DreamPi Software (DC <> Pi)

So I'm cleaning up and archiving my DreamPi work, since I've sold through my inventory of parts. I figured I'd pop back on here to document what I've learned for posterity, etc. All of the below works for US and Canada (56k Dreamcast modems and 110v power in the house) but can be modified for other regions/voltage requirements.
Note I am not the creator, just a fellow nerd and sometime seller of kits. Lots of documentation exists for DreamPi, I'm just adding what I learned along the way. If you're new to this thread, read up at http://blog.kazade.co.uk/ first.

Building a Nice Looking DreamPi
Here's what my final product looked like. I made them in white and black, and I think both looked pretty awesome. The voltage inducer is decidedly un-awesome, but the end resulted didn't look horrible. The best modem to use is a Dell RD02 modem. My full shopping list is below. I also shipped a Browser Disc (PlanetWeb 2.0) and the attached Quick Start guide with every kit I sold.



Building the Voltage Inducer
This is a pain in the butt. I made a walk-through video here, that should hopefully augment the instructions found here.
You can build a version of this same inducer that does not need a battery, with the same instructions, but using a 9v "wall wart" power adapter instead of the battery clip. It works perfectly, although it does introduce another power supply!

WiFi
Wifi enabling DreamPi is pretty easy, but hard to do in a out-of-the-box fashion. Instructions for modifying your /etc/network/interfaces and corresponding supplicants file were here:
http://pingbin.com/2012/12/setup-wifi-raspberry-pi/
I bought a tiny Edimax WiFi dongle for my Pi2 that just worked -- no drivers needed.

Raspberry Pi 3
The Raspberry Pi3 is a nice upgrade, and works fine with the DreamPi script. However, if you want to re-use your SD card/image from a Pi2 on your new Pi3, don't get rid of your Pi2 just yet! You'll want to run:
apt-get update
apt-get -y upgrade
repeatedly from the Pi2 until no more updates get downloaded, THEN you can move the card to your new Pi3.
See note below about dealing with small cards/images and OS updates.

In case you skipped that step, or never had a Pi2 to begin with, here's a disc image with Raspbian Jessie, and DreamPi, that you might want to use:
http://1drv.ms/1TGjw27
If you have trouble with OneDrive links, try following this link in "Private Browsing" mode (or whatever the equivalent is on your browser of choice.)

Parts List
Good quality parts make a difference. So does construction. See my video link above on how to assemble a solid voltage inducer...

• White Case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y0C5EYQ
• Black Case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ONOKPHC
• Dreamcast Metallic Sticker: https://www.etsy.com/listing/240897724/sega-dreamcast-label-aufkleber-sticker
• Dell RD02 Modem: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006P3IWV0
• Project Box for Voltage Inducer Circuitry: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W8QJC12
• 9V Battery Clip: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H8T5Z4W
• Good Phone Line: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XDAFV5I
• Bulk SD Cards (4gb): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MHZ6VH2
• 330 Ohm Resistor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BVOR6IS
• 0.47uF 50v 105C Electrolytic Capacitor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087ZBBQC

I included a battery, browser and USB cord, but not the required 2.1 amp USB power adapter, and was able to consistently build these for just under $90 in about 25 minutes. Shipping in the US fits perfectly inside a $6.50 Priority Mail small box. Sold for $110 shipped after eBay takes $10.4 in fees, and you'll do just a little bit better than break-even.

Troubleshooting the Build
The two most common problem symptoms are easy to troubleshoot:
- Do both modem lights come on after the Pi boots? If not, run the script in --no-daemon mode and look for errors. The most likely (non-obvious) cause is an incompatible modem.
- If both modem lights come on and there are no errors, but the Dreamcast still complains/won't connect, do yourself a favor and find an old corded phone that you can plug into the voltage inducer to listen for a dial tone. If you can't hear an audible dial tone, your voltage inducer is borked.

Home Wiring
You can serve your entire household with a single DreamPi, as long as:
- Your house has a phone line network
- You don't need said phone line network for anything else

If you disconnect any external line coming into the house, and connect your voltage inducer phone line directly into any phone outlet in the house (including your de-marc) every other phone jack in the house will get your DreamPi dial-tone!
I set this up with a WeMo WiFi power outlet, so I could turn my DreamPi on from my phone -- and didn't have to leave it on all the time.
(I further connected my WeMo to my Amazon Echo, so I can just say "Alexa, turn on the DreamPi")
Note, just like with a telephone, only one Dreamcast at a time can use the DreamPi.

Note that the Pi/DreamPi script (not sure which) doesn't like running forever and will eventually go into an un-useful idle state that forces you to reboot before you can use it, so you can't just leave the Pi there on all the time. If you use a WeMo power outlet, you can set it to trip off after 2 hours (or whatever you want.)

Games that I tested regularly that work (and don't)
After dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of testing, here's what I'm confident in, regardless of configuration:

• Quake 3: flawless
• Maximum Pool: with the necessary VMU file present its almost perfect, once connected. Some flakiness in finding the server sometimes -- not sure which end that's on. Host and join without issues.
  
• 4x4 Evolution: works great once connected. Cannot host a game from DreamPi, but can join existing games.
• Starlancer: I swear this once worked, but it doesn't now. You can see games (after a pause), but can't join. Can't host games either.
  
• PSO: flawless -- once its patched (use custom disc image, or boot disc)
• PlanetWeb 2.0: flawless, and re-directs to the its new home on the web, DreamPipe.net

Bonus: Dealing with Disc Images
Download a GParted Live CD, which makes it possible to re-size and copy disc images. If you try to upgrade the OS on a small card, you'll run out of space almost immediately. You'll find that if you simply duplicate that image to a larger card, you'll still be stuck with the same partition size on the larger card -- and still run out of space.
The solution is a little convoluted: use GParted on the bigger card to make the partition larger, apply the changes, put the card back in the Pi, then run the updates.
If you want to go back to use the smaller card afterward (easier to upload to people on the Internet, for example), size the larger partition on the bigger card back down in Gparted, then use copy and paste feature (in GParted) to paste the partitions back onto the smaller card. Then take an image of the smaller card.
You'll need both cards in the computer at the same time to do copy/paste, so you'll need two SD Card adapters (cheap USB ones work fine.)

 

Holy .... you are a genius in my opinion, having such a cool idea in first is awesome and to see your Development trough the last weeks going to the FINAL steps giving us all a piece of our DREAMcast back which some i intend may have never or just seen for a short while (back then in germany internet was paid per minute and blocked your Phone line for callers so it was a pain in the *** going online)
Just gotta say awesome brillant piece of code you created and for sure some damn nice looking hardware Bundle you got us all there looks so good could have been soled by Sega back then
But as I'm in Europe i can't use the actual solution any change theres gonna be an EU Kit in the future ? Is there only the voltage difference to overcome from 110v to 220v or would there be more things to fit for an EU Version!

Thank you very much for your inspiring work and leeting us all be part of an idea becoming some awesome piece of Hardware & Software ! Wish you all the best and that each and every one owning a DC may buy one of your MAGIc boxes ;-)

gr33tings from germany

 

The line voltage inducer runs off a 9v battery, the Raspberry Pi off a USB power supply. There shouldn't be any issues there.

It's nothing you can't just do yourself as long as your are able to solder a few wires together.
However modems are unnecessarily expensive over here, might have to get creative or import one.

@kazade
are you planning to make the designs for that USB line voltage inducer available eventually?
I've gotten the SMD soldering bug recently, somehow i greatly enjoy even the horrifically tiny stuff.

 

@Jon all that information is awesome, thanks for sharing it!

@Nopileus yeah, I'll release the Fritzing files under an open licence

@kdkane I'm the author of the Dreampi software, glad you like it! Although Jon's kits don't work in the EU, you can connect 2 batteries rather than one and it should work. I'll be selling some EU compatible voltage adapters soon, I'll keep you posted!

 

I only noticed this the other day, because I normally switch stuff off at the wall - my best guess is it's something to do with the dial tone generation but I'll look into it

Yeah, this is my bad - pcwzrd13 asked me to switch to a new server which appeared more reliable - but then it didn't work and I haven't had a chance to switch back yet. The old one is pretty flaky too though :/

 

Getting starlancer working would be amazing, as I've never actually been able to connect even with netopia

 

FWIW I have a half finished custom server for Starlancer - but I don't know when I'll have time to complete it :/

 

Just curious, can dreampi be used to connect Sega Saturn netlink to the internet? What about the possibility of connecting two Saturns together via a Ras Pi?

 

Should work... I guess someone will have to try and see

 

hi, forgive me if this is already answered somewhere in this thread:
the phone lines in my house are live. if i make this project, will it still work as long as i leave the 9v battery disconnected?

 

Im pretty sure something like this has been tried for the saturn before, because of the fact that you connect directly to each other on the saturn rather than a server you get desyncs between the 2 players