exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

alexh wrote: 25 Dec 2023 14:01 Ingenious. Does it work?

As promised:


Finding some ISOs are not playing nicely, so trying different sources, and if the GD Emu card manager doesn't seem to be working for Mac, I'll try it on PC instead.

Following up, it seems that the Mac version of the software is for Intel machines, and whilst it runs on my M1, I'm having a lot more success with the Windows version of the GD Card manager software, so will stick with that.

Next up I need to download everything I have in my Dreamcast GDI disk library, ready for when the 32GB SD cards I've ordered arrives and then I am up and ready with everything I have now, and next I'll get the games that come highly recommended.

Looking good :)

So, I've now installed a shunt on the 12v line as described by various websites, but I think I'm going to head down the same route as I did with the Saturn, and get a replacement PSU that runs off a 12v wall wart.

Looking good now all back together:


I've put the GD-ROM drive back into the Dreamcast box (Yes, I've had it from new and still have the box!) for safe keeping as it actually works just fine.

As I suggested, the GD Menu Card Manager software works just perfectly on my Windows laptops, but isn't so good on my M1 Mac, so I will stick to Windows for card management.

I've managed to fill up an 8GB card for now, but should have some 32GB cards arriving tomorrow, so i'll copy the contents of the 8GB card over. That'll give me 2 32GB cards for the Dreamcast, and one for the Saturn, so I'll have 2 for each.

For the DC I will fill one up with my current library of disk games, then the other stuff can be random recommendations. I already have Ikaruga (Thanks @PhilC for that recommendation, seems very reminiscent of Radiant Silvergun on the Saturn.

Today has been a good day, what with getting the PS4 up and running as well.

Very pleased today, my memory cards arrived and I have my original library of games on one, and some recommended titles on another, so nearly 64GB of games.

I dad to dig out my DC SCART cable as I have some games that don't work with the VGA cable I was using, but everything works fine now and I can at least choose 60Hz mode on the games that support it, since the TV I'm using does.

Image quality isn't as good, but I can live with that, as it's good enough.

I can definitely recommend this for those of you with Dreamcasts out there, it great to have both of my Sega CD consoles sorted for SD rather than CD now.

Next up I'll look at getting a replacement PSU like I did with the Saturn.

:dualthumbup:

OK, so the replacement PSU has just arrived for the Dreamcast, more on that later with photos :)

As promised, here is the install of the Dream PSU. I bought another from Bitfunx via Ali Express, the same brand as I bought for the Saturn, and as with the Saturn it came nicely packaged, and with everything I needed to replace the DC PSU.

Overall quality of the components is excellent.


Once the 4 screws are removed from the DC case, it's easy to access the PSU:


And there are just 2 screws to remove the PSU and one lead from the power switch at the front.


It's then a simple matter of plugging the new PSU where the old one was, and fitting one screw (The other is not needed, so I just screwed it back where it came from)


Followed by a test before reassembly:


All is well :)


All that was left was to button it back up, placing the new power input where the old mains socket once was:


I have to say I am very please with the PSU replacements for both the Saturn and Dreamcast from Bitfunx. They are great quality and do a good job of powering these consoles, and now I have SD solutions for both, they have a new lease of life.

After seeing your Saturn post I bought one of those replacement PSUs for my Saturn and got a Dreamcast one.
As you say, pretty easy to fit.

Higgy wrote: 13 Jan 2024 16:57 After seeing your Saturn post I bought one of those replacement PSUs for my Saturn and got a Dreamcast one.
As you say, pretty easy to fit.

Yeah, they are proper 'drop in' replacements.

What's interesting to me too, is that both the Saturn and the DC have a very similar structure, so mainboard at the bottom, PSU on the left and CD/GD drive slap bang in the middle. The only main difference is the DC is much smaller in all areas.

Neat and clean.

Well done !

:D