DiscoStarslayer
@disco.camp
🇨🇦 Reverse engineering games software and hardware for preservation and repair.
Git: http://github.com/DiscoStarslayer
Blog: http://blog.dtho.mp
Git: http://github.com/DiscoStarslayer
Blog: http://blog.dtho.mp
How was working with FreeCAD? I’ve never had anything die from ESD personally, but if you wanted to be extra safe: avoid the ESD safe PLA, too expensive. MG Chemicals sell an acrylic based ESD spray coat for $30/can
November 27, 2025 at 1:31 PM
How was working with FreeCAD? I’ve never had anything die from ESD personally, but if you wanted to be extra safe: avoid the ESD safe PLA, too expensive. MG Chemicals sell an acrylic based ESD spray coat for $30/can
If you see this, post your getaway vehicle!
(Nice try, coppers!)
(Nice try, coppers!)
November 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
If you see this, post your getaway vehicle!
(Nice try, coppers!)
(Nice try, coppers!)
I spent 96 hours of compiling to get this quirky boy
November 18, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I spent 96 hours of compiling to get this quirky boy
I ordered a FireWire architecture book which for some reason is out of print now so had to settle with a used copy from Amazon.
Apparently whoever keyed this into the database simply titled the book as "Book" so now I have these omninous messages in my inbox.
Apparently whoever keyed this into the database simply titled the book as "Book" so now I have these omninous messages in my inbox.
November 17, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I ordered a FireWire architecture book which for some reason is out of print now so had to settle with a used copy from Amazon.
Apparently whoever keyed this into the database simply titled the book as "Book" so now I have these omninous messages in my inbox.
Apparently whoever keyed this into the database simply titled the book as "Book" so now I have these omninous messages in my inbox.
*evil villain laugh*
🫷👁️👁️🫸
🫷👁️👁️🫸
November 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
*evil villain laugh*
🫷👁️👁️🫸
🫷👁️👁️🫸
96 straight hours of compiling later, I finally have a modern kernel on this thing with a usable OS 9 dualboot with Linux, and oh boy is it magical
The full dump log of this system booting is a treasure trove of data that will help me emulate this platform inside PCSX2, I finally have all the pieces
The full dump log of this system booting is a treasure trove of data that will help me emulate this platform inside PCSX2, I finally have all the pieces
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
96 straight hours of compiling later, I finally have a modern kernel on this thing with a usable OS 9 dualboot with Linux, and oh boy is it magical
The full dump log of this system booting is a treasure trove of data that will help me emulate this platform inside PCSX2, I finally have all the pieces
The full dump log of this system booting is a treasure trove of data that will help me emulate this platform inside PCSX2, I finally have all the pieces
So what can I do? In my search of modern distros that still support PPC I stumbled upon a beast that I haven't touched in decades, Gentoo. Gentoo has the promise of binpkg now, it can be customized to be extremely lightweight, and officially supports PPC as an architecture.
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
So what can I do? In my search of modern distros that still support PPC I stumbled upon a beast that I haven't touched in decades, Gentoo. Gentoo has the promise of binpkg now, it can be customized to be extremely lightweight, and officially supports PPC as an architecture.
Perplexingly, OSX doesn't think this, and I could get OSX and Debian dual booting just fine. Firebug does run on OS X, however my poor 350MHz G3 is not happy with the overhead from OS X and firebug drops packets and can't keep up.
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Perplexingly, OSX doesn't think this, and I could get OSX and Debian dual booting just fine. Firebug does run on OS X, however my poor 350MHz G3 is not happy with the overhead from OS X and firebug drops packets and can't keep up.
So, lets try a older release, the last officially supported PPC release of Debian 8 'Jessie' from 2015. That install CD boots with yaboot and wow! It boots! And wow, it installs! So we're all done, right?
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
So, lets try a older release, the last officially supported PPC release of Debian 8 'Jessie' from 2015. That install CD boots with yaboot and wow! It boots! And wow, it installs! So we're all done, right?
Ok, got a hdd that plays nice, linux time?
No.
Back in the day, yaboot was used as the first stage loader for "New World" mac's. Yaboot isn't maintained anymore, so grub added OF support. No good, and trust me I have a stack of coasters to show for it, I could not get grub to boot off the cd
No.
Back in the day, yaboot was used as the first stage loader for "New World" mac's. Yaboot isn't maintained anymore, so grub added OF support. No good, and trust me I have a stack of coasters to show for it, I could not get grub to boot off the cd
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Ok, got a hdd that plays nice, linux time?
No.
Back in the day, yaboot was used as the first stage loader for "New World" mac's. Yaboot isn't maintained anymore, so grub added OF support. No good, and trust me I have a stack of coasters to show for it, I could not get grub to boot off the cd
No.
Back in the day, yaboot was used as the first stage loader for "New World" mac's. Yaboot isn't maintained anymore, so grub added OF support. No good, and trust me I have a stack of coasters to show for it, I could not get grub to boot off the cd
I have the very first B&W G3, and it has "character". The IDE controller on it is temperamental and likes to corrupt data. The ROM is running the very first Open Firmware release from apple, 3.1.1. This OF refuses to boot off anything except for the primary device on the IDE bus.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I have the very first B&W G3, and it has "character". The IDE controller on it is temperamental and likes to corrupt data. The ROM is running the very first Open Firmware release from apple, 3.1.1. This OF refuses to boot off anything except for the primary device on the IDE bus.
Linux has a kernel module called 'nosy' that essentially behaves exactly the same, is open source and extendable, and can log data indefinitely in a nicely compressed format that is ram and cpu friendly. Perfect, so I'll just install Linux on this G3 and I'll be on my way!
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Linux has a kernel module called 'nosy' that essentially behaves exactly the same, is open source and extendable, and can log data indefinitely in a nicely compressed format that is ram and cpu friendly. Perfect, so I'll just install Linux on this G3 and I'll be on my way!
But, there is one popular computer that has a PCI-Lynx card standard. The Power Macintosh G3 'Blue and White'. Every one of them shipped with a Lynx card, and the Macintosh SDK even includes a firewire debugging tool called FireBug that takes advantage of the PCI-Lynx quirks.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
But, there is one popular computer that has a PCI-Lynx card standard. The Power Macintosh G3 'Blue and White'. Every one of them shipped with a Lynx card, and the Macintosh SDK even includes a firewire debugging tool called FireBug that takes advantage of the PCI-Lynx quirks.
There is an alternate solution. In the early days of FireWire, before controllers were integrated into OHCI, every vendor had their own implementation and drivers. One vendor in particular, Texas Instruments, made a FireWire controller for PCI called PCI-Lynx.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
There is an alternate solution. In the early days of FireWire, before controllers were integrated into OHCI, every vendor had their own implementation and drivers. One vendor in particular, Texas Instruments, made a FireWire controller for PCI called PCI-Lynx.
The solution is finding a FireWire analyzer, but obviously those are pretty niche, and getting a used one is a risky dance of software support and reliability, not to mention expensive.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The solution is finding a FireWire analyzer, but obviously those are pretty niche, and getting a used one is a risky dance of software support and reliability, not to mention expensive.
The PS2 only operates the IO board at S100, but even a 100mbps signal needs at least a 400MHz LA. The bus also relies on High-Z states and the data lines are using differential signaling. I kinda got something working but it would take ages to get to the point where it could actively help.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The PS2 only operates the IO board at S100, but even a 100mbps signal needs at least a 400MHz LA. The bus also relies on High-Z states and the data lines are using differential signaling. I kinda got something working but it would take ages to get to the point where it could actively help.
All of this leans into why I've spent the last 3 weeks trying to tame this old Power Macintosh G3.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
All of this leans into why I've spent the last 3 weeks trying to tame this old Power Macintosh G3.
This fork can properly emulate Python 2 and mechacon, however the P2IO is only implemented currently for the DDR titles. This has fun side effect of also being able to run HDD setup disks, installing software like PlayOnline, or hdd installs for game titles.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
This fork can properly emulate Python 2 and mechacon, however the P2IO is only implemented currently for the DDR titles. This has fun side effect of also being able to run HDD setup disks, installing software like PlayOnline, or hdd installs for game titles.
It's also an esoteric system, the platform has an "IO" board that handles power, networking, JVS, IDE hdd, security flash, DIN dongle reader, dip switches ect. This connects to the PS2 over a single firewire cable to the ILink Port.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
It's also an esoteric system, the platform has an "IO" board that handles power, networking, JVS, IDE hdd, security flash, DIN dongle reader, dip switches ect. This connects to the PS2 over a single firewire cable to the ILink Port.
The Python is at risk of being forgotten. A decent library for an arcade platform, but mostly niche titles and mostly faithful home ports. A small list of niche games also means that there simply aren't that many around to buy used, and not even a 1/5th of the titles are properly dumped and indexed
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The Python is at risk of being forgotten. A decent library for an arcade platform, but mostly niche titles and mostly faithful home ports. A small list of niche games also means that there simply aren't that many around to buy used, and not even a 1/5th of the titles are properly dumped and indexed
Excitingly, this opens up the systems protected by this security for analysis, preservation, and emulation. The Namco 246/256 arcade systems are popular enough to get well preserved dumps and research from their communities.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Excitingly, this opens up the systems protected by this security for analysis, preservation, and emulation. The Namco 246/256 arcade systems are popular enough to get well preserved dumps and research from their communities.
The arcade bios bootstraps the system and then looks for the boot file in the dongle, and that's it. It will make an obnoxious alarm sound if the dongle is missing or wrong, and the syscon will also reboot every 3 minutes if the dongle isn't continuously re-authenticated.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The arcade bios bootstraps the system and then looks for the boot file in the dongle, and that's it. It will make an obnoxious alarm sound if the dongle is missing or wrong, and the syscon will also reboot every 3 minutes if the dongle isn't continuously re-authenticated.
It contained a COH-H31000. a modified PlayStation 2 SCPH-30000 C-Chassis. This PS2 has a custom bios and mechacon that pairs with the security "dongle". The "dongle" is a modified PS2 memory card, COH-H10020, that works with the arcade keys from the custom mechacon.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
It contained a COH-H31000. a modified PlayStation 2 SCPH-30000 C-Chassis. This PS2 has a custom bios and mechacon that pairs with the security "dongle". The "dongle" is a modified PS2 memory card, COH-H10020, that works with the arcade keys from the custom mechacon.
Big 🧵time!
Lets talk about my new friend, the Konami Python.
It's kinda the odd duck of the family. The middle child between the Konami Viper and the Konami Python 2. The system was a short lived platform.
Lets talk about my new friend, the Konami Python.
It's kinda the odd duck of the family. The middle child between the Konami Viper and the Konami Python 2. The system was a short lived platform.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Big 🧵time!
Lets talk about my new friend, the Konami Python.
It's kinda the odd duck of the family. The middle child between the Konami Viper and the Konami Python 2. The system was a short lived platform.
Lets talk about my new friend, the Konami Python.
It's kinda the odd duck of the family. The middle child between the Konami Viper and the Konami Python 2. The system was a short lived platform.