Dreamcast Modem & Ethernet Questions

[Lastcallhall]

Anything special about the modem that's proprietary to SEGA? Would it be possible to swap it out with the innards of a USB modem, or something similar? Granted the form factor wouldn't be the same, but electronically, is there any fundamental differences? What about the ethernet port? Thanks!!

[TrekkiesUnite118]

How would you plan to hook it up to your Dreamcast?

[Jax184]

No no no no no.

The dreamcast modem is a totally custom job, same with the ethernet adapter.

I don't know why you'd want to use a different modem when the original one is already as fast as a modem can get and came standard on north american units.

...no

[TrekkiesUnite118]

No no no no no.

The dreamcast modem is a totally custom job, same with the ethernet adapter.

I don't know why you'd want to use a different modem when the original one is already as fast as a modem can get and came standard on north american units.

...no

Aren't European ones slower though?

[NeoVamp]

Thats why i stuck a switch on mine!

[Lastcallhall]

No no no no no.

The dreamcast modem is a totally custom job, same with the ethernet adapter.

I don't know why you'd want to use a different modem when the original one is already as fast as a modem can get and came standard on north american units.

...no

Honestly, I was curious if I could fabricate my own ethernet adapter out of existing parts and off the shelf ethernet jacks and cables, then place it all into the modem itself.

[TmEE]

There are no compatible parts to use

[nathanallan]

Okay. You can make an ethernet compatible jack using retrogametech's mod, but you would be stuck using Linux and so far as I know there is no other application for it other than running roms from a USB flash card.

retrogametech is on youtube. Very cool stuff. I have thought about what to do because that mod basically gives the DC USB 1.x and that linux disk can make it do things.

So you asked a loaded question, Lastcallhall. In short yes but with difficulty. But you would end up with basically a different machine that works a lot differently.

Keep up the ideas, and watch out for what others have done, there's a LOT out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh6SxdUk_Xk

[Lastcallhall]

My thought stemmed from an idea I had in looking at that flash card mod in the first place. The flash card runs through the serial port, making it about 1/20th the speed of a 12x GD-ROM drive. My hope was to allow the Dreamcast to somehow launch .gdr images from the ethernet port over a network. So yeah, it was meant to be a loaded question, because there was a whole theory behind it. I'll take a look at that mod and see what happens. Thanks!

[Defolto]

Aren't European ones slower though?

Yes, I am not sure what the speed for the UK ones are but I do know that they are slower than the US ones which are 56k.

[Lastcallhall]

Yes, I am not sure what the speed for the UK ones are but I do know that they are slower than the US ones which are 56k.

33.6k

[nathanallan]

Something I am hoping for is someone will see that SD card mod and run with it-- that effectively makes that a USB port, and if someone will take the time to make a Linux boot disk with the drivers for one of those USB-ethernet dongles that would be a really killer app and hardware.

I don't have time or skills to do a total Linux recompile, though. But network booting, even through the serial port, would definitely be sweet.

And to be clear, there are jacks that can be used to connect to the expansion slot, but where to go from there? It would be a whole new design process of a totally new kind of thing. I don't know of anyone that would be willing to take up a task like that.