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Hardware Software Linux

Turning The SEGA Dreamcast Into A Linux Router 35

Posted by timothy from the plastic-and-silicon dept.
An anonymous reader writes "This highly detailed 101-page how-to article provides the necessary background and procedures to turn a SEGA Dreamcast gaming console into a Linux-based router with firewalling and virtual private networking capabilities. The article explains how to create the necessary toolchain for compiling both programs and the Linux kernel, and shows how, starting from scratch, you can build a Linux operating system that runs entirely in memory."
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Turning The SEGA Dreamcast Into A Linux Router More

Turning The SEGA Dreamcast Into A Linux Router

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  • Broadband Adapter (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Samus ( 1382 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @10:18AM (#6160554) Journal
    I have an old dreamcast laying around that I would love to do some of these things with but I lack the broadband adapter. I suspect many people out there are in the same boat. Is there some other hack out there that slaps a network card onto this thing or am I just out of luck?

    • Re:Broadband Adapter (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @12:13PM (#6161650)
      I've never heard of one, but you can still find dreamcast broadband adapters for ~50-100 bucks on ebay.

      Sometimes you can find a LAN adaptor (model number HIT-300) that doesn't work with released games and needs a slightly different driver. That'll work for ya too.

      http://www.lik-sang.com/ seems to occasionally get both varieties in stock, if you don't like ebay.

      If course, if you just want to program the thing you can put together a PCdreamcast serial cable for 15 bucks or so.
    • I once modded a dreamcast. It didn't run Linux though. It used these weird 1.8gb discs, and mostly ran standalone 3D games.
    • http://www.lan-kwei.com/dcE/

  • That's not an article... (Score:3, Funny)

    by heldlikesound ( 132717 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @10:49AM (#6160849) Homepage
    its' a short book....

  • you got it backwards! (Score:5, Funny)

    by mpweasel ( 539631 ) <mprzyjazny@gm a i l . c om> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:57AM (#6161511) Homepage
    What I'd like to see is instructions on how to turn an old linux router into a top-o-the-line gaming console.
  • If only I had read about this a few days ago, but I just set up my old P2/400 Dell as my linux router this weekend. Would probably have been cheaper to sell the Dell and buy a used DC for this purpose, and it'd take up a lot less room. Ah well, live and learn...

  • Router? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by foxtrot ( 14140 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @01:44PM (#6162692)
    I have a Dreamcast.

    I have a Broadband adapter.

    The Broadband adapter's plugged into the Dreamcast-- and there's no place to plug in another one.

    Seems to me that a router with only one ethernet port is kinda limited in functionality...

    -JDF

    • Re:Router? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      A router with one ethernet port is common in small installations. It is called a "router on a stick."

    • Re:Router? (Score:4, Informative)

      by merlin_jim ( 302773 ) <{James.McCracken} {at} {stratapult.com}> on Friday June 13, 2003 @10:12AM (#6190457)
      Seems to me that a router with only one ethernet port is kinda limited in functionality...

      That is why this router has a VPN built-in.

      The idea being that you connect all your computers in a flat LAN configuration, with your router sitting on the LAN like everything else. Then you configure all your network connected devices besides the router to talk to the router via VPN on private network addresses. You basically then have two different networks running over the same cable; your private VPN that the broadband adapter won't route, because you used private network addresses, and the public IP network that basically only includes your broadband modem and your dreamcast router. The router takes VPN packets and turns them into public IP packets, and the reverse.

  • Ehh... (Score:1, Troll)

    by cubyrop ( 647235 )
    Do hackers even care any more about creating something useful or ingenious?

    Because more and more, it seems like this has all become a race to see who can do the most useless thing with the most obsolete item, and spend the most amount of time and money doing so.

    And then brag to the internet about how their wives left them because of the project.
  • 1) Sell dreamcast on ebay
    2) Buy linksys/netgear router for ~$35
    3) ????
    4) Profit!
  • This sounds great but also a lot of work and as one reader wrote, one adapter is not the most usefull router in the world. How about go out and buy one of those Walmart Lindows OS PCs for like $199-$250, it's running Linux. Put another ethernet adapter or two in it, configure it and set it up. Now you have a firewall/router/NAT/spare computer for less that $300. Not exactly a Dreamcast but more versitile faster and more usefull.
    • if you have the money.
      The Dreamcast will run you $30 and the broadband adapter around $100. That's less than half of the Wal-mart special.
      As an added bonus, the Dreamcast is small and just plain adorable.

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