Use a Sega Dreamcast on Broadband (With a bit of help from a Mac!)

I bought a used Sega Dreamcast at my local EBGames recently. One awesome thing about the Dreamcast, it was the first console system with online capabilities. However, if you have DSL (like I do) and you don't have a Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor (and trust me, you will never find one), you're a bit out of luck... or are you? [UPDATE INSIDE]

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[UPDATE] I've updated an error in my first tutorial, I made it bold.

This is one of those moments where the power of is simply amazing. I had bought a Dreamcast a while back, almost solely for the coolness of emulators and homebrew games and programs that people have made for it. After using it for a while, I bought a copy of Phantasy Star Online version 1, to try it out. When it first came out, it was a huge step forward in online console gaming. Of course, it no longer works online, until I found out that there exists a custom made server that people do play on!

Now, the only problem. I have DSL, and with my DSL package I have extremely limited dial-up access. The Dreamcast only has a 33.6k modem, and I just have one phone line. This presented two options: Buy a second phone line, or get the Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor. Both of those options were WAY too expensive, so I believed I was out of luck.

Then I stumbled upon the Mac Forums of DCemulation.

Apparently, somebody had written up a tutorial on how to use his Mac's modem to connect his Dreamcast to his Broadband connection. I was incredibly excited, and so I attempted the tutorial myself. To no avail. The modem would answer, and the Dreamcast would connect, but somewhere in the authentication period of everything, it would disconnect. Trying to figure out what could be wrong, I decided to take a look at my /etc/hostconfig file. I realized that the AUTHSERVER and IPFORWARDING lines were set to "NO." After changing them to "YES," everything worked! So here is my personalized tutorial on how to share your Dreamcast's connection with your Mac.

This tutorial assumes you already have installed, along with Fink:

Hardware setup:
Your Dreamcast MUST be near your Mac (unless you have an extremely long phone cord!). Simply plug one end of a phone cord into your Dreamcast's modem (labled "Line"), and the other end into your Mac's modem.

Instructions for the Mac side (this only has to be done once!)

1. You should have Root enabled. If you don't, open up NetInfo Manager (found in the Utilities folder), go to the Security menu, choose Authenticate and enter your username/password. Then, from the Security menu, choose Enable Root User, and you'll input your password again. Quit NetInfo Manager.
   
2. In the Sharing Panel of System Preferences, go to the Services tab and turn on Remote Login. Then go to the Internet Tab, choose any available port, then click "Start" to start Internet Sharing. Then quit System Preferences.
   
3. Open up a Terminal window.
   
4. Install minicom with the command fink install minicom
   
5. Now run the command sudo minicom -s, and type in your password
   
6. Hit the down arrow until you reach "Serial Port Setup," then hit Return
   
7. Type "A" to edit the "Serial Device setting," then change it so that it reads "/dev/cu.modem" Then hit Return
   
8. Type "E" to edit the BPS settings, then type "H" to set it to 57600 bps. Then hit Return, and then Return again to bring you back to the main menu.
   
9. Go down to "Save setup as dfl" and hit Return, as soon as "Configuration Saved" goes away, go down to "Exit from minicom"
   
10. Now, run the command sudo pico /etc/hostconfig, and when asked, put in your password.
    
11. Edit the file you've opened so that AUTHSERVER=-YES- and IPFORWARDING=-YES-
    
12. Hit Control-o (that's o as in oh boy!) to save your changes, then Control-x to exit pico.
    
13. Now run the command nslookup blah
    
14. This will return an error about not being able to locate server "blah," but that's unimportant. One of the lines returned should read "Server: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX" Write this number down, it's one of your domain name servers.
    
15. Now run the command sudo pico /etc/ppp/options
    
16. Copy and paste the following four lines into your Terminal window, then replace XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX with the IP address from nslookup blah:
    debug
    default-asyncmap
    silent
    ms-dns XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
    
17. Hit Control-O and save your changes, then Control-X to exit Pico.
    
18. Quit the Terminal, then restart your computer.

Whew! That was it for the initial Mac setup! Now, onto the Dreamcast!

1. Insert your web browser disc that came with your Dreamcast (Mine's PlanetWeb 2.6) into your Dreamcast, then turn it on.
   
2. Press Start at the title screen (Where it says "Press Start to Begin"), then press Start again, and select "Options" at the Pause Menu (it's in the bottom right corner)
   
3. Move the cursor over to Internet Connection, then press A
   
4. Put anything in for "Your Real Name," and for User Login and Password, put in your short user name and your password
   
5. For Dial Up number, just put in ",1" The Comma insures that there'll be a pause before your Dreamcast dials (which helps a LOT in the final part of this tutorial), and the 1 is just there so it has something to dial
   
6. Leave everything else blank, move the cursor over to "OK," and press A.
   
7. That should take you to "Dial Options," go ahead and leave everything blank, except for "Modem Init," which should read "AT&F" Also, make sure "Blind dial" is set to On. Move over to OK, and press A.
   
8. Unless you use a proxy, go ahead and leave "Use Proxy" on "No." Move over to "OK," and press "A." After you're done with the Internet Connection settings, Move the Cursor over to "Save," and press "A."

What follows is what you'll have to do each time you want to connect:

1. Open up the Terminal, and create an additional Terminal window, so you have two Terminal Windows.
   
2. In the first window, run the command sudo minicom and type in your password.
   
3. Wait a few seconds, and you should see "Welcome to minicom 2.1" (or something to that extent). Now, type in "ATA" - without the quotes. Do NOT hit Return, that'll be in just a sec.
   
4. In the other Terminal Window, type in sudo pppd -detach /dev/cu.modem 57600 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:192.168.0.255 - replacing XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX with your Dreamcast's (this previously said Mac's) IP address. I have NO IDEA what the second number should be, I just set it to some random IP that's not taken on my subnet, like 192.168.0.255
   
5. Now the fast part: Load up your Dreamcast Game you want to take online, and get to where you're about to connect online. Once your Dreamcast starts with "Initializing Modem," Hit Return in the Terminal Window with minicom running, then hit Return in the one with the "sudo pppd -detach /dev/cu.modem 57600 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:192.168.0.2" command waiting, and type in your password when it asks for it.

If all goes well, your Dreamcast should be online in just a few minutes! When you're finished, disconnect the Dreamcast, and if the Terminal programs don't automatically shut down, go to the window where you typed in "sudo pppd -detach /dev/cu.modem 57600 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:192.168.0.2" and hit Control-Z, then in the Minicom window, hit Control-A, then x, then "Yes" when it asks if you want to quit minicom.

And that should be it!

The one caveat about this: Even though your Mac is on Broadband, your Dreamcast will only get 33.6k Modem Speeds, since that's what its connection is through. Since there's nowhere NEAR as much line noise as a normal modem connection, though, it should be a bit faster than a normal dial-up connection.