the EXT. port on old Genesis

[DMN_Sonic]

I wanna know about the EXT. port on old Genesis.
I know that port is to connect two Genesis to play few games like Zero Tolerance, but can I perform something more with this port?
The port have some similarities with the controller port, can I use to connect with the computer or something else?:confused:

[lwizardl]

are you talking about the ext port on the left side of the system? has a red plastic slip cover over the connector ? if so thats for connecting a Sega CD unit I have a Model 1 genesis hooked to a model 2 sega cd. you just need a small connector to hold the genesis. I've never heard of hooking 2 genesis systems together for games like zero tolerance. first system i ever seen something like that was the psx

james

[Kami68k]

You can play games like Zero Tolance (dont know of others) using 2 Mega Drives, 2 TVs and a link cable. I did it once. But AFAIK those link cables were never sold (or maybe they are very rare?). It's some years ago but that guy where I played it had made one himself because of that.

[Calpis]

The cable would be clearly a male-male DB9, probably a null modem adapter is required or a null modem cable with gender changer though.

I wasn't aware of any games using it on it's own. It was used in Japan for the Mega Modem.

[PrOfUnD Darkness]

The cable for Zero Tolerance must be conected on the 2o joypad port, not on the ext port.
The ext port was only used for the Telemodem.

[rika_chou]

I have an odd piece of hardware that fits into the EXT port, and lights an LED light when the system is powered on. Looks like it was used to connect the system to a PC. Probably used for debugging or something of the like.

[Barc0de]

feel free to share pictures!

[rika_chou]

I will post pictures, but I have to dig through my crap to find the thing, might take a few days.

[Fonzie]

nice :)
I heard of that system... Afaik, it was used to output strings to a LCD screen or computer :D... Yeah, can't wait to see the pics :)

I read somewhere that some "free-play" multi game systems did use the ext joypad port to do some I/O stuff...

[rika_chou]

It's not really a system, and it's very small, so don't get too excited. (only a couple inches long)

[rika_chou]

Sorry for the crappy quality.

[Fonzie]

okay, seems to be a simple buffer (to store a byte of data?) that can be manualy read from printer port in very easy way...
There is a button on it, i wonder what it is for, héhé (put the thing in output or input mode?) :)

Thx for sharing
Well, nice item (i whished it had a LCD screen to display strings hah!) :)

Btw, I asked for manufacturing of ZeroTolerance cable and SLO cables, if somebody interested, don't hesitate to PM.

[rika_chou]

The button is a reset button, can be used just like the regular reset button.

[Barc0de]

that PCB has a "sexy smile" ;)

[SuperGrafx]

You can play games like Zero Tolance (dont know of others) using 2 Mega Drives, 2 TVs and a link cable. I did it once. But AFAIK those link cables were never sold (or maybe they are very rare?). It's some years ago but that guy where I played it had made one himself because of that.

Ah Zero Tolerance, a great late release.
The real story with the link cable (at least in the US version) is that Accolade originally wanted to include it as a pack-in with the game, but decided not to at the last minute.

Instead, a mail-in coupon came with the game for a "free" link cable. You still had to pay shipping so it technically wasn't free. I got one, and never really had a chance to use it since so many of my friends had sold off their Genesis systems in anticipation of the PS/Saturn. The link cable was simply connected to Controller Port 2 on both Genesis systems.

The Neo Geo by far had the coolest Link Up option...direct through the game cartridges via a standard phono to phono plug. Up to 4 players even!

[nitro2k01]

Sorry for the crappy quality.

Can you give the exact names of the chips? (Only need the top row, that probably contains 40 or possibly 74)

[opethfan]

Only a few Genesii had it (mine does). No idea what it's for though. A lot of old consoles had ports which were removed later because no one used them. Playstation's one of them.

[selgus]

Only a few Genesii had it (mine does). No idea what it's for though. A lot of old consoles had ports which were removed later because no one used them. Playstation's one of them.

The old Genesis consoles did have this EXT port, which was indeed removed in later versions of the console. We use to use it to debug, as you could access it from the 68K side.

I believe the old GEMS music editting system for the Genesis also made use of this port.

--Selgus

[drx]

The old Genesis consoles did have this EXT port, which was indeed removed in later versions of the console. We use to use it to debug, as you could access it from the 68K side.

I believe the old GEMS music editting system for the Genesis also made use of this port.

--Selgus

Yep, indeed it did. I've got GEMS and it includes a board that has a cable that connects to the EXT port and has a parallel connector. Pretty cool stuff =)

[Cone]

I don't suppose anyone could post a picture of the port?

I'd like to pick up a Genesis to experiment on, and having a way to connect to a computer is interesting, unless anyone can give me a good reason to get a newer model.