Dreamcast HKT-7300 modding project. Advice required!

[DickSocrates]

Hi, I’m brand new to the forum but here seemed the best place to ask about an upcoming project I’m seriously considering.

I have a Dreamcast Arcade stick HKT-7300 which I plan to mod with a Sanwa stick. The buttons are fine, for now at least. I don’t need help with that, there are many really great guides out there.

My issue is I want to retain Dreamcast compatibility while adding a USB to use it on PC. The most basic way is to get an adapter, the Trio Linker Plus II, but they are difficult to get in the UK and there’s no guarantee it will keep being compatible with future versions of Windows. Plus if I’m going to be doing a fairly serious mod to add the Sanwa stick I’m thinking I could add additional compatibility.

My ideas are as follows:

1. Adding a second PCB, so there are two cables coming from the stick, the original and the USB.

Or

2. Swapping the Dreamcast PCB for a PS3 controller PCB and using the Brook PS3/4 to Dreamcast converter. This should let me have PC, PS3/4 and Dreamcast compatibility. I haven’t researched this fully yet, I’m sure there are pitfalls.

Any advice or tips would be great. Tell me if I’m looking at this all wrong and there’s a super simple/superior method I’ve missed.

Thanks.

[FreedomGundam]

Cleaner solution:

3. Replace the stock PCB with either a Brook Retro or an MC Cthulhu, and have an RJ-45 jack on the casing so that you can swap in whatever cable you need. You’ll get both Dreamcast and PC compatibility with that single PCB, and a bunch of other consoles as well (PS1/PS2/PS3, NES/SNES, etc). The only caveat is that you’ll lose VMU support.

[DickSocrates]

Thanks for the reply. Your option makes a lot more sense. I’m completely new to all this, I don’t know what’s out there. I hadn’t even stopped to consider VMU support, my PS3 option would have broken that anyway. I guess I don’t need it, having it plugged into player 2 (or 3 or 4) is enough. Been so long since I used my actual Dreamcast I can’t remember how all that stuff is handled but I’ll look into that myself.

Thanks again.

[Darksakul]

You can do is perform a dual mod with the original PCB

[Darksakul]

Unfortunately the images are borked, but here my build log thread

Not another Agetec thread. Guide and worklog

Oh god, not another one of these. Yes I going to talk about the loose goose, t3h green goblin, the Dreamcast Agetec. [image] Agetec before mod [image] Worn out old back plate Before I get started here are some reference links. Information I left out will be in one (or more) of these links Modifying Dreamcast Arcade Stick Agetec Mod http://shoryuken.com/f177/dreamcast-agetec-arcade-stick-playstation-2-a-175334/#post6096…

[DickSocrates]

So you kept the original PCB and added a 360 PCB and the ChImp is for PC and PS3? Does that mean there were two wires coming out of the back, the DreamCast and a USB?

[DickSocrates]

Minor update: I’m going to retain the original PCB and dual mod it with the most basic PCB that works with PC. I don’t need any compatibility beyond that, I only play retro games on PC. I prefer a dual mod because I don’t want to compromise the stick in any way, plus it’s a more interesting project. I’m doing this as much to learn about basic electronics as to end up with a good quality stick. Last week I thought I’d just buy a Mayflash F300 and be done with it but saw the opportunity to learn new skills. I currently have no skills or equipment!