preparation for dreampi?

[InfinitePhantasm]

hey, thought i'd ask a couple questions before i get all the stuff i think i need for dreampi.

i'm gonna be having the following things arrive to my apartment in a couple days;
- this modem
- a vmu

that's not much, of course. what i already have:
- raspberry pi running dreampi 1.4
- ethernet cable
- telephone/dialup cable
- connection to wifi from my computer, bridged to ethernet adapter, with the ethernet going into the raspberry pi
- NTSC/USA dreamcast
- NTSC/USA model A dialup adapter

so i believe i'm pretty much set. however, i do have a couple questions:
- despite the fact i have a model-A dialup adapter, and a USB modem (that i believe was the recommended one on the dreampi blog), would it still need a line voltage adapter?
- does bridging between wifi and your ethernet adapter on your PC work? i'm able to ping google and other PCs on my network just fine, including the dreampi itself on my PC (they're hooked up to the same TV), but i haven't been able to use dreampi.local or get dreamcast now to recognize it (i'm just gonna say it requires to be hooked up to the dreamcast first).
- is there any vital things i need that i don't already have?

that's basically it. thanks if you guys can help me out!

[scaryred24]

- despite the fact i have a model-A dialup adapter, and a USB modem (that i believe was the recommended one on the dreampi blog), would it still need a line voltage adapter?

It doesn't draw enough power it, and even it it doesn't need it considering that you use the model A variant the setup isnt wired up to put out some kind of voltage down the power line.

- does bridging between wifi and your ethernet adapter on your PC work? i'm able to ping google and other PCs on my network just fine, including the dreampi itself on my PC (they're hooked up to the same TV), but i haven't been able to use dreampi.local or get dreamcast now to recognize it (i'm just gonna say it requires to be hooked up to the dreamcast first).

I haven't heard very much is anyone else was successful enough to use it via wifi, but the version that is out as this response is being put out it's at 1.4 which does get optimized for the Raspberry Pi 3 B and the wifi capabilities. If you do happen to find out that it doesn't work with your network setup, it doesn't hurt to wire the thing up instead.

- is there any vital things i need that i don't already have?

Besides what I have stated about the wifi and having a backup plan encase it doesn't work, I don't see anything else worth mentioning. However I do want to mention that the fax modem to USB 2.0 isn't a brand that we would recommend here, but considering that we don't have a compatible list one ones to look out for. If it doesn't work out of the box or is completely incompatible with the OS then not only would you know that you have to go out and buy a new one, but you also do us a favor by telling us what is and isn't compatible. Documentation from users who are willing to take on this project is key for us to iron out the Dream Pi software so that Kazade can address updates where where updates are due.

[pcwzrd13]

this modem

I'm doubtful that that modem will work because the description says "Not compatible with Mac". If it's not compatible with Mac then Linux is very unlikely. The cheapest compatible modem is this Lenovo one. It's the same as the Dell NW147 that most people use except it's Lenovo branded.

despite the fact i have a model-A dialup adapter, and a USB modem (that i believe was the recommended one on the dreampi blog), would it still need a line voltage adapter?

Yes, you would still need a line voltage inducer because the USB modem needs it. This is the case with every USB modem (that I know of).

does bridging between wifi and your ethernet adapter on your PC work? i'm able to ping google and other PCs on my network just fine, including the dreampi itself on my PC (they're hooked up to the same TV), but i haven't been able to use dreampi.local or get dreamcast now to recognize it.

Yes it does. I use a bridged connection with DreamPi all the time. Although I should note that I can't get the Quake III Arena master list when I use the bridged connection (but I can connect by typing in the server IP manually). Otherwise everything works fine.

The Dreamcast Now auto detect usually doesn't work. Follow the instructions at the end of my video here to configure Dreamcast Now.

[InfinitePhantasm]

I'm doubtful that that modem will work because the description says "Not compatible with Mac". If it's not compatible with Mac then Linux is very unlikely. The cheapest compatible modem is this Lenovo one. It's the same as the Dell NW147 that most people use except it's Lenovo branded.

However I do want to mention that the fax modem to USB 2.0 isn't a brand that we would recommend here, but considering that we don't have a compatible list one ones to look out for. If it doesn't work out of the box or is completely incompatible with the OS then not only would you know that you have to go out and buy a new one, but you also do us a favor by telling us what is and isn't compatible. Documentation from users who are willing to take on this project is key for us to iron out the Dream Pi software so that Kazade can address updates where where updates are due.

well, it's worth a shot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
i'll definitely post if it works

Yes, you would still need a line voltage inducer because the USB modem needs it. This is the case with every USB modem (that I know of).

fiddlesticks. :<
guess i've got a bit more buying to do (but i'll try without it anyways just to see)

Yes it does. I use a bridged connection with DreamPi all the time. Although I should note that I can't get the Quake III Arena master list when I use the bridged connection (but I can connect by typing in the server IP manually). Otherwise everything works fine.

The Dreamcast Now auto detect usually doesn't work. Follow the instructions at the end of my video here to configure Dreamcast Now.

oh, that's good to know that works.

also, i tried that, but it didn't do anything. had to set a static IP to separate it from my main PC's IP (it managed to steal it somehow??), and now it gives 2 IPs. i tried both, but they didn't bring up anything.

any reason why that happens?

anyways, thanks for most of the info. i'll report back when i get everything.

[stachlj958]

this modem

I'm doubtful that that modem will work because the description says "Not compatible with Mac". If it's not compatible with Mac then Linux is very unlikely. The cheapest compatible modem is this Lenovo one. It's the same as the Dell NW147 that most people use except it's Lenovo branded.

despite the fact i have a model-A dialup adapter, and a USB modem (that i believe was the recommended one on the dreampi blog), would it still need a line voltage adapter?

Yes, you would still need a line voltage inducer because the USB modem needs it. This is the case with every USB modem (that I know of).

does bridging between wifi and your ethernet adapter on your PC work? i'm able to ping google and other PCs on my network just fine, including the dreampi itself on my PC (they're hooked up to the same TV), but i haven't been able to use dreampi.local or get dreamcast now to recognize it.

Yes it does. I use a bridged connection with DreamPi all the time. Although I should note that I can't get the Quake III Arena master list when I use the bridged connection (but I can connect by typing in the server IP manually). Otherwise everything works fine.

The Dreamcast Now auto detect usually doesn't work. Follow the instructions at the end of my video here to configure Dreamcast Now.

What is a bridged ethernet connection? I haven't been able to get dreampi working without plugging in an ethernet cable but my dreamcast is set up far from my router.

[pcwzrd13]

What is a bridged ethernet connection?

It allows you to plug a device into the Ethernet port of your desktop or laptop computer and use its Wi-Fi connection. It's very easy to do in Windows (Instructions here).

[stachlj958]

What is a bridged ethernet connection?

It allows you to plug a device into the Ethernet port of your desktop or laptop computer and use its Wi-Fi connection. It's very easy to do in Windows (Instructions here).

If I have an ethernet port on my computer, do I need a network adapter? Will those instructions work for Win 7?

[InfinitePhantasm]

If I have an ethernet port on my computer, do I need a network adapter? Will those instructions work for Win 7?

how it works is like this:

1. open your network and sharing center (you can do this by right clicking the network icon on your taskbar, or going to the control panel)
2. go to 'Change adapter settings' on the left
3. while holding Ctrl, click on your WiFi and Ethernet adapters
4. right click on one of them, and look for the option 'Bridge' (this requires administrative privileges!)
5. wait, it'll take a bit of time (your internet may disconnect shortly in the process)
6. when it's done, your network icon should no longer be bars and instead be the ethernet icon, that looks like this:
7. both connections now share the same connection. now, onto hooking it up to your dreampi
8. plug an ethernet cable into your computer, then plug the other end into your raspberry pi
9. start up your raspberry pi and get to the point where you login (default should be user: pi - password: raspberry)
10. type this command in to verify functionality:

Code: Select all

ping -c 10 8.8.8.8

this pings google's DNS server 10 times. if it succeeds, you're online!

with that out of the way, i got the modem, and i'm having technical problems.
this isn't a problem with not having a line voltage adapter, but software wise.

it's definitely being picked up by the raspberry pi, on boot, it shows that the USB modem is named as 'USB HSF Modem' by Conexant Systems. however, the dreampi service fails to start, with
[FAIL] startpar: service(s) returned failure: dreampi ... failed!

i inspected further, trying to figure out why, and tried manually launching it witH:
sudo ./dreampi.py start
sudo ./dreampi.py restart
sudo ./dreampi.py --no-daemon

the following notable errors appeared:

Code: Select all

Unable to detect mode. Falling back to ttyACM0
... (skipped a bunch)
Dreamcast IP: 192.168.1.98
Opening serial interface to ttyACM0
Something went wrong...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./dreampi.py", line 424, in main
	return process()
File "./dreampi.py", line 364, in process
	modem.connect()
File "./dreampi.py" line 259, in connect
	self._serial = (lots of text)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/serial/serialutil.py" line 260, in (more text)
	self.open()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/serial/serialposix.py" line 276, in (more text)
raise SerialException ("could not open port %s %s" % (self._port, msg))
SerialException: could not open port /dev/ttyACM0: [Errno 2] No such file or directory /dev/ttyACM0
root@dreampi:/home/pi/dreampi#

I checked /dev myself, and, sure enough, ttyACM0 wasn't there

what did i do wrong? how do i fix it? can someone knowledgable about this help me out?

[pcwzrd13]

what did i do wrong? how do i fix it? can someone knowledgable about this help me out?

I'm guessing you're not running the latest version of DreamPi. Versions prior to 1.4 had this issue on Raspberry Pi 2 & 3. You can grab the latest version from here.

[InfinitePhantasm]

I'm guessing you're not running the latest version of DreamPi. Versions prior to 1.4 had this issue on Raspberry Pi 2 & 3. You can grab the latest version from here.

odd, because i'm PRETTY sure i applied dreampi 1.4. oh well, wouldn't hurt to do a reimage. will do a quick format with SDFormatter and give it another go.