Dreamcast / GD-ROM security in question?

SEGA's Dreamcast console, is currently the best console you can buy, if technical specifications are the only thing that matters! Dreamcast is centered on a RISC [Reduced Instruction Set Computer] CPU [Central Processing Unit], with a 128 bits FPU [Floating Point Unit].

RISC architectures support a relatively small number of different operations on hardware. It might seem better to go for a CISC [Complex Instruction Set Computer] solution, since having more instructions means it is easier to code developing tools, such as compilers, but there is a very delicate balance to do, between cost, speed, software developers' support and many other variables.

RISC normally has the advantage of doing the few things it can do, so fast, that, for the typical software that will run on the architecture, it is expected that higher level instructions coded on the aforementioned few hardware operations, will still run faster than if the option for a more general, less specialized, CISC solution had been made!

CISC is the best option for very general machines, such as PCs... PCs are specialized in nothing: from number crushing affaires to communications, there always is a better architecture, than the PC. However, the alternatives probably are specialized solutions, uncapable of running the wide range of software that you probably use on your own machine! That is why INTEL mostly builds CISC processors, such as the Pentium, P2, P3, and so on...

One good example of Dreamcast's specialization is how it works great with the Power VR 2nd generation hardware, for graphics. While using the same hardware on a PC, translates in low frame rates, compared to the ones achievable with current 3D rivals, the RISC nature of SEGA's latest can extract much more from the same engine.

However, beware with names and Marketing. Dreamcast is still quite a general machine, doing numbers, graphics, sounds and even Internet! Its "RISC" CPU is really nothing more than a not-so-full-featured CISC processor, optimized beyondCISC tradition, for some of the supported operations.

The same thing can be said about today'sCISCs: despite supporting a wide instruction set, they tend to have a small number of instructions that are terribly fast to execute. What a mix! :)

Dreamcast's sound engine is a 32 bits RISC unit, with 64 channels, and 2 MB of RAM. In total, the console manages 26 MB of RAM, which is - of course - a ridiculously low number, compared to the capacity of personal computers.

But this article is mostly about the GD-ROM: Dreamcast's CDROM unit!

While SONY made the option for a DVD unit, for the nearing PSX2, SEGA had to do some more complicated maths... As there is a hiatus between NINTENDO's N64 birth, and the future PSX2 launch, plus a big question mark about SONY's next effort, SEGA had to play very smart!

If the hiatus is well used, the PSX2 can suffer, and SEGA can turn the table! But if it all goes wrong, if the Dreamcast had been an over-ambitious project, that would be an over-expensive error. By building a machine that benefits from massive production economies, as it exploits a 3rd party graphics engine [The PowerVR], a 3rd party operating System [Microsoft's Windows CE], and uses a very cost-effective storage medium [the good old CDROM], SEGA ventured and protected itself, @ the same time!

The GD-ROM is really a superb demonstration of the smart engineering that goes on the Dreamcast: in practical terms, it is no more than a CDROM with a 1 GB capacity! But how is that done?

The GD-ROM is a relatively old answer to the piracy problem that affects the CDROM medium. YAMAHA developed the GD-ROM format as a direct reaction to such problem, and then SEGA showed interest on it...

You can read a 1 GB CDROM [GD-ROM] on most CD players, but you can't duplicate it... can you? So, for all that matters for SEGA, the GD-ROM is a normal CD-ROM drive, that will have to play special 1 GB discs. It costs the same as a regular CDROM unit, but it reads a format that cannot be duplicated. SMART!

Unfortunately for SEGA, there are rumors that YAMAHA Japan once gave the details of how to record GD-ROM to CeQuadrat, the people beyond a very popular CD recording software, for PC... It is said that the CeQuadrat found a way of how to record 1 GB of data, on a regular CDR [650 MB]... The same [strong] rumor, says that the "trick" can only be done with YAMAHA recorders, models 400At and above.

YAMAHA does have a tradition of selling CD-Recorders that can go beyond some wild protections... I remember my very old YAMAHA CDR102 being the one capable to burn certain CD+G CDs, until some 2 years ago...