Teardown session 45: FlippyDrive, the solderless optical drive emulator for the GameCube
In this episode, Helen Leigh talks with the team behind FippyDrive, Chris Dellman and Trevor Rudolph.
About FlippyDrive
FlippyDrive is an optical disc drive emulator for the classic GameCube game console that installs without any soldering, can be used in conjunction with your physical disc drive, and fits neatly inside the cube itself with no case modifications — preserving the appearance of the system.
Discs can be backed up directly from your physical drive and loaded via the microSD card or stored and loaded from your local network. The onboard Wi-Fi provides experimental support for loading disc images (subject to network conditions), while the Ethernet add-on offers a reliable connection to your network storage.
FlippyDrive is an all-in-one mod that allows you to run homebrew and game backups.
Key Moments
00:20 CS News and What's New
01:43 Prize giveaway rules
2:28 Introducing Chris and Trevor
4:20 Flippy Drive's origins: just a hack for a few nerds...
5:07 What is Flippydrive, exactly?
6:48 The role of FPGAs
7:54 Why the RP2040
10:24 The challenges and compromises of doing hardware in software
11:50 Audience Question: "Is it possible to apply the FlippyDrive technology to other consoles and do something similar, i.e., Dreamcast?"
13:50 How they reverse-engineered the drive
14:52 AQ: "How did you figure out the pass-through cable?"
20:11 Showing off some hardware...
21:26 First prize giveaway!
21:55 What features are coming next?
22:40 Add-on Ethernet board, Bluetooth, wifi
25:57 AQ: "How have you both felt about the community response to the project?"
28:08 Community contributions, impacts
31:49 What was the motivation for open source hardware?
34:11 AQ: "What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to explore hardware hacking?"
39:52 AQ: "What the best cube color?"
42:20 Hacking is about making things good
43:57 Prize giveaway number two!
45:53 AQ: "[Will] the first batch systems ship before the Crowd Supply campaign closes?"
48:39 AQ: "Has any other device on Crowd Supply taken down the site...?"
50:02 AQ: "Any plans for separate backplate colors or Ethernet add-ons after the campaigns?"
53:49 What's up with the current shipping dates.
58:17 Attack of the Giant Sticker
1:00:17 Helen's sticker collection
1:01:30 How to stay in touch
About Crowd Supply
Crowd Supply is the crowdfunding platform of choice for engineers, hackers, designers, and idealists. We help them with the funding and support they need to deliver respectful, thoughtfully crafted, open source hardware to their delighted backers. The Teardown Sessions are a series of interviews and hands-on learning sessions with Crowd Supply creators, staff, and lots of special guests.
Come see what our creators are making: https://www.crowdsupply.com
About the Teardown Sessions
Welcome to The Teardown Sessions, a series of interviews and hands-on learning sessions with Crowd Supply creators, staff, and lots of special guests. Crowd Supply is the crowdfunding platform of choice for engineers, hackers, designers, and idealists. We help them with the funding and support they need to deliver respectful, thoughtfully crafted, open source hardware to their delighted backers.
Links & Resources
FlippyDrive campaign: https://www.crowdsupply.com/team-offb...
FlippyDrive documentation: https://docs.flippydrive.com/
Team OffBroadway: https://teamoffbroadway.com/
Retro-Brite: https://retro-brite.com/
RP2040 microcontroller: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/...
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