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USB Downloading Device for Sega Saturn

gameofyou1 - Aug 5, 2006

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cafe-alpha

Jan 21, 2010

		Amon said:
		Is the software windows 7 compatible?

According to the DataLink homepage ( http://www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/SoftwareUpdate... ), it should work, but there are minor troubles if you do not have write permissions for the "c:\program files\Saturn_Usb" folder :

	
	
		
		
			** Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, please note that I have tested the software on these operating systems and it has worked correctly.  However, there have been some issues from people having problems finding their files (gamesaves, ect) on their harddrive.  This can occur if you do not have write permissions for the "c:\program files\Saturn_Usb" folder.  If you are having this trouble, here are the steps to take....

		slinga		Jan 30, 2010
			Anybody have usermode code that works on Linux? The 2.6.9.* and greater kernels have the drivers built-in. I started reading some serial programming HOWTO's, and it's not too bad but I haven't been able to read back from the device. I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong when I specify the device hardware settings. Also, how does libftdi fit into this? I glanced at their website and it seemed like libftdi was useful for programming these devices, not reading from them (though I could be wrong). I'm attaching my code that I have so far. Thanks in advance. FYI, the one obvious thing I'm foobaring is the baudrate. The specs say 37500, but I can either use 19200 or 38400. Neither one works for me.

antime

Jan 30, 2010

		slinga said:
		Also, how does libftdi fit into this? I glanced at their website and it seemed like libftdi was useful for programming these devices, not reading from them (though I could be wrong).

It's a library for communicating with FTDI's chips using their "native" USB protocol, the same used by the serial driver. You will have to use it (or FTDI's own closed-source equivalent) if you want to utilize the bit-bang modes or any of the other extra features of the chips. Note that if you want to use it you'll have to unload the kernel serial driver first. If this gets too annoying you can reprogram the USB VID/PID pair stored on the chips to something the driver won't recognize.

slinga

Jan 30, 2010

Wow libftdi was surprisingly easy. I just had to add the following two lines to the serial_read.c example and I could read\write to to memory.

Code:

    // Set baudrate

f = ftdi_set_baudrate(ftdic, 375000);

,,,

// set the line property

// Data Bits: 8, Stop Bits: 2, Parity Bits: None    

f = ftdi_set_line_property(ftdic, BITS_8, STOP_BIT_2, NONE);

...

Thanks again Antime.

cafe-alpha

Feb 26, 2010

		cafe-alpha said:
		Hello everybody, I am experiencing troubles in using my DataLink. (snip)

In response to my post : I made a program to communicate with my USB DataLink, and when I send a data read request packet to the DataLink, COM transfer ends with a timeout error. (as the original DataLink software does)

And when sending a malformed packet (for example, a data read request with byte 2 and 8 set to zero), I receive an "error with request" packet (0xA5 0x07 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x07), so DataLink <-> PC communication seems OK ...

I plan to build a communication cable by myself (maybe freewing, or ExSTAND) in order to be sure if my Saturn/ARP work or not.

		Amon		Apr 10, 2010
			I finally installed Saturn USB DataLink V1.0.4 on my Win7 64bit machine. I was having some troubles initially due to the program not finding the right com port. That issue was resolved by running the program with admin rights.

		vbt		Jan 22, 2011
			I'm using a usb data link (thanks again Rockin'-B ) and also a commcard. With the commcard I can leave the cable plugged on the PAR and run ssfexe when I want, it will wait for the sega screen before uploading data. With the data link, I have to wait for the PAR menu before running Saturn_USB app and upload something. Also to do another upload I have to unplug/replug the cable. Why is it needed to unplug/plug the cable before every upload with the usb data link ? Is it a software limiation or a hardware limitation ?

gameofyou1

Jan 22, 2011

		vbt said:
		I'm using a usb data link (thanks again Rockin'-B ) and also a commcard. With the commcard I can leave the cable plugged on the PAR and run ssfexe when I want, it will wait for the sega screen before uploading data. With the data link, I have to wait for the PAR menu before running Saturn_USB app and upload something. Also to do another upload I have to unplug/replug the cable. Why is it needed to unplug/plug the cable before every upload with the usb data link ? Is it a software limiation or a hardware limitation ?

That is the first time I have ever heard of that issue. You should never have to unplug/plug anything no matter how many uploads you do. You would obviously need to hit reset on the Saturn, though, to get back to the PAR main menu screen.

vbt

Jan 23, 2011

		gameofyou1 said:
		That is the first time I have ever heard of that issue. You should never have to unplug/plug anything no matter how many uploads you do. You would obviously need to hit reset on the Saturn, though, to get back to the PAR main menu screen.

ok, sorry, I was wrong, i'm also testing an alternate app.

		shining_81		May 12, 2024
			Hi everyone, I own the very first version of the USB data link (version 1.0 with green led), but never used it since then. My question: Is there existing any driver for WIN10 to use version 1.0 with green led? Greetings from Germany

		slinga		May 12, 2024
			I checked through my inbox, unfortunately their website (www.GamingEnterprisesInc.com...) and the domain I got emailed from (sbcglobal.net) both appear down. I PMed the guy's email address to you, maybe it still works.

		vbt		May 12, 2024
			@gameofyou1... or gameofyou@bex.net...

		shining_81		May 14, 2024
			Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

cafe-alpha

May 17, 2024

		shining_81 said:

(Short answer : yes

)
Detailed answer : all hardware revisions of USB Data Link use chips from FTDI to handle the USB communication, which is a good news because FTDI still actively supports their drivers.

		shining_81		May 18, 2024
			Okay, I'm gonna message Kent then, because he sold the device in 2008 to me

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