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Kbuzz
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Posted:
Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:48 pm
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Posts: 473
Type: NTSC-U/C
DCS is down all the time and is pretty much dead to me, so I'm posting this here until it has a page of its own.

Been working on this for a while, and I hope it will make things easier for anyone trying to get a pc-dc server running.
Its mostly info that you could get from different corners of the internet, but in one noob friendly place. Very Happy



Introduction
There have been several guides on setting up pc-dc server, much of which this guide is based on.
The difference here is that we aim to provide a setup process the OS that most of our users are running,
and in such a way that the less tech savvy can understand. While this process is by no means elegant,
is the best option for those who are not willing to pay for a Dialup ISP, or for the rare and expensive BBA.

The ideal setup for a pc-dc server, is a Linux box with a serial modem. Serial modems always work,
and Linux is very easy to tinker with which is important when doing something as irregular as a pc-dc server.
Of course, few people run Linux on their machine, and fewer even have a serial port on their machines let alone
own a bulky serial modem.

Thanks to VMware, we can emulate this ideal environment, right on your Windows machine (XP, Vista, 7)
and with a simple pci or usb modem. VMware will install Linux to a virtual machine that will then detect any
kind of modem as a serial device. Thus, providing us with the most reliable reliable environment to get some
online Dreamcast action. Of course, you could skip the virtual machine and do this all natively in Linux if you wish.
So long as you have a Linux supported modem.

and just to be safe....
WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR PC, MODEM, DREAMCAST, SELF, CAT, RAmar, and so on!!!!!

Let's get started then shall we?


Table of Contents

    What you'll need...
    Step 1: Windows Setup
    Step 2: VMWARE Setup
    Step 3: Linux Setup
    Step 4: Dreamcast Setup
    Step 5: Running your PC-DC Server
    Step 6: (OPTIONAL) Building a Line Voltage Inducer
    Phantasy Star Online
    Conclusion
    Credits



What you'll need...


    A PC with Windows XP/Vista/7
    An ISO of Crunchbang Linux
    DSL or Cable internet connection through a router
    Dreamcast with Browser (ie. planet web)
    usb modem v9.2 with voice (highly suggest zoom 3095)
    VMWare
    Line voltage inducer (maybe!)


Step 1: Windows Setup

Plug in your modem and install whatever drivers are needed for it. This should be straight forward.
Once installed, Windows will assign the device to a COM port. We need to know which one this is so...

Right click on My Computer-> Properties -> Device Manager -> Modems
Right click your modem -> Properties -> Modem tab -> Find your Com port!




Step 2: VMWARE Setup

Next we'll install VMWARE, this handy app will let us install any operating system onto a "virtual machine" while you're running Windows.

you can find it here https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=player&lp=1



The OS we are going to install is called CrunchBang Linux. It's a debian based distro using an incredibly lightweight desktop environment which will use less ram.
Those of you using netbooks with a native install of crunchbang will especially appreciate this OS. http://crunchbangLinux.org


This guide was tested with both Crunchbang 9 and 10.

Now in VMware, add a virtual machine,and select the ISO of crunchbang that you downloaded.
Before installed the OS, we need give the virtual machine access to our installed modem.

Customize Hardware -> Add -> Serial Port
Use Physical serial port -> select your Com port


See that Connect at power on is enabled under Device Status


Next click on Network adapter, and change it to "Bridged" and see that Replicate physical network connection is DISABLED.
All set, let's instlall Crunchbang. This is pretty straightforward. If you have any problems here I suggest searching through their forums.


Step 3: Linux Setup

Once installed, hit Super+Spacebar (super = Windows key)

System -> Synaptic Package Manager -> enter your password


We will be installing mgetty, ppp, and gnome-ppp
You might have to hit reload and update repositories if they aren't showing up
now hit Super+t and type

sudo gnome-ppp


enter password.

hit setup -> Detect


this will tell us where the modem is in Linux. /dev/ttyS0 or something like that.

Back in our terminal (super+t), type..

sudo gedit /etc/ppp/options


delete everything there and paste in the following

debug
login
default-asyncmap
require-pap
proxyarp
ktune
#IP Addresses. Uncomment whichever one you wish to use
#router IP for internet browsing
ms-dns 192.168.1.1
#sylverant PSO server
#ms-dns 67.222.144.120


The ms-dns line is the ip address of wherever you'd like to connect to. The IP address of your router will be used to browse the internet with planetweb or dreamkey, but for pso you will have to enter the IP of the ship you wish to connect to.

Now open a new page in gedit. And type in the local IP address of your computer, and then the IP address you wish to assign your Dreamcast. Then your netmask. The format will look like this.

192.168.1.101:192.168.1.105
netmask 255.255.255.0


To find out your local IP, go back to the terminal and type...

sudo ifconfig


It will probably be similar to the one posted. Paste in it, and choose the address you want for the DC. It can be any IP from your router's IP Pool that isn't being used.

So if your vmware local IP is 192.168.1.101, then you can assign 192.168.1.102 to your Dreamcast so long as there isn't another device using that local IP.
Your netmask will be probably be the same but check in ifconfig to be sure.
Now, we are going to save this file as
/etc/ppp/options.ttyS0

Replace ttyS0 with whatever the location of your modem is.
next open
/etc/ppp/pap-secrets

add the following line at the bottom

dream   *   dreamcast   *


now back in terminal, paste the following..

sudo useradd -G dialout,dip,users -c "Dreamcast user" -d /home/dream -g users -s /usr/sbin/pppd dream


and

sudo passwd dream

when prompted, enter
dreamcast

This will create a user that has access to the modem, the Dreamcast will connect to the pc as this user
Now in gedit, open up
etc/mgetty/mgetty.config
and paste the following. Replace ttyS0 with location of your modem if it's different.

debug 4
fax-id
speed 115200
port ttyS0
data-only y
issue-file /etc/issue.megetty




Step 4: Dreamcast Setup

Almost done, now lets fire up the DC with Planetweb 2.6 or dreamkey.

Hit start -> options -> Internet Connections


Real Name: Can be anything
User Login: dream
Password: dreamcast
Dial Up Number: 555
Backup number: (leave blank)


DNS1: 0.0.0.0
DNS2: 0.0.0.0


Next on to Dial Options
All that matters here is the following

Modem Init: AT&F0
Dial area code: Off
Blind Dial: On


The rest can be left blank
Next to the Proxy Settings Page
Use Proxy: No

Save your configuration





Step 5: Running your PC-DC Server

Now the fun part, let's test it out!

I usually have a terminal open with about 4 tabs open (right click+t). Two will be running commands to connect with, and the others to log what's happening...
So lets start mgetty. Remember to use the proper modem location.

sudo /sbin/mgetty -s 115200 -D /dev/ttyS0


in the next tab we will log mgetty

sudo tail -f /var/log/mgetty/mg.ttyS0.log

then any server messages in the next..

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages


you should now have one tab left open. This will answer the Dreamcast when it calls our server, and must be run within the Dreamcast's call window. It's pretty easy to tell, and there's a fairly large window of time to do it. In planetweb, it's when you see your number (555) dialed. In PSO, its when it says "dialing". When you see those messages, wait 5 seconds, and run this command.

sudo killall -USR1 mgetty


If all goes well, you're mgetty.ttyS0.log should look like this..

08/28 03:05:32 yS0  mgetty: interim release 1.1.36-Jun15
08/28 03:05:32 yS0  WARNING: parent process not init(pid=1), but pid=4343 (/bin/bash)
08/28 03:05:32 yS0  check for lockfiles
08/28 03:05:32 yS0  locking the line
08/28 03:05:32 yS0  lowering DTR to reset Modem
08/28 03:05:33 yS0  send: \dATQ0V1H0[0d]
08/28 03:05:33 yS0  waiting for ``OK'' ** found **
08/28 03:05:33 yS0  send: AT[0d]
08/28 03:05:33 yS0  waiting for ``OK'' ** found **
08/28 03:05:34 yS0  waiting...
08/28 03:12:59 yS0  wfr: waiting for ``RING''
08/28 03:12:59 yS0  cannot set controlling tty (ioctl): Operation not permitted
08/28 03:12:59 yS0  >>> this might be caused because you have run mgetty/vgetty
08/28 03:12:59 yS0  >>> from the command line.  Don't do that, use /etc/inittab!
08/28 03:12:59 yS0  send: ATA[0d]
08/28 03:12:59 yS0  waiting for ``CONNECT'' ** found **
08/28 03:13:13 yS0  send:
08/28 03:13:13 yS0  waiting for ``_'' ** found **
08/28 03:13:16 ##### data dev=ttyS0, pid=4601, caller='none', conn='57600', name='', cmd='/usr/sbin/pppd', user='/AutoPPP/'


and your /var/log/messages like this

desktop# pppd[4601]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0
desktop# pppd[4601]: Using interface ppp0
desktop# pppd[4601]: Connect: ppp0 < --> /dev/ttyS0
desktop# pppd[4601]: pam_sm_authenticate: Called
desktop# pppd[4601]: pam_sm_authenticate: username = [dream]
desktop# pppd[4601]: Warning: Using default salt value (undefined in ~/.ecryptfsrc)
desktop# pppd[4601]: user dream logged in on tty ttyS0 intf ppp0
desktop# pppd[4601]: PAP peer authentication succeeded for dream
desktop# kernel: [  783.664240] PPP BSD Compression module registered
desktop# kernel: [  783.686698] PPP Deflate Compression module registered
desktop# pppd[4601]: found interface eth0 for proxy arp
desktop# pppd[4601]: local  IP address 192.168.1.102
desktop# pppd[4601]: remote IP address 192.168.1.105



Step 6: (OPTIONAL) Building a Line Voltage Inducer

There are 2 different revisions of the Dreamcast Modem. One requires that there be voltage present in the phone line, and one does not.
Each have a model number of 670-14140 with a revision letter A or B. Revision A does not require voltage, Revision B does. This means that you will get a NO CARRIER response when using a Revision B. If you still get a NO CARRIER response while using a Revision A modem, it could mean that the modem for your PC is requiring voltage.



With some very basic electronic parts, we can simulate this line voltage by building a Line Voltage Inducer.

Needed Parts and Digikey.com Part Numbers:[/b


    RJ11 Phone Cord (A1642R-07-ND)
    1.0UF Capacitor (P5174-ND)
    390 ohm Resistor (PPC390XCT-ND)
    Battery Snap (377-1549-ND)
    9v Battery (N145-ND)
    Perfboard (V2025-ND)


Of course you'll need a soldering iron, solder, wire strippers, and a steady hand. Please don't try this with tape!

[b]Step by Step Line Voltage Inducer Build:


Don't worry about the polarity of the Capacitor as it makes no difference in this circuit.

    Strip and tin each wire of RJ11 phone cord
    Solder to board
    Red wire soldered to a leg of the Resistor and of the Capacitor
    Black wire of Battery Snap soldered to opposite resistor leg
    Opposite leg of Capacitor soldered to Red wire of Battery Snap and Red Wire of Opposite RJ11 Phone Cord
    Connect each remaining RJ11 wires to their respective colours.
    Plug in a Battery and test it out!

Be careful, while the perfboard is very strong, RJ11 cords are not, and their wires can easily break from the perfboard without much pressure. You can strengthen their connection with a glue gun, or another non-conductive glue.



Phantasy Star Online

Phantasy Star Online is the most popular online game for Dreamcast. However, Sega's servers have been offline since 2007 in Japan/Europe, and since 2003 in North America.

Thankfully, the PSO community has reverse engineered server software and we can now continue playing PSO until the end of time. There are various servers available.

Online Consoles hosts their own Dreamcast PSO server and is the best place to avoid cheaters and hackers that could potentially ruin your game. The downside is that they have you enter an application process before you can join in an effort to keep hackers out. That said, it is the most secure place for PSO anywhere.

If you don't yet have access to the legit ship, Sylverant has a pso server that is open to the public. They are currently testing their new server software, but activity should pick up.

To get online with PSO you will need either PSO v2 PAL, PSO v1 PAL, or PSO v1 NTSC. These are the only versions that can access the private servers of Online Consoles and Sylverant. PSOv2 NTSC will not work.

****ANY VERSION CAN NOW CONNECT WITH BlueCrab's PSO PATCHER***

Simply setup the guide as indicated, make sure you ms-dns line is set to the ip of the PSO server you wish to connect to, and enjoy your new addiction!





Conclusion


If all goes well, you should be able to browse the web like it's 9/9/99, and that's a beautiful thing. Please post your working configuration (OS, Modem, RevA or RevB, etc) in our forums so we can make a compatibility list.

My own test was done using...

    Windows 7 Ultimate 64 biy
    ZOOM 3095 usb modem
    Crunchbang 9 and 10 32bit and 64bit
    Dreamcast modem Rev.A and Rev.B
    Line Voltage Inducer

This usb modem required the Line Voltage Inducer even with the Rev.A modem

Both Rev.A and Rev.B were able to browse the internet with Planet Web 2.6 and Dreamkey. However, only the Rev.A was able to connect reliably with PSO V2 PAL.

Please write your comments, ideas, and problems in our Forums.

Thank you for reading, and we hope this guide has been helpful in bringing you the Online Dreamcast experience!

Credits

Thanks to the following guides for providing the info needed to make this guide possible...

Bourke228 provided the first guide to using VMWARE

Ryochan provided the first guide for Ubuntu

DarkMoon provided the first step by step guide for Linux and NetBSD

Lordnikon and Dreamcast

Last edited by Kbuzz on Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:33 pm; edited 3 times in total
  _________________
Pso: Kingbuzzo lvl 80
QUake 3: [OC] Kingbuzzo
everynewday84
rank 12
Posted:
Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:29 pm
quote : #2
profile : pm
Posts: 196
Type: NTSC-U/C
I know this is going to make some gamers cringe, but is it possible to set up a MAC-DC server?
 
Kbuzz
rank 23
Posted:
Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:49 pm
quote : #3
profile : pm
Posts: 473
Type: NTSC-U/C
everynewday84 wrote:
I know this is going to make some gamers cringe, but is it possible to set up a MAC-DC server?


Sure, it's actually quite similar.

http://www.asyserver.com/~kirwin/dc-modem-to-modem.html
  _________________
Pso: Kingbuzzo lvl 80
QUake 3: [OC] Kingbuzzo
TheMytho
rank 28
Posted:
Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:52 pm
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Posts: 588
Type: NTSC-U/C
Nice guide kingbuzzo. I am going to be looking into this so that I can take my DC to school and use my primary PC as a PC-DC server.
 
gRimGrAvY014
rank 27
Posted:
Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:09 am
quote : #5
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Posts: 551
Type: NTSC-U/C
Thank you for the compiled information, seeing as how I currently lack the means to connect my Dreamcast to the internet via dialup.
 
Favrenation
rank 9
Posted:
Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:07 pm
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Type: NTSC-U/C
Yeah the process is pretty simple if you follow the guide. The advantages of using linux is that you don't have to port forward and you always see the master-list on quake 3 which is a problem for windows 98/ME servers. The fact that you can do it in VMware means that any operating system can use this.
 
Kbuzz
rank 23
Posted:
Fri Dec 24, 2010 12:24 pm
quote : #7
profile : pm
Posts: 473
Type: NTSC-U/C
VMware can need some modern hardware which not everyone has. If you have older hardware and want to do this, I'd suggest using a native install of crunchbang or another lightweight linux distro and a current linux supported modem like the zoom 3095, or any serial modem.

My main rig is a simple 8GB SSD Netbook and a USB Modem.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/k1ngbuzzo/pc-dc/IMG_1341.jpg
  _________________
Pso: Kingbuzzo lvl 80
QUake 3: [OC] Kingbuzzo
TheMytho
rank 28
Posted:
Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:21 pm
quote : #8
profile : pm
Posts: 588
Type: NTSC-U/C
After reading kingbuzzo's guide, I was able to install Crunchbang Linux on my old P4 machine and get the PC-DC server working. However, there were a few errors in guide, one of which is fatal. The most serious error is when initializing mgetty, the terminal command
sudo /sbin/mgetty -s ?115200 -D /dev/ttyS0
is incorrect. This command should read:
sudo /sbin/mgetty -s 115200 -D /dev/ttyS0
Random question marks were scattered throughout the guide, so it was difficult to pinpoint the source of the error.

I also could not get the mgetty log command to work:
sudo tail -f /var/log/mgetty/mg.ttyS0.log
The second command for a server log did, however, work.
 
Favrenation
rank 9
Posted:
Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:35 pm
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I was having troubles too
 
TheMytho
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Posted:
Fri Dec 24, 2010 6:39 pm
quote : #10
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Posts: 588
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Also, I can't seem to get anything else outside of web browsing working. I've tried Quake 3, Starlancer and 4x4 Evolution to no avail. I read Ryochan's guide, and he said that you need to comment out default-asyncmap, which did nothing for me.
 
Favrenation
rank 9
Posted:
Fri Dec 24, 2010 6:59 pm
quote : #11
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that could be a problem with your "msdns" line. Sometimes u have to put ur ISP DNS in and sometimes u have to put ur routers ip in. Check what it says on ur linux connection and see what it has in DNS servers. For quake 3 u need the swap trick and some people have problems with starlancer and 4x4 evo. Your best bet is to try PSO and see if that would work.
 
TheMytho
rank 28
Posted:
Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:33 pm
quote : #12
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Posts: 588
Type: NTSC-U/C
Favrenation wrote:
that could be a problem with your "msdns" line. Sometimes u have to put ur ISP DNS in and sometimes u have to put ur routers ip in. Check what it says on ur linux connection and see what it has in DNS servers.


I actually just tried that with kingbuzzo's /ppp/options config and it worked (to some degree)! I was able to get on Maximum Pool by putting my ISP's DNS in instead of the router's.
 
Kbuzz
rank 23
Posted:
Sat Dec 25, 2010 6:53 pm
quote : #13
profile : pm
Posts: 473
Type: NTSC-U/C
TheMytho wrote:
After reading kingbuzzo's guide, I was able to install Crunchbang Linux on my old P4 machine and get the PC-DC server working. However, there were a few errors in guide, one of which is fatal. The most serious error is when initializing mgetty, the terminal command
sudo /sbin/mgetty -s ?115200 -D /dev/ttyS0
is incorrect. This command should read:
sudo /sbin/mgetty -s 115200 -D /dev/ttyS0
Random question marks were scattered throughout the guide, so it was difficult to pinpoint the source of the error.

I also could not get the mgetty log command to work:
sudo tail -f /var/log/mgetty/mg.ttyS0.log
The second command for a server log did, however, work.


Sorry about that. Some bugs in wordpress when changing the page address. I'll try to get the last of em.

Have a look around /var/log/mgetty/ to see if your log file is called something else.
  _________________
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Dinnerfortwo
rank 1
Posted:
Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:31 am
quote : #14
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Posts: 1
Type: NTSC-U/C
Hi, Im new to the forums.
I am trying to connect using this tutorial and I keep getting "There is no answer at this telephone number. Check your ISP Phone#"
I have my dreamcast connected to my laptop's modem port and using web browser 2.0 to connect.
Please help!
 
Mangaman777
rank 1
Posted:
Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:34 pm
quote : #15
profile : pm
Posts: 2
Type: NTSC-U/C
Kbuzz wrote:
Been working on this for a while, and I hope it will make things easier for anyone trying to get a pc-dc server running. Its mostly info that you could get from different corners of the internet, but in one noob friendly place. Very Happy

http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/guides/pc-dc-server-guide-win7/

In the process of switching servers, current one is rather slow. Apologies.


Is there any chance you could upload your guide to a different website? I can't seem to connect to Dreamcast-Scene.
 
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