Sega 32X/CD/Genesis

For hardware talk only (please avoid ROM dumper stuff)
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Slingers
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Sega 32X/CD/Genesis

Post by Slingers » Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:54 pm

I wonder, would it be possible to construct a fully fledging Sega 32/CD/Genesis all in one system? And create some kind of BIOS screen that'd allow you to select which system you'd like to boot upon power-up?

Flygon
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Post by Flygon » Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:17 am

I'm sure it'd be possible (Otherwise such a combination wouldn't even be possible in the first place), but I'd imagine availability of parts and generally constructing it would be a pain in the ass.

cdoty
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Post by cdoty » Sat Jan 09, 2010 7:31 am

It already works. Put a 32x cart in, and it will run, same for Genesis. Remove cart, and it will boot the CD. Bypassing the cart would require a hardware solution.

Drakon
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Post by Drakon » Sat May 26, 2012 2:30 pm

*bump*

hope this hasn't already been posted elsewhere but some crazy guy actually did make one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxoXNi_qCkQ

bioloid
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Post by bioloid » Thu May 09, 2013 1:58 am

Awesome thing. Wonder if a saturn+megadrive mix is possible, would be cool !

bioloid
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Post by bioloid » Thu May 09, 2013 2:01 am

Oh, I'm interested about merging an everdrive in megadrive as well, if thats not overkill, lot soldering i guess.

inu
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Post by inu » Thu May 09, 2013 11:45 am

It certainly is possible, but requires bit of work depending on exactly what you're looking to do.

The best option here would probably be creating a new "3 in 1" replacement board, as it would lead to have a lot of other people be interested in acquiring it too, since it would ensure 100% compatibility.

Some of the main components (Z80, M68K, YM2612...) are probably not sold anymore tho, so you would need to "transplant" them from old consoles, which is not so hard since they're all pretty big and therefor fairly easy to solder, and even the High Definition Graphics model is pretty easy and cheap to acquire.

The best part of that option is that it would eliminate a lot of the connectors in the process and several of the huge wastes of space (the stuff on the first model is really spread out and the 32X very messy itself) and stuff like those less common DIN plugs can easily be replaced with 1 SCART (for RGB), 1 S-Video, 1 Composite, 1 Left and 1 Right Audio connectors to please everyone (and every setup).

Now adding a 32X permanently depending on how it's done can kill the Master System compatibility, so that's another thing to consider.
And if you did consider leaving the Master System usable, an extra cartridge slot for it would also make the "Master Converter" unnecessary.
And finally some people might not own both the 32X and Sega CD, so it would need to work in all conditions.

@bioloid
Adding a Mega Everdrive would likely be a bit more problematic, since the creator would have no benefit in it.
However, if he (or some other computer engineer) WAS interested, it could be taken a step forward and replace the optical drive along with the cartridge slots, or even some ICs with simple logic if there are any pins and enough logic on the FPGA left. But THAT would be a load of work, and very likely not cheap either.

Some nice pictures of the PCBs can be found here as a curiosity:
http://notaz.gp2x.de/hw.php

Xynxyn
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Post by Xynxyn » Wed May 22, 2013 6:09 am

inu wrote:Some of the main components (Z80, M68K, YM2612...) are probably not sold anymore tho, so you would need to "transplant" them from old consoles, which is not so hard since they're all pretty big and therefor fairly easy to solder, and even the High Definition Graphics model is pretty easy and cheap to acquire.
Another option is producing or finding clones of that components.

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