TerraOnion M.O.D.E Sega Saturn & Dreamcast Optical Disk Emulator

[c0op3r]

Did anyone else watch the TerraOnion presentation on the new MODE Saturn/Dreamcast adapter?

I personally have some sort of ODE or Flash based Multicart for each of my systems, the Saturn was the only exception, that was because I just could not get one.  The Phoebe / Rhea is impossible to get, the designer/maker is a dick.  I am a patreon of Dr. Ebrasive and was looking forward to the Satiator (dumbest name ever) but god knows when if that will actually materialize.

So when TerraOnion announced the MODE - I went ahead and preordered it, it does look interesting, as you can use a 2.5" SATA interface drive (SSD or Spinning Rust), MicroSD Card or USB, combination of the MicroSD and one of the others is also ok but not all three.

I really was more interested in the Satiator as it went in the MPEG card slot and allowed you to use the Optical Drive as is, as I have a 'Skeleton' Japanese Saturn.  I did not want to remove the drive but the MODE is a no cut operation so I will just wrap the drive up and store it.

So is anyone else going to get one, maybe already ordered on also? I went ahead and put a link below to the presentation if you have not seen it and are interested.

TerraOnion Mode

[UglyJoe]

So when TerraOnion announced the MODE - I went ahead and preordered it, it does look interesting, as you can use a 2.5" SATA interface drive (SSD or Spinning Rust), MicroSD Card or USB, combination of the MicroSD and one of the others is also ok but not all three.

I've never heard of them (I don't usually buy products like this), but the fact that it has a SATA interface is pretty cool.

[c0op3r]

So when TerraOnion announced the MODE - I went ahead and preordered it, it does look interesting, as you can use a 2.5" SATA interface drive (SSD or Spinning Rust), MicroSD Card or USB, combination of the MicroSD and one of the others is also ok but not all three.

I've never heard of them (I don't usually buy products like this), but the fact that it has a SATA interface is pretty cool.

You watch the intro?

Yes its very cool, I like the menu system and I already ordered a 1TB SSD SATA drive for mine.

I have the GDemu (the Optical Drive Emulator) for the Dreamcast it works fine but the menu system is well basic and garbage.  I am not going to replace that unit as it works and for the Dreamcast games I want it is already setup.

But well I kinda love the shooters on the Saturn, so going all in and setting that system up correctly is well worth the cost and time to me, so I look forward to getting that all running.  I have been using a Pseudo Saturn Kai cart to play import / backups.

Saturn games original in box (even the shitty ones) are expensive, I used to have all the great ones in the 90's but I would have to refinance my Condo to buy them again, so a ODE is the way to go.

[P]

I'm also always looking for easy methods for running arbitrary code on various consoles without having to do any permanent mods. I'm glad that, more and more such products shows up nowadays.

TerraOnion also has a bit of bad reputation due to how poorly they handled custom support for the PC-Engine Super SD System 3 product, which initially had all sorts of problems. Badmouthing your customers is not a very good strategy.

I watched the video. He speaks so fast that it's hard to hear what he says sometimes.

Yeah SATA interface sounds nice. Especially considering how cheap mechanical HDDs are compared to flash media with larger capacity. I'd naively think the slower read speed of a mechanical HDD is not a problem since games are designed to run from optical discs anyway, which would be even slower. I've always wondered if the faster read speed could cause any problems in any games though, if they expect loading times to be longer.

[c0op3r]

I'm also always looking for easy methods for running arbitrary code on various consoles without having to do any permanent mods. I'm glad that, more and more such products shows up nowadays.

I love that - "easy methods for running arbitrary code"

TerraOnion also has a bit of bad reputation due to how poorly they handled custom support for the PC-Engine Super SD System 3 product, which initially had all sorts of problems. Badmouthing your customers is not a very good strategy.

I totally agree with you, and I actually posted on the YouTube video about how TerraOnion Fucked everyone in the EU with that move a non-EU country -so they could save money.  Also a country that is so small they cant handle more than about 10 packages through customs a day. WTF!

I watched the video. He speaks so fast that it's hard to hear what he says sometimes.

You think Todd's bad? Watch the old video with the creator telling you about the MegaSD his accent is so heavy he is nearly impossible to understand

Yeah SATA interface sounds nice. Especially considering how cheap mechanical HDDs are compared to flash media with larger capacity. I'd naively think the slower read speed of a mechanical HDD is not a problem since games are designed to run from optical discs anyway, which would be even slower. I've always wondered if the faster read speed could cause any problems in any games though, if they expect loading times to be longer.

I agree the SSD is not needed, but I looked at it this way, I did not already have a large enough HD (I only have like 320GB old drives around), a 1TB SSD will hold pretty much the entire library, no moving parts, it was only a little more money than a spinning drive, no noise, its NEW and Its Cool!

In the end TerraOnion has its problem, but they do make a great product, they support it, revise it and it will be available for a good long time so the people that want it can get it.

Most of these other sellers of ODE, are total assholes, they make super small runs, and/or they make a few small runs and never make them again, they are one man operations that are poorly supported, organized and executed.  For that alone I will pay the extra money and deal with the few stupidities that come from TerraOnion

[P]

Family BASIC used to be the only easy way to literary run arbitrary code on the Famicom for a long time. Now we are spoiled with flashcarts and stuff, and the future is getting more and more exciting in this matter.


I also heard that the SSS3 had lots of hardware problems initially, and TerraOnion basically insulted their customers that was complaining about it. The problems was later fixed, first unofficially then officially.



Well I'm not exactly against higher loading speed or anything. That's great if it works. It's just that I wonder from a technical standpoint if there are any potential problems with such solutions or not. I obviously have no idea how this stuff works though. And considering SSDs can be bigger and cheaper than SD cards, I think it's a great alternative for a system with very large games.