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you can get them for about $45 now. they have built in 56k and availabale brodband support. There is an available mouse and keyboard that can be had for about $30 together, otherwise i think theres a ps2 to dc converter. your local funcoland will most liokely be willing to give you the web browser disk, otherwise its like 79cents.

so for about $70 your up and running.

also you can play games that are still awesome, of which many will appeal to the older audience, my grandpa loves chu chu rocket! plus if they dont like it you can keep it and run a whole crap load of homebrew software, and emulators.

Why aren't they releasing the NES instead of the SMS. I might pay for the NES, but there is no way I'd pay for the SMS now.

Besides, why would I bother with any of this anyways when I can play every single ROM for all those old school platforms on my Dreamcast from a single CD!!

.. why?

For $20 you can go to a pawnshop and pick up a used Sega Dreamcast machine. You can then go to DC Emulation and download StellaDC (an Atari 2600 emulator for the Dreamcast) along with a ROM pack of almost 300 public domain (read: legal) games, including Adventure, Pitfall, and most of the classics. Then you can sit back and kill a rainy/snowy day by playing all of the games that used to consume you as a kid.

The Dreamcast is perfect for something like this.

dreamcasts can play divx to, without modding to the unit itself http://www.dcemulation.com/soft-dcdivx.htm

go get yourself an old dreamcast, about $50-65, then get this DivX on Dreamcast, burn your disk right, pop it in and press play

What is preventing someone from putting out a console capable of running games from all the classic system? Let's say I want to do NES, Sega, SNES, and maybe one or two of the 'lesser console'

You mean the Dreamcast?

cadcdev.allustion.net

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcdev/

b00b Dreamcast Research (no, NOT pr0n. sorry.)

DCEmulation.

ConsoleVision.

Hanger Eleven

Have fun!
--j0shua

Read this

Interesting that Sony paid all the outlets to use shelf space on PSX so PS2 could come out clean...

I love that machine. My next project is to buy a second one, so that I can tweak Linux and BSD for it (There's no way I would hack up my black ltd. ed. Dreamcast). If you like soldering, you can even add an interface for a NIC and an IDE hard drive.

Dreamcast Projects

Truely, the Dreamcast is one of the greatest little game boxes ever made. In my opinion, it was way ahead of its time, and represents some of the finest engineering ever seen in a game console. Even though the Gamecube and X-Box outpower the little Dreamcast in many way, the little DC could still handle most of today's games without a problem. It will live on as a legend, especially with all of the homebrew DC development that is keeping it alive.

Dreamcast Emulation Page

I'm glad that I still have about 60 games, most of which I still haven't had time to play. :) But when I do get a chance to play my Dreamcast, it usually represents some of the fiest gaming that I have seen for years. It was becoming a perfect mecca of gaming goodness, and yet, most people didn't seem to notice, or care... They were proccupied with hype and name-brands.

I'd love to play those old games again on my TV instead of my PC!!

While you're at it, hit up DCEmulation, they've got all the info on all the other emulators for the DC (Atari 2600, SMS/GG, MAME) as well.

Well, look at this too: Dreamcast vs. PS2

Although it is harder to find the broadband adapter. But getting a DC for ~$50 brings the price to $150, plus no mod chip.

There isn't anything that comes in only in .cdi format only except for commercial games. I'm pretty sure everything at dcemulation.com, boob.co.uk, and dcvision.com have alternate formats for everything. .cdi files can only be burned with Disc Juggler, and it's only for Windows, but I believe there is something called "cdirip" or something to extract those images into something you can burn with tools like cdrecord. This page tells you how to burn things in for Dreamcast in unix/linux with cdrecord.

"Amen." Most definately - I am an active member of the DCDev scene - it is truly an amazing console. And if emulation isn't your "thing", and you have something morally against ROMs, those aren't the only things on DreamCast. There's my Snake3D port, which is currently pretty ugly, but works, there's c99's 3D Pong clone, and Dan's Feet of Fury. Plus, there's Linux and NetBSD, not ot mention the homebrew KallistiOS. And all for free... Also available at DCEmu.

--joshua

Are there any issues with getting a Dreamcast to play burned CD-Rs? I went to the site you suggested and this article leads me to believe some Dreamcasts may not play CD-Rs. Is there a non-black-magic way to tell if the Dreamcast I'm gonna drop $50 on will work?

I don't know why the DC Emulation scene seemingly gets no respect or credit in the "geek" community, considering the amazingly amount of work that's been put into various types of emulation. Granted, it's considered a "dead" system, but the technology is still there and still relatively current. At present, a $50 Dreamcast can successfully emulate MAME, NES (the best console emulation i've ever seen), Master System, Gameboy, amongst others. DreamSNES is working on SNES games, and is making some serious headway (they're running at about 88% speed, now), and there are still other emulation projects on the horizon, plus a batch of decent-and-getting-better homebrew games.

I think that person would be ill-advised to acquire and Xbox for $200, spend however much on a modchip, in the process voiding their warrenty, in order that they play MAME, when a console that can be picked up for $50 and under can do the same thing. i recommend anyone visit DC Emulation if they are interested.

It would be absolutely no harder to create a divx player for playstation, or dreamcast, or just about anything else. OK, so no one bothered


Actually, someone did bother to create a DivX player for the dreamcast. You can check it out here. And I think DCs are going for about $50 right now, which is probably less than someone would charge a non-techie person to get their XBox modded.

So let's see, I can spend $200 on a machine that I probably wouldn't otherwise buy to watch divx movies, or I can buy a $50 dreamcast and use the divx player that's been around for a while on that. Hmm... difficult decision. Not to mention there are already emulators for ALL of your favorite old-school platforms for the dreamcast. -jordan

So let's see, I can spend $200 on a machine that I probably wouldn't otherwise buy to watch divx movies, or I can buy a $50 dreamcast and use the divx player that's been around for a while on that. Hmm... difficult decision. Not to mention there are already emulators for ALL of your favorite old-school platforms for the dreamcast. -jordan

Try dcemulation.com.

There are ports of MAME and other arcade emulators for the Dreamcast. Dreamcast can also read CD-Rs, and Dreamcast is $150 dollars cheaper than a PS2, and you don't need to pay more money for a hard drive or a Linux kit.

There are also lots of ways to code for the Dreamcast. (Windows CE, KOS)

Dreamcast also has VGA output in its own display output, therefore no other device is required to convert from NTSC/PAL to VGA. For more information: dcemulation.com

They don't want a large underground group releasing non-sony licensed games.

Homebrew developers are, for the most part, what keep the Dreamcast "alive" today. There's an unbelievable ammount of free, homebrewed software for the DC. Take a look. There are emulators, puzzle games, racing games, and even first person shooters (both quake ports and original works) being developed by joe programmer using GCC and some hacked libraries.

It'd bet that the users who still codes for the DC is the same one that Sony is trying to reach with the Linux kit.

Here's the list.

Anyway, get a Dreamcast. They're cheap and you can run Linux on them!

Yeah, except that you can't get them new any more (by all means, let me know if I'm wrong - but just me. We don't want a repeat of last week when somebody bought all 304 copies of crazy taxi 2 off kbtoys.com to ebay them later).

And buyer beware: a small percentage of Dreamcasts cannot run Linux or any CD-R software for that matter. Check the compatability list.

Anyway, get a Dreamcast. They're cheap and you can run Linux on them!

Yeah, except that you can't get them new any more (by all means, let me know if I'm wrong - but just me. We don't want a repeat of last week when somebody bought all 304 copies of crazy taxi 2 off kbtoys.com to ebay them later).

And buyer beware: a small percentage of Dreamcasts cannot run Linux or any CD-R software for that matter. Check the compatibility list.

If you want to run emulated games on a console, buy a Dreamcast and check out this site.

You can do this already.

DC Emulation

You can get a dreamcast for 50 bucks and play metroid, mario brothers, contra and the rest to your heart's delight. Granted the SNES emulator is still a little slow.

Why fux0r around with PS2 when Dreamcast is $50 (if you can still find one!) and unless you get a machine made after September 2000 is totally and completely CD-R bootable? The ethernet adapter is expen$$$ive on eBay but it's not a must, particularly considering that the thing comes with a standard v90 Conexant controllerless modem. I suspect that the code at linmodems.org might kick it over.

The main weakness of the DC is lack of hard drive. And of course that's a big weakness. However, there are tons of people playing around with not only Linux on DC but a new, open source OS specifically designed for DC game development called Kallisti!OS.

Why support the Sony 3v1L 3mp1r3? Join Team Dreamcast!

http://mc.pp.se/dc/
http://dev.dcemulation.com/

I've done some light hacking on the Dreamcast, and have my Linux box mountable as an NFS volume over a coder's cable (helps when programming for the DC :-)). I've been looking over material on the web for DC hacking for a few months, and I have yet to see anyone actually upgrading the memory of a DC. But why let that stop you?

The two sites I've found helpful for DC hardware info:

1. DCEmulation.com is a general-purpose DIY Dreamcast site. There's a variety of info available here.

2. Dreamcast Programming - Marcus Comstedt's excellent hardware reference for the DC.

If you get anywhere with this, please post your results to DCEmulation.com. I'd love to hear about it.

For anyone else interested in running in booting Linux on their DC, the DC Linux site is here.

Windows users will find a a "burn it and run it" Disk Juggler version of Dreamcast Linux here.

Well, kind of. The PS2 internally displays at 640x240, then stretches it up to 640x480. If you've played the ESPN Snowboarding game (I forget what it's called) on the LCD in the demo at your local video game reseller, you will know that there are awful jaggies. That is because of the stretching method - it is not antialiased. For comparision, the Dreamcast can render at any of three resolutions: 320x240, 640x480 (native!), and over VGA, 800x608 (yes, 608, not 600.) Speaking as a Dreamcast owner, and homebrew developer, that's how the Dreamcast works. For my source of data on the PS2, go here. (Even if you don't want to verify my data, it's a good read anyway.) The page does indeed seem a touch biased, however the data seems accurate. I await your replies.

--pi

I love my Dreamcast, and especially now it is an incredible value.

I would feel my Dreamcast had MORE value to me if Sega hadn't decided to throw in the towel on the system.

Stop making them? Okay, I can half-way understand that when there is a surplus of units.

But to stop making games for the system though? C'mon!? Some stores have stopped stocking the games. Many of the last games to be released were cancelled. And a lot of the best games that were out for the system are no longer in stores, hard to find online, and not even in the pawn shops. All that's left on the shelves are games that nobody wanted or games that everybody has.

Shen Mue 2 not being released though, that's the one that really bothers me.

At least there are still emulators one can play with...

Can you use LinuxDC and your $50 Dreamcast to send this to a big-screen TV for better range? I'm willing to try it.

Just so no one reads the above post and gets all excited about being able to play Zelda on their newly-cheapened DC, the emulator is a fake, and IMHO a very well-thought out hoax. DCEmulation.com has the full story. Sorry to burst everyone's bubble.

On the other hand, DreamSNES has been around for a while (no work lately though), which (duh) plays your SNES roms. Up to about 90% speed as of now... *sigh* and i wanted to be able to play Chrono Trigger on my DC ;)

Just so no one reads the above post and gets all excited about being able to play Zelda on their newly-cheapened DC, the emulator is a fake, and IMHO a very well-thought out hoax. DCEmulation.com has the full story. Sorry to burst everyone's bubble.

On the other hand, DreamSNES has been around for a while (no work lately though), which (duh) plays your SNES roms. Up to about 90% speed as of now... *sigh* and i wanted to be able to play Chrono Trigger on my DC ;)

Why does it matter if Sega in particular releases dev tools or hardware specs? Virtually all of the specs are known, it's not as if they are a secret. As for open source, can anyone say "gcc"? That's right, a little quick cross-compilation and you have yourself a DC game. DCEmulation.com and Marcus' DC Dev have loads of information on the subject. Cryptic Allusion is the home of KallistiOS, one of (IMHO) the best DC development libs in existance. If you have a jonesin' to make yourself some games on DC, head over to these sites and you should be all set!
Uhhh, yeah and C/C++ skills would be a plus, heh.

Now just sit back and pray that your DC can boot your game there ;)

MamedDC runs most smallish roms very well. It's made by the people who ported MAME to Digita-based digital cameras. You can check out the complete compatibility list at this site.

There are 45 NeoGeo games that are considered "somewhat playable" -- that is, with no sound and at 75% speed.

Incidentally, dcemulation.com reports a new NeoGeo emulator in the works. Check out their news page for more info.

DC Emulation has lots of different projects to do on the Dremacast console and many are very cool, including SMS, Genesis, SNES, NES, Linux, BSD, VideoCD, DOOM!, and more stuff. I've been using some of these projects for a year now, and they are very cool for those in the emulation scene.

Seems like boob.uk is slashdotted right now, but also check out dcemulation for news about emulators for the DC. There's a bunch.

There's also quite a few cool proggies to do other things with your dc. MPEG vid players, streaming mp3 players, and demo disks to check out.

And if you're thinking about running linux on the DC, my man Fivemouse has got 119MB Disk Juggler images you can dl and burn up. And check out his GBA webserver while you're there.

Here you can find information on a new N64 emulator for the DC. The fun is just beginning for this console.

Check out the emulation scene on the dreamcast. Imagine ALL the old NES games on one disc.

www.dcemulation.com

You just can't beat the Dreamcast for a cheap machine to hook up to your TV or stereo and do cool stuff with. The Cybiko has all sorts of wireless Gnutellaish potential. If you are looking for a machine that will be otherwise usefull, all the latest cell phones support J2ME, which could be used to build any number of cool things.

I've read some of the posts here, and my question is: why not?
Why not have an internet connection for a console if you can? The DC has always been cheap, and it is a good console too. The internet connection just makes it better.

I am a little sad that Sega didn't produce more broadband adapters. I think there is, still today, a market for them. I for sure would by one if I could, but I don't want to pay USD 200 for it (I have a european DC, so it has to be modified if I want to put in a japaneese or american broadband adapter).

The main thing to remember is that the internet connection was put there so people could play multiplayer games, not just so they could browse the net. The web browser should be seen as an added bonus!

I saw some posts regarding linux on the DC. Check out DC-Emulation. You'll be amazed at the amount of emulators, OS'es and other stuff that is available for the DC.

If you want a console you can write programs for without spending USD 2000 on some devkit, get a DC.

ok, maybe not Java related, but is about the dreamcast not being so dead as lots of you might think.

There already is linux running on the DC, with MAME, running Doom even (imagine that! an emulated game on a physical machine!) checkout this site for lots of information and useful stuff.

Long live the dreamcast!!!

If you're as lazy as me, you can get a DC Linux CD image from dcemulation on their DC Linux page. They also link to an image for Padus DiscJuggler on the news page, but I won't link that here.

Note that I am also so lazy that I haven't downloaded said image, or even gotten around to fixing my broken dreamcast. :)

-Puk

If you're as lazy as me, you can get a DC Linux CD image from dcemulation on their DC Linux page. They also link to an image for Padus DiscJuggler on the news page, but I won't link that here.

Note that I am also so lazy that I haven't downloaded said image, or even gotten around to fixing my broken dreamcast. :)

-Puk

Actually...

Many emulators already exist in a self booting stand alone form for the Dreamcast.

One could say that the Dreamcast does not need Linux at all, but that somewhat defeats the whole "Doing it for the sake of doing it" spirit.

Still, This Site is dedicated to Dreamcast specific emulators.

DCEmulation.com

Plus, the Dreamcast can already boot from a CD-R, something the PS2 can't do natively. And they're $80 these days.

Also, Bleem [bleem.com] has made the most of the independent DC scene. Randy (of Bleem) reverse engineered all his own tools and they finally released BleemDC for GT2, the first commercial software based emulator for one console based on another. They're about to unveil one for Metal Gear Solid that makes that game look even better than the PC port. If you hit the Bleem!Cast Forum [dcemulation.com] and ask real nice, Rand will probably even answer questions for you (he's pretty cool like that).

As for porting non-emulators, a guy on the DCEmulation page going by crt0 ported Doom to the console, the first game to be ported to it (and the first "straight" port of Doom), so you might want to give him a shout on the boards.

Schnapple

DCEmulation.com

Plus, the Dreamcast can already boot from a CD-R, something the PS2 can't do natively. And they're $80 these days.

Also, Bleem [bleem.com] has made the most of the independent DC scene. Randy (of Bleem) reverse engineered all his own tools and they finally released BleemDC for GT2, the first commercial software based emulator for one console based on another. They're about to unveil one for Metal Gear Solid that makes that game look even better than the PC port. If you hit the Bleem!Cast Forum [dcemulation.com] and ask real nice, Rand will probably even answer questions for you (he's pretty cool like that).

As for porting non-emulators, a guy on the DCEmulation page going by crt0 ported Doom to the console, the first game to be ported to it (and the first "straight" port of Doom), so you might want to give him a shout on the boards.

Schnapple

"Imagine how much nicer it would be if you could program your game once for one API, and run it on PS2, N64, GC, etc, etc. That would be really kickass!"

They already have ported Mesa to Dreamcast. Supposably the Mesa code requires no changes and just compiles perfectly on DC... Maybe we're just one step closer to the universal API?

When all freedom is outlawed, only the outlaws will have freedom

I agree, even his link is wrong:

It should be www.dcemulation.com

There's a surprising number of apps being written, by random people, for the dreamcast. MP3 players, emulators for other consoles, it's all good. Try dcemulation.com for a start.