Esoteric Devices Wiki

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====== Nintendo GameCube ======

Nintendo's followup to the Nintendo 64, and their first to use optical media. Releasing on November 18th, 2001 in North America, the GameCube's PowerPC 750CXe CPU, 24 MB of RAM, and 32-bit color depth at 640x480 was quite powerful but somewhat limited by the "Games-oriented" focus of the system. Nonetheless, it sold OK with plenty of great games, and it allowed Nintendo to develop the Wii, which ended up writing a completely different story for the company...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCube_technical_specifications

===== Operating Systems (IBM PowerPC 750CXe Gekko) =====

=== Bricks-OS ===

>a microkernel based network distributed operating system

Bricks-OS has been ported to a large variety of platforms, with this port being one of the least fleshed out ones. Framebuffer is supported, but not much else.

https://github.com/rickgaiser/bricks-os

https://code.google.com/archive/p/bricks-os/

https://web.archive.org/web/20090222060403/http://bricks-os.org/

https://web.archive.org/web/20081030011207/http://bricks-os.org/index.php?page=todo



=== Console emulation (potential) ===

Whether these emulators support operating systems for these consoles is unknown; it must be looked into further. Consoles without meaningful OSes are not included.

https://www.zophar.net/consoles/gamecube.html

https://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3943 (retroarch; not good)

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Emulators_on_GameCube

Atari 2600 – StellaGC

Coleco ColecoVision - CollisionGC

NEC TurboGrafx-16 – Hugo GX

Nintendo 64 – Cube64, Not64

Nintendo Entertainment System – FCE Ultra GX

Super Nintendo Entertainment System – SNES9xGC, Snes9xGX 1.51

Nintendo Game Boy (Color) – GBQ, Gnuboy GX, thru Game Boy Player

Nintendo Game Boy Advance – VisualBoy Advance GX, emGBA, thru Game Boy Player

Nintendo Pokémon Mini – Pokémon Channel emulator

https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=Enhanced_mGBA

Sega Genesis – Genesis Plus GX, GCN GenesisPlus!

Sega Master System – SMS Plus GX

Sony PlayStation 1 – CubeSX, PCSX Revolution



=== Debian ===

One of the several distributions available for the GameCube. Requires NFS loading from another PC, but is otherwise not really detailed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsi-Uqvo65I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbC_0sNm6J0



=== GC-Linux (hub) ===

>This is GNU/Linux on the Nintendo GameCube

The general hub for everything Linux on GameCube, with many options available for install. Most of the files required for Linux on the GameCube are likely available in the Sourceforge.

http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Main_Page

https://sourceforge.net/projects/gc-linux/

http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=27

https://www.pierov.org/2020/12/19/finally-i-booted-gc-linux/



=== GCOS “BIOS” ===

>full features that a modchip would provide, without the need for one

A sort of half-replacement for the GC BIOS, but also a homebrew loader. Nowadays, this is essentially depreciated by Swiss.

https://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4



=== Gentoo ===

Another distribution of Linux available for the GameCube, this time with some more documentation about how it was done. This required a lot of tweaking on the author's part, as documented by all the writing in the linked thread.

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-204804-start-0.html



=== MPlayer Front End distro ===

This is in essence a minimalist "distro" that aims to run mplayer and not much else. While it does technically count as a distribution, treat it as a port of mplayer rather than a more concise install.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/gc-linux/files/mplayer%20front-end%20distribution/



=== PC emulation (potential) ===

Whether these emulators support operating systems for these computers is unknown; it must be looked into further. PCs without meaningful OSes are not included.

CHIP-8 – CHIP-8 emulator

https://www.zophar.net/consoles/gamecube/chip8/chip-8-emulator.html



=== Stock BIOS ===

The default OS found on the GameCube. Some menus and a nice ambiance, but not much else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tve6ZBZaDsI



=== Swiss ===

>Swiss aims to be an all-in-one homebrew utility for the Nintendo GameCube.

The best and most modern GameCube homebrew browser/utility/EOP thing. It can browse many devices, and it’s still being updated in the modern day. This essentially makes it supersede GCOS, for the obvious reasons of support, stability, and capability.

https://github.com/emukidid/swiss-gc



===== Internet =====

=== Lost PlanetWeb planned browser ===

>were porting or already ported the EGBrowser from the PlayStation 2 to the GameCube

There are only small traces of this on demo disks, but it was clearly an idea at some point. Did it ever get completed? Does any code exist? We'll probably never know.

https://www.deviantart.com/connorrentz/journal/The-GameCube-s-Lost-Internet-Browser-Discovered-799654842



=== Phantasy Star Online DNS “redirect” ===

>I actually modified the configuration files within the disc to achieve this

A method that is very similar to the "stock" way to browse the internet on a Nintendo Switch. In other words, this is in essence hijacking a browser in some software by changing a DNS address, which makes the browser fetch Google or some other page with "freedom".

https://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3316

===== Other =====

=== Cubecraft ===

>This game uses the GameCube controller exclusively.

A Minecraft clone for the GameCube, that also runs on the Wii. May have an infinite world, but definitely has creative world + inventory.

https://github.com/camthesaxman/cubecraft


===== Version & Revision Guide =====

For general information, see the [[eop:essays:game_console_revisions_overview|Game Console Revisions Overview]].

==== Versions ====

//There are two versions of this console, arranged chronologically.//



=== “GameCube (DOL-001)” (2001-2004?) ===
//RECOMMENDED OVERALL; BEST RELIABILITY//

The original, and the version with the superior features. On the top is power, reset, and drive open, plus the drive itself. Up front, there’s 4 controller ports and 2 memory slots. To the back is the DC in, plus both analogue and digital video outs. On the bottom, closer to the rear, is a “Hi Speed” port. Similarly on the bottom, but towards the front, is 2 serial ports near the corner. All three of these are meant to have removable plastic covers over their slots. These systems may have a drive laser which lasts longer, but it can rarely do wrong reads. Some DOL-001 systems from later on do NOT have the 2nd serial port, so be wary of that. Check both the back and bottom, which is good anyway (ensures the plastic port covers are there). Motherboard revs exist, but seemingly without impact.



=== “GameCube (DOL-101)” (2004?-2007) ===

A cost-reduced version of the GameCube. These aren’t worth buying for EOPs, as they’ve removed the Digital AV out port on the back, and the 2<sup>nd</sup> serial port on the bottom (towards the console’s front corner). Furthermore, the little “GameCube” nameplate cannot be removed anymore, as it was in fact removable on the DOL-001. Action Replay disks are less likely to work, and the drive laser, while reading better, doesn’t last as long. While they work just fine, one is better off purchasing a DOL-001 unless one doesn’t care about high quality video. These also have motherboard revisions, but again, to seemingly no impact.



//There are no revisions within either version. LOWEST PRICE couldn’t be assigned.//

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCube

https://tcrf.net/images/b/b2/Gcservice_gamecubesides.png (plastic covers for bottom ports!!!)

https://gametrog.com/nintendo-gamecube-information-specs/

https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=GameCube_versions

https://www.angelfire.com/ultra/megamanworld/gcmodelcomparison.html