On Tue, Jan 09, 2001 at 10:40:08AM -0800, Byrd, John wrote:
> > There is one specific question on my mind - I haven't purchased a unit yet
> -
> > I'd like to do so shortly. I have heard that new units on the shelves now
> > cannot boot from a Cd-Rom - which I understand is the current method of
> > bootstraping the serial-port loader utility.
> 
> Units appearing on the shelves will shortly be unable to read any sort of
> information from CD media.

So I should buy one ASAP? Any clues on differentiation - serial numbers,
model numbers, etc?

> This is in specific response to the
> proliferation of piracy of Dreamcast games.

I understand the need. One option that might have been a more flexible
management scheme for Sega, would be to include one public key in the firmware,
and allow booting from CD's whose bootstrap was signed with the appropriate
private key. 

As per your next statement, yes, motivated persons could do a hardware hack
to eliminate the key requirement, but it would have allowed Sega to sign
approved bootstraps for things like.... NetBSD/dreamcast :-)

> I suspect that a motivated hardware hacker will be able to figure out how to
> modify this type of Dreamcast.

No doubt. It's a shame though - it introduces a barrier to legal uses while
it tries to fight piracy.

								David