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I was talking with one of my buddies online and he told me that when you're logged into the internet via the dreamcast and you have your VMU (memory card) connected you can download save files and stuff. But, I dunno if this idea is something new of mine or someone else has harped on it. I was thinking about emulation on the dreamcast via the VMU. Wouldn't that be cool if there were a program or some type of boot CD that you could run that could use the VMU like a storage game and then select all the games from the VMU and play them directly on the dreamcast? And then, if you wanted to download more of your favorite (owned) games you could download them to the VMU and then use them later with your boot CD emulation program?

Chris :o)

Was my message "off topic" or does nobody give a damn about SMS emulation on the dreamcast? Oh well, I guess I'll be a loaner on this one...

Chris :o)

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> Was my message "off topic" or does nobody give a damn about SMS emulation on the dreamcast? Oh well, I guess I'll be a loaner on this one...

yeah, it's a great idea, tell us when you're done

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> I was talking with one of my buddies online and he told me that when you're logged into the internet via the dreamcast and you have your VMU (memory card) connected you can download save files and stuff. But, I dunno if this idea is something new of mine or someone else has harped on it. I was thinking about emulation on the dreamcast via the VMU. Wouldn't that be cool if there were a program or some type of boot CD that you could run that could use the VMU like a storage game and then select all the games from the VMU and play them directly on the dreamcast? And then, if you wanted to download more of your favorite (owned) games you could download them to the VMU and then use them later with your boot CD emulation program?

> Chris :o)

How much memory do VMU's have?

Eric Quinn

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> How much memory do VMU's have?

Current VMS from Sega have 128 kb available.

That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous.

Chris :o|

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> That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous.

Zoop would know.

flash ram isn't cheap. It's cheaper than that, but still, it isn't cheap.

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>> That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous.
> Zoop would know.
> flash ram isn't cheap. It's cheaper than that, but still, it isn't cheap.

I was talking about a standard VM from Sega with a LCD screen.
There are third party memory cards without screens, etc, and that includes more memory.

A "normal" VMS includes the Flash RAM, the system to handle the Flash RAM (reading it and mainly writing to it), a LCD screen, a communication port, and do not forget it is a whole system with a CPU, RAM and such.
30$ doesn't seems much for it, although I agree they should have included more memory by default as it wouldn't have increased it's price much.

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> Zoop would know.

Believe it or not, despite working on it that is a point I always tend to forget.
The memory map is so weird (some part of the RAM has to be accessed by port, go figures!) that it is always unclear to me ^_^

Precisely (and again I might be wrong - hehe) there are two 64 kb banks of Flash memory, one being used by the game and the other by saved file and data files.

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> >> That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous.
> > Zoop would know.
> > flash ram isn't cheap. It's cheaper than that, but still, it isn't cheap.

> I was talking about a standard VM from Sega with a LCD screen.
> There are third party memory cards without screens, etc, and that includes more memory.

> A "normal" VMS includes the Flash RAM, the system to handle the Flash RAM (reading it and mainly writing to it), a LCD screen, a communication port, and do not forget it is a whole system with a CPU, RAM and such.
> 30$ doesn't seems much for it, although I agree they should have included more memory by default as it wouldn't have increased it's price much.

I had thought the cards he was referring to were -just- the memory. In which case, I'm starting to think $15 bucks for 128k playstation cards is the real ripoff.

Quote

> That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous.

Instead of complaining and being always off-topic, think about the fact YOU did bought the VMS. If you are stupid enough not to check what it is and how many memory it does contains, then it is your problem.
Beside, I'd like to point out that two weeks ago you sent me a mail about SMS sound programming, which was probably the only interesting and on-topic thing I heard from you since a year and I replied asking why by the hell you didn't post it on the forum.
And you didn't.
It is me or your behavior is not understandable ?

Quote

> I had thought the cards he was referring to were -just- the memory. In which case, I'm starting to think $15 bucks for 128k playstation cards is the real ripoff.

In the case of the VM, the two battery alone cost around 6/7$ in shops. I don't know what kind of batterie those cards includes, but that might count for at least a quarter of the price. Not forgetting the cool and transparent packaging. Ahem.

Quote

> > That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous.

> Instead of complaining and being always off-topic, think about the fact YOU did bought the VMS. If you are stupid enough not to check what it is and how many memory it does contains, then it is your problem.

What I mean is memory cards in general are general rip-ofs. All the video game systems like N64, Dreamcast, PSX, they all need memory cards and those memory cards are damned expensive. Yet, in terms of memory handling they're a joke. 128k is not a lot for memory. I bet the programmers have to compress or organize the game saves so it will even fit on the card. I bought a plain 3rd party Dreamcast memory card without the VMU crap that's double sided for 30 bucks. A reasonable price for it's capabilities should be 5 bucks even but that's the way things are today, I guess.

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> Beside, I'd like to point out that two weeks ago you sent me a mail about SMS sound programming, which was probably the only interesting and on-topic thing I heard from you since a year and I replied asking why by the hell you didn't post it on the forum.
> And you didn't.
> It is me or your behavior is not understandable ?

The reason why I never posted it on this form is because I eventually figured it out by reading some Colecovision and SMS docs on the Texas chips. I guess it's safe to say that I'm creating a little utility that works with PSG binary. And, with some personal help from Charles MacDonald, there was no need to post on it. I don't want to say what kind of utility I'm writing and stuff because like you said. I may accidently make false promises.

Is my behavior not understandable you say? I dunno but I thought SMS emulation on dreamcast was. How come SMS emulation on personal computers are automatically understood? Can't I have dreams and be spontaneous? The world would get boring without dreamers like me.

Chris :o)

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> What I mean is memory cards in general are general rip-ofs. All the video game systems like N64, Dreamcast, PSX, they all need memory cards and those memory cards are damned expensive. Yet, in terms of memory handling they're a joke. 128k is not a lot for memory. I bet the programmers have to compress or organize the game saves so it will even fit on the card. I bought a plain 3rd party Dreamcast memory card without the VMU crap that's double sided for 30 bucks. A reasonable price for it's capabilities should be 5 bucks even but that's the way things are today, I guess.

Okay, buster, you cram a few million transistors into a less than a cubic inch, and make 'em keep their states for years and years on a tiny little battery, and tell me how much -you- want for them.

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> The reason why I never posted it on this form is because I eventually figured it out by reading some Colecovision and SMS docs on the Texas chips

The goofball part is that you emailed him to begin with. You finally had something really relevant: sega hardware AND programming! together! and you didn't think to use the forum for -that-.
And yet you don't hesitate to give us status reports about how far into kenseiden you've gotten on s8-dev. And you've even gotten me doing, for cunts' sake.

Quote

> Is my behavior not understandable you say? I dunno but I thought SMS emulation on dreamcast was. How come SMS emulation on personal computers are automatically understood? Can't I have dreams and be spontaneous?

> The world would get boring without dreamers like me.

Now that's a quote for posterity. Good grief.

here's another good quote:
"Invention is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration."

Quote

> In the case of the VM, the two battery alone cost around 6/7$ in shops. I don't know what kind of batterie those cards includes, but that might count for at least a quarter of the price. Not forgetting the cool and transparent packaging. Ahem.

And if those batteries die on you (and they will in about a month, whether or not you use it for minigames or even take it out of the controller...can't Sega make anything with a decent battery life?!), the unit beeps in a very annoying manner every time you start your Dreamcast or remove and replace the VMU. The system was a good idea, it was just implemented wrong. The space limitation isn't really much of a setback, though, since most game saves don't take up that much space. You can still use it as a regular memory card after the batteries die, of course.

Curious...the Dreamcast doesn't store _anything_ internally, except for internet (connection settings, favorites, and such) and language settings (and I guess a few miscellaneous system settings). I'm not sure how much the cost or functionality would be affected if Sega had actually given the console "internal RAM" (as it was mysteriously dubbed in the Sega CD days). While the VMS has its connectivity and expandibility advantages, a little local storage couldn't hurt. Aw well.

Author	Message
Consolemu Guest	SMS Emulation & Dreamcast Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2000 11:24 pm
Consolemu Guest	I was talking with one of my buddies online and he told me that when you're logged into the internet via the dreamcast and you have your VMU (memory card) connected you can download save files and stuff. But, I dunno if this idea is something new of mine or someone else has harped on it. I was thinking about emulation on the dreamcast via the VMU. Wouldn't that be cool if there were a program or some type of boot CD that you could run that could use the VMU like a storage game and then select all the games from the VMU and play them directly on the dreamcast? And then, if you wanted to download more of your favorite (owned) games you could download them to the VMU and then use them later with your boot CD emulation program? Chris :o)

Consolemu Guest	Humm... Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 8:50 am
Consolemu Guest	Was my message "off topic" or does nobody give a damn about SMS emulation on the dreamcast? Oh well, I guess I'll be a loaner on this one... Chris :o)

Heliophobe Site Admin Joined: 25 Oct 1999 Posts: 2029 Location: Monterey, California	Re: Humm... Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 3:21 pm
	Quote > Was my message "off topic" or does nobody give a damn about SMS emulation on the dreamcast? Oh well, I guess I'll be a loaner on this one... yeah, it's a great idea, tell us when you're done

Eric R. Quinn Joined: 18 Sep 1999 Posts: 498 Location: Portland, Oregon USA	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 3:37 pm
	Quote > I was talking with one of my buddies online and he told me that when you're logged into the internet via the dreamcast and you have your VMU (memory card) connected you can download save files and stuff. But, I dunno if this idea is something new of mine or someone else has harped on it. I was thinking about emulation on the dreamcast via the VMU. Wouldn't that be cool if there were a program or some type of boot CD that you could run that could use the VMU like a storage game and then select all the games from the VMU and play them directly on the dreamcast? And then, if you wanted to download more of your favorite (owned) games you could download them to the VMU and then use them later with your boot CD emulation program? > Chris :o) How much memory do VMU's have? Eric Quinn

Zoop Joined: 24 Jun 1999 Posts: 1732 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 5:29 pm
	Quote > How much memory do VMU's have? Current VMS from Sega have 128 kb available.

Consolemu Guest	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:04 pm
Consolemu Guest	That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous. Chris :o\|

Heliophobe Site Admin Joined: 25 Oct 1999 Posts: 2029 Location: Monterey, California	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:09 pm
	Quote > That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous. Zoop would know. flash ram isn't cheap. It's cheaper than that, but still, it isn't cheap.

Zoop Joined: 24 Jun 1999 Posts: 1732 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:43 pm
	Quote >> That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous. > Zoop would know. > flash ram isn't cheap. It's cheaper than that, but still, it isn't cheap. I was talking about a standard VM from Sega with a LCD screen. There are third party memory cards without screens, etc, and that includes more memory. A "normal" VMS includes the Flash RAM, the system to handle the Flash RAM (reading it and mainly writing to it), a LCD screen, a communication port, and do not forget it is a whole system with a CPU, RAM and such. 30$ doesn't seems much for it, although I agree they should have included more memory by default as it wouldn't have increased it's price much.

Zoop Joined: 24 Jun 1999 Posts: 1732 Location: Paris, France	"Zoop would know" Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:45 pm
	Quote > Zoop would know. Believe it or not, despite working on it that is a point I always tend to forget. The memory map is so weird (some part of the RAM has to be accessed by port, go figures!) that it is always unclear to me ^_^ Precisely (and again I might be wrong - hehe) there are two 64 kb banks of Flash memory, one being used by the game and the other by saved file and data files.

Heliophobe Site Admin Joined: 25 Oct 1999 Posts: 2029 Location: Monterey, California	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:47 pm
	Quote > >> That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous. > > Zoop would know. > > flash ram isn't cheap. It's cheaper than that, but still, it isn't cheap. > I was talking about a standard VM from Sega with a LCD screen. > There are third party memory cards without screens, etc, and that includes more memory. > A "normal" VMS includes the Flash RAM, the system to handle the Flash RAM (reading it and mainly writing to it), a LCD screen, a communication port, and do not forget it is a whole system with a CPU, RAM and such. > 30$ doesn't seems much for it, although I agree they should have included more memory by default as it wouldn't have increased it's price much. I had thought the cards he was referring to were -just- the memory. In which case, I'm starting to think $15 bucks for 128k playstation cards is the real ripoff.

Zoop Joined: 24 Jun 1999 Posts: 1732 Location: Paris, France	And also.. Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:49 pm
	Quote > That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous. Instead of complaining and being always off-topic, think about the fact YOU did bought the VMS. If you are stupid enough not to check what it is and how many memory it does contains, then it is your problem. Beside, I'd like to point out that two weeks ago you sent me a mail about SMS sound programming, which was probably the only interesting and on-topic thing I heard from you since a year and I replied asking why by the hell you didn't post it on the forum. And you didn't. It is me or your behavior is not understandable ?

Zoop Joined: 24 Jun 1999 Posts: 1732 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2000 9:52 pm
	Quote > I had thought the cards he was referring to were -just- the memory. In which case, I'm starting to think $15 bucks for 128k playstation cards is the real ripoff. In the case of the VM, the two battery alone cost around 6/7$ in shops. I don't know what kind of batterie those cards includes, but that might count for at least a quarter of the price. Not forgetting the cool and transparent packaging. Ahem.

Consolemu Guest	SMS Sound Programming Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2000 6:51 am
Consolemu Guest	Quote > > That's all!!?? Those bastards made me pay 29.95 for 256K of memory!!??? That's a fucking rip off! Jesus! You sure it's not larger like a couple Megs!!?? I bought that two sided memory card for 29.95 and I only get 128K memory for one side!!?? Aww fuck it, I've heard it all. This is rediculous. > Instead of complaining and being always off-topic, think about the fact YOU did bought the VMS. If you are stupid enough not to check what it is and how many memory it does contains, then it is your problem. What I mean is memory cards in general are general rip-ofs. All the video game systems like N64, Dreamcast, PSX, they all need memory cards and those memory cards are damned expensive. Yet, in terms of memory handling they're a joke. 128k is not a lot for memory. I bet the programmers have to compress or organize the game saves so it will even fit on the card. I bought a plain 3rd party Dreamcast memory card without the VMU crap that's double sided for 30 bucks. A reasonable price for it's capabilities should be 5 bucks even but that's the way things are today, I guess. Quote > Beside, I'd like to point out that two weeks ago you sent me a mail about SMS sound programming, which was probably the only interesting and on-topic thing I heard from you since a year and I replied asking why by the hell you didn't post it on the forum. > And you didn't. > It is me or your behavior is not understandable ? The reason why I never posted it on this form is because I eventually figured it out by reading some Colecovision and SMS docs on the Texas chips. I guess it's safe to say that I'm creating a little utility that works with PSG binary. And, with some personal help from Charles MacDonald, there was no need to post on it. I don't want to say what kind of utility I'm writing and stuff because like you said. I may accidently make false promises. Is my behavior not understandable you say? I dunno but I thought SMS emulation on dreamcast was. How come SMS emulation on personal computers are automatically understood? Can't I have dreams and be spontaneous? The world would get boring without dreamers like me. Chris :o)

Heliophobe Site Admin Joined: 25 Oct 1999 Posts: 2029 Location: Monterey, California	Re: SMS Sound Programming Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2000 7:13 am
	Quote > What I mean is memory cards in general are general rip-ofs. All the video game systems like N64, Dreamcast, PSX, they all need memory cards and those memory cards are damned expensive. Yet, in terms of memory handling they're a joke. 128k is not a lot for memory. I bet the programmers have to compress or organize the game saves so it will even fit on the card. I bought a plain 3rd party Dreamcast memory card without the VMU crap that's double sided for 30 bucks. A reasonable price for it's capabilities should be 5 bucks even but that's the way things are today, I guess. Okay, buster, you cram a few million transistors into a less than a cubic inch, and make 'em keep their states for years and years on a tiny little battery, and tell me how much -you- want for them. Quote > The reason why I never posted it on this form is because I eventually figured it out by reading some Colecovision and SMS docs on the Texas chips The goofball part is that you emailed him to begin with. You finally had something really relevant: sega hardware AND programming! together! and you didn't think to use the forum for -that-. And yet you don't hesitate to give us status reports about how far into kenseiden you've gotten on s8-dev. And you've even gotten me doing, for cunts' sake. Quote > Is my behavior not understandable you say? I dunno but I thought SMS emulation on dreamcast was. How come SMS emulation on personal computers are automatically understood? Can't I have dreams and be spontaneous? > The world would get boring without dreamers like me. Now that's a quote for posterity. Good grief. here's another good quote: "Invention is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration."

typhoon Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 167 Location: El Paso, Texas, U.S.A.	VMU: memory card from hell Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2000 6:03 am
	Quote > In the case of the VM, the two battery alone cost around 6/7$ in shops. I don't know what kind of batterie those cards includes, but that might count for at least a quarter of the price. Not forgetting the cool and transparent packaging. Ahem. And if those batteries die on you (and they will in about a month, whether or not you use it for minigames or even take it out of the controller...can't Sega make anything with a decent battery life?!), the unit beeps in a very annoying manner every time you start your Dreamcast or remove and replace the VMU. The system was a good idea, it was just implemented wrong. The space limitation isn't really much of a setback, though, since most game saves don't take up that much space. You can still use it as a regular memory card after the batteries die, of course. Curious...the Dreamcast doesn't store _anything_ internally, except for internet (connection settings, favorites, and such) and language settings (and I guess a few miscellaneous system settings). I'm not sure how much the cost or functionality would be affected if Sega had actually given the console "internal RAM" (as it was mysteriously dubbed in the Sega CD days). While the VMS has its connectivity and expandibility advantages, a little local storage couldn't hurt. Aw well.

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