Gamecube Service Disc In-Depth article published!

[Nitro734]

Hey all, just wanted to forward on this link for a lengthy article I just finished on the GC Service Disc. Hopefully some of you find this useful, and even if you had no interest in this disc, some of the things I found speak for themselves.

Let me know what you think!

http://www.electricpickleonline.com/?p=38


edit: Article updated in March 18th with extra EXI bus device information that was provided in this thread. Thanks!

[Taucias]

Great read. Thanks for posting it here and sharing it.

[kiff]

Great stuff mate.

I love the fact that N64 devices are showing up as detectable in the controller ports, this must mean that in the early stages they were using past controllers to test. That gives me a great task to fill on an empty weekend! ;-)

I would love to use this info when we finally get the cube site up if that is ok with you mate.

If you do see one of said discs on EBay please send me the link just incase I have missed it. I need to get my hands on one of these.

Have you managed to compile what info you have on the kiosk discs? (Thats not a push, just an enquiry).

[Barc0de]

Kiff, they were.

In early Dolphin designs they were undecided on whether or not to use N64 accessories and keep the same port design or even provide an adaptor. Talks weren't finalized and some even speculated of some sort of connection between the DD and the Dolphin , although I think that idea was abandoned very early on, if ever considered.

[Barc0de]

The Artist Ether card most likely refers to the unreleased Coaxial cable adaptor, for cable networks.

The GC had one/two accessory/ies that aren't really well known. A bluetooth/other RF accessory designed at some point that was to be fitted in the small serial port. It would have supported local wireless networking. Net Card and Stream Hanger might be refering to this.

(where Net Card is the wireless networking card, and (the other accessory) Stream Hanger is the hardware center (hanger) that manages wireless traffic for controllers/accessories etc)

regarding the GC and Bluetooth (can't spot the article anymore on IGN but found something as good)

http://cube.ign.com/mail/2000-11-29.html

Miyamoto: "What we expressed yesterday about Bluetooth is the total environment surrounding the information technology, especially the communication technology. But as a matter of fact, we don't have any specific plan at this point in time in the real world. We simply said that it is capable of a variety of things, as we are going to use Gamecube five and six years from now, and in between we will have revolutions and evolutions in technologies. What we wanted to show you yesterday about its technical specifications was that yes, we are ready to go ahead with planning for new entertainment taking advantage of new technologies, For example, we have just shown you the Wavebird controller. It is not using Bluetooth technology, but it can do something similar, kind of, now. It is not important what kind of technology is there now, what is important for us is what we can do with the technology."

and

So as you can see, the Wavebird does not use Bluetooth, but is based on a similar technology from Nintendo. And to answer your original question, this quote from the man himself certainly implies that we could be seeing other such wireless peripherals in the Gamecube's future, and possibly implemented with Bluetooth technology. This could include wireless microphones, controllers, cameras, keyboards, mice -- basically any device that crazy Miyamoto can conjure with his infinitely creative noggin.

[Nitro734]

Thanks for the further insights barc0de! I'll update my article based on the quote you provided from Miyamoto, but do you any evidence referring to a coaxial adapter, or possibly any info on early Dolphin designs/N64 compatabilities? I'd like to have at least a slightly better idea before I write something about it, if that is even possible. Thanks so much for the help!

And feel free to use any info in that article Kiff, just be sure to give me a plug ;) I'll hopefully be taking a look at the kiosk discs next week.

[Barc0de]

not at the moment.

When the GC was in development, the Greek gamepro magazine had a special on it (with pictures of the unreleased game Sapphire) that basically showed the N64 ports and discussed interchangeability etc between accessories.

The coax cable thing was a subject that came up when I had the luck to speak some years ago to a guy, you know how that is. Other than that, I *think* it's the coax cable, since Ethernet usually does refer to the Coax standard (in the orthodox orology of things).

The word Artist seems puzzling however, implying that it might have been an accessory for the ill-fated Stage Debut or similar software, at some point.

Perhaps a special add-on a la GBplayer that was aimed for a creation pack, and supported networking features?

The idea of using an Artist Pack for capturing a la 64DD capture cart. through the serial/parallel ports doesnt seem far-fetched, considering there was the ability to import stuff into Stage Debut using the SD card feature.

[Taucias]

It is my belief that the Artist Ether relates to a dev part connected to midi/sound chip programming on the GC.

Stream Hanger is probably related to the memory card slot I/F device.

[Barc0de]

Stream Hanger -> mem.card emulator?

[Nitro734]

Oooo conflicting information ;)

I'll give this thread a week or so if anyone wants to add in their educated assumptions, and i can compile them all as rumours to complete the article a little further.

Looks like the only way to get a solid answer would be from an inside source, and that is quite likely to never happen :)

Thanks for all the input thus far guys!

[Taucias]

Stream Hanger -> mem.card emulator?

Yes, though I am not 100% certain.

[Barc0de]

well, maybe someone who owns both the Mem.card emulator and the service disk can give us the answer.

[Nitro734]

Probably not. See, the list of EXI devices was pulled directly from a non-interactive test. Now, you might be able to extract the needed .dol file, or convert it to a .elf and modify it to work by itself if simply running it alone doesn't work... but thats an awful lot of hassle. If someone is willing to try this (or... if someone is willing to sell me a memory card emulator ;)) it would be appreciated!

[oldengineer]

The mem card emu is a standalone piece of H/W, It doesn't relate to the service disc.

The Service Disc exists to provide programs to execute tests, where as the emu works exactly the other way round.

Edit: btw nice article Nitro734!

[Taucias]

We never said it is part of the disc, the disc just lists it as a possible connected piece of hardware on the EXI Bus.

[Nitro734]

We are just trying to determine what the mystery EXI devices are :) OldEngineer if you have any suggestions... or hey if you'd be willing to pop a heatsink off of your earliest DDH to tell me what chip is powering it ;)

[Nitro734]

hey all, I updated the section of EXI bus devices if you wanted to take a look. It mostly relates to the information provided to me in this thread (thanks again! I also added Barc0de and Taucias to the special-thanks at the end of the article)

The changes were mostly made on page 2:
http://www.electricpickleonline.com/?p=38&page=2

If you folks ahve any further suggestions or ideas, I'd be happy to undate it further. :)

[Taucias]

The stereoscopic images are really interesting to see on there. Somehow I missed that. I wonder what stage the hardware reached and why those images would be on the disc in the first place. Very mysterious!

[Nitro734]

When I dumped the service disc image, the first thing that caught my eye was those stereoscopic images and I wanted to look a little deeper to see what else I could find - its the reason this article exists :)

I also found a GC microphone and tested the memory card slot. Detects the peripheral but can't communicate with it. I'd assume the same is also true for a GC SD adapter.

[Barc0de]

=) thanks for the mention mate