Dreamcast PSA!!! USB-GDROM firmware contains code that will brick the device after some time forcing fw update

[FamilyGuy]

This is him and is
Since GDEMU clones filled the market, demand for USB-GDROM has fallen

Yeah, no surprise on either front.

I bought 3 connectors myself just because I could.
I might try and build an iceGDROM/openGDROM to learn FPGAs a little once I graduate.

 

[Greg2600]

if there was a short availability of those, gdemu would have the same fate. propably a trick to make confusion and make people hurry to buy

Oh, I think it's highly likely that was his motivation. His demand has probably ground to a halt. What's ironic is that MNEMO's nonsensical design was largely to prevent pirating, as you can't manufacture a GD-ROM chip anymore. And yet, his competitor got cloned, and the availability of cheap clones has probably damaged his business just as much.

 

[darcagn]

Don't forget he did this is pretty much exactly what he did last time, before the gdemu clones took over:

EverDrive / Flash Hardware :: Dreamcast :: Modifications :: Dreamcast USB-GDROM Controller [DISCONTINUED] - Stone Age Gamer - Gaming de-evolved.

DISCONTINUED Dear Stone Age Gamer Customers Unfortunately we must announce that we will no longer be carrying any product created by the developer known as Mnemo After over a year of dealing with Mnemo we have found him to be impossible to do business with We normally would not attempt to cause any

web.archive.org

Over the year of 2015 it was hard for us to get any sustained production from Mnemo. Late Summer 2015 he alerted me that he would be significantly raising the price of each unit by almost $50/ea. because he only had a few hundred Molex connectors left and he could not find any more so this will probably be the last few hundred he sells.

I told him to hold off on the price increase and I would see if I could find some of the connectors. After much searching, I found most places would only sell me them in batches of 17K at about $4/ea. So basically $68K, which was out of the question. Eventually I found a company that brokered an agreement between another company and I. This company had tens of thousands of these connectors for their own production. That company agreed to sell me 1,008 connectors for $4.57 ea. I asked Mnemo if he was still committed and if I should purchase these connectors. He told me to purchase them. So with shipping I paid about $4,700 out of my pocket for the connectors.

His business plan (or lack thereof) appeared to be not using the money he made to buy equipment and/or hire employees to increase production, but was to continue to create a demand with low production and just raise the price to milk the market for as much money as he could with this false demand. We sent him well over $30K by the way, would have been way more if he actually produced more.

He is just an awful at doing business

 

[Alastor]

What a sad ending for the USB-GDROM. I still have one of the older revisions, where the USB port is facing outwards.
I do not regret my purchase decision, although I wish I could have bought a DCIO all things considered.

 

[FamilyGuy]

The end of the USB GD-ROM appears in sight. MNEMO just updated his page that what appears to be the drive cable headers he uses are no longer in production so he can only make 85 more of them. Obviously this seems totally bizarre but par the course, and yet another reason the DCIO is truly needed!



PS: The 85 probably lasts him through the EOY if not longer. It's double ironic considering he essentially effed Stone Age Gamer out of paying for about 300 of those connectors in 2015.

Yeah, no surprise on either front.

I bought 3 connectors myself just because I could.
I might try and build an iceGDROM/openGDROM to learn FPGAs a little once I graduate.

$20 CAD¹ and a little less than two months later, during a global pandemic, I received my three connectors!

Mnemo just really doesn't care at all.

¹ That's $14 USD or 13 €. I paid $10 CAD shipping too, but shipping would be free over $100 CAD.

 

[truemaster]

and that justify my previous statement. he doing it on purpose, to make people buy. looks like gdemu clones hit him too.