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Technology

Dreamcast as a Web Browser? 31

Posted by Cliff from the innovative-uses-for-obsolete-consoles dept.
Chris asks: "Last Christmas I gave my grandmother a cheap Windows PC with the hope that she would begin conversing with the rest of the family (some on the other side of the country) via e-mail. I don't believe she has turned it on since I was last over there, several months ago. So, this Christmas, I'm giving her a Dreamcast (only $50!) so she can use the Internet from the comfort of her television. I'm wondering if it will be easier for her to use the PlanetWeb browser that comes with the system (version 2) or should I install Linux or netBSD on it and give her a real browser? Ease of use is the single most important thing here. Hardware-wise, she'll be getting the unit, 1 VMU, 1 controller, and the keyboard. Thanks." It's good to see the Dreamcast hardware finding other uses with Sega out of the business; however do you think the Dreamcast would make a decent browser? Update: 12/25 02:50 GMT by C :Perhaps talk of the Demise of the Dreamcast comes a bit prematurely, at least according to this article from Gameswire.
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Dreamcast as a Web Browser? More

Dreamcast as a Web Browser?

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  • Put linux on it and it'll be fine until she manages to break it?

    maybe.. (how tolerant of being powered off unexpectedly etc is Linux on Dreamcast ?)
    • (how tolerant of being powered off unexpectedly etc is Linux on Dreamcast ?)
      Yeah, you might have dirty sectors on the hard drive or something. ;-)
    • Linux can be easy to use, just ask any TiVo owner. All he would need to do is set it up to launch Mozilla without making her log in, and dial her PPP connection as needed. He could even have Mozilla and the PPP dialer store their preferences on a VMU so that she could change them as needed.

      Heck, Lik Sang sells a DC to PS/2 adapter [lik-sang.com] so he could set her up with one of those nice wireless keyboards.

      As for being powered off unexpectedly, I doubt that the OS will care, what with it being on read-only media. And as long as grandma doesn't turn off the DC while it's writing Mozilla or PPP prefs, then it should be fine.
    • for the attention of the moderators, that wasn't a troll.
      seriously, how will a Dreamcast cope with power being cut whilst the NVRam is being written to?
    • UNIX and Linux power the most usable devices in the world: ATM machines, embedded systems, public terminals, etc. Unlike Windows, Linux has a choice of real transacted file systems and can be completely robust to being powered off suddenly.

      In order to achieve real usability and robustness, you need to customize systems. UNIX and Linux are up to it. With Windows, you get a one-size-fits-all user interface that works really well for nobody.

      The real question should be: why are people justified with something as primitive and limited as Windows?

      • What planet are you living on? Unix runs on virtually no embeded systems or ATM machines or public terminals. You need to lay off the purple twinkies man. Suggesting sticking any Unix varient on these sorts of systems is ridiculous. Why in the holiest of holy fucks would you use a time sharing OS on an ATM machine or embedded computer? That is just ridiculous. Most embedded systems don't even run an OS, just some firmware that is definitely not related to Unix in any way. As for the comment about customized systems you're just tilting at windmills. Have you ever seen WinNT embedded? No you probably haven't because it doesn't look like Windows. Where do you come up with this stuff?
        • Actually, lots of banks run both ATM machines and teller workstations off UNIX servers (they are also run off mainframes). So do numerous other large-scale government, information retrieval, and administrative systems. And so do large parts of the telephone network and voice-based services.

          As for what "embedded systems" are and what they run, there is obviously a wide spectrum of them. Some don't run much of an OS. Others are full multitasking systems with GUIs, used for applications like data entry, high-end medical devices and scanners, surveillance, and vehicle control. Both NT and UNIX play in that space. When NT is used for those applications, a lot of its desktop heritage shows through; after all, what's the point of using NT if you don't use its "industry standard, advanced development environment (Visual C++)" as Microsoft likes to call it? This is usually not to NT's advantage.

          • Did I mention mainframe systems? No I didn't. Of course those run Unix of some variant. I've never seen an ATM that ran anything more complex than DOS for the simple reason is multi-user time sharing systems are not right for the application. ATMs are NOT merely terminals to bigger systems. They are entirely dependant on mainframe systems to operate but the front end is not just a terminal emulator. Embedded systems often times don't have a traditional interface one might think of as a computer. A couple of buttons and LEDs are usually the only user interface embedded systems have. Most of the shit you listed DOES NOT run NT or Unix. Look it up man. Most systems just have some firmware which runs a piece of software on them while other have RTOSes. Both NT and any Unix variant are ill suited for these environments because they are time sharing systems. There is no fucking reason to have a multi-user OS running on something that only interfaces with other machines and never people. NT and most Unix variants you find have too many problems with latency and poorly manage high priority processing. With something like a computer driving or piloting some vehicle you need stuff to process in a set amount of time and handle errors seemlessly. You can't have an autopilot computer pop up an hourglass on screen saying its busy.
  • It's been my experience that ISP's just hate supporting Dreamcast. If you're happy to look after your gran's needs, that's fine, but they might just be a little easier for her to deal with if you install a *nix on it.
  • Dude, I just bought a Dreamcast mouse for all of $10 the other day, and I really think that it deserves a mouse if you're going to use it as some sort of computing-device.

    I haven't gotten around to putting a UNIX on it yet, but I'm rather sure that things aren't to an extremely usable state either. I'd think you'd be better off using the software that came with it.

  • Or you could just pick up the phone... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by marcsherman ( 300604 ) on Monday December 24, 2001 @01:10PM (#2747562)
    Some people just aren't all that interested in e-mail. She'd probably tell you that it's a great present because she doesn't want to hurt your feelings, but she probably wouldn't use the dreamcast any more frequently than she does the computer she's already got.
    • I agree, 100%. If you spend one hour per month keeping the box running, my grandmothers would be MUCH happier if I would just go talk to them for an hour or so. Take them shopping.

      Little side note: my grandfather had five daughters. Never spoke about his experiences in the So. Pacific (enlisted when he was 15 or 16. They didn't ask a lot of questions in those days) I went to university about ten miles from his house, so would frequently stop by for Sunday dinner. Over the year or so, he spoke to me more about his experiences than he had to any other human in 50+ years.

      So the moral of the story: fuck the browser. Go visit the old lady.
  • The newer ones (I don't know date off-hand) will not run Linux or NetBSD last I heard.

  • Paradaigm Shift for Grandma (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Does she:
    drive an automatic?
    use the microwave?
    use a hair dryer?
    go to the stylist when she needs her hair done?
    use an electric can opener?
    turn up the thermostat, or put on another sweater?

    Beginning to see a pattern here? Computers aren't for everyone.

    Plus not everyone wants to send emails to other people. To email grandma, create a font of your handwriting, print out an email to her, mail it to her instead. Rinse and repeat.
  • The last time I checked, there was no support for the standard dreamcast modem in the linux distribution. There is support for the broadband adapter, but that raises two issues: 1) I seriously doubt your grandmother has broadband access given your description of her computer use and 2) the broadband adapter is extremely hard to find, occasionally surfacing on ebay and selling in excess of $120.

    I have no experience with running NetBSD on my dc, but a quick check of the page seems to indicate that it too lacks modem drivers.

    Without a doubt, go for the standard Sega tools and utilities. Its cool to be able to run Linux and emulators, but believe me, you are well aware during the experience that you are running these ports on a gaming console. You have no permanent storage, I believe drivers are in the works to allow you to use the vmu, but they're small anyway. Thus, you can't save settings (network connectivity information), unless you load information over the network using the broadband adapter or a special serial device you can order from Lik Sang, but I think these requirements certainly exceed the scope of the project you're undertaking.
    Good luck and let us know what you end up doing, and if you're successful in getting your grandmother online, I've got a couple of similar situations in my family.
  • I would NOT recommend this. I love the Dreamcast, but it's a very clunky web browser, and considering it probably won't be supported for very long, you could probably do better. If it's just for email why not get one of those e-mail stations? Not too expensive, and they're more intuitive.

  • Heh, I did this a couple of years ago... (Score:3, Funny)

    by stimpy ( 11763 ) on Monday December 24, 2001 @07:43PM (#2748420) Homepage
    (bought a dreamcast for my grandmother so she could get on the Internet), she didn't want a computer because they were too hard to use. Of course, she was basing this on the C-64 she had 10 years ago, but.... Within 6 months she got pissed off and bought a computer because the Dreamcast couldn't do...get this...Napster. Probably doesn't answer your question, but I had to share.

    Brian
  • My grandma can hardly use or uses the mobile phone she got for her birthday.. she's 79yrs old and has been a sew maker for all her life... Me and my mother has been trying her to learn hwo to use the computer.. but she just isn't interested.. My other grandma is a bit more technical she can use her mobile phone and her satelite reciever but she doesn't have a computer either.. She is 72yrs old.. However I got quite chocked yesterday when my 44 yr old aunt had gotten a computer and learned how to surf the net.. Hell my dad that has a technical job and is 50 surfs the net alot worse than my 44 yrd old aunt... not the least interested in technical devices whatsoever.. However our dads often masters the old technology better.. I can hardly open the hood of a car while my dad can replace the engine all by himself...
  • ...maybe she just doesn't like the Internet. Don't force-feed it to her.

    - A.P.

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