DreamPi Software (DC <> Pi)

I don't understand what is special about your setup. No-one else is reporting this issue, there *must* to be something specific with your modem or something...

 

6 modems? If that's the theory, then you should pick up a Dell RD02-D400. Its common, cheap and uses the right chipset. I've sent enough donations to cover one. I got a bunch brand new for $7 US each.

 

I've had other testers successfully using that modem. What resistor are you using in the line voltage, maybe try lowering it?

 

The line voltage adapters are flawless in 0.98 and before. They work 100% of the time.

PS: The over 80 hours I spent debugging were a software issue as well. The $500 I spent was replacing each and every hardware component multiple times to isoltate the issue. I have a drawer full of modems, and I still have a professional grade line simulator that cost me $200 because you didn't believe the bug could be in your code. I'm telling you, there's a bug in the code, and it appears to be another timing issue. The problem occurs with my $200 line simulator too -- its not the voltage inducer, its never been the voltage inducer. If its the modem, then you should work around it, because its a common and cheap. I'm not spending any more time, or any more money on this.

 

I have not gotten a new battery yet. But any thoughts about my pi not accessing the external network? State of emergency with snow so i'm not going anywhere today lol

 

OK, you're just being unfair now. I've never once said that there wasn't a bug, but to fix it *properly* I need to understand why it isn't working for you. Why is AT+VTX throwing an error? Why is the modem not printing the right thing to serial? Why is it happening to you and not other people with this modem. It probably is a timing issue, but the question is WHY?

It's not like I haven't tried to fix the problem either. I rewrote the function that checked for responses to strip out whitespace, and then I disabled command echo in the hope that was interfering with it, but neither of those things worked. Your workaround is just that, a workaround, and it still doesn't explain why the modem complains when entering voice transmission mode.

Today you have slated me publicly on Facebook and sent a rude direct message on here because I didn't give you enough of a mention on the Dreamcast Junkyard podcast, I have been nothing but courteous in response, and now you are blaming me for not fixing a bug that neither of us have been able to explain. I've also discovered today that you've been telling people you are a member of the "DreamPi development team", taking credit for the code that I've written. That's just not fair!

I am doing this in what very little spare time I have, for the community and because I enjoy doing it. Right now I have a very sick baby daughter, and yet here I am, still trying to help you, still making the only suggestions I can to explain this.

I will look again at the timing issue when I can, but please stop with the attitude, I don't deserve it.

 

It is possible the battery power is low, weird things can happen when it's just on the edge of the required voltage, especially as it worked before and presumably nothing changed with your setup?

 

Yes nothing changed, it just stopped communicating with outside network. I don't think it's an issue with voltage inducer itself either considering it detects dial tone, and connects. My Pi out of the box smelled like burnt electronics. I wasn't sure if that was just the factory smell, but it's primarily coming from the ethernet port. Maybe it's faulty. If a battery does not fix it I'll try a wifi dongle. Hopefully it is only battery

 

As far as that, on the posts on DreamPipe the development team mention was just an assumption because from my observation he was very actively involved in assisting you in it's development. I did not intend for that to cause any kind of drama, nor did Jon himself say to me he was part of the "DreamPi Development Team". That was pure assumption on my part

Let's all not have a feud over this. It is understandable why Jon may feel like he was not credited enough. But on the other hand, all of this was Kazade's idea from the start. I did not hear the podcast yet. But from a grown men standpoint, this is somewhat sandbox. It's not like he went on televised BBC, it was an underground podcast. Let's appreciate the fruits of your guys combined effort. We have a cost effective, better alternative to a BBA that supports all apps on the Dreamcast

I'd rather have all of us work together to continue to improve the Dreamcast's online scene rather than be divided because of things that were said, not said, or assumed. I hope this post does not cause any bad feelings toward me from Jon or Kazade. But let's be real here, this is the internet

 

Kazade Stop doing what you are doing with Dreampi and deal with your little girl... she is way more important than this... Family first.... as for the issues... its been less than a year... bugs are going to be there for a while... and will stay there for a while... Just take your time both of you... TBH some of the issues are just always going to be there until we have a UNIFIED hardware model to go by.... JON was doing just that... but again bugs will always be there... after say 2 years all the bugs should be worked out...

 

OK, I've successfully proven that the speed in which the software communicates with the modem has no bearing at all on the speed of the modem. I've lowered the connection speed to the very safe speed of 9600 baud and connecting to PSO is still just as quick as before.

I'm setting it to a constant value of 57600 for version 1.2 which seems to be widely supported - if there are still timing issues it might be worth testing at 9600. I've also fixed a bug which could cause a crash on startup, it's not the best fix but I'll do a better one for 1.3.

 

I want to add my support to comments made by both TerdFerguson and LordFenixNC, and add a few myself:

Other things we have going on in life are very important in addition to our contributions to the gaming community. Things like kids, other interests, a much needed vacation, career, paying bills, are all equally important. When working on projects that benefit the community at large, one might feel immense pressure to produce results in a timely fashion. The reality is, anyone who is in this for the long hawl is going to understand and be supportive when those working on technical tasks need to step away from the workbench for a bit. It can be easy to get stressed out by community opinions (trust me, I know!), but try to hang in there.

On the topic of contribution credits, money invested, and the community...

The biggest problem the Dreamcast Online community has had over the years is the cross forum in-fighting and monopolization attempts over social rewards. People tend to place value on how much time and money was spent on the information or work they performed, and then they either hoard tech, or shame others in obnoxious ways. This runs the gamut in almost every way imagineable. Servers not being released, servers being released but with setup complexities or gaps in the docs to prevent communities from running it, people getting cranky over not having their name credited alongside info, xx amount of time spent, xx amount of money spent, etc.

I wish more people could know what it feels like to contribute to a large open source project. It is by-and-large a thankless task, and you don't see most of these people getting whiny about being credited. People volunteer their time and expertise to make the software better. It is and should be about the end result.

With regards to PC-DC server tech, I have seen so much complaining across boards over people supposed lifting info from each others guides which dissolves into an "us against them" situation. We have all been learning and walking on the backs of each others work since the original Linux PCDC Guide, and Michael K Ter Louw's Windows Guide (http://www.maturion.de/dreamcast/mterlouw/main_f.htm). There have been so many guides since then, nearly 20 that I havn't been able to keep up. Each has been an evolution of the other.

The Dreamcast community needs to start working together better. We need to shed biases and misconceptions, and be more patient with each other.

To kazade: Great job so far with your contributions to the DreamPi concept. Keep it up and try not to get discouraged. For those assisting via QA Testing, Troubleshooting, etc... try to keep contributing if you can.

To Jon: Yep this stuff takes time. Yep this stuff costs money. I could drop some shocking numbers of my own on that subject but in the end... it simply doesn't matter. All that matters is if I am having fun. Am I? yep. Isn't the goal to eventually share a beer and chat while playing a great Dreamcast Online game?

Anyways, *thumbs up* keep up the great work all

-nikon

 

Great post @lordnikon good to see you on here
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After getting a new 9v I'm still getting the "unable to contact host" error. I'm going to try resoldering my line voltage inducer in an hour. Is it because I used 192.168.1.99 as my BBA ip that there is some sort of DCHP conflict?

 

I do not think voltage is the issue. If the capacitor went bad, it would not negotiate the call because of the electrical noise right? So since it connects to the Pi the phone line is not the issue? What are my options?

Edit: After removing the ethernet cable and connecting, it goes straight to "unable to contact host" rather than waiting a minute with it plugged in. So the phone line is not the issue, and my ethernet port on Pi is not bad. It must be an issue with DCHP

 

Yes! Two IPS are used internally: .99 and .98 that's the issue!

 

What can I do to resolve it? Thanks for help

I know how to login to router and everything

 

@TerdFerguson Hmm, so do you have a rule set up on the router for the BBA?

What I'll do is next release I'll move the DC onto its own subnet (e.g. 10.0.98.98) and that should stop this from happening.

 

That'd be great. No rule for BBA, I actually used a different IP than .99 yesterday. My router has BBA/MAC address saved to that IP. But that was after this issue started

Things I've tried so far:

Putting 192.168.1.98 in a DMZ
192.168.1.99 in a DMZ
Allowing inbound on firewall settings
Pinging 192.168.1.99 19/20 packets, received 19/20 attempt 1, 20/20 attempt 2
Rebooting router
Rebooting router while connected to DreamPi
Changing Dreamcast DNS to 192.168.1.98
Removing DNS
I had 'arp' on windows to point the Dreamcast MAC address to a specific IP for DC-Load on BBA. But to a different IP than .99. Removed that

 

wait, you pinged 192.168.1.99 while *not* connected with the Dreampi and you got a response?

 

No it was connected