USBgecko 'review', Special thanks to USBgecko.com 13th of January 2008

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Introduction

“USB gecko is 3rd Party Memory Card Interface Adapter which allows homebrew and hobbyist developers the ability to connect their Gamecube(TM) or Wii(TM) console to there PC which has a USB 2.0 Port.“ - Official USBgecko website.

But what does that mean for you? Lets look at the feature list to get a better understanding of the product:

• Upload and Execute files (DOL and Bin format)
• Extract Wii and GameCube media at high speeds
• Backup and Restore game save to and from the PC
• Remote Debugging capabilities including memory dumping, editing, all in realtime
• Access low level functions including Bios, SRAM and firmware
• Free open source libraries, source code examples
• On board flash memory for storing data and firmwares
• Easy to intergrate with free software libraries like (LibOGC) (Example code included)
• Free updates and legal download forever!
• Support forum - Get free support from other users
• Works on all regions!

As you can see (or maybe not) this product has a little bit of two worlds inside it. The first is the SDgecko which (as you may or may not know) is mainly used to boot gamecube executables or dump DVDs with. The second however is more like a BBA (gamecube broadband adapter) which is generally used for debugging by homebrew developers. It is however good to note that at this time you still need a modchip or similar item to boot USBgecko. The team is however working on a disc that will not require the use of any other method. Similar to ActionReplay or the SD media launcher it will be a pressed disc that works with the Wii or Gamecube without modifying the system in any way.

Now if you are a developer working with the Wii (which doesn't have a BBA connection) this tool will allow you to debug much easier. But seeing as most of you aren't developers what good does this product do you? Well lets see what is in the feature list that is of interest:

• Upload and Execute files (DOL and Bin format)
• Extract Wii and GameCube media at high speeds
• Backup and Restore game save to and from the PC
• On board flash memory for storing data and firmwares
  
• Free updates and legal download forever!
• Support forum - Get free support from other users
• Works on all regions!

I'll cover (aside from packaging and build quality) the currently available features which are: loading a DOL/BIN file, backing up saves and restoring them, screen capturing, playing music, using the onboard flash (for sdload/psoload reboot) and extracting / dumping DVDs (games). Lets get it on ;)!

The Review

Packaging + content
Many products (such as the SDgecko) come in shabby packaging. The USBgecko most certainly is not one of those. You can see for yourself how it looks, but I personally really like it.

The box is however not all that sturdy. If your shipping company handles it roughly you will get a damaged package. Your USBgecko itself will probably be unharmed though. The box is composed out of a thin cardboard shell with see through window and it contains a plastic placeholder. The box content:

• USBgecko
• CDrom with drivers + readme and general info
• A long USB 2.0 cable



Build Quality
The build quality is pretty good. The USB connector is pretty tight which is the only downside, though quite an annoying one (it could of course also just be my sample though). That wasn't easily fixed however by simply lifting the spring in the USB socket so there is another problem. After being bored a little I started looking into it more and found a fix. By taking the top shell (with USBgecko printed on it) and sanding down the area where the USB socket is located you can create more space for it. Once you've made enough space the USB connection works flawlessly.

The plastic is harder then the original and it closely matches the form of an original memory card which makes it very easy to insert and remove. The two halves of the shell are kept together by 4 pin-socket connections and no clamps or glue (meaning if you ever need to change anything it won't be hard to open your USBgecko). They hold pretty tight though so don't worry about it falling apart during normal use. On the bottomside of the PCB you can find your JTAG pins so if for whatever reason you feel like reprogramming your unit you can....

Using the USBgecko!
General
First of all we need to install the USBgecko on our computers. It's all easy enough but the USBgecko team have made a nice PDF (link) guide for those who might not be very experienced. Once we're done installing the USBgecko we move over to our console.

To use the USBgecko you need to either start USBgecko_firmware.dol (either via bootable DVD, SDload or any other method of loading dols you have) or USBgecko_loader.dol (via the same methods as firmware.dol). If you choose the first you will be greeted by the USBgecko firmware, however I recommend first starting the loader to install the FW to flash.

When you start the loader.dol you will get the following message:

“Press A to boot firmware
Send Command to flash firmware”

Now my sample didn't come with the firmware pre-installed so I could press A but that would just give me a black screen. So we have to upload/flash the firmware. You can download the latest firmware from the USBgecko website together with the USBgeckoTool (which is what the main PC side application is). Once done downloading extract both zip files and start up the geckoTool (naturally with the USBgecko attached to your computer via USB2.0).

Go to the firmware drop down menu and hit upload firmware. Then select the .gek file and hit open. The firmware will then be flashed to your USBgecko. That's a nice thing because now all your emulators and etc. are now able to return to the USBgecko firmware (like 'reload Sdload/PSOload') if that feature is available.

Note: Many of the features covered below also have nice guides available on the USBgecko website.

Loading a DOL/BIN file
This is a very easy task. Simply start the USBgecko (by booting either the loader file and hitting A of by directly booting firmware.dol) and select 'Loaders --> Executable file Loader' on the PC side application. You can then select your DOL file and upload it. Not much more to be said here, it works. One thing that is of course rather important to mention is that most of the emulators use an SDcard (with SDgecko) to load their games from. That means that if you start anything you will also still need an SDgecko (homemade or other). You will however no longer have to use a specially prepared SD card like was needed for SDload.

Backing up Saves, restoring and deleting them
Also another feature that works great. Although sadly it isn't possible to see the size of the save files or the size of the memory card at this time. That means that if you're putting on save files you can't see if they will fit. Using this feature is pretty straitforward, simply start the USBgeckoTool and go to 'Tools --> Memory card tool' and then hit list memory card to show all save files on the memory card in slot A. You then get a nice list of saves which you can backup, restore or delete via the buttons on the right. They are saved in .gci format which is widely used and can be found on for example gamefaqs.

Screen capturing
Yay for this feature! Although I personally don't think I will be using it a lot it is a really fun feature. I won't explain this much as it's pretty obvious but suffice to say it dumps all video (it's only screenshots, no real-time recording) the gamecube (/wii in gamecube mode) gives out. Yes that includes the distorting bar at the bottom of the screenshot ;). Just so you know the only editing I did to the screenshot is adding text. Other then the text it is a pixel perfect copy of the image produced by the geckotool (and in the same format --> bmp).

Playing Music
Well this is something that doesn't work so great. Although it is more of a showcase of the features of the product so one shouldn't really care. If you want to use your GC for media you are better of using GClinux instead anyway. The feature works but sound is generally choppy and you can only load 1 MP3 at a time. Also there is no fast forward or any other fancy features like a pause button. But again, this is something (I feel) that is more to show the possibilities of the USBgecko.

Dumping DVD games
Now this is interesting! For those of you who don't have a dumping setup (for example a specific LG drive) and/or don't like using the SDdump method (using an SDgecko to dump your disc to SDcard which requires swapping for Wii discs) this could be a nice feature. It works fairly simple and it results in unscrabled iso images on your harddrive ready for burning. As with most other features the USBgecko team have made a guide on how to do this which can be downloaded from their website.

To test this feature I've done a few dumps and recorded the time it took to complete the them. The dumps were made using Softdev's SDDVD dump tool 0.1g (which is the fastes as far as I know for use with SDgecko), using my LG drive setup and using USBgecko;

• SDDVD dump 0.1g Gamecube disc on a gamecube: 10 minutes
• SDDVD dump 0.1g Wii disc on a Wii: (couldn't test right now, my wii is pieces :P)
  
  
• LG drive setup (rawdump2.0) Gamecube disc: 50 minutes
• LG drive setup (rawdump2.0) Wii disc: 2 hours 50 minutes
  
  
• USBgecko Gamecube disc on a gamecube: 40 minutes
• USBgecko Wii disc on a Wii: (couldn't test right now, my wii is pieces :P)

As you can see the USBgecko doesn't perform that much better then my LG drive setup and is much slower then SDDVD dump 0.1g. However it does have the added advantage over the SDgecko method that you don't have to swap SD cards and recombine the dumped parts. Speeds might be improved though with later FW/loader versions but it will most probably not outdo SDDVD dump.



Conclusion

I have to say I like the product. In this review I haven't covered any of the development features such as dumping the memory, dumping the GC bios etc. but have aimed at the regular user. When would you buy this product (at the time of writing, naturally by the time you read this there could be new features)? Mostly if you don't have a way of booting homebrew yet (though you will most probably still require an SDgecko), possibly using the USBgecko with the yet to be released DVD or if you are tired of using SDload (swapping SD card, making sure they are prepared in the correct manner for SDload, etc.). You could also buy the USBgecko if you want to backup, restore delete and/or download gamecube save files.

When it comes to quality the USBgecko rates pretty high with only one flaw (the USB socket which is really tight, but that is fixable). It's made of tough plastic and closely matches an original memory card making it easy to insert and remove.

I hope you all enjoyed my review and found it useful.

-Simon van de Berg

P.s. I've heard from Emu_kidid he is planning to put support for the USBgecko into the n64 emulator for the gamecube.


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