Sega TeraDrive External Overview 

+vwestlife Damn *nix machines! They've made me forget basic DOS commands... sorry DOS, I've been unfaithful! Thankyou! I'll be sure it use it when I'm messing around with the Duron or the P4 :)

+vwestlife yep! CLEAR it's linux

+MRooodddvvv Why can't they all just get along! :)

***** for same reason as they all use different screw types i guess ;)

+MRooodddvvv Hahaha, well at least some things got standardised along the way - like USB!

+GadgetUK164 That actually came through? Well I guess it wasn't all for nothing! :)

+Lachlant1984 Spot on, the Amstrad Mega PC was considered the spiritual successor I suppose. Quite different internally (modular baby!) no overly integrating onto the motherboard. The 386SX version of the Mega PC was by far the more common with the 486SLC called the Mega PC Plus. I managed to upgrade my Mega PC to the Plus by using a compatible motherboard from a non-Mega PC Amstrad computer. Quite interesting really! Heck I'll probably do a video on it too soon!

Oh but you can use them at the same time! One of the features of the TeraDrive that the Amstrad Mega PC lacked! Adults can use the PC side and kids can play the Mega Drive with it's 50cm cabled controller lol - of course they'd have to be on composite. But they are just kids, they don't mind composite! :-D

That would have to be one close family, LITERALLY! :D

They clearly were aiming for an outdated diverse portfolio to sell onto Sammy, I bet they knew their consoles beyond Mega Drive were largely doomed :-)

It was Japan-only like Aiwa Mega CD and their earliest efforts.

It's like Kylie Minogue always said, "I'm spinning around, move outta my way, I know you're feeling me"... wait, less that last line LOL, damn why is everything so sexually charged!

I should do an entire video on using cls so no one ever makes this mistake again, how embarrassing! :-)

*tries to remember if camera work was good or bad* Thanks! I try my best!

i realize I'm quite off topic but do anyone know of a good place to stream newly released movies online?

@Maxton Johan I watch on FlixZone. You can find it by googling =)

@Lucca Mathias yup, I have been watching on flixzone for years myself :D

@Lucca Mathias Thanks, signed up and it seems to work :D I really appreciate it!!

Ah yes the YM2612 used in Mega Drives / Genesisesesess, closely related to the YM3438 in the TeraDrive. Did I spell Genesisiseses right?

Thank you! It has been far too long :-)

But you clear that rust stain in your sink with CLR!

+Michael Pope It's a pretty heavy unit too. IBM really added a lot of solid bits to it. Like VCRs from the 80s before they made them all plastic and rubbish! Actually, same applies to PCs!

Well there was the Pippin @ World too, he he

+Retro Game On I'll consider that a suggestion and add it to my list of *everything!* :)

+Andrew Joy Almost spot on! USA, USA, USA! Lexmark from 1995 with all the trimmings of drainage for liquid spills :)

+nesfreak Yep! One day I'll build that whatsit to do the converting for me! One day...! :)

+Fifo Folter Hahaha! :) That's what you get for watching my videos of cool things! :P

+Alan Yau Built from scratch courtesy of Sergey at Malinov.com - www.malinov.com/Home/sergeys-projects/xt-cf-lite They've got a great list of projects over there :)

Yep! Step down was the only way! 😊 (Short of replacing the PSU)

+zakruowrath I wonder what the logic was behind using 15kHz or 31kHz and why can't the international sign for kilo be a capital K like Mega, life just isn't fair!

That is a very good question, I'm thinking it had something to do with the CRT monitors at the time, maybe the CGA, EGA standards? And that is a good question too, I've wondered that myself xD

+zakruowrath Maybe the folks reading this will pipe up :D Anyone?

+Shane McRetro 15khz is a TV thing. it also should be interlaced wounder if any monitor can handle that !?

+MRooodddvvv Search me! I'm looking forward to building the microchip thing to do some sort of something though. I'm not quite sure on the specifics... or even the non-specifics :) It'll come to me!

+Daniel M I believe they should be spot on, I'll give it another spin once I've got a nice 15KHz monitor :) Sound is powered by a YM3438 instead of the YM2612 found in the first model Mega Drive / Genesis. Spot on! That silly EXT port that is apparently a female version of the male front controller ports!

***** Glad to hear that, too bad the PC section can only output through the PC speaker, and it doesn't look as if any ISA cards will fit in that case. The only thing that used the EXT port that I know of was a Dial-up modem, but then SEGANET came a long, so I guess that's why they removed it.

+Daniel M Wait till you see Puzzle Construction! It's an interesting piece of software. I'll do a proper review one day soon! So many things to do! Need to get a 15KHz screen cranking first! Yep, the good old SEGA MODEM, got one of those attached to something somewhere or is it still in a box? I should keep better tabs on these things!

***** I just went and watched your Puzzle Construction Software video, and that music definitly has that awesome YM3438 sound to it, which made me realise something, both the Megadrive and PC sections are able to communicate with each-other, and here I was, thinking they were just two sperate boards stuck in a computer case, I should know SEGA made highly innovative hardware back in the day. As for the frequency issue, I hear of people using a RGB to VGA converter on their Amiga's and Supergun's to convert the frequency to the normal 60/70Hz, maybe it'll work for the Teradrive. I think they use one called "GBS-8220".

+Daniel M Ahhh if only I had the internal overview uploaded and ready! Curses! Good to see I demoed it at least! :)

Sadly no, there were rumours it was to help developers make games for the Mega Drive / Genesis - the PC side can be seen interacting with the Mega Drive when using the PZLCNST program, Puzzle Construction. Very interesting to look at, sadly not much can be done as far as I can see! 😊

oh uh yes this model is a NTSC-J version and it runs on 60hertz

+Slot1Gamer Klackita, Klackita, click!

+Lachlant1984 Yep, PS/2 straight into the front! PC -> MD mode kills the PC and visa versa. The six square screen is similar to the four square screen on the IBM PS/2 Model 25 and you got it, built into ROM! One expansion slot, ISA and as a bonus it has no 12V rail, so it's a bit of an oddity! :)

If the card slot has no 12 volt rail, does that mean that some expansion cards won't work in it? Would this cause problems if you want to use a sound card for instance. So the moral of the story is if you're using Windows and you want to play a MegaDrive game, shut Windows down first before you play.

+Shane McRetro I didn't know there was a PS/2 that had the four square user interface on it, I thought that was on the IBM PS/1 computers that vWestlife has talked about.

+Lachlant1984 Exactly! Some cards that need the 12V rail just don't do their thing, some work, but not quite 100% as you could imagine! Think CD-ROM controllers on Sound Cards... a lot don't work. I guess this is what happens when you haven't quite got the standards... well standardised! :)

+Lachlant1984 *Bashes head against Model M keyboard* So damn clicky, you are right! Where is my mind at! Good catch! :)

+Ryan Martinez Ah yes, the internal overview will probably speak about that. It's essentially the extension port that is on the side of the Mega Drive / Genesis. I'm guessing one day they would have wanted to interface the Mega-CD / Sega CD and 32X on this sucker!

+Ryan Martinez *Edit:* Mega-CD / Sega CD sorry, not 32X. The 32X just goes into the cartridge slot! (Doesn't fit on this though!)

+Shane McRetro That's a weird place to put it. Maybe they had an adapter or their own design for a CD-ROM drive. You do mean the edge connector on Model 1 and Model 2 Genesis for the SegaCD?

+Ryan Martinez Those are the words I needed! Edge connector, perfect! :) Probably would have stacked like everything in the 80s / 90s :D

+David Halligan Wait what! AUD$3,000? That's like AUD$6,000! I'm scared to think of what crazy things that would let me fund :)

+Shane McRetro No, U.S. Dollars. I live in the U.S. and looked for them on eBay.

+David Halligan Total typo on my part, sorry :)

+Shane McRetro No problem! I would totally get one if they weren't so expensive. Japanese FM Towns computers don't even go for that much on eBay, and neither do LaserActive systems.

+David Halligan FM Towns... don't tempt me to buy more things! >:D More things isn't what I need :P Tempting as it may be... must resist!

+Idimi Dodjimi I was close :) Gotta give me credit for being close? Pleeeease :)

shure :)

+Idimi Dodjimi Woohoo! :)

It doesn't have a CD ROM. Mega CD used its own SDK. Teradrive is nothing more than a MegaDrive SDK.

+zeldajunkielol2 Where would you keep it? It's so big and heavy! :O That's something I wish I had planned for! How have you been anyway?

+Shane McRetro I have been well! There's no such thing as not enough space when video games are concerned!

+zeldajunkielol2 Tell that to my legs! I lost feeling in them days ago when the TeraDrives toppled onto them, trapping me forever! :P

That's a part of the ROM embedded in the machine. I believe it would have to be a DOS application though, wouldn't it? It has similarities with the IBM PS/1 from memory!

Thanks, but you just wait until I fix my Model 3! One day! One day! :-)

+Robert NES816 Ah not over here in PAL land, VA4 was the only model with the ext port, much easiness!

But didn't Sega release the modem in PAL regions?

Not that I'm aware of, I don't even think we got an Xband now that I think about it!

You miserable git!