#33261 - dist0rted - Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:15 am
Just had the idea. Think it is possible / worth a try?
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#33262 - tepples - Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:18 am
It's not too far-out an idea. Isn't there already a GBA flash cart that takes CF media? Perhaps a future version could take the larger CF II media such as a Microdrive.
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#33264 - dist0rted - Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:42 am
Well I've been needing a project to test out my soldering skills. Is there anyone who's interested in helping? I'd like to somehow make a gba program that would let you browse a hard drive somehow connected to the gba (yeah, talk about a big project, eh?).
EDIT: Since it's a ARM system, does anyone know of a hard drive with ARM support (if needed)?
EDIT 2: Perhaps USB hard drives would be a great option.
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#33267 - DS_HARDWARE_13 - Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:48 am
yeah it would be cool if you could use a portable harddrive maybe self-powered i mean you could have a few gigs of space easy
now what to use it for....
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#33270 - tepples - Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:54 am
It's been done.
http://www.gbacd.tk/
Essential components: - a pair of 8-bit ROMs (mask or flash) to boot the GBA
- a pair of 8-bit RAMs
- an FPGA (or ASIC if you plan production) to interface between the GBA cart bus, the ROMs, the RAMs, and the ATA port
- a power supply for the ATA port and the RAMs
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-- Where is he?
-- Who?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#33286 - dist0rted - Sat Jan 01, 2005 5:02 pm
When I went there it said the domain couldn't be found. I'll reload later.
Anyway, it makes lots of options. Perhaps someone could make a MP3 player for the GBA with mp3's on the hard drive. Now wouldn't that be sweet? Plus the fact that you could backup all your games with plenty ease-of-space.
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#33328 - Cyberman - Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:00 am
| dist0rted wrote: |
When I went there it said the domain couldn't be found. I'll reload later.
Anyway, it makes lots of options. Perhaps someone could make a MP3 player for the GBA with mp3's on the hard drive. Now wouldn't that be sweet? Plus the fact that you could backup all your games with plenty ease-of-space. |
As tepples pointed out it's been done (ATA interface).
Soldering is your LEAST problem with such a thing.
MP3 players are common as dirt, why use a GBA for it? The audio would be much poorer quality (44khz 8 bit stereo instead of 96khz over sampled stereo). Power for the hard disk might be entertaining, they do suck down quite a bit of power even if it's a portable HD. Backing up the GBA images seems more likely what you are interested in.
To be honest you would have a lot of challenges to make that thing portable, aside from it being affordable. If you don't plan on carrying it around then it's much easier to do. Still won't be cheap, and will require some pretty decent engineering skills along with some experience.
Cyb
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