Sega Channel BIOS (US)

The Sega Channel was Sega's early attempt at a broadband media delivery service. It provided a continuously looping one-way stream of data on a hidden channel which the Sega Channel tuner would "catch" and then download to its internal memory for usage. New streams were provided monthly to the user at a cost of roughly $15 per month.

Although a commercial failure, it was instrumental in later broadband Internet deployment by encouraging participating cable operators to upgrade and maintain their systems for cleaner digital delivery.


 * Note: ROM addresses refer to the Scientific Atlanta version of the ROM, but the strings appear to exist in the General Instruments version as well.

Compiler Message
At is a compiler error that somehow made it into the ROM.

Math library must precede standard C library on linker command line to access printf that supports floating point

Credits
Starting at offset is a large chunk of credits, followed by an odd comment about fast food catering, a fan club address (with the developers replacing vital information with X's), and a copyright notice.

RANI CARR IAN CROUCH RJ. GODIN KEVIN JONES PATRICE JONES SHELLEY KRUPP MICHAEL LOPEZ RAY MCFADDEN JOE NAPOLI JAMES 'VEHEMENCE' PARKER DREW PATANIA MICHAEL SHORROCK STAN THOMAS YUTAKA YAMAMOTO

AND ALL THE FINE PEOPLE AT SEGA CHANNEL AND SEGA.

IKE AJUDUA ROGER BARBOUR BRETT BLACK PAUL BORSETTI ROY BOWCUTT DAVID BURLESON GENE CANNELLA SCOTT CHEEK CALVIN CONREY ROBERT COWELL JIM ELSENBECK JOHN FILION DEAN FREDRIKSEN BILL GARCIA EDDIE GAUTHIER STEVE HOSKINS DON HUNTLEY MONA JAVAID LOAY KHALAF RAHEEL KHAN LARRY MCKINNEY DAN MCMAHILL JAY MCMULLAN JOSEPH MIGLIORE STEVE MOATS LEO MONTREUIL PAUL PAPPAFOTIS HIMANSHU PARIKH LISA PICKELSIMER CARL RAINEY GERALD ROBINSON DAVID SEDACCA RANDY SCHAUBS ALAN SCHLENZ MARK SCHUTTE SHARRONE SMITH TIM SPRADLIN STEVE STOWERS CARL TERRIER TOM WHITEHOUSE

SPECIAL THANKS TO JOHN VOGEL

GOOD JOB CARDS GO OUT TO: BRETT BLACK STEVE HOSKINS

DAVE CASTELNUOVO IS THE ONLY ONE TO REALLY CREDIT EXCEPT FOR A SMALL CONTRIBUTION BY BRETT BLACK.

CATERING BY YOUR FINER FAST FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS.

PACIFIC SOFTSCAPE IS JEFF FORT RAY FRERICKS BRUCE STRALEY MICHAEL GATES DAVE CASTELNUOVO SEGA CHANNEL PROJECT MICHAEL GATES DAVE CASTELNUOVO JEFF FORT

SEGA CHANNEL SPARK BY BRUCE STRALEY

FOR PSS FAN CLUB AND MERCHANDISING INFO SEND SASE TO: XXXXX XXX XXXXXXX SUITE XXX XXXXXXX XXXXX, CA XXXXX

DAVE WOULD LIKE TO MENTION CARLA CORACE WHOM HE FORGOT TO MENTION IN HIS LAST GAME

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO MENTION MY BEST BROS: NORBERT WIENERT GARY WIENERT ANTHONY WIENERT DAVE ALBERTI MARK MATUKA BEN BURNS CHRIS KULAK ALEX DJORDJEVICH YOSH ABE CAPM PETERSON DOUG SUMI

SM/TM & @1994 SEGA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SM/TM & @1994 SEGA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Placeholder Text
Likely present to fill space before data was downloaded from the cable operator, or maybe just for testing. Curiously, ticker five line one includes an extra "WO" in its text.

THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE ONE THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE TWO THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE THREE THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE FOUR THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE FIVE THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE SIX THIS IS TICKER ONE LINE SEVEN

THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE ONE THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE TWO THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE THREE THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE FOUR THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE FIVE THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE SIX THIS IS TICKER TWO LINE SEVEN

THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE ONE THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE TWO THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE THREE THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE FOUR THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE FIVE THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE SIX THIS IS TICKER THREE LINE SEVEN

THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE ONE THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE TWO THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE THREE THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE FOUR THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE FIVE THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE SIX THIS IS TICKER FOUR LINE SEVEN

THIS IS TICKER FIVE WO LINE ONE THIS IS TICKER FIVE LINE TWO THIS IS TICKER FIVE LINE THREE THIS IS TICKER FIVE LINE FOUR THIS IS TICKER FIVE LINE FIVE THIS IS TICKER FIVE LINE SIX THIS IS TICKER FIVE LINE SEVEN

Error Text
Generic error messages, possibly displayed in operation if a serious error occurred, or simply used during debugging.

BUS ERROR: ADDRESS ERROR: OUT OF SAT ERROR: OUT OF VRAM ERROR: OUT OF OBJECTS ERROR: GENERIC ERROR: ERROR!

Remote Diagnostic Tool
Possibly for cable operators to provide remote support using equipment at the headend, pieces of a remote diagnostic tool are located starting at offset. What could be done remotely, if anything, is unclear, although some of the text indicates the existence of a downlink test that would fill RAM with dummy data, and a debug display that would list the contents of the 68000 registers and stack pointer.

SegaChannel Remote Diagnostic SCHAN Filling %lX from %08lX to %08lX Tuning %08lx FIXIT_STARTADDR: %04X FIXIT_WORKBOUND: %04X GAME_TIMEOUT:   %04X GAME_ID:        %04X PKT_MATCHADDR:  %04X CURRENT_SPACKET: %04X GEN_STATUS:     %04X GEN_CONTROL:    %04X ERROR_COUNTER:  %04X CRC_INPUT:      %04X CRC_LOWOUT:     %04X CRC_HIGHOUT:    %04X Decompressing Took %u vblanks ASIC TUNE COMP PLL Config %mwd Tuner Type %t DONE FIRST TEST SECOND TEST DATA          %mld ADDRESS       %mld BLOCK         %mld FILL DATA     %mld DRAM TEST %mwd P0%mwd P1%mwd P2%mwd P3%mwd P4%mwd P5%mwd P6%mwd P7%mwd SP%mwd NU%mwd Current Logical Channel %mbd Current Channel %mbd $PASSED CRC TARGET CRC %mld ACTUAL CRC %mld FAILED CRC BLOCK %mld