Tray-loading Gd-rom

[Agentspikey95]

I've got 1 or 2 spare Computer CD-ROM drives, and a spare DC. I hthought about this, stuffing the GD drive guts into a tray-loading CD-ROM drive. Keep the proprietary connector and all of course. Is this possible or am i just having hopeful dreams here?

[kendrick]

In theory, the only difference between a GD-ROM drive and a CD-ROM drive is that the GD drive is programmed to read a slightly higher bit density. So if you have the tools and the talent, the simpler thing to do is to transfer the ROM data (and the sliding lens unit) from the GD-ROM to a standard CD drive.

Unless the technology's changed much in the last fifteen years, the sliding tray CD-ROM units include some extra sensors and circuitry to handle the up-and-down motion of the spindle as well as the button mechanism for opening and closing the tray. So you have to account for this in the programming of the drive as well, which means you end up having to modify said ROM data.

And now I'm going to suggest what Lawrence suggested for USB control pads... If you're lucky enough to find a Dreamcast development unit or OEM output unit, you'll find that those GD-ROM and GD-RW drives are all tray-loading devices. So why build something that somebody else has already constructed? A really ambitious sunuvagun might actually find remaindered drives from the original manufacturer (was it Hitachi or JVC that made those?)

-KKC, who wonders if the Xbox power cord recall isn't just a devious plan to see what Xboxes are still in circulation...

[Agentspikey95]

So why build something that somebody else has already constructed?

Because i'm out of cash and won't be getting any anytime soon. and even if i did have some major green, the chances of finding one are slim, unless i fly to japan, and look in Sega's storage (which was where they Lost the sonic racecar. If they can lose an indy car, dev units should be pretty easy to misplace)

I wouldn't think the drive drawer would be a problem. Press the button, a seperate circuit moves the tray out and trips the drive door switch that's already on board. I haven't been inside a tray loader in years, so i'm not sure about the spindle.

[NFG]

I was actually looking into exactly this, but my solution was definitely lower tech.  I had thought to gut a PC CD drive and replace the motor and lens assembly with the DC one, and mount it to the existing assembly.

There's no raise/lower programming involved, it's a mechanical operation.  All you need is a closed/open switch to indicate to the DC if it should spin the disc up or not.  Let the CD mech do the rest...  

The problems I encountered when I was doing this with a Saturn drive were pretty simple but hard to overcome: top loading consoles usually have a clip-on spindle, where tray loaders have a magnetic clam assembly.  You'd have to pop the CD gripper off the old motor and put a magnetic one on.  And make damn sure it's level!!  The other problem was size, the Saturn had a huge PCB attached to the CD assembly.  I gave the project up for a couple of years and just checked it the other day.  I gave it up for goot.

With a DC assembly there's a very good chance you could just mount the whole drive on a sliding tray, with an extension cable to the PCB mounted somewhere inside.  Tricky but not insurmountable.

[Agentspikey95]

that i could probably pull off with a few plastic boxes and a flat srip of gear teeth & a motor. Maybe once the school year ends, i'll look for a job to pay with this.

If i remember correctly, werren't the katanna Dev units' drives just GD drives mounted on a tray?

[phreak97]

why do people even want to do this?