Coder's cable

From dreamcast.wiki
Revision as of 05:10, 10 September 2024 by Darc (talk | contribs) (→‎Buy a pre-made cable)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The coder's cable is the name given to the serial-based cable some developers use to test and debug code during development. Originally, cables were connected to host devices via serial, but modern cable designs incorporate a USB controller instead. Coder's cables can also be used for other purpose's besides development, such as transferring VMU data back to a PC or dumping GD-ROMs (although quite slowly).

Buy a pre-made cable

  • eg: Contact darc on the Message Board or Discord for a pre-made CP2102N-based cable
  • eg: retroonyx cable, FTDI-based cable.
  • (only mentioned for historical purposes - not sold anymore since long - "Lik-Sang coder's cable" - max speed of 781250)

Build your own cable

  • DC serial connector:
DC SD Adapter V2
DC SD Adapter V2
    • FDTI's FT232R-like chips:
      • good until 781250, does not support 1562500.
      • 500000 and 1500000 will not work with all chips/on all pc, because of a 4% baud rate mismatch with the baudrates of the Dreamcast.
        • Even if you're lucky, you won't really get 1500000-worthy speeds - more probably around 130-150 kByte/sec...
  • connect the following pins (cfr Serial_interface):
    • GND <-> GND
    • TXD <-> RXD
    • RXD <-> TXD
    • RTS <-> CTS
    • CTS <-> RTS

Software to use

Dcload-serial

Supported Baud Rates

Not all common baudrates work, so the recommendations are:

  • up until 115200, you can use the common baudrates: 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200
    • if 115200 does not work, you can add the "-e" speedhack option
  • higher baudrates:
    • try first with the dreamcast-specific baudrates (223214, 260416, 312500, 390625, 520833, 781250, 1562500)
      • Disclaimer for Linux only: needs dc-tool-ser (host) changes from 4 september 2023 to select custom baudrates
      • Disclaimer for MacOS only: custom baudrates are not supported yet
    • 230400: use the -e speedhack option if you absolutely need 230400 at pc-side, but the DC will use 223214 or 260416 anyways.
    • 500000 and 1500000: you can try, but that will not work on all pc (the mismatch with the baudrate of the Dreamcast is sometimes too big (4%))


This page is a stub page. It needs to be expanded with more detail. If you know more information about this topic, please sign up and contribute to dreamcast.wiki!