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Linux Software

Linux On Your Dreamcast 133

Posted by Hemos from the i've-seen-it dept.
A reader writes: "Looking for a low-cost way to get started with embedded Linux? Or a fun weekend project? In this detailed how-to article at LinuxDevices.com, Bill Gatliff explains everything you need to do to install Linux on a Sega Dreamscast gaming console. Even the necessary Linux kernel, bootloader, and utility kernel patches are included and available for download. Nuffa those mindless video games ... it's time to become an embedded Linux hacker ;)" First time I saw this was in Japan with VA Japan folks -- very cool watching it boot.
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Linux On Your Dreamcast More

Linux On Your Dreamcast

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  • Bah, Been done (Score:5, Funny)

    by gazbo ( 517111 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:12AM (#2345935)
    I'm putting Windows 3.11 on my Dreamcast

  • Linux inside (Score:4, Funny)

    by (trb001) ( 224998 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:13AM (#2345938) Homepage
    Yeah, it's impressive, but I'm waiting for the ultimate hack...linux embedded in a person. Finally make that 'Linux inside' tattoo worth getting...

    --trb

  • DreamCast - Poor mans webserver (Score:4, Funny)

    by jfried ( 122648 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:15AM (#2345947) Homepage
    Buy a few dreamcast install linux and apache and you have a cheap webserver farm.
    Mix that with an NFS mount and a DataBase Server and you could run slashdot off it.

    I wonder how well a dreamcast rack mounts?

  • Old news (Score:5, Informative)

    by reynaert ( 264437 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:17AM (#2345952)

    It's nice to see the portability of Linux demonstrated. And you can use it to really freak out some non-Linux people.

    But has this any practical use? A TV screen isn't any good to display text. It isn't useful for developing games either. The Dreamcast community has created tools that are far better suited for that.

    Really, it's a nice hack. But it's been on slashdot before (Dreamcast runs Linux [slashdot.org], X-Windows on Dreamcast [slashdot.org]).

    • Re:Old news (Score:4, Informative)

      by Jace of Fuse! ( 72042 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:42AM (#2346036) Homepage
      A TV screen isn't any good to display text.

      It's not terrible, actually, but it isn't great, either.

      Hardly important, though, considering the Dreamcast can be plugged into a VGA monitor.

      With a Keybaord, a Mouse, and a couple of Gamepads, the Broadband adapter, and a VGA box, the only thing the Dreamcast was missing to take over as a cheap Internet gaming machine was some kind of Hard Drive with a self booting OS. The ZIP drive that was slated for it would have provided just that, but horrid Dreamcast sales put an end to all that.

      So instead we get to see the Playstation 2 attempt to take that market, and if you ask me, the Playstation 2 isn't really a much better console and it costs much more than the Dreamcast. (I could go on and on about why the PS2 is a major disappointment but most people reading won't care, and those who do are fanatical Sony Fanboys who will flame me... so blah)

      For shame.

      • So instead we get to see the Playstation 2 attempt to take that market, and if you ask me, the Playstation 2 isn't really a much better console and it costs much more than the Dreamcast.

        Not much better? With built-in USB so you can plug in any old cheap USB keyboard and mouse? And the best controller in console gaming history? And DVD movie playback? I guess you're right, it's not much better than the Dreamcast with proprietary, expensive keyboards and mice, and it's awful, wretchedly designed controller, and lack of DVD support.

        Jesus fucking christ, do people expect the PS2 to do their taxes for them? It's graphics are pretty. It's games are fun. Just relax and enjoy. Prices will drop soon enough.

        And before anyone gets bent out of shape, I have a Dreamcast. I like it. It's games are also fun. But I utterly hate the fucking controller. If I knew more about electronics I'd solder together some kind of adaptor for my PS dual shock controllers.

        (End rant)

        • And the best controller in console gaming history

          Totally subjective. I still consider the Saturn's NiGHTS controller the best controller in history.

          And DVD movie playback?

          Poor DVD playback. My Laptop makes a better DVD player.

          awful, wretchedly designed controller

          Again, subjective. I happen to love the Dreamcast controller. I don't I dislike the Playstation controller, mind you. But again, it's functionally not much better, though perhaps a quite a more ergonomic for some people (not me...)

          It's games are fun.

          Oh? I've seen few PS2 titles out yet that I've really been interested in. So far for me the PS2 is nothing more than an expensive Playstation 1 emulator. Not that I'm complaining too much about that, but it is sort of a shame that the best reasons to own a Playstation 2 are all Playstation 1 games.

          And before anyone gets bent out of shape

          I don't get bent out of shape on such things. I'm something of a realist so I stay level headed when discussing these things. Plus, I'm really a gaming whore. It's all good, and while I happen to find great merit in the PS2, I find it to be a great shame that Sony has displaced so much of Sega and Nintendo's market seeing as how they have little show in the way of first party efforts (though Grand Turismo is the lone exception.)

          If I knew more about electronics I'd solder together some kind of adaptor for my PS dual shock controllers.

          Perhaps you would be interested in either a Bleempad [vstore.com] or Bleempod [vstore.com]. The pad of course is a pad for the dreamcast modeled after the Playstation's. The Bleempod is a straight adapter. Unfortunately, they seem rather hard to come by.

          I repeat, though, that controller preferences are subjective. I find that the Playstation controller is a wee bit too small for my hands, and the Dreamcast's just seems to fit better for me (as does the N64's) but I would no more force that opinion on anybody than I would force them to wear my shoes. Everyone's hands are different. I know of many controllers that I love that many people hate, including most of Microsoft's Sidewinder game pads. I personally consider the Sidewinders top-notch, esspecially teh Sindwinder Gamepad Pro. But that's subjective. Totally subjective.
          • Well, I suppose I have smallish hands and I like lots of buttons, so the gazillion-buttons-squished-together design of the dual shock is good for me.

            Thanks for pointing out the Bleem stuff. I'm going to try to track some of them down. Either one would be perfect. The Bleempad actually looks a lot like a third-party PS controller I've got called the "Dual Impact" from Performance. It's actually pretty well-made for third-party stuff.
          • NiGHTS! now that WAS a controller and a half :)
            However my favourite of all has got to be the Namco Arcade Joystick for PS1. Admittedly it was rubbish for anything but beat-em-ups, but the build quality was wild.

            All good comments, the thing is though what really killed off the DC was all the pirates and warez so easily available. Shame as the majority of the games was *so* good. The look on peoples face when seeing Jet Set Radio.....

            Hopefully the reinvention of Sega into a dominant software house will one day lead them back into developing consoles and I for one cant wait :)

            Po
        • Not much better? With built-in USB so you can plug in any old cheap USB keyboard and mouse?

          Get a PS2 adapter for your dreamcast, and you can get mice and keyboards for pennies.



          And the best controller in console gaming history?

          Get a playstation adapter.



          And DVD movie playback?

          I knew that was coming - why do people always talk about the DVD player? It's a shite player and why use a games console for playing DVDs? When your PS2 dies from over-use, you'll wish you never used the function (aimed in general not at you).



          I guess you're right, it's not much better than the Dreamcast with proprietary, expensive keyboards and mice, and it's awful, wretchedly designed controller, and lack of DVD support.

          I actually like the dreamcast controller - it's a good shape to grip unlike the playstation one. Perhaps it's because after 5 years of playstation use you've become accustomed to it?



          Jesus fucking christ, do people expect the PS2 to do their taxes for them?

          No, but you could running Linux on Dreamcast....



          It's graphics are pretty. It's games are fun. Just relax and enjoy. Prices will drop soon enough.

          But dreamcast is already cheap. This is now, not when it finally comes down in price. A dreamcast is a viable option now!



          And before anyone gets bent out of shape, I have a Dreamcast. I like it. It's games are also fun. But I utterly hate the fucking controller. If I knew more about electronics I'd solder together some kind of adaptor for my PS dual shock controllers.

          Have a search on Google or try a newsgroup - you'll find the adapters.

    • DC has VGA 640x480 support as well + other modes (Score:4, Interesting)

      by cybrthng ( 22291 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @09:26AM (#2346205) Homepage Journal
      DC has a VGA adaptor for 20 bucks that works great, defaults to 640x480 but i've read from dev sites that it goes higher.

      I have my DC connected to a flatpanel monitor i picked up from ebay and love it.

    • Re:Old news (Score:2, Interesting)

      by molli123 ( 517528 )
      I sure think this can be useful. Think of the masses of people beeing too poor to buy a whole computer- as in the Non Developed Countries. This box is cheaper than any computer could be. They could also maintain it themselves- without paying for licenses to MS. And if it is simple, it could also be used by older people not willing to learn how to use a computer anymore. I think we need cheap and simple computers, thats why I think it could be usable. Micha !
      • I bought an old Compaq Deskpro with a Pentium 200MMX, 32MB, 3.2 GB, USB, CD-ROM, 56K, ethernet for $20 on ebay, for an "emulation project".. *ahem*. I think that computers with these types of specs would be more useful to the people in non developed countries than a hacked gaming console. There is no excuse for anyone to not have a computer (who wants one)... you just have to keep your eyes open.
    • It's nice to see the portability of Linux demonstrated. And you can use it to really freak out some non-Linux people.
      For starters, read the article before posting ... but I know that's asking a bit too much from this crowd.

      But has this any practical use? ...The Dreamcast community has created tools that are far better suited ...
      The Linux/Dreamcast port (in my vision at least) is designed for embedded Linux hacking, not to turn the DC into a powerful PC-like workstation. It has 16 megs of system RAM, more than enough to run most Linux apps as is anyway.

      When Karl Kalleberg and myself started the port at LinuxDC (yes, not the same as the originial .jp port, for reasons I won't go into, but we're all friends now :P), the idea was to provide an embedded Linux system as an alternative for the hobbyist Dreamcast developers instead of the plucky toolkits (libdream, KOS, etc.) that were available. LinuxDC is *designed* to go as close to the metal as possible.

      I'm still doing DC kernel hacking, check out the Task Manager on the SF project page for info on what's currently being worked on.

      Really, it's a nice hack.
      I wouldn't expect you to understand, as you obviously are inhibited from reading in some sort of way, but anyway, the port of Linux to the SuperH processor (to which the LinuxDC port belongs) is very real. Just browse your latest mainline [kernel.org] kernel tree in the arch/sh/ directory for code relating the the DC and other SuperH boards.

      If there are true kernel hackers, people interested in porting apps, testers, or people who are serious about tinkering with embedded Linux development feel free to stop by linuxdc.org [linuxdc.org]. The developers are usually on #linuxdc on irc.openprojects.net [openprojects.net].

      Have fun, and thanks goes to Bill for the well-written article :P.

      M. R.

  • Been Running NetBSD on Mine For a while (Score:5, Interesting)

    by doon ( 23278 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:23AM (#2345976) Homepage
    Netbsd> [netbsd.org] Has had a dreamcast port for a while now. It runs great. Have been running it at home for a while. FYI....

    -Doon
    • Sounds like that could be the real use of this type of project. Rather than spend $200+ on one of those firewall/router devices (such as those from Linksys) just buy a Dreamcast at the $49 firesale price and then run a real operating system on it. It would make for a superior device that can be admin/maintained and updated as necessary..
      • Problem:

        The network stack for the dreamcast has some serious delay.

        Something along the lines of 10ms+.

        This is due to interrupt problems or somesuch, I'm not certain about the details, I just know it's there.
      • You'd also need the broadband adapter, which is not exactly cheap. The total cost would be more than a $100 off the shelf broadband router. And what good is a router with only a single interface? Plus it's probably only 10mb. If you have access to old hardware (a Pentium, say) then it would be just as cheap to use a real PC.
  • I don't suppose there's a driver for the BBA ethernet card currently existing; that seems to be the next logical step. Once the TCP/IP stack's up and running, things take off.

    Also... much more interesting was the report in June e.g.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1 371000/1371527.stm

    that you can do the same thing on the Playstation. Anyone know how long it'll be before the PS-2 has Linux support? And after that, how long till Sony ban this sort of thing?

    Of course, I've never seen a Dreamcast at all - can you plug a keyboard into one of those things? 'cos I'm sure not doing any kernel hacking if I've got to enter letters off a rotating wheel using only left-right cursor movements on a control pad. That gave me enough trouble entering my initials in the arcades?
    • Of course if I'd read to the bottom of the article, I'd have noticed that Sony themselves have release a Linux development kit, primarily for games developers. Seems rather out of character.
    • Yup, a keyboard is available.
    • Actually, the BBA is quite supported, and the article says as much.
    • can you plug a keyboard into one of those things?

      You can either buy a keyboard as an accessory, or buy a converter for your existing PC keyboard (I'm not so sure if USB is supported though).

      The same thing applies for mice.

      I'm pretty impressed with the tools out there for Dreamcast development. The fact that Linux can be loaded is interesting, but it doesn't excite me very much. As another poster mentioned, there are other ways of developing for the Dreamcast, and there are already a bunch of apps out there for it, like an mp3 player, video CD player and other cool little toys.

      I'm not interested in running Apache or some firewall off the dreamcast, broadband support or not. I'd prefer to just grab a cheap pentium computer (with HARD DRIVE) that sort of general use.

      The fact that Linux can run on a Dreamcast is interesting simply because it can be done.

    • The BBA is a hacked up rtl8139, and it's been supported for many many many months. Read first, think later.
  • Time for a new type of firewall: one where you can actually shoot those nasty packets down - before they infect your IIS.

  • One Useful App (Score:4, Interesting)

    by barnaclebarnes ( 85340 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:32AM (#2346002) Homepage
    MAME.

    Dreamcast+MAME =A cheap arcade emulator with 2000 games. sweet.
    • Mame on the Dreamcast [mame.net]


      Your comment violated the postercomment compression filter. Comment aborted.
      Huh?

    • Re:One Useful App (Score:5, Informative)

      by Jace of Fuse! ( 72042 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @08:47AM (#2346049) Homepage
      Actually...

      Many emulators already exist in a self booting stand alone form for the Dreamcast.

      One could say that the Dreamcast does not need Linux at all, but that somewhat defeats the whole "Doing it for the sake of doing it" spirit.

      Still, This Site [dcemulation.com] is dedicated to Dreamcast specific emulators.
      • C'mon now, please don't tell me that emucrap is the only thing you see running on the Dreamcast.

        M. R.
        • Here's a bit for you to munch on, troll... (I shouldn't be feeding you... but...)

          Who said that was the only thing running on the Dreamcast? Not I. It does however make an excellent reason to own a Dreamcast.

          I personally love the idea of taking up less entertainment center space by using my Dreamcast in place of my SNES and NES. I have many games I adore on those systems but as my console collection continues to grow space continues to become more precious, and having the Dreamcast take over the roll of older systems is a real blessing.

          I'm not saying there aren't other great reasons to own a Dreamcast, but Linux and NetBSD don't impress me nearly as much as a CD full of my favorite SNES titles.

          It's somewhat illegal to pirate roms of course, but if challenged to provide proof that I have rights to fair use I can always pull out my crate full of over 50 original SNES cartridges, and two broken SNES controllers. :-(

    • Re:One Useful App (Score:2, Informative)

      by fmackay ( 23605 )
      No need to run DC-Linux + MAME, though, when there's a dreamcast port of mame [mame.net] by the guy who ported it to digital cameras a while back [slashdot.org]
    • One problem you have with Mame is the fact that the ROMs take so much space. (My collection alone is over 7 CDs, and a friend's is larger than that)

      Anyone know of the feasability of using this with the broadband adapter to hook into your network and pull ROMs from another machine? (just map the shares and let it rip)

      Heck, for that matter how about being able to run an MP3 server like this [mp3sb.org] by doing the same thing?

      And when you add in the VCD player that's already available for the Dreamcast. All we need is a DIVX player and we're set.

      (Now I wonder if all this would actually work?)

      :^)
    • Who needs MAME when you have robotfindskitten [robotfindskitten.org] for dreamcast?
  • What about hacking linux to a ps2?
    I know sony has already worked it out for the japanese ps2, but you need extra hardware to run it.
    What about running it of a cdrom only, yes you'll need to modify the ps2, otherwise it won't recognise the cdrom you put linux on.

    Has anyone already done this or is anyone working on it?
  • I don't know how much a Dreamcast is but I'm sure the money (and time) can be put to better use.

    I'm all for experimentation and exploration but surely in the long run its a bit of a waste.

    Do something useful with your creativity.

    (Hmmm preaching about wasting time when reading slashdot - Doh!)

    • Can't get much better than that.

      GDROM
      24 Megs Ram
      6+ mill polys a second
      Great Sound
      4 controllers, with support for Mouse & Keyboard
      Rare Broadband adaptor
      Built in modem
      New webbrowser with modern features.

      dot dot dot (for those who listen to stern)
      • Unfortunately, the Dreamcast only has 16mb of ram.

        This is really annoying, because with the distro from m17n.org I tried, I only had about 1.4mb free on bootup. I got infinite swap or something whenever I tried compiling something, so I couldn't really do anything terribly useful.

        Hopefully, this one can get the memory trimmed down a bit further.

  • Bill Gatliff explains everything you need to do to install Linux on a Sega Dreamscast gaming console.

    I see this "Bill Gatliff" person is trying to get people to use linux on dreamcast instead of xbox...
  • What's needed to really explore Linux as an embedded operating system is a well-documented, inexpensive and readily available hardware platform that isn't based on an Intel x86-compatible microprocessor.

    I'm not sure why you would want to exclude x86 stuff. There's tons of older do-it-all mother boards lying around for next to nothing. Some of them have low enough power requirments, but all of them use hardware that you already own. While it's nice to see so much work going on outside x86, I'd never ignore x86.

    I'm waiting for systems like Agenda to get cheaper and less NDA burdened.

    • The reason I exclude x86 for embedded Linux experimentation is because so much stuff Just Works for x86, you can't often tell if the thing boots because you did something right, or because you got lucky.

      If you are running a non-x86 setup, you have to have everything properly configured before anything useful happens. That's important when, in your "day job", you'll be running Linux on a custom SH-4 board, ARM, or whatever. From this perspective, being in command of an x86 system can be a false sense of security.

      b.g.
  • Can someone tell me what special gaming
    chips there are inside the DC, and whether
    drivers exist for them?

  • Just in retrospect, maybe all this Dreamcast hacking wasn't such a good thing. I mean, these companies make money off software license sales, and often lose money on the hardware. Didn't our (infinitely small, but still there) part in hacking the machine and help assist the driving of Dreamcast into the ground. Sort of like a parasite: we fed on it and we accidentally killed the host, now that they aren't making the system anymore.

    • I mean, these companies make money off software license sales, and often lose money on the hardware.

      Anything which forces the world to abandon this business model is (IMHO) a good thing.

      • Why? It's actually a great model for consumers. If companies priced the hardware so that they could turn a profit on it, it would rival the price of a personal computer and lots of people wouldn't bother. This model lets them get the hardware out to a much wider user base and then make plenty of money on software if they come up with good games and market them well (bad marketing killed the Dreamcast, not weak hardware or software).
        • I agree, that it can be a good model, for the consumers. But since it is the choice of the manufacturer, how to create a business model around some product, I don't go around feeling guilty if I should be so lucky to get cheap/free stuff because of some loss leader business model.

          Basically I want to buy the things I think are a good deal, at the price they are sold at (or lower... ;-) and let the people making the products worry about their end. Should they loose money on me, then they can regard it as a mistake or a statistical anomaly, but they (or anybody else) shouldn't start blaming me... they sold it, so it's their problem.

        • If companies priced the hardware so that they could turn a profit on it, it would rival the price of a personal computer and lots of people wouldn't bother.

          But they want a profit somewhere along the line, and so the consumer pays somewhere. If console makers charged a fair price for the hardware, they could get thier sweaty little mits off the software market.

          Developers would not have to go cap in hand to the hardware people for permission to sell a game, they would just do it.

          What scope is there for a group of spare time programmers to produce a console game? None, independent programmers who just want to make a simple little game and sell it for ten quid would not produce enough revenue for Sony/Sega/whatever, and the last thing they want is something actually creative. It may draw attention away from thier latest whizz-bang yet-another-template game.

      • You're completely missing the point. You can abandon business models much more easier: don't contribute to them. But we, instead, have destroyed the basis of something we enjoyed by not contributing. You can't hack a machine and then wonder why the company isn't supporting it anymore because you didn't purchase the software. It's sort of unethical.
    • The hacking of the Dreamcast had nothing to do with it's demise. The fact that the games sucked had everything to do with it's downfall (well, that and the controllers pretty much sucked too). I mean, we all install a free OS and software on our pcs, and it hasn't killed the market for home computers. And anyone who paid $200 for a dreamcast for the sole purpose of installing linux/mame/whatev needs a life.

      • Oh please.. The Dreamcast games are just as good, if not better than most of the PS2 shit that came out in the last year. It was the Sony hype machine that sealed Sega's coffin shut. Everyone was so convinced that the PS2 would be the second coming of the console messiah and that the Dreamcast would fail from day one. And oh your PC analogy is a bit flawed since console makers use the razor blade business model(i.e. sell the console at cost or less and make all their money off the sales from the games).
  • Man, it was great. I put the entire CD in there and it booted in about 3 minutes (with the config set to "medium". Amazing.
  • "a fun weekend project"

    I feel very sorry for you. Get out of your "Perl Kodin' /. Postin' Korner" in your parent's basement and experience life.

  • CD Images (Score:3, Informative)

    by Puk ( 80503 ) on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @10:34AM (#2346575)
    If you're as lazy as me, you can get a DC Linux CD image from dcemulation [dcemulation.com] on their DC Linux page [dcemulation.com]. They also link to an image for Padus DiscJuggler [padus.com] on the news page, but I won't link that here.

    Note that I am also so lazy that I haven't downloaded said image, or even gotten around to fixing my broken dreamcast. :)

    -Puk
    • Have fun.

      That "demo" has very little hardware support, and is from Summer 2000 (or before).

      Real Linux/Dreamcast distributions (e.g. Debian) are currently in the works.

      M. R.

  • I have been following this from day one -- and the one issue that always kicks you in the pants is the fact that the DC has only 16 Megs of usable memory. Thus, you are sitting there in X with an xterm and wishing that you had enough memory to actually do anything else. (I did get it to play Donkey Kong with Mame --- albeit no sound --- but it was cool...)

  • My roomate and I just waseted 30 CD-Rs this week on this. Now someone puts a better apge up. Why now? Why was this so hard? And what are you wupposed to do with linux on a DC? To little memory to do anyhting big, and the brodband adapters are worth their weight in gold!

    If anyone has a broadband adapter, consider loaning/selling it to someone who is trying this (like me).

  • Just make sure it's an OLD dreamcast... (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Dreamcasts manufactured after October, 2000 can't boot from CDRs [boob.co.uk] [boob.co.uk - Dreamcast Research], which would put a serious dent on any plans for a farm of these DC+Linux boxes :(
    • Can anyone verify this though. Or at least explain where to find the manufacturing date on a DC?

  • Some info ..., (Score:4, Informative)

    by EGSonikku ( 519478 ) <petersen DOT mobile AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday September 25, 2001 @04:23PM (#2349209)
    Ive seen a lot of questions asked about the Dreamcast, plus a few inaccuracies posted, so here is my sad little attempt to inform :)

    Some people are too lazy to follow the link to see the Dreamcasts tech specs, so here is the condensed version:

    Hitachi SH4 @ 200MHz
    8MB NEC PowerVR2 Gfx
    2MB Yamaha Audio
    12x GD/CD Drive
    16MB System RAM
    56k Modem Included (US Model)

    Also there is some confusion as to pricing. In the US the Dreamcast's MSRP is $79.95 and many stores are selling for less than that to clear out remaining stock.

    As for Input, the Dreamcast has 4 controller ports and a Keyboard and Mouse are available through standard game outlets. So you couild have Keyboard, mouse, and even a gamepad plugged in (xmame ;p) with room to spare.

    As for burning (and people having trouble doing so). Burning a bootable DC CDR can be tricky, any mistake WILL result in a coaster. There are several good dreamcast burning guides around at sites like http://www.boob.co.uk and http://mc.pp.se/dc/

    Also despite rumors to the contrary, there are NO US or European Dreamcast's that won't boot CDR's. Sega only released 2 units in Japan ( The Sakura Tisen LE DC and the Hello Kitty DC) that won't boot CDR's. They had originaly wanted to do the same for the US, but Sega stopped production of the Dreamcast before this could be implemented.

    Other than linux, there is also a Dremcast port of NetBSD (and indeed, this port seems to be more active than the linux port). Details @ http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/dreamcast/ .

    Dan Potter has also made a homebrew Dreamcast/GBA Operating System / development library called KallistiOs (KOS) which is completly open source and well documented, which can be found at http://dcdev.allusion.net.

    Hope this is usefull to someone !
  • I remember reading an article on /. about this a LONG time ago. Come to think of it, there's been lots of rehashed stories on here lately. What gives?

  • I thought the DC (and all video consoles these days) comes with security features that prevent you from booting pirated games or playing out of region games. I didn't see anything in the article about overcoming those restrictions. Has Sega's scheme been so broken into that everyone now knows how to boot their own (which must look like a pirated) CD without anyproblem. Or is it not a problem because it is a CD-ROM and not a GD-ROM? Anyone know more about this?

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