Hi Rafal,
	Congrats on building an image that works in the older Dreamcast.
	I remember reading somewhere about a hardware mod to allow the use
of CD-RWs in Dreamcasts, but I don't know if it would be worthwhile to
attempt on the newer Dreamcast cause I'm not familiar with how they are
disabling CD-R read support.
	I've never tried to boot a data-data CD; I just stick with the
mixed-mode audio/data CDs I've been making (and provide files/directions
for) cause they work.
	The VGA adapters work great. Both of the bootable .isos that are
available on my page have the VGA adapter bit turned on, so they should
(and do; I run mine through a KVM switch to a VGA monitor) work with
either a VGA monitor through an adapter or straight to a TV. The DC video
looks very sharp on a nice VGA monitor, too.
	If you decide to whip up your own images, Marcus' pages have all
the documentation you'll need to find which bit to turn on in the config
file that's used to create the first blocks of the .iso.
	As an aside, I'm going to get around to updating the CD images and
world tarballs I have available to the newer release NetBSD sources, but
I've been pretty busy with other projects and the like. I'm also going to
jerk out a lot of the extra stuff (pkg tree, a few extra thing I compiled)
to get the final tarball size down some.

Thanks,
Josh

On Wed, 18 Dec 2002, Rafal Boni wrote:

> A week or two ago, I wrote about a Dec. 2000 DC console that wouldn't boot
> any CDRs I threw at it.  In the meantime, I picked up another DC console --
> this one made sometime in 1999 -- and it boots the netboot kernel CD image
> I cooked up from Josh Tolbert's images and instructions.  I haven't yet
> tossed it on my home network because the TV isn't anywhere near a network
> drop (yet 8-) and I don't have a VGA cable, but I don't imagine I'll have
> any problems...
>
> Interestingly enough (or not 8-), even the older unit will not boot any of
> the CDRs in the data-data format that all the DC hacker sites claim are
> guaranteed bootable on any DC (and which didn't boot on the Dec. 2000 model
> either).
>
> One last question -- I have an overabundance of VGA monitors and don't
> have an extra TV to hook the DC up to for the time being (eventually,
> I'd like to plop it in the entertainment center and use it as an MP3
> player or remote terminal instead of the laptop)... Has anyone used
> the DC port with a VGA cable/adapter, and have any tips to report?
> Alternately, does anyone know whether it's expected to "Just Work" or
> whether it's known not to work?
>
> If there's a chance of it working, I'll likely pick one up, since it
> would be nice to make use of some of those spare monitors and since
> the TV output is pretty crappy due to interlacing.
>
> Thanks!
> --rafal
>
> ----
> Rafal Boni                                                     rafal@attbi.com
>   We are all worms.  But I do believe I am a glowworm.  -- Winston Churchill
>
>