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Java On Dreamcast Forges On
Anonymous Coward writes: "Yup, much to my disbelief, it looks like Planetweb are still determined to try and profit off of the dc with their new DC browser version 3.0. According to the site, 'Users will now be able to access the multimedia features on Web sites using Java and play games written in that language..." I'v given up all hope on the DC, but maby a few of you out there...." Since these are officially EOL (even if not completely out of stores), you might be able to pick up your next web-browsing toy at a yard sale.
Yep, one more great reason to buy a console. Now, tell me again how I've managed to survive all these years without one?
What ever happened to the day when people would actually play games on the console gaming machine? Now your console browses the web, runs linux, makes your coffee, and does laundry!
I'm not a gamer, but doesn't the DC have a CDROM, and if so, is it possible to put linux on it?
If you're not a Liberal in your 20's, then you have no heart.If you're still a Liberal in your 30's you have no brain.
I've got one for sale if anyone is interested? Just got a Playstation 2 not long ago, and PSX2 kicks the DreamCasts ass so its out of home now.
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." ~ Emo Phillips
...why?
I have both systems sitting in my house and the DC seems to be a MUCH better system. Yea the PS2 has prettier graphics but the games for it suck. I'm sorry to see the DC die like this considering it has Broadband connection for web browsing and internet games. Where is that net connection for PS2? I'm glad the development continues for this system ... it has/had so much potential!!
My hope for the Sega Dreamcast isn't lost because no matter what I can atleast make it a cheap little webserver. Although everytime I update it I have to burn a new cd but its a small price to pay for a compact webserver that you can play really nice games on.
NetZero has announced that they will be "The first Internet solution for Atari 7800 users." Utilizing a 110 baud modem which connects to your 7800's joystick port, you will finally be able to live out your dream of surfing the net on your Atari. There will, however, be an advertising banner which takes up the top 3/4 of the screen.
"
Users have not been able to download other
browsers such as Netscape Communication's
Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer
because users can only download game files
and the size of the Dreamcast hard drive
is limited
"
There is no hard drive on the dreamcast!
Can't.. play... Sonic... MUST BROWSE... Inter...net... aaagghh!!! so, how long before I can check my e-mail with my SNES?
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
About as useful and timely as bringing out a roman numeral modification for the abacus.
- - Sha la la la . . .
It still, through numerous incarnations, has not come out with the ability to play streaming MP3's. I rarely, if ever, use my Dreamcast any more. Can't manage to burn a CD with Linux on it that'll actually boot, so I can't play with it for Linux. Got tired of the few games I had for it. I've burned a couple MP3 CDs using some of the free MP3 player software out there, which is handy, but the #1 thing I wish I could do on the DC is boot the damn thing off a CD, and play streaming music, whether off Digitally Imported or streaming off my own internal server. Then I wouldn't need to waste a Virgin WebPlayer just to play music in my living room.
/. hacker get us a DreamCast streaming OGG player. I'll gladly pay for it.
Of course most of my collection is OGG now, anyway. How about some clever
Here's a real great idea for the "net appliance" that was supposingly going to replace home PC's years back. The thing can run Linux, browse the web, run on an ethernet network, play MP3's, oh and by the way, it's a pretty decent gaming machine.
Throw that together with the fact that it's about 80 bucks brand new and tell me what you really have to complain about...?
--The space between my ears was intentionally left blank--
I think the best feature is the broadband support, not the Java support. It's kinda cool having a console be able to get on the net, just because you can.
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!!!
Why yes, all my base are belong to you.
How did you guess?
I don't know if this would qualify as SEGA trying to profit off the Dreamcast, since the browser has always been provided free of charge to its internet subscribers. They've put out several updates that I know of over the last few years. This is probably not something that's going to be available in stores, just SEGA living up to their contractual obligations.
Never ask the lunatic if he's crazy.
Users have not been able to download other browsers such as Netscape Communication's Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer because users can only download game files and the size of the Dreamcast hard drive is limited.
Wow. I must of missed that feature when I bought my Dreamcast.
I wasn't aware the Dreamcast's HITACHI PROCESSOR wasn't a factor in running Netscape or Internet Explorer. Gee, the AMOUNT OF RAM doesn't seem to be an issue either. Or OPERATING SYSTEM support for that matter! The only issue blocking the use of these other browsers seems to be the lack of a sufficiently-large hard drive!
Well shit, if that's the case, I'm going to upgrade mine!
*pops open Dreamcast*
Err...Where's the old one?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
i plan to setup nfs so i can mount up user space, no more reburning cd after cd, i did manage to make my cd read cd-rw's, email me if you would like to know
i plan on giving licq and xchat a shot on cross compiling, but this could be nasty... unless licq has a gtk plugin? which i think it does now... i dont want to spend umpteen hours cross compiling qt...
i will send binaries with all dependencies included to the respective sites if i get any of it to work... so far the cd has worked like a dream for me...
oh also, i plan on eventualy making a dc-quake-howto... basicaly howto pop in a cd with enough standalone linux to run quake... this has many possibilities for other linux games that you can now pass onto your windows friends who own a dc
-- botsex is {grep;touch;strip;unzip;head;mount}
I was at Funcoland in Brooklyn yesterday.
Dreamcast--
$79.99 new, with no games
100 new, with 3 sports games
59.99 "refurbished" but they were out of refurbished
54.99 used
Some people have been asking, why Java? What's the point? The Dreamcast is dead!. In answer: lots of people still use their DC, so the more support, the better. More generally though, the DC is still a nice piece of kit.
As a gaming platform of course, the Dreamcast's days are numbered - it won't be long before the rate of release of new games declines to a trickle. Not that that should stop anyone from enjoying the many fine games already released of course!
Yet with the very low cost of the DC now, if you can find one, and the very wide distribution of information on the console, it has become a perfect, cheap platform for experimenting with embedded programming, or console game development, or even for trying out non-x86 based Unixes. Remeber that there is a version of BSD and Linux available.
The so-called 'coders cable' can provide connectivity for development, but for high speed access there is the official broadband adapter (hard to find and pricey). If you're feeling brave there has been some talk about the viability of a USB-Controller port adapter. The Maple Bus (used to connect the controllers) has been well documented.
An earlier slashdot story has already talked about a nice step-by-step for Linux on Dreamcast.
Remember the java applet that emulated the PDP-something-or-other so you could play the original Spacewars? How cool would it be 20 years from now to have a Java that emulates a dreamcast machine? Processors at that point in time should just barely be able to run the thing JDK6.5 with decent framerates.
liar
My local Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique both have their back rooms piled high with used, working Dreamcasts. I just picked up one of the cool black ones with its controller for $50 + $10 for a six month warranty against it dying.
It comes with a modem and a browser and you can get a keyboard and mouse for it. Several companies make adapters that allow you to connect it to a monitor. You can still find the broadband (Ethernet) adapter on Ebay for about $120.
I have the base linux system up and running on it, so now I'm working on getting it to dial up an ISP and start a browser on power-up. My grandma has been putting off getting online for a long time, and now I can get her there for $50 + ISP charges. All she has to do is push the power button and she's on the web and able to email her far flung family. I'm making sure the interface is big and readable on her 35" TV.
It's pretty easy for me to get linux running on it now, and then connect to my home computer and run terminal services. Why do I do this? Because $150 for a new computer for my wife is much less than $1000 for a new low-end computer, especially when it is just used for basic productivity suite software and web browsing.
Also, the linux system is just a CD-R, so I just pop it out, and pop in a game and I'm playing Quake, or Crazy Taxi, or Ready to Rumble, or Sega NFL with no patches or incompatabilities with up to three of my friends. (All of these games are readily available used for $15 or new for $45)
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
fuck off monkey
slashdot is to blame for all of this...
Sounds like you have issues, bub. Good luck with the lifestyle thing.
For the simple sake it is nice to use with the broadband adaptor. Now i can play mp3's on my network through the web browser on the two tv's i have with DC's hooked up.
Can also bootup in a minute and read news, check cnn.com, view weather.com and news.com in less time it takes for a laptop to resume from power saving.
The DC is far from dead as long as these games are still playable. for 80 bucks you can't go wrong. From what i've heard expect the DC to be 59.00 by christmas. Worth that price alone for colectors.
This could allow people to create full screen games from the dreamcase , using java.. as oppose to the cofusing systemed normally used to program for it.
Cruise TT
Some people are asking "why bother with the DC".
Perhaps a better question is "why bother with Java on a console?"
Java has turned out to be the biz for server-side web development, and enterprise computing in general.
Where Java has not had such a great success is in browsers. Historically, there have been problems with incompatibilities between Java implementations on even the big-name browsers (Netscape, IE). This was particularly a problem with the Java front-end APIs. With all this, and M$ studiously ignoring Java, I don't think it will become any more popular on the browser than it already is.
Java could yet evolve into the platform of choice for desktop applications, but for now it has missed. Who would want to run BEA's Weblogic on a dreamcast?
Get a VGA adapter for your Dreamcast and then tell me which console looks better. I use the Treamcast VGA box and I would never want to switch to PS2 on a TV.
I heard that!
While I have to admit that I still lovingly croon to my DC on occasion as I play games on it, I have never really invested much time in using it as a true thin workstation. I love having my MP3's on a disk with a sweet little self-booting player app., but without throwing $100-$150 to the wind in order to get a BBA, it's not a real solution for me. I have booted linux and NetBSD from my little white thinking cube of game-dom, but I can't access the world beyond the box without that 'rare-as-hens-teeth' 10bT module. :) that will make people run out and snatch these up and/or dust them off and use them on a day-to-day basis. Without a cheap ethernet connection the entry-level threshold is too low to make it feisable.
However, I will say that I view it as a 'Good Thing'{tm} that we're seeing a powerful console unit with a pretty good collection of games coming on the market at a bargain-basement price, which lets people play around with both an embeded system and a fairly powerfull architecture in a hobbyist environment. I do not however believe that anyone will be able to provide a killer-app (besides Soul caliber
I do hold out faith that the PS2 will fill this role however. Sony has already produced a Linux Dev-Kit (admittedly for the JPN market only) and with a much broader market penetration and a simple 10/100bT & hard-drive solution on the horizon for the US market, I'm very hopefull that by this time next year, I'll have a little black PS2 boxen in my TV center that gives me access to my other boxen, broadband connection, and an assortment of OSS solutions for myself and my less geek-ish friends to use. Does anyone else feel that this may well be what we discover over the next 12-months?
hmmn...
food for thought
"If I wanted your input on my pet project, I'd stick my hand up your ass and use you like a sock-puppet." - Muse
Before I snagged my DC, I would've had to wait until morning to check GameFAQs. Now, I just switch inputs to the DC (or save the DC game in progress), boot up, search, and then power off and back to the game.
I'd love the ability to VNC from my living room to work on my website. And it's a lot easier to check those *special* sites in a different room...
GTRacer
- "It's for a Soc class, I swear!"
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
There is already a emulator for GBA written in java...http://boycottadvance.emuunlim.com/BA-onlin e.html
So I'm assuming you'd be able to play Gameboy advance games on Dreamcast now. Cool.
Now if someone would only make a dreamcast emulator in java...
I know it doesn't answer your gripe directly, since you're looking for a streaming MP3 player, but there are several MP3 players available for the Dreamcast that will happily play a burned CD full of MP3's for you.
There's the Blaze MP3 player, which is commercial, plus some free ones. Head over to DC Copy World (although they seem to be down at the moment?), to find out about the free ones, just google search for the Blaze...
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
No offense, but would you please relax? Java isn't just an enterprise-level C/S solution. Lots of people write lots of Java applications every day. From old video game emulators to all sorts of little personal web apps, photo slide shows to IRC clients, there are many applications that require this, and many people willing to use it. Besides the streaming MP3 capabilities someone else mentioned above this version of the browser turns the Dreamcast into what most set-top box manufacturers wish theirs was.
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.
You bought a game console and only bought a few games for it? What's the point?
Write one yourself. That's my plan for the dreamcast, an mp3player that can play inserted mp3 cd's or play them from a file server stuck in a closet somewhere. Of course if you don't want to write it yourself you can wait until I'm finished with mine.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
If they get Java up and running on the thing, I wonder how well the WeirdX X server would work on it. Still lackin a keyboard, but should be good enough to browse on...
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
I saw it as "Java on Forgecast Dreams On".
:)
--Tom Geller, Executive Director
SpamCon Foundation
Tom Geller
Although it was $65 at one point when it was available in the US through the Sega Store, it's hard to find a BBA for less than $100 now, especially on ebay.
Glad I have mine.
If only every software maker did this...
-
First let me say: I'm very active in the DC scene(s).
Broadband adapters need to be made again!
For god sakes SEGA is still making games for the DC, as they only pulled out of the hardware business. It's flat out impossible to play new games online (WSB2K2, Mars Matrix, etc) when you canceled your dial-up account 2 years ago.
As for another suggestion posted above; yes streaming mp3 support needs to be covered. The DC outputs some of the best sound I've heard on a console. *If* I could get a BBA then I would be able to stream them right of the PC. But, I've also archived all my mp3's to CD so I can already play them in the DVD player, DC and PC. BUT! Playing a shout,er,icecast stream would be great for ambient music.
The DC can be anything people want it to be. It's your all in one box. It's even got a C64 emulator.
But what can we do to resurrect this machine to above it's full glory?
[ps. i noticed on mtv the other day that they gave a few DC's away on a show - so people, of course, still love them.]
Get your Unix fortune now!
There are several possibilities:
1) Shinobi - the official Sega "OS". It's really
just a mixed low/high level API. Not an OS.
2) Dragon - WinCE for DC. This is crap. Few
people ever used it, though it was the first
winCE with direct-x.
3) Linux - it runs all right.
4) KallistiOS, it's turning back into a library now.
I've got the DC dev kit, and by FAR the Sega API is the best and easiest to use.
The copper bosses killed you, Joe. 'I never died', said he.
Since everybody is complaining about the DC BBA being obscenely expensive secondhand on eBay,
here's a link to a project where you use the DC internal modem to network to a linux PC through another modem and piggybacking on that broadband.
Google is your friend.
http://www.kinox.org/articles/linuxdc.html
Any idea of where I can get a DC VGA adapter
online? I've tried several online videogame
stores, but nobody carries them anymore.
Shawn
I find that getting the Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor is becoming increasingly difficult. For certain tasks, running linux on here would be great.
At this point I can only find this device on Ebay for inflated prices.
I believe that when the Broadband Adaptor becomes impossible to get, the Dreamcast's viability for any NOS will die. What a shame.
rhadc
I have yet to see PS2, Nintendo, or even the mighty M$oft Xbox -- in the year 2001 (or even 2002 for that matter) compete feature to feature with the Dreamcast.....Pretty sad when your only way to get online gaming with a console is to go with a machine that is (un)officially "dead". BTW -- are you PS2 fanboys online yet???
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Guys, you should know that dreamcasts are still in stores, and many still being sold. They may not be MAKING any more dreamcasts, Sega says.. But you can still buy NEW ones from prices around 50-90 dollars (So I've heard. I have a DC at mty place, so I don't really need to buy a new one) And many MANY stores are selling used dreamcasts for 40-60 dollars. They will still be making games for it, also. Look at Phantasy Star Online V.2. Just a couple things to look at here.
I think now being able to get linux to boot on his DC would make writing his own a bit difficult.
If you could figure out how to get Linux (actually, NetBSD might be a better choice here) working for it, you could easily impliment this (for the local situation at least) with NFS and a handful of shell/perl scripting.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
There are some great games out for the DC, many look just as good as what's currently out for the PS2. At these prices it's great value for money. Some of my favorites:
-Soul Calibur
-Dead Or Alive 2
-Powerstone
-Powerstone 2
-V Rally 2
-Ferrari 355 Challenge
-Crazy Taxi 2
-Soldier of Fortune
-Unreal Tournament
-Quake III
There's also CD images on the net containing hundreds of NES / SNES images along with well working emulators...
Yes, there are some hacks, like the modem-to-modem hack to connect your DC through your computer, but that doesn't work if you don't have a modem in the same room as your TV (my computer is at least 100-150 feet from my TV and DC).
But a decent hack to ethernet enable my DC would make me a happy man. Supposedly bITmASTER's site had an ISA bridge for the expansion port, which you could connect an ethernet card to (though it wouldn't be compatible with games, you could at least use it with NetBSD/Linux for DC). If it was actually compatible with the BBA it would be even better. But bITmASTER's site is now missing in action and I can't find schematics or any info anywhere.
I'd spend 100 bucks on parts because this would be a great hack. Too bad I'm not enough of a hardware hacker/EE guru to do this - I'm just a CS grad who can use a soldering iron and maybe a logic probe. But if anyone out there has any bright ideas, I'm more than glad to help in any way possible.
Depends on where his boot is failing, you don't need linux to write a mp3 player for DC.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.