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Jaguar CD Unleashed: the CD BIOS emulation project


Songbird

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The ISO format does AFAIK not support multi-session CDs the Jaguar requires. So you should use an CD image format that does support multi-session like .mdf/mds, .cdi or .bin/.cue files.

 

Robert

 

Yes, you're right, I have been in-fact using CDI format files for Jaguar games.

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I'm working on the CD support for the JagSD. This will include the entire CD boot ROM with VLM, etc... with the BIOS part modified to read ISO's from the SD card. As you can boot a cart plugged into the JagCD, you should just be able to boot the JagSD CD support ROM and run CD games from SD while the CD drive is attached. I should have the CD support working on the JagSD in a few weeks, I'm just waiting on new PCB's at the moment.

 

I don't mean to derail this thread, just to make people aware "full" CD support will be available soon via the JagSD. :)

Well, both projects sound pretty cool. I wish you, Carl and SainT, the best. :)

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Yes, you're right, I have been in-fact using CDI format files for Jaguar games.

Yeah, I use DiscJuggler for burning CDIs for Jaguar, and it seems to be the most feasible way, besides Nero, to do it. In fact, I prefer DJ over Nero. Easy to work with. Sorry for going off-track here, but I hope that both projects nicely come to fruition. Thanks. :)

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My work has been on hold for the past year unfortunately. But I am very glad to see SainT's progress on the SD cart and am looking forward to it becoming a reality. I am happy to help by contributing code from the Unleashed project or by testing or anything else I can do, because I have wanted full Jaguar CD emulation running on a real Jag for about 20 years now. ;)

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My work has been on hold for the past year unfortunately. But I am very glad to see SainT's progress on the SD cart and am looking forward to it becoming a reality. I am happy to help by contributing code from the Unleashed project or by testing or anything else I can do, because I have wanted full Jaguar CD emulation running on a real Jag for about 20 years now. ;)

Well, you can only do so much at one time of course, Carl. Maybe, collectively, something can be done between you and SainT. I am liking what I see so far, though. Kudos to both of you. This could mean more stable CD images for the Jag, because the CD-ROM can be flaky. I know because I have owned a Jaguar CD unit for over 22 years now. The Atari stuff (like Primal Rage and Myst, for example; anything made in-house by Atari themselves) is stable on CD. But, other things that are home-brew, well, then the player can be finicky at best. It depends on what you are developing on the CD disc. I know, from reading AtariAge posts in the past, of peoples' trials and terrors with Cinepak encoding. That is largely hit-or-miss sometimes. Thanks for letting me share. :)

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Yes, you're right, I have been in-fact using CDI format files for Jaguar games.

Hey, SainT. You said that you use CDIs for the SD cartridge. Well, I have an inquiry. I know that SD storage has enough capacity for them, but can any size CDIs be used for the cartridge? I do not mean just the home-brew game CDIs. For example, I personally don't have a CDI for, say, Dragon's Lair, but suppose someone somehow did. Would large-format CDIs at, say, 500 MB or more in size, still work on your cartridge? Does it have its own RAM, or does it utilise the RAM on-board the Jaguar base unit and, if it does have its own RAM, can it be used in unison with the Jag's RAM? I was wondering. It sounds pretty technical what you are doing, but it is an extremely clever and intelligent idea. I assume it uses the Jag's RAM mainly. Unless I missed something. Thanks. :)

Edited by jericho_21
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Having the CD image on the memory card is not really any different from having it on CD media -- its streamed from the memory card in the same way data would have been streamed from the a CD (no RAM involved). The only limit on size will be the memory card -- so in theory you could have a CD image much larger than CD media could actually handle, up-to the maximum the MM:SS:FF indexing format can deal with.

Edited by SainT
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Having the CD image on the SD card is not really any different from having it on CD media -- its streamed from the SD in the same way data would have been streamed from the a CD (no RAM involved). The only limit on size will be the SD card -- so in theory you could have a CD image much larger than CD media could actually handle, up-to the maximum the MM:SS:FF indexing format can deal with.

so we can have JagHalo! :P

Edited by walter_J64bit
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Having the CD image on the SD card is not really any different from having it on CD media -- its streamed from the SD in the same way data would have been streamed from the a CD (no RAM involved). The only limit on size will be the SD card -- so in theory you could have a CD image much larger than CD media could actually handle, up-to the maximum the MM:SS:FF indexing format can deal with.

That was what I thought then. I had that feeling. That is actually a really awesome idea. I am convinced that this can travel. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  • 1 year later...

Hmm, just noticed that for some reason the YouTube link was removed from my earlier post a couple (!) years ago. So here it is again, showing the 4.5MB CGE 5th Slideshow booting from cart instead of CD:

 

 

Naturally I am using this same Jaguar CD Unleashed emulation to enable the slideshow in The Early Years cartridge up for pre-orders now... even though the average user can't tell the difference, I'm pretty happy knowing it works this well. :D

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/29/2019 at 9:05 PM, Songbird said:

Hmm, just noticed that for some reason the YouTube link was removed from my earlier post a couple (!) years ago. So here it is again, showing the 4.5MB CGE 5th Slideshow booting from cart instead of CD:

 

 

Naturally I am using this same Jaguar CD Unleashed emulation to enable the slideshow in The Early Years cartridge up for pre-orders now... even though the average user can't tell the difference, I'm pretty happy knowing it works this well. :D

Could something like this be used to perhaps make an audio player for the VLM without having a CD unit?  Even if raw CD audio (not MP3, etc.) was used?

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