It’s…a lot, lol. I am on the home stretch of refurbing my Naomi Universal Cab, and have had a Naomi NetDimm setup for a number of years now.
Here are the pros and cons of owning one:
Pros:
-Amazing library (arcade wise, only second to MVS or CPS2)
-Cart (and disc)-based games make arcade “board” collecting easy and fun
-Works well with HD displays as it can natively output 640x480
-You can use a modified PC PSU with it.
-Net bootable games with a Rasp Pi or even your smartphone!
-Many games can be played with a Dreamcast controller, and support the VMU
Cons:
-Most of the Naomi library was already ported to the Dreamcast in fine form.
-Requires a lot of parts to set up.
-Often will require two PSU units to run, and is very temperamental at that.
-While Naomi mainboards are cheap, all of the other stuff needed (JVS I/O, PSU, etc.) adds up fast
-Games that require specific hardware (inputs) are largely unplayable do to such requirements.
I have traversed through all of the rings of Naomi-setup Hell and come out the other side, so feel free to reach out with any questions!
EDIT:
If you do want to go down this path, look for a ‘Capcom JVS I/O’ It will make your life a lot easier, to begin with.
It has a built-in sound amp, provides the necessary 3.3 volts, and can be powered via the JAMMA edge with a regular switchable arcade PSU. (And if any of this doesn’t make sense to you right now, if you continue on–it will! Lol)
Thank you for the in depth reply. I went and purchased one cheaply anyway, that comes also with a dimm board but unfortunately not a netdimm. No idea what bios/firmware it is running apart from that it is Export region. I can burn a different bios as required regardless.
Was thinking of using a picopsu to power it and a sega jamma i/o, mainly since even from japan the capcom i/o is darn expensive. I’ll be using external powered speakers so unlikely will require an audio amp and have a vga monitor that is not doing much of anything.
Not in any rush to get it up and running mind, but anymore advice would be much appreciated.
Moving company really fucked my shit up. Working through the claims process now, won’t accidentally let the name slip unless I get the proper recompense.
Pretty sure they didn’t even use moving blankets and stacked things on top of them. 2 out of 4 machines not functioning.
My NAOMI arrived and it needs a blooming good clean. Surprised by how light it actually is.
.
Seems I have the latest Export BIOS already: EPR-21578 G.
What is the socketed PIC at IC31 that has 315-6188 printed on it?
It also has a CR2032 coin battery installed. Shouldn’t this be a re-chargeable battery?
The Dimm board itself has a Virtua Golf (253-5508-0308) security key still installed in it.
My SEGA I/O and ROM cart (went for Capcom vs Snk) won’t show up from Japan for another week or two so plenty of time to give this a good clean before then.
I had already somewhat cleaned up the exterior of my NAOMI but I still need to open it up to clean out the fans which are very noisy, much more than original CPS2 Fans. Might have to look into fan replacements later.
I’ve quickly hobbled together everything (had to even use a component cable for audio as no spare stereo RCA cables around at the moment) to TEST and it works!
However not without some issues. I’ve not got the time to get it hooked up to my VGA monitor yet so just quickly hooked it up to my 14" PVM and the picture has warping at the top of the screen and is somewhat fuzzy/blurry. Maybe I have the DIP settings wrong? They are all meant to be up for 15khz right? Or perhaps because it is passing through my Extron Crosspoint? Regardless this will be outputting at 31khz to a VGA monitor when I get around to setting it up properly.
I’m assuming the “BAD” errors are just because I have no GDROM attached and that the battery inside is most likely dead. No settings are saving on the NAOMI either so think the CR2032 battery requires replacing as well.
The boot up time is a little slow before the NAOMI splash screen comes up. The old ATX PC power supply I’m currently using is likely not quite powerful enough. I do have a good adjustable Meanwell PSU which will be used eventually instead or maybe a PICO PSU dedicated to the NAOMI.
Already thought of that and tried with the Naomi away from the crt which doesnt help. Will try a direct out connection later when I have some free time.
EDIT:
Just tried direct 31khz output from the NAOMI to my VGA CRT monitor and the image quality is amazing.
I also tried direct 15Khz output from the NAOMI using an VGA to BNC cable and am unable to get any image to display, however if I route the NAOMI’s 15khz output through the SEGA JVS I/O then it works from the JAMMA connector. However still getting the warping at the top of my 14" PVM, maybe there is some interference going on as out of curiosity I also sent the image to my recently recapped 20" PVM and there is no warping at the top of the screen but the overall image quality is still a bit “fuzzy”.
