I Just Bought a Dreamcast to Run NetBSD. What do I do now?

Getting NetBSD up and running on the Sega Dreamcast is pretty easy, as long as you know what's involved. This document is aimed at the NetBSD newbie as well as the DC/NetBSD newbie. However, a familiarity with some flavor of UNIX is recommended. Information for this document has been culled from the mailing list archive at http://www.netbsd.org, Marcus Comstedt's homepage at http://mc.pp.se/dc, BeTips.net http://www.betips.net, and personal trial and error.

Project 1

1) Requirements

You will need the following:

Dreamcast console (it is recommended that you use a unit manufactured September 2000 or earlier (some have reported that newer ones work as well, so check the mailing list archive to be sure)
Dreamcast keyboard
OPTIONAL - Dreamcast mouse (as of this writing there is no driver for it. Maybe you could write one?)
a PC running windows
a PC running NetBSD (Linux or any other *BSD should work, too. BeOS does not work for step 3)
DiscJuggler for Windows (the demo version is fine) http://www.padus.com
blank CD-R's (CD-RW's cannot be read by the Dreamcast)
bootable NetBSD kernel (DiscJuggler image) from http://www.roadsign.com/dc/
"mkhybrid" and a CD burning program (I used CD Burner under BeOS, but you'll most likely use "cdrecord")

2) Make a Bootable Kernel CD

Using DiscJuggler, burn the bootable kernel image file
Pop it in the DC and turn on the power
you should see a bunch of boot info scroll by, and then it will prompt you for a root FS

If you've gotten this far, you know your DC is of the correct manufacture date. If it is later than September of 2000, please report it to the mailing list.

3) Make Root Filesystem CD

Retrieve the HPCSH tarballs from http://www.netbsd.org
untar them into their own dir on your *BSD/Linux PC
run the MAKEDEV script. This will create your console, as well as other needed devices.
```
		# sh MAKEDEV all
    
```
using mkhybrid, create an ISO9660 image from the HPCSH distribution with the freshly made /dev/* stuff.
```
		# mkhybrid -o DCBSD.img -V DCNetBSD -a -r /path/to/files
    
```
The -V is the volume label, the -a means all files in the source dir, and the -r is for rock ridge extensions (this may not be necessary, but it didn't sem to have any adverse affects on my experience)
using cdrecord, burn the image as a regular ISO9660 CD (as opposed to the bootable kernel image)
4) Try it Out
Boot the DC from your bootable kernel CD
When it prompts you for the root FS, you want it to point to the GDROM, so type in:
```
		# gdrom0
    
```
When it prompts you for a dump device, just press "Enter"
At this point you should swap the bootable kernel CD for the Root Filesystem CD you just burned
you should have a prompt for filesystem type type in:
```
		# cd9660
    
```
Hitting enter" with the root filesystem CD in the DC should start the DC in single user mode. It'll prompt you again for shell and terminal type (vt220 or vt100 is fine).
5) You're done!
While this is exciting, it's not very useful at this point. You can't use an editor that requires temp space (vi), and you can't modify anything. There are a few options from here:
Boot the DC from a read/write FS via NFS (requires the Broadband Adapter)
create a custome Root FS cd with all the programs you need to run and let it go, doing its thing The first option brings us to...

Project 2

To be continued...

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"I Just Bought a Dreamcast to Run NetBSD. What do I do now?"

Project 1

1) Requirements

2) Make a Bootable Kernel CD

3) Make Root Filesystem CD

4) Try it Out

5) You're done!

Project 2