I wouldn’t call it ironic, just stupid, but hey, it’s your money.

  20. Yep, your answer is not ironic, it`s plain stupid.
    Your advice has no relevance since the unit was tested with another console. You know, another console, another PSU. Got it?
    SD card has nothing to do with the problem since it`s NOT installed.
    What`s the difference between this forum and direct e-mail?
    My advice -for you-is to be a little bit less full of yourself – for your own good.
    My advice, on my money.

    • I don’t think that Deunan is full of himself, he’s very kind and always ready to help, just ask politely!
      Otherwise those products even if they usually don’t have any problem (i have 2 gdemu a rhea and a Phoebe and everything work) are home made and you can’t think of them as mass products

      • The fact that your cards are in good shape proves nothing.
        That card is defective. Period.
        It was tested on 2 different consoles.
        I asked him for an idea, not a refund.
        Yes, i agree, it can happened to be a defective product.
        His way to approach the problem it`s unacceptable- for me.

        Case closed.

      • I actually agree with you Sorin, but i’m wondering if you tried bending the prongs a bit on the PSU since your symptoms are similar to the PSU prongs problem – and it’s highly unlikely that two Dc’s in 2015 *won’t* have similar problems.

    • I already gave you the answer, clean the contacts between PSU and motherboard. Now, you can do that or continue to be passive-aggressive manchild. I’m done talking to you.

      • As a matter of fact, one PSU unit on one of the consoles, is soldered (no connector)
        Should i “clean” that as well?

        This kind of discussion reminds me a call center where people are reading the answers from a piece of paper and whatever you say or ask, they gave you the same answer over and over…it`s funny…

      • Way ahead of you. I’ve had a DC like that and it turned out the soldering job was not very good.

        You could’ve mentioned that in the first post though, or better yet, an email, but instead you chose to insult me. Now, do you want to try step #2 from my paper or are you going to be difficult still? Because my patience with you is about to run out.

  21. Ben, PSU IS SOLDERED to the motherboard. You know why? Because I DID IT. And i did it well.
    Seems that *YOU* “talk” nonsense.

    For Radoslaw: Don`t bother to try step#2. I don`t like your attitude at all.
    FYI and others reference, there are no hardware problems on both consoles where the board was tested. It`s simply defective.
    I will try to re-flash firmware and after that will go to garbage.
    You know, my money.

    Now, i think it`s time to cool down and end this pointless discussion.
    Thank you.

    • Now you’re just trolling. You soldered the PSU because there were no problems with it, right?
      Have it your way though, you don’t want my help – you won’t get any.

    • Sorin, You’ve got 3 people trying to help you, yet you continue to be rude, and not follow advice for either of your DCs. Just try bending the prongs on the not-soldered DC and see if it works, process of elimination can solve a lot of problems.

      Why did you solder the PSU to the Motherboard anyway? Maybe you were having issues that are recurring now?

      I get paid quite a lot of money to hack interfaces together so i do know what i’m talking about. I think you are the one that needs to cool down.

  22. first,did the dc work fine with the psu soldered on the mobo with the gdrom?
    second,maybe you can reflow the contacts again on the mobo,use some flux.
    check everything 1 more time so you can assure that everything is fine on your side.
    if then its not working,then send it back to deunan so he can check it on a dc he has.
    but what i read here is neither gona help you or deunan,try be a bit more kind to eachother.
    its a sugestion,after all,problem is still there.

    • BOTH DC`s works fine with GDROM. I already mention that. No reset, no pause or boot problem. PSU was soldered to to mainboard because there was no plastic case to hold it, that DC was used as a prototype.
      The other DC also works fine, useless to say that PSU contacts are VERY firm and clean and yes, i`m pretty sure that all contacts are fine. It runs all tests for 2 hours with GDROM, no problems. On first attempt with GDEMU, it fails, stuck on boot sequence.

      What chance you have to get SAME behavior -error- on TWO different DC`s, one with soldered PSU, the other one in normal case, while BOTH of them are running games -for hours with GDROM- and never experience any kind of errors? Close to 0.

      Most probably if that GDEMU unit will be tested on 10 DC`s i will still get the magic question: “did you check the PSU”?

      Already tried to re-flash firmware…same problem.
      Re-flow may solve or not the problem. Definitely, it`s something to be considered as a last option.

      Now, i have to quote this:

      “Lastly, in a very related subject, I’ve had more devices returned to me during the last 4 weeks than I had all year before. If I get one more return, for any reason whatsoever, I’m not going to offer that option for another 6 months.”

      It was posted on October 13 and defines the attitude of the seller towards customers.

      “for any reason whatsoever” means literally that he does not care if the unit is defective or not, he will not accept ANY returns.

      Speaking about kindness, i believe that i`m kind enough not to fill up complaints or worst.

      • Sorin, i understand your complaints – he’s not even replying to my request. Your ‘annoyance’ with the author of the hardware doesn’t mean you need to be rude and insulting to others though, especially when we’re trying to help you; actually if you re-read all of these posts you’ll find that you’re the one with an anger issue that the author of the hardware rightfully picked up on, no one wants to deal with someone who has an attitude like yours. We have no idea what your setup is until you adequately describe it (as you just did – though late), so stop getting raged every time one of us proposes an idea.

        A re-flow may work – i’d double check the scuzzy port pins too. If you really have no hope for the board then sell if on as faulty with no diagnosis to someone on here.

  23. Ben, i was expecting that “author of the hardware” will reply in appropriate way. He did not. I do not need his ironic answer when i pay 110Euro. Even if i pay 1$, i still do not need anybody`s irony. Because it`s about MY money.Hope that you`ve got the picture.
    Since it`s not YOUR money, i suggest to keep the critics for yourself. But if you don`t care about this, maybe you want the unit for 110Euro? I mean like this, defective.

    My primary question was addressed to him and not to somebody else.
    Thanks for your intentions, but it was not the case.

    I`ll try tomorrow a re-flow and we`ll see what`s going on.
    If still not working, i suppose that you can have it for free. I do not sell something that is not working.

    • ‘Ben, i was expecting that “author of the hardware” will reply in appropriate way. He did not. I do not need his ironic answer when i pay 110Euro. Even if i pay 1$, i still do not need anybody`s irony. Because it`s about MY money.Hope that you`ve got the picture.’
      I agree 100 %. It seems you’re certain it’s a defective unit, so i would also be very disapointed if i was in your position. I don’t mean to patronise you (even after your mild insult) on how i think you should have gone about rectifying the issue differently, but know that i would have not done it the same. It seems your initial comment made the ‘author of the hardware’ concerned – anyway enough with the analysis. Just be a bit nicer and i’m telling you that at least in this builders community, it will be reciprocated.

      ‘Since it`s not YOUR money, i suggest to keep the critics for yourself. My primary question was addressed to him and not to somebody else.’
      As far as i remember, there were a few of us trying to help you initially but you took all of our troubleshooting steps as an attack since you say you’ve already done it – we don’t know until you say what you’ve already tried. And know that you made these comments in a public domain, not private email. The symptom you described sounds very much like the power prong connector issue we discussed earlier which is why a few of us told you to check that before moving on.

      ‘I`ll try tomorrow a re-flow and we`ll see what`s going on.
      If still not working, i suppose that you can have it for free. I do not sell something that is not working.’
      If that doesn’t work then maybe we can sort something out and i can pay for postage or something, i’ll see if i can troubleshoot it. I’d probably get my probes out and check each component. To be honest it’d probably take a day but i’d do it for the learning outcome. Let us know if the reflow changed anything.

  24. i dont know what happened here between you both.
    my opinion sorin is you better sended it back to him.
    cant you send it back to him?

  25. Today i`ve tried to re-flow the IC`s. Started with Altera FPGA. Worked with a T-tip, heating only one side of the chip at a time and then testing the unit in order to determine where is (if there is) the problem.
    After the second attempt, no more freezing issues. Unit is on for 2 hours now and i didn`t notice any problems despite the fact that i power on-off the unit more than 50 times and pause one game for 10 minutes. I will run it for 24 hours and see what`s going on…so far, the results are encouraging.

    • Do me a favor please and test Crazy Taxi on a demo loop for 2 hours+

      Tried different rips CDI and GDI plus SD cards and it randomly crashes on the “Sega” screen.

      • Two hours? It`s not even starting, it remains stuck on “sega” screen.

      • PAL version is starting. Will see in a couple of hours if it gets stuck.

  26. im happy you got it working,its really a nice device.
    so the problem was bad contact or a leg just did not make contact.

  27. sorin,if your dc is pal,you must use pal games,there is a program called gdemu sd.
    ther you can patch gdi files region free and vga patch.
    gdemu is not region free.

    • Yes, my DC is PAL and most of the games i`ve tested -and are working- are NTSC-U or NTSC-J.
      Games are coming from various locations so i don`t know if the`re patched for region free or not.
      I just noticed that all regions are working fine. Coincidence?

      • Tbh, forget the 2 hours. I tested Crazy Taxi again at 20:05 tonight and it crashed at 20:45 ish. The first few times it was longer than an hour before it crashed.

        Also tried Sega Rally and that crashed on the demo loop/Dev screen after 15 mins. I’m not sure if it’s CDDA games that are affected, as Sega Rally 2 is, yet Crazy Taxi is not I don’t think.

        Soul Calibur 2 is now on a soak test.

  28. are you using gdi or cdi?
    try first gdi,they are full games,also source can be important.
    think i use redump and most my own rips from my originals.

    • I use Redump and Tosec dumps on a Japanese Region free bios console.

      • I`ve tested Crazy Taxi for more than 6 hours, no problems with PAL version, NTSC version is getting stuck on boot screen.
        Try to make some tests with GDMENU 0.5 (if you don`t have it already), it`s the one i`m using now.

  29. maybe some ntsc games are coded to work on pal also maybe?
    but most dont work on pal dc,asked deunan months ago.
    i must patch them in gdemu sd,or do you have region free bios in your dc,that also can explain that.
    usb gdrom is region free.

    • Well, while it’s true that the GDEMU doesn’t do any region/vga patching, if you are using GDmenu v0.5+ you don’t need to manually patch your disc images. The menu already patches the BIOS routines that check region and VGA cable during boot, leaving your images intact.

  30. @Sorin :
    Even if I still don’t own a GDEMU and with the hope to have no problems the day where I ll got one, your reflow thing deserve a tutorial somewhere in case of.

    Tiki

    • There are two or three methods to re-flow, now it depends what kind of tools you have and also, how experienced you are with this kinda` things. You can destroy PCB and IC`s very fast if you`re not experienced or use improper tools. Definitely, not recommended for amateurs. However, you can find plenty tutorials on youtube.

      I`m sure that Radoslaw is checking every single card before delivery but it`s impossible to have them passing an “endurance test”. My card starts failing after one day. Even though i`ve examined all PCB with a magnifier, i did not saw any flaw in the soldering.
      Re-flow proves that actually was a hidden problem in there.

      In my opinion, if the card fails, it should be RETURNED to the vendor.
      But this is another discussion.

  31. Just to confirm before my unit arrives. Is 32gb the limit? I wouldnt like to splash out on a bigger card to find its not supported. I can not wait!

    Thanks

    • The card I have been using was fine, as I have had the ODE since June this year. Only the past few days, random issues have been occurring with crashing, etc.

      It’s possible that the SD could become bad over time, yet I have not done anything differently and it’s been in the DC all this time and was never taken out since I copied the games over.

      I’m currently testing other cards and PSU’s with and without GDMENU.

  34. Can anyone confirm that a Kingston 32 GB C-4 SD card works with no issues, please? Like this:

    I had bought a Transcend 32 GB C-10 UHS-I to realize later that there’s recommendation against it in the instructions here. So I’ve bought the former, but I’d like to be sure before unseal it. I wouldn’t have use for a second card like these.

    Thanks.

    • Actually I think the problematic C-10 Transcends were not UHS cards so you can try that too.

    • I am currently using those same 32GB Kingston cards and they work perfectly with mine.

  35. Did you get any returned or blemished rheas?
    Next time pre orders open im ready for one, i can pay immediately.

  36. At the beginning I was having problems with my GDEMU… the problem was that the GDEMU is moved a bit when you take out/insert the SD card and the pins do not make good contact (even using the screw).

    Since buying the SD extender I have not had any problems 🙂

    • also for phoebe
      – This release requires firmware version 3.5.0 for Rhea or 3.2.0 for
      Phoebe.

      • Wow. Thanks to everyone involved. Perfect timing for me since I was about to try my Phoebe for the first time. Is it safe/tested by GD-Emu? I wouldn’t like to break anything this soon…

        (What’s the difference between booting a game with the A button and using the “experimental” Start button way?)

  38. Update:

    After several hours in total (34 ) to be exact. I have narrowed my issue down to incompatibly SD cards that are causing random crashing. DK does mention this about random crashing that may occur and to try a different SD card.

    However, my original 32Gb Sandisk was working fine when I bought the ODE in June and was only starting to act weird this week, even though nothing was changed/added, etc, or even removed from the unit.

    I tried 3 different DC’s (PSU’s) and even tried cleaning and bending the pins because some games were bombing to the main DC screen after 20+ mins. Also, tried GDMENU and without it and again same issues.

    Out of 5 cards, 2 are working (kingston) after several long demo loops/stress testing.

    So anyone having issues, check the SD card, even though it may have worked from the start.

    • maybe,i said maybe its related to firmware.
      with the older firmware its working fine,update to newer firmware,and problem start.
      see if you flash back to older if possible the problem exist.

      • If was was question to me. Yes I already done firmware checks with my testing (made no difference), just didn’t mention it in my update above.

  39. To everyone having problems with crashing

    For me this usually occurs when I load my 32GB card up close to maximum capacity.

    Sometimes I find I need to reformat my card and load the images back onto it or I get weird freezing.

    Using the cheapest class 10 Sandisk off amazon probably has something to do with this.

    Having to reload the GDIs isn’t a big deal, honestly it’s more convenient to load the card with a few frequently played images and switch them out as needed.

    It saves a lot of time scrolling past games you wont play daily anyways.

    I will add I haven’t had problems with freezing or crashes since I changed my file managment habits.

  40. i think its a bootloader builded in the menu,so the game start via that bootloader,not via the rheas or phoebe one.
    maybe a bugs life working with it?
    gona test it,panzer dragoon saga is working via the normal load button(a)

    • tested a bugs life with rheamenu start and a button to startup the game,but its crashing with both.

      • Are the AR codes still needed to bypass the cart check for PDS when using Rmenu? Previously, PDS would not boot when using a AR cart because of the check on start-up. (remove cart message)

    • Yeah I know it does without it, as it would do anyway and the same if using a disc too. My question was does it work if the AR is in the console with Rmenu? Otherwise it will not work, as I mentioned earlier if a AR is used unless you use a code.

  42. Mr knute! Thanks to you! My gdemu arrived to Colombia November 25 th and was resived november 30 th, works like a charm, Im just so happy today my father my sister my little brother and my son we all gather and play son dreamcast, really nice time we had all posible thanks to you, man keep it rocking, I don’t know if you fallow you’ve reach with this priject of yours but to Colombia was very fast.

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