Did you mean to post a link to the project or is this closed source or ?

It is open source. Amazing I missed that small detail, haha.

Here is a link to a video I just put together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7qsI4J0sys

Here is a link to the project:
https://github.com/danifunker/usbode

I have the IDE Simulator (https://shop.tattiebogle.net/product/prod_EkTnv3Tk2Trxhf) and the one thing that it has over all the others is the ability to set the ISO/disc image using a dos utility. This small feature adds tremendous value for auto run batch scripts for games. You can have a large collection that is playable from a nice menu system if you can auto mount the discs. CD-Audio is also a great feature to focus on. Very cool you are doing this!

Here is the IDE Simulator util: https://issues.tattiebogle.net/view.php?id=14 and here is the documentation for it. https://issues.tattiebogle.net/dokuwiki/doku. … ulator:protocol

I'm sure your setup is completely different, but any way to automate setting the disc would be huge. Even serial commands would do it as you could just echo them to the port.

flynnsbit wrote on 2025-04-20, 04:37:

I have the IDE Simulator (https://shop.tattiebogle.net/product/prod_EkTnv3Tk2Trxhf) and the one thing that it has over all the others is the ability to set the ISO/disc image using a dos utility. This small feature adds tremendous value for auto run batch scripts for games. You can have a large collection that is playable from a nice menu system if you can auto mount the discs. CD-Audio is also a great feature to focus on. Very cool you are doing this!

Here is the IDE Simulator util: https://issues.tattiebogle.net/view.php?id=14 and here is the documentation for it. https://issues.tattiebogle.net/dokuwiki/doku. … ulator:protocol

I'm sure your setup is completely different, but any way to automate setting the disc would be huge. Even serial commands would do it as you could just echo them to the port.

Wow, thank you very much for this pointer! I don’t have much experience with DOS programming (I only made one little program in my life to change the contents of win.ini when I was in high school to help facilitate a thin client environment). It sounds like a great feature to implement. I’ll need to look into it once I’m ready to tackle the custom Linux kernel development part. Definitely a great feature to have in place.

The links you provided are very helpful for the atapi commands being used.

I noticed you mentioned the long boot times. While it would be quite a major change, it may be worth looking into using something like buildroot to create a much leaner (both userland-wise and kernel config-wise) custom system to reduce the boot times (and potentially have other positive side effects).

Cool project, here is Phil's review of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is3ULD0ZXnI

I have this device, I bought the R PI Zero 2W and the Waveshare screen hat purely to use it. I have been playing about with it for the last week or so and It really is fan-flipping-tastic. So easy to set up and use, plus Dan (I think his name is Dan) is super helpful. I posted an issue on the Git Hub about some of the text in some of the menus in the web gui being too small to read for my ageing eyes and he fixed it within hours!

Installing games on Win 98 with this is so much more convenient than having to consonantly change then out in a drive. You just go to the browser on your mobile phone and select your iso!

The icing on the cake for me will be when bin/cue and CDDA is released, I really hope this is possible. I'd also like to be able to store iso images in folders so that the list you have to scroll down is not so long, but these are minor things that I'm sure will be possible in a future update.

Personally I have not been able to boot from it using a bootable CD image, I guess I must have a MB that does not support booting from USB (ASRock P4i65G), but even without this feature it's an essential gadget that I would find it hard to be without now!

I now have one of these, too. I agree with manic232, it's an awesome device. I also used a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a SanDisk Extreme 64GB micro SD card as storage. My boot time is 23 seconds, which is totally okay for me. This is a fairly cheap and convenient way of using ISOs and I'm looking forward to testing it some more in the next days. Thanks to Phil for showing the device on his channel.

Big update. We haven’t released anything just yet though, been working really hard on everything!

A new version is on the works. I’m working with a c++ dev who is doing a lot of the heavy CD emulation stuff. We have re-platformed the project into circle-rpi so boot time is ~5-7 seconds with a far microsd card.

We also added the ability to load bin and cue files and playback CD audio with the use of a PCM510X DAC. For the plug-n-play solution, just using a Pimoroni Line Out (model PIM438) gives a screen and a line-out port. One also made a makeshift cable to connect the 3.5” audio cable connector to the 4 Pin Dupont-Style cd analog audio cable connector on my board (I’m using R-G-G-L style) on my setups.

This has been tested on the Llama ITX and a WS440BX board with an NEC usb 2.0 card installed on it, wired into a sound blaster Live! card.

For DOS: I found using the usbaspi.exe community build based on the panasonic 2.28 version seems to work great with the /w switch (it’s will power on my USB controller first then I can press enter once usbode is available).

Current concerns:
Slow FTP speed - about 1.2MB/s max speed, usually slower
Single partition, FAT32 support only right now (no images larger than 4gb limit)- this may get addressed in the future
No USB booting yet - actively working on this one and will release once this part is ready
Single mode- no mass storage mode implemented yet, so transferring files need to be done via ftp or turning off the device and plugging the microsd card in.

There is a new repo associated with this version of the project here:

https://github.com/danifunker/usbode-circle

This is what we are using for a backlog:

https://github.com/users/danifunker/projects/1

I’ve also created a couple of DOS tools as ancillary things for this:

https://github.com/danifunker/set-dosvar

Creates a bat script after prompting a user a question to set an environment variable

And

https://github.com/danifunker/dos-file-test

A file copying speed test which gives regular updates for a single file copy of progress and speed. Once it’s done copying it will create a file called results.txt in the destination folder with some statistics of the file copy so it’s an easy log. This is great for benchmarking the usbode solution.

Finally, please join the discord if you aren’t already there to follow the most recent developments

https://discord.gg/na2qNrvdFY

The invite link is limited to 100 users to thwart spam

Wow, great news, bin/cue has been a wish of mine ever since I got this thing up and running. Am I right in thinking that to get CDDA you need a new hat screen and also you need to make up a special cable?

No you can make the cable if you want, and you can get the new hat or wire up the a pcm510X yourself. I recommend the new HAT because the interface is much cooler

danifunker wrote on 2025-06-08, 15:17:

We also added the ability to load bin and cue files and playback CD audio with the use of a PCM510X DAC. For the plug-n-play solution, just using a Pimoroni Line Out (model PIM438) gives a screen and a line-out port. One also made a makeshift cable to connect the 3.5” audio cable connector to the 4 Pin Dupont-Style cd analog audio cable connector on my board (I’m using R-G-G-L style) on my setups.

There's a typo, right? I think it should be the PIM483.

Yes a type-o! You’re correct it is supposed to be PIM483.

I wish I could edit the previous post

Sorry, I realise how dim I am, I am having trouble understanding this, so you don't need a special cable, just a different hat to get CD audio? Sorry I am not very technical about all this stuff. All I want to know is how do I get the CD audio to work once this new software is released? What do I need to buy?

Thanks and sorry again for being a dimwit!

Edit: OK so if I understand this correctly all I would need is the Pirate Audio with Line out, right?

https://www.electromaker.io/shop/product/pira … or-raspberry-pi

We put out an official pre-release the other day, you can download it here:

https://github.com/danifunker/usbode-circle/r … ses/tag/v.2.2.0

I enabled a web UI configuration tool, so it's easy to change between the supported HATs, and audio output options with the latest release.

To get CD Audio there are now a few options. Note all sound options mentioned here requires a 3.5" to 3.5" male connector.

1- Get a Pirate Audio PIM483 HAT (this uses i2s options, the default config)
2- Use a Raspberry Pi 3A+ and use the PWM-based headphone jack (the one that's on the board). This is the cheapest solution, but also it sounds pretty bad. The options need to be updated to select PWM audio, but it should work. I think this would also work with the Pi Zero W / Zero 2 W but you would have to use your headers since there is no dedicated pwm audio line out on the board.
3- For the soldering inclined: Wire up any PCM510X to the Pi and connect cables (this uses i2s options, the default config)

Cabling Options:
Option A) Wire it up to your sound card's Line in (if possible)
Option B) Create a custom CDRom audio to 3.5" female audio jack (requires some basic soldering). Most CD-ROM audio cables on the soundcards are looking for RGGL signal, but this would have to be tested. I ended up creating two cables, one with dupont connectors so it's easy to move things around / test them, and another with the actual MPC-4 connector once I validated the order my sound card was looking for.
Option C) Once completing option B, add a MPC-4 Y-Splitter, in case you still want to get CD Audio from physical CDROM games. https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Leader-25in-MPC- … o/dp/B07ZQSNLRD . Another possibility is to use something like this https://www.microcenter.com/product/426789/sc … gle-row-headers to link together an internal CDROM audio cable with another CDROM audio cable.

Be aware, there is a backlog item of getting audio out from the HDMI port as well, but it's not prioritized .

Here are some detailed build instructions for the cable:

Purchase this from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZWHVK4B?ref_=ppx … in_title_2&th=1
Find another CD-Audio Cable that will be cut.

For an R-G-G-L CD Audio cable:

1) Connect the Yellow cable from the TRS3 to the white cable on the CD Audio (L signal)
2) Connect the Red Cable from the TRS3 to the Red Cable on the CD Audio (R signal)
3) Connect the Black Cable from the TRS3 to the Black Cable(s) of the CD Audio (These are the grounds). In my case the grounds were surrounding the White and Red cables from my CD audio cable.

Ah, super news. Looking forward to trying this out, got my Pirate Audio a few days ago so perfect timing. This really is a wonderful project.

I upgraded my emulator with a pirate audio and also made a slot bracket and a simple 3D printed case. Next step will be actually testing it in a retro system.

And here's the STL file for my case, if someone wants it (I have a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W). Beware, I'm not a very skilled 3D artist, but this works for me.

Wow that looks really nice and snazzy! Can you share any details on the bracket you're using?

I drilled a hole in a spare slot bracket and put a 3.5mm stereo socket in. Then I soldered a CD-ROM audio cable to the socket. It's a pretty basic setup, but I can now unplug the whole thing from the computer.