Wifi SD card in GDEMU

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BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#1 » Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:55 am

So I just remembered that there are SD cards with a built-in WiFi chip, allowing wireless transfer of files between the SD card and another device on the network.

Has anyone tried using one in their GDEMU? Thinking of buying one for this purpose.

BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#2 » Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:21 pm

Update: Just ordered a Toshiba Flashair 16gb + wifi SD card, as it's the only one for which I was able to find a setup guide for using it as a network drive. As far as I know, most of these were set up by default for wireless photo reads from the camera to a pc, and needed proprietary software to work. That's the case with the Toshiba Flashair as well, but somebody figured out how to reconfigure it for use in a 3d printer, so I'm hoping it'll work in our Dreamcasts as well.

i'll be sure to post whether or not this worked, as well as how smoothly or un-smoothly the process was.

Setup guide: https://mattshub.com/blogs/blog/flashair-sd-card

BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#3 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:03 pm

It is with a heavy heart that I write this update. I have finally received the Flashair Wifi SD card the other day. While it works as advertised for pulling photos off of it wirelessly, it falls flat on its face when used in the GDEMU.

The reason for this is two-fold.

First of all, the big one: It doesn't go online when plugged into the GDEMU. It still shows up on the Dreamcast and works fine as a 16gb SD card, but it can't be reached, either through its web client , or through the mapped network drive in Windows. I've tested it in 2 PCs and my Wii as well, and in all of those devices it is accessible via the network (for the most part, I'll get to that in a minute). It's only when plugged into my Dreamcast's GDEMU that it's completely unaccessible over Wifi.

The second issue with it is that when uploading a file to it, it always fails at around the 600mb mark. The transfer speed will ramp in a nearly linear fashion to that point, and then instantly drop to zero. The cause for this is probably that the card disconnects from the Wifi at this time, as it becomes unaccessible after a failed upload attempt until you pull it out of the SD slot, wait 5 seconds, and put it back in again. Maybe the tiny, and at this point outdated circuitry can't handle the simultaneous write operation and wifi connection for more than a few seconds.

Now this may be a case of sour grapes, but I've been thinking ever since coming up with this idea in the first place: would having a working Wifi SD card really be that much more convenient than using a regular one? I would still have to have access to the power button of the Dreamcast, and I'd have to use a computer to send the files anyways. So this seems to me more like a novelty than anything else.

I do have an everdrive64 in the mail, and assuming it takes full size SDs, I will of course try this card in it, and report the results on here.
I was able to move an n64 rom onto it, so provided that the everdrive allows it to go on the network, we should be in business.

There are other brands of Wifi SD cards out there:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/WiFi-Wireles ... lsrc=aw.ds

https://www.amazon.com/Yuan-Yingze-Memo ... 402&sr=8-3

but I think I'm done. If anybody else wants to pick up the torch though, I'd love to hear about it.

moi
blackout!
Posts: 143

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#4 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:17 pm

I guess the GDEmu does not supply constant voltage to the SD Card in order to power up its WiFi adapter. Maybe having a video player constantly playing a video file ie accessing the card might help.

Did you test it with dreamshell by any chance?

BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#5 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:26 pm

It's possible, though I don't see how the operations the GDEMU performs on the SD card are different from the operations any other device would perform. Maybe there is an optional power or ground pin on the SD slot that isn't connected on the GDEMU.

As far as dreamshell, I don't have it installed, as I've never quite understood what the purpose of it is.

moi
blackout!
Posts: 143

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#6 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:49 pm

Dreamshell can access data from the SD card via a special SD card reader connected to Dreamcast serial port.

The main question is how the WiFi chip on the sd card is working. it might automatically install a driver for windows, which would then request power from the windows machine. A process that GDemu drive would require customization in order to support...
Last edited by moi on Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#7 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:02 pm

Ah gotcha. Yeah I don't have the SD adapter for that. What purpose would it serve, seeing as I already have the GDEMU? save file backups?

moi
blackout!
Posts: 143

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#8 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:09 pm

Dreamshell is good for running homebrew and some commercial games. One of that homebrew allows you to backup your vmus.

Dreamshell is open source, so I imagine with enough skills and effort it'd be possible to write a custom driver that would support the WiFi feature of the sd card.

BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#9 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:35 pm

True. Maybe the adapter will power the Wifi right out of the box. But that's getting a little to convoluted for me, I'm fully content playing GDIs on my GDEMU.

BSD9000
shadow
Posts: 12

Re: Wifi SD card in GDEMU

Post#10 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 8:01 pm

UPDATE: I just got an entire Dreamcast game to transfer wirelessly! Granted, the SD card wasn't in the Dreamcast, but in a laptop.

When I was moving an n64 rom (16mb) to see if it's even worth it to try it in my soon-to-arrive everdrive64, I noticed that it froze at 99% for about a minute, but then finished properly. That got me thinking, what if I just leave it alone when it freezes while transferring a larger file?

So I copied over 4x4 evo, and sure enough, it appeared to freeze at 64%. After sitting there for a while, it shot up to 84% Then one more jump to 99%, and after a few more minutes, done! It may have appeared totally locked up, but clearly the process was chugging away in the background.

If anyone on here wants to experiment with the Flashair card's wifi functionality, you can do it with reasonable confidence that it'll receive files at least 1.2gb in size

20220104_183624.jpg

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