Moband Adapter (Dreamcast Modem To Broadband Replacement)

I wish I was rich so I could fund cool projects like this haha make like a scholarship lolol

So my understanding of this is: the DC sees this as a modem but all data is transferred directly into the (serial?) connector on the side of the mobo same as the original modem??


have you thought about crowd funding?

 

Crowd funding is the way to go here. I would gladly support this cause!

 

Sort of - the way the modem originally worked was like this:

Dreamcast -> G1 Bus -> Modem [-> Phone Line -> ISP Modem -> PPP Stack -> Internet]

The way this Moband idea is works is like this:

Dreamcast -> G1 Bus -> Emulated modem/ line simulator -> PPP Stack -> Ethernet [-> LAN -> Internet]

So basically, it just plugs into the DC like a modem (and is addressed like one), but has an Ethernet socket like the BBA.

There is some extra complexity here (notably that the internet configuration on the DC is for the emulated modem and you need some other method of setting up the LAN side of the adapter), but the basic idea is that as far as the DC side software is concerned, it's just working with a modem.

 

What about the bandwidth, will it be capped at 128k

 

Possibly less than that - the most compatible approach would be to make it work at exactly the same rate as a 56K modem, just in case the software is relying on the timing.

For homebrew stuff, you could implement direct access to the LAN port, but it still wouldn't be very fast because of the slow bus it's sitting on. You could probably manage the equivalent of 10Mb/sec.

 

Oh.. So I guess the only advantage to this is nice clean look. Like no need to mess around with a PC and modem, basically the DC will have Ethernet but at dialup speeds. I guess there's a market for that

 

I would totally buy this. I wish you good luck with the project. Maybe kickstarter?

 

It's the Dreamcast.. If you can get the games working with the custom modem we are set the games run on low bw speeds anywyas

 

I would buy this for certain for doing development work.

 

I'd totally buy this even though I have the broadband adapter because I want to see someone bring back the sa2 black market.

 

I will buy this for sure.

 

I too would love to get one of these, love the streamlined method, hope it will eventually get 100mb/s

 

Would buy that. STARLANCER GAMES PLEASEEE

 

Any news about this?

 

Yeah any news? I see the OP is active in the forum but never speaks more in depth about this project. We are all awaiting info from you man, please just let us know if you are still working on it or not.

 

it would be cool if it had a switch that made dreamcast see it as a bba and that made it work like bba too

 

Definitly cool, but probably alot more work as the design would have to involve building a BBA from ground up aswell.

 

That would be the thing to do. If the OP has the knowledge to do all of this, let's do it the best way possible! I'd put €€€ on that kickstarter

 

I will post a complete update on this project soon - other DC projects have taken priority at the moment. Regarding "BBA emulation," there's no need for that. All games that support broadband also support the modem and modem emulation is nearly at broadband speeds for all intents and purposes (there is the limit of the device using the same 8-bit mode the modem uses whereas the BBA uses a larger address space, meaning more throughput).

 

Thanks for getting back to us. I look forward to your update!