USB Gecko
Description[edit]
The USB Gecko is a debugging device for the GameCube and Wii. It plugs into one of the memory card ports, and exposes a serial console over USB using an FTDI chip. These are useful for general Wii debugging, and especially for Wii-Linux development. In Linux, they are used as a general serial-based debug console, and you can read kernel messages, even panic logs, over one.
Problems[edit]
Unfortunately, the USB Gecko uses a now out-of-production FTDI chip that is becoming increasingly scarce. Cheap clones of the chip exist, but may or may not have perfect compatibility. Also, the original USB Gecko itself has also been out of production for quite some time. Schematics exist online, so you can build it yourself, should you acquire the parts, however. Similarly to the FTDI chip it uses, the USB Gecko also has many clones available, some cheap, some not, that can be bought if you do not want to deal with building one yourself.