Who'd've thunk I'd ever USE my Dreamcast modem?

[JB]

Monday morning, my phone company ACCIDENTALLY cut my phone service off.

That afternoon, after a cell phone call later, it was on.

 

The DSL connectipon, however, was not.

A call this morning reveals that they cancelled THAT too, and it didn't get switched back on with the phone.

It's coming now, but it'll be 2 to 3 days before they get it fixed.

They gave us a back-up dialup account, but NONE OF MY PCS HAVE MODEMS! ARGH!

 

But the Dreamcast DOES! And I grabbed a keyboard when Gamestop was clearing them out for a dollar. So I'm online again! YAY!

The Dreamcast, lame though it be named, has saved me from the barbarism of an offline existence.

And I love Sega for it, glitchy browser and all.

[NE146]

Man.. that was the first thing I did when I got the DC.. right out of the box, brand new. Surfed the web via dialup! (everyone has a couple of backup dialup accounts in their pocket right?). Anyway, I had a naked chick pic on my tv screen within a couple of minutes. Laughed. Then never used it online again.

[l3ushwig]

I had a naked chick pic on my tv screen within a couple of minutes.

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[z28in82]

Man.. that was the first thing I did when I got the DC.. right out of the box, brand new. Surfed the web via dialup! (everyone has a couple of backup dialup accounts in their pocket right?). Anyway, I had a naked chick pic on my tv screen within a couple of minutes. Laughed. Then never used it online again.

882709[/snapback]

And somehow this was supposed to be a suprise??

[JB]

Man.. that was the first thing I did when I got the DC.. right out of the box, brand new. Surfed the web via dialup! (everyone has a couple of backup dialup accounts in their pocket right?). Anyway, I had a naked chick pic on my tv screen within a couple of minutes. Laughed. Then never used it online again.

882709[/snapback]

 

*chuckles*

I didn't know there was a back-up number for dialing in when I got my DC.

I think I may have used it once for laughs. But there's only so much low-res glitchy-browser internet you can take when there's a decent PC with a reasonably fast connection in the next room. Particularly as I didn't have a keyboard back then.

[Rhindle The Red]

My Dreamcast actually led me to buy a new computer back in the day. When I got my Dreamcast in August of 1999, I only had (I swear) a 14.4 modem. When I realized I could surf the Web faster and more efficiently on a video game console than on my computer, I knew the time had come to move on. (More accurately, the time had long past, but I was too cheap to do anything about it.)

[jesusc]

(More accurately, the time had long past, but I was too cheap to do anything about it.)

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wow, six years later, and you're still a cheap bastard.

When having problems with my Roadrunner, I've had to resort to dial-up through the Dreamcast. Only to check email though, I'm become much too spoiled to actually surf anywhere without broadband. I've pretty much forgotten about how you could boil an egg waiting for a page to load, and i like it that way.

[Lord Helmet]

The DC is best on the web when you use the last version of the web browser that was released. It has support for the DC mouse.

[Bratwurst]

And can you believe there are some people that still use WebTV to access the internet?

[IronMongeR]

Was Dream Key 3 was the last browser? I remember Sega Europe sent out copies of it just as the DC was about to die.

[Lord Helmet]

I don't know is it was the last one.

 

You can get version 2.6 here:

 

http://www.dcemulation.com/soft-webrowse.htm

 

It has mouse support.

[JB]

The DC is best on the web when you use the last version of the web browser that was released. It has support for the DC mouse.

882874[/snapback]

Dun have a DC mouse. And I actually PREFER the analog thumbstick to a mouse.

I'd've still liked the last release, if only for the better browser.

 

Was Dream Key 3 was the last browser?  I remember Sega Europe sent out copies of it just as the DC was about to die.

882902[/snapback]

That was the final european browser, as I recall.

 

The US had the PlanetWeb browser, Asian nations had Dream Passport(which is alos the browser integrated into online-component games such as ChuChu rocket).

 

 

I USED to have a site bookmarked that had a quick browser comparison, but I've long since lost the URL.

 

 

Ah, found it...

http://krypt.dyndns.org:81/dreamcast/browsers/

 

3.0 was the last PlanetWeb browser and DreamKey release. DreamPassport made it to 3.2.

If I recall, PlanetWeb 3.0 was released on the demo disk from the last issue of the official Dreamcast magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

And in related news...

THANK GOD the DSL is back on.

The DC was better than nothing, but it's good to be sitting at a computer with multiple windows up at once.

[jesusc]

3.0 wasn't released on the DC demo disks.

For the longest time, you had to order it from the planetweb website for $30.

Lately though, they have been selling it on eBay for $14 shipped.

I just bought one for completeness sake.

As an aside, it was the only one to support the DC broadband adapter.

Have fun finding a cheap one of those though.

[JB]

3.0 wasn't released on the DC demo disks.

My mistake. I'd heard it was.

 

 

For the longest time, you had to order it from the planetweb website for $30.

Lately though, they have been selling it on eBay for $14 shipped.

I just bought one for completeness sake.

Heh.

 

As an aside, it was the only one to support the DC broadband adapter.

Have fun finding a cheap one of those though.

883229[/snapback]

Only PlanetWeb browser. All versions of DreamPassport supported the BBA(why Japan had it from launch and we got it right before hte DC died is anyone's guess).

 

...

 

Sad but true: I had a chance to pick up a pile of DC BBAs for a couple bucks an adapter shortly after the DC was killed.

I didn't, under the logic that I didn't have the V3 browser, and didn't really see a reason to take my DC online anyways.

Edited June 30, 2005 by JB

[Tanukitsune]

I used the DC modem to download extras for the Sonic games, when I finally got Phantasy Star Online, my Dreamkey was outdated and it said I had to get a new one... ONLINE!

 

I was never able to play it online, or use the DC modem ever again....

[Radio F Software]

I bought a Dreamcast when they were on dead-clearance so I could sneak Internet access to message boards. Couldn't get that crap to work. Ever.

[SteveW]

I used to use the free internet service, freei.com, for my internet access on the DC. Freei would normally only work with their banner ad software running in front of your computer's web browser, but I configured it to bypass that. I just wanted to see what websurfing was like with a Dreamcast. It wasn't a great experience. Trying to type in URLs was a huge pain using a DC game controller. I did have a little bit of fun with it, downloading movies from Sega's web site for upcoming games like Ecco the Dolphin. Now that I have a keyboard, it would be kind of interesting to hook up again and give it another shot, but after years of DSL service, I can't go back to dial-up.

[BuzzTron451]

Web Browsers aren't a very good way of surfing the internet. It is very slow, and it can't display HTML much. I only use it in times of desperation. However, Web Browser 3.0 and I think the European version of it (the name has escaped my mind...) are better than Web Browser 1/2.0. Plus, the former, WB3.0, is compatible with both dial-up and broadband. I tend to play online games more than I surf the internet with my DC, however.

 

Anyways, glad to hear the DC "kicked in in the clutch."

[gulag picture radio]

I acgtually used it to test compatibility of a website by girlfriend had designed. She had to create a website that was mega-accessible by all browsers, including Lynx and whatever blind people use (yes - blind folks use the web...). The one thing we couldn't test was WebTV since we didn't know anyone with one of those. Out came the Dreamcast, and we were able to see that all her hard work paid off. Most complaint website ever...

[NintendoDieScreaming]

(everyone has a couple of backup dialup accounts in their pocket right?).

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You know it!

 

First thing I did with my DC, too.

[Video]

I use the Dreamcast to get on the web all the time. Yeah, I got a PC, but it's in storage and I have no way of setting it up here, there's no room, till I can afford a flat screen monitor anyways.

 

Anyhow, I'll tell you, don't judge the DC's online ability by the shitty 1.0 browser that was given away with every system ever made.

The 3.0 is much better. It's still buggy, but you can get around more than just two pages befor it crashes. (I can get around my board no prob, and even on this one OK)

My previous browser befor my current, was actually 2.1, wich blows 3.0 out of the water, I've never actually had the thing crash, of course, I don't spend all my time looking for porno either. It still has problems, Low HTML support for one, and most E-Mail that I use won't run on it.

Never tried 2.6.2, but I've heard it's the best of the Sega browsers. If it's better than 2.1, that's awesome, but I'm content with that.

 

Now, What I use is a really awesome browser, called XDP, It's free, and it works great, never had problems with it myself, it's compatible with pretty much all HTML (to my limited knowledge) supports most picture types, and even does videos decently (I love Joe Cartoon myself) It's faster than my computer on the internet, and my computer's old, but not that old (You can build much better machines, but your not going to get any better without hitting broadband) Just over all, it's awesome.

 

Anyhow, check out this browser, you can download it Here again, it's free.

 

Oh, and thanks to Lord Helmet for the link. I'll download it and finely get to see myself if it's better than 2.1

[JB]

Anyhow, I'll tell you, don't judge the DC's online ability by the shitty 1.0 browser that was given away with every system ever made. 

2.x.

 

 

 

The 3.0 is much better.  It's still buggy, but you can get around more than just two pages befor it crashes.  (I can get around my board no prob, and even on this one OK)

My problem wasn't crashing(well, not much). It was that the browser couldn't process the script used to assemble the boards.

 

My previous browser befor my current, was actually 2.1, wich blows 3.0 out of the water, I've never actually had the thing crash, of course, I don't spend all my time looking for porno either. 

2.something on mine. And it crashed mainly while I was trying to look at webcomics.

 

Now, What I use is a really awesome browser, called XDP, It's free, and it works great, never had problems with it myself, it's compatible with pretty much all HTML (to my limited knowledge) supports most picture types, and even does videos decently (I love Joe Cartoon myself) It's faster than my computer on the internet, and my computer's old, but not that old (You can build much better machines, but your not going to get any better without hitting broadband)  Just over all, it's awesome.

Actually, having a hard drive helps a LOT.

 

Most of my speed issues weren't the browser's fault, there just isn't any space for a cache.

So every time I hit a page, it pulled all the images back down the pipe, even though a PC-based one would've cached a lot of it.

 

Anyhow, check out this browser, you can download it Here again, it's free. 

I <3 bandwidth.

But if my DSL ever craps out again, I know where to go.

[Atarinvader]

Was Dream Key 3 was the last browser?  I remember Sega Europe sent out copies of it just as the DC was about to die.

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You either had to phone and order it or get it with PSO Vers. 2. It actually, AFAIR, re-flashes the modem with a new dial-up number (of your choice) that could be used with PSO Vers. 2. It does also work with the brilliant DC mouse, which was good.

 

None of the Dreamkeys used to work with phpBB, so you're lucky you can post here now Al's switched the forums.

[Jacob Rose]

The DC is best on the web when you use the last version of the web browser that was released. It has support for the DC mouse.

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And for the Broadband (Ethernet) adapter, which is why I paid $25 for my copy...