FlippyDrive
A solderless disc drive emulator compatible with the Nintendo GameCube. Includes FlippyDrive PCB, drive interposer flex, and mounting hardware
$43
$8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide
In this episode, Helen Leigh talks with the team behind FippyDrive, Chris Dellman and Trevor Rudolph.
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.
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
A solderless disc drive emulator compatible with the Nintendo GameCube. Includes FlippyDrive PCB, drive interposer flex, and mounting hardware