Dreamcast Linux Distribution is now available at ftp://ftp.m17n.org/pub/super-h/dreamcast/. The latest release is 010605 beta.
This is Dreamcast Linux, GNU/Linux on SEGA Dreamcast. You can obtain more information about that from: http://www.m17n.org/linux-sh/dreamcast/
It's a complete stand-alone system in one CD; you don't need Broadband Adapter nor NFS server any longer, but may need Dreamcast keyboard (and mouse for X) for practical use. If you still have Broadband Adapter or serial cable, of course you can login Dreamcast with them.
Both NTSC Video and VGA output are supported, but VGA is highly recommended.
License notice: All the software in this package are copyrighted somehow, and are provided "as-is". This package comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. For details, please refer our project: http://www.m17n.org/linux-sh/
The detail of how to make Dreamcast bootable CD is not covered by this document. Refer to Marcus Comstedt's Dreamcast web site, and included sample shell script(master.sh). Don't ask me about this issue.
You need the IP.BIN file to make a CD. With included script mastering process would be as follows.
# tar -xjvf dreamcast-linux-yymmdd.tar.bz2 # cd dreamcast-linux-yymmdd # vi master.sh (change some variables) # ./master.sh /somewhere/IP.BIN
First, Red Hat and eCos logo will appear on the screen. After waiting about 10 seconds, it will load Linux kernel and initrd images from CD, and the GNU/Linux system is automatically booting up.
eCos/RedBoot is used as a kernel boot loader for this distribution, but it can also be used for Dreamcast software development. While the boot script waits for timeout, connect Dreamcast via serial cable (115.2Kbps) or network (telnet dreamcast 9000) and send ^C to interrupt the booting process.
With eCos/RedBoot you can load images into Dreamcast's memory from another CD, from network server via TFTP, from terminal software with X/YMODEM via serial cable. Refer to http://www.m17n.org/linux-sh/ecos for further information.
Of course you can use the network with Broadband Adapter. If there is a DHCP server on your network, pump(DHCP client) will properly configure the network interface at boot time.
You can login the Dreamcast as root without any password via console(with Dreamcast keyboard), via serial port(with terminal software), via network(with telnet).
FTP server is also available.
Running xdm from the console should be enough to use X Window System.
XMAME is arcade game machine emulator for UNIX(http://x.mame.net/).
There are no game ROM images in this package. Your zipped ROM images should be in /var/lib/xmame/.
X11(xmame.x11) and SDL(xmame.SDL) version is provided. For SDL version on frame buffer, you should set the frame buffer to 16bpp before invoking.
# fbset -depth 16 # xmame.SDL
You can play games with your Dreamcast controller. Following settings are in /root/.xmame/cfg/default.cfg:
Y button - 1P CREDIT START button - 1P START
Prboom is a version of DOOM for UNIX, Linux and Windows systems (http://prboom.sourceforge.net/).
The DOOM 1 share ware WAD file is included in this package for your convenience. See /usr/share/doc/doom-wad-shareware/copyright for the license terms.
On the frame buffer(not X) you should set the frame buffer to 16bpp mode before invoking prboom.
# fbset -depth 16 # prboom
It seems that the first invocation tends to fail; try once again in that case.
