Is any broadband adaptor better than another?

[spinksy]

Right after selling my broadband adaptor awhile ago and regretting it im going to get another.

I can't remember what serial number my old one was but I've noticed there are 3-4 different versions of the BBA - are any better than another?

Cant wait to get online again - miss pso

[Macabre]

There are only two hardware revisions for the bba;

HIT-0400 - the one you want!
HIT-0300 - the one that is exclusive to a japanese browser disc.

Many people get confused and say things like HIT-0401 or something similar, when really that is the code for the paperwork, packaging and/or software included with the bba.

There are a few cosmetic revisions although. The most common from dc direct is the white one. The R7 units had an official black bba, but it didn't have stickers. There were also official black bba's sold, that had retail and sticker/code information like the white ones, but I have no information on why these were ever made (my current assumption is that they were made as replacement parts for the R7 units). These black ones DO say LAN and not LINE like the normal modems.

I have one of the retail black ones pictured with its box. I once got in a heated debate with someone over their purpose of these; I speculate that they are replacement parts for the R7 units, but this fellow swore up and down that they were limited release (only 200 made) for the all-black dreamcast system like I have pictured, similar to the all-black keyboard. I don't think he was correct, since the box (and every box to the black bba I've found) doesn't have that sticker that my keyboard or system have.

There is a similar conundrum as to why there were black official vga boxes sold. It would have made sense to sell these in the United States where a Sports Edition was present, but these were only sold, in extremely limited #'s, in japan.

[spinksy]

Great reply cheers - that's where I was getting confused (401 numbers etc).

Any reason to definitely get the 400 over 300 - there's a 300 model on eBay at minute in uk which I was thinking of getting.

[Macabre]

The speed of the 300 is pathetic, and not really usable past a very specific web browser service in japan at the time. I think it was limited to just 10 mbits.

I did read somewhere at one time that someone had received a 300 without understanding it, but had found a way to swap a chip or something. This has been over 5 years ago in a forum I can't even recall the name of, so its a far fetched idea.

[BlueCrab]

The HIT-0300 is not usable with any online games. If you're trying to get something to play PSO or somesuch, do not get a HIT-0300, get a HIT-0400.

If you're getting a device to do homebrew development, either will work just fine. KallistiOS supports both of them, as does dcload-ip.

I personally have both types of network adapters (1x HIT-0300 and 2x HIT-0400), as I use them quite extensively being the main maintainer of KallistiOS.

It is not possible to change a HIT-0300 to work with online games. There's no simple "chip swap" that can be done. Its a completely different beast, and works completely different than the HIT-0400. As for the technical differences, as Macabre said, the HIT-0300 is 10Mbit and the HIT-0400 is 100/10Mbit. Also, the HIT-0300 is based around an old ISA network adapter chipset, whereas the HIT-0400 is based around a PCI chipset.

[spinksy]

Ok cool, just seen the one on eBay is a 401 so I'll get that!

Look forward to playing online again!