> I don't know much about the Dreamcast architecture, but to anyone that
> does, is it possible to make something, homemade or otherwise that you can
> hook multiple devices to the extension port?  More specifically, a BBA and
> a hard drive controller?  Nate.

This is what I know.  I gleaned it from reading the archives for this and
other Dreamcast development lists, and reading some sites out there.

The Dreamcast uses a propietary bus Sega called the Maple bus.  But the BBA
and modem are built around common PCI-based chips!  To hook up these
PCI-based solutions to the Dreamcast, Sega built a proprietary Maple bus to
PCI bus bridge chip.

[Inside Dreamcast][              Inside BBA or modem      ]
[   Maple bus -->][bridge -> PCI bus -> NIC or modem chips]

You could take the modem apart and use the bridge chip in your own projects.
But the bridge chip may not know how to map multiple PCI devices to the
Maple bus.  It's worth a try, though.  It might save you some work.

Or you could build your own bridge, and map as many quantities of devices
and as many different bus types to the Maple bus as you want.

I haven't done this; electronics aren't my strong suit.  But from all this
information, it certainly looks possible.  One thing to consider, though, is
that you would also have to write/port your own drivers.

RC5Stint