Dreamcast-Talk.com

Hi there guys i am currently using a P3 755mhz with 128MB of memory with windows 98 as my PC-DC Server and it works fine with PSO and Dreamkey to browse the web, but since Planet Ring came out im having a bit of a troble since as far as i could understand Win 98 blocks alot of packets so i was hoping to try one of the Linux Tutorials, for my buil but i have two problems, one is finding a linux distro that works on my PC and the other one is making my PCI ethernet card be recognized by linux, since for some reason the drivers included with most distros dont work. I cant tell you the exact chipset right now but il post that info later, first of all i would like to know what would be the best distro to use on my machine.

Cheers Guys and thank you in advance.

Try Lubuntu, a stripped version of Ubuntu that is more efficient with resources. It requires only a Pentium 2 with 128MB RAM to run, which should work on your machine.

Thx aleron you allways help out really much arround here i will tryout lubuntu and see if it boots and installs. Il post more info soon.

it would be a good idea to make a distro for dc-pc and release it.
The only problem I'd find is... the modem drivers, there are very few in linux and are a bit hard to get and install.

What we really need is a "Dreamcast online kit." Whether this is a Linux distro and serial modem or whatever, I think a lot of people just want something ~$50 that they know will work with minimal effort.

[redacted]

Unfortunately most of us who aren't using regular PC-DC server (which itself is not particularly user-friendly) were just able to find the necessary components at a reasonable cost. I bought my stuff off ebay, my phone simulator was used but netopia router was new. BBA obvoiusly is a more expensive option, but sometimes people find those on online for cheaper than usual as well.

I can think of at least one way to make a completely automated setup for this in one enclosure. Assuming all the parts are new and at retail price though it would cost about $295 to build. Basically just buying a completely integrated computer motherboard with on-board video, RAM, a small case, a Conexant PCI softmodem, cheap hdd, and a Viking DLE-200B phone simulator. Just mount everything in the same computer case and connect the phone simulator to the AC input of the power supply. Install a linux distro that isn't resource-hungry and boots up quickly, create some scripts that startup mgetty and ppp at bootup and upon termination, setup the configuration files, install modem driver for conexant modem, write some script that would illuminate an external case LED when everything is "Ready" for you to dial in.

Without the phone simulator and scripts, that is essentailly just a pc-dc server. A phone simulator is required to use the auto-answer commands on the modem though which is what makes this automated.

I have never tested it it out, but if you get one of these usb modems: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rosewill-RNX-56 ... 43beaf5e9e It doesn't require a driver to be installed and is recognized automatically. Assuming the modem is recognized, you could use the 35 dollar raspberry pi with this. While the CPU is ARM I think it would still work as it doesn't require any hard to get softmodem driver to work. The modem still requires a line voltage simulator regardless if you have a model A modem though. If it works though, this setup can run about 50 bucks depending on how cheap you can find the modem.

Neoblast wrote:it would be a good idea to make a distro for dc-pc and release it.
The only problem I'd find is... the modem drivers, there are very few in linux and are a bit hard to get and install.

That would be helpfull since I am lazy to compile Conexact drivers.