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News Archive: November 2001

Wednesday, November 28, 2001

Japanese BBA questions... Posted by TheGypsy @ 15:38
If you have a Japanese BBA handy, please contact me so that I can have you test a couple of things for me. Also, let me know if you have used AndrewK's dcload-ip with it and if there are any identifying labels or a model number on the unit itself. Thanks.

UPDATE: I have the information that I needed now. Thanks to those that responded!

- John...

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

KallistiGL example code Posted by CyRUS64 @ 4:16
Paul Boese kindly submitted an example for doing pseudo-sprites with alpha transparency and backface culling using KallistiGL. If other dev'ers have any snippets of / example code that people may find useful, feel free to send them in.

Links:
Local Download
Axlen's Place

Monday, November 26, 2001

Wanted: Rackmount Case/Chassis Posted by TheGypsy @ 2:22
Boob is in need of a 19" rackmount ATX-style case/chassis for a needed upgrade. Would prefer 1U or 2U, but could make do with a 4U if we had to. Would also prefer it to have a power supply with it. Actually, if the price is right, I'd consider getting it with a motherboard and CPU also.

I will buy the unit from you. Not looking for a donation of this equipment at this time because I use the same machine for other non-Boob use and therefore don't feel right having anyone "donate" it to me. Just offer it to me at a good price is all that I ask.

It actually needs to be shipped to me in the USA, so, for cost of shipping reasons, it would be better if you were also in the USA.

Please email me with details and an asking price if you have such a unit for sale. Thanks!

- John...

UPDATE: I've purchased one from EBay since I didn't find any good deals otherwise. Thanks to those that emailed with ideas/suggestions. I hope to upgrade this machine sometime over the next 2-3 weeks...

Thursday, November 22, 2001

Welcome Slashdot Readers Posted by Stalin @ 0:35
As is usual with most pages that get an interesting link on Slashdot, this site has been slashdotted. If the page does not load today that is why. Sorry for any delays or page errors due to server load.

Be sure to check out the links page for some great dc resources and you can find us in #boob on efnet.

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Dreamcast price officially dropped to US$49.95. Posted by TheGypsy @ 22:28
Sega of America announced today that it is officially dropping the price of the remaining Dreamcast units (there are about 270,000 of them) to US$49.95. They expect stores to sell out of them around mid-December -- and that will be the end of retail sales of the DC.

- John...

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

New IP.BIN bootstrap replacement Posted by LiENUS @ 22:11
I have completed a brand new replacement for the second bootstrap in IP.BIN and published full sourcecode under the GNU LGPL. This bootstrap was coded 100% in sh4 asm and it is even smaller/faster than the official sega one. This bootstrap replacement brings us 1 step closer to a 100% legal IP.BIN. If anyone finds any incompatibilities please email me.

Local Download

The Adventures of H(Qu)ax0r! Posted by CyRUS64 @ 18:19
The DreamZZT site has been updated with a release of "the first DreamZZT-specific game." Here's some info on it from the author:

"Today I have released a very short demo of The Adventures of Hax0r and Quax0r. This little demo started out as just a way to show off the new features of the engine, but will hopefully grow into a full RPG / adventure game."

Links:
Local Downloads
DreamZZT homepage

Thanks to Wraggster for the tip-off on irc.

Monday, November 19, 2001

DCFloys Posted by CyRUS64 @ 2:17
Paul Boese kindly emailed me, informing me of the release of DCFloys. Floys are social, territorial artificial life creatures. DCFloys was inspired by this Java applet, and it sounds like Paul has done some interesting stuff with this game/simulator. Here's a tidbit:
"While tinkering with with the code I wondered if it would be possible to see the 3D world from the point of view of the Floy's themselves. I setup the program so that you can switch views between that of an imaginary chase ship or that of a creature watching the action from another vantage point like say the top of a mountain."

Links:
Axlen's Hermitage
Local Downloads (added a DJ image by Do-Ban)

Sunday, November 18, 2001

Minus4DC Posted by CyRUS64 @ 15:37
Just thought I'd announce a new emulator that has been in development for a while. It is still yet to be released but it is an emulator for the Commodore Plus/4.
Link:
Minus4DC Homepage

Boob! Covers Central Posted by CyRUS64 @ 15:14
Boob! Covers Central has had quite a few updates over the last few days, so head over there and feel free to contribute / check out dreamcast covers for the plethora of homebrew software available.
Link:
Boob! Covers Central

Saturday, November 17, 2001

Bleem! RIP... Posted by TheGypsy @ 19:35
It appears that Bleem! has closed up shop. We are sorry to see one of the last commercial DC developers go... Rand -- if you are out there -- we thank you for your years of support of the DC and are saddened to hear that it couldn't be continued any longer...

- John...

P.S. Anyone that thinks that the small thread in our forums about Bleem! had anything to do with Bleem! closing is completely ignorant. They are completely unrelated events. [Update by CyRUS - Rand tells me that this thread regarding using Tekken3 to boot other games just won't work.]

Friday, November 16, 2001

Brief news Posted by CyRUS64 @ 17:14
DCGrendel has announced that a new DoomDC should be released this weekend and Heliophobe has updated his site with a bit of progress news on SMEG.

Links:
DoomDC Homepage
SMEG Homepage

Thursday, November 15, 2001

Fake emulators Posted by CyRUS64 @ 13:42
You may have noticed that Boob! has not posted about two newly-announced "emulators", one another SNES emulator and the other an N64 emulator. The reason we haven't posted about them is because they are clearly fake. The SNES emulator may be real in the sense that it may actually work, but it appears from the sshots to be at best the Sintendo src with a new gui. Even the in-game pics still look Paint-shop-pro'ed.
The N64 emulator is just pitifully fake. It apparently runs Perfect Dark at 90% speed on a 200mhz SH4 processor. Ignoring ram limitations, the combined efforts of the highly experienced authors of various PC N64 emulators, have not even wholly disassembled the microcode used in the game. I need not say any more as to why the emulator is a fake...

You may ask why am I posting about them now. The reason is that I have seen countless semi-well respected emulator news sites posting about these emulators. Please understand that some other sites are likely only promoting the emulators in order to get hits for the site, and thus make more money out of it. Please don't be fooled. At least do what emulation64 did and ask someone (Azimer!) who has a realistic knowledge of what is doable or not-doable.

Yes, an n64 emulator may one day appear for the dc, but its not going to play many commercial games and not at a high speed.

Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Posted by CyRUS64 @ 19:09
Just to say that if you ever forget the name www.boob.co.uk, you can now also access us at http://dreamcast.info =)

Tuesday, November 13, 2001

Fifty Dollar Dreamcasts? Posted by Stalin @ 5:18
According to `sime there is going to be a fairly nifty after Thanksgiving sale (starting on the 23rd of November) at Toys R US.

Scan 1
Scan 2

I do not know if this only applies to the Toys R US in `sime's area or if it applies to the whole United States. If it is a nationwide sale leave me one at the Morrow, GA Toys R US.

Monday, November 12, 2001

KallistiOS updates... Posted by CyRUS64 @ 13:14
A couple of newsworthy updates appeared on the kos mailing list... Firstly sndoggvorbis, an Ogg/Vorbis player library, has now been released and included in the KOS sourcetree, so be sure to go and try it out.

Secondly, Dan Potter has released KOS 1.1.5. Here's some info direct from Cryptic Allusion:
"KOS 1.1.5 has been released. Not a whole lot else to say at the moment. Check the SF link for downloads. This release includes a lot of goodies including some sound fixes, thread sync fixes, floating point printf() support, KGL translucency, up-ported KOS-MMU MMU module, polygon culling control in KGL, and OggVorbis (plus two examples). A big thanks to everyone who submitted code and fixes in this release!"

Links:
Local Download
Sourceforge

Thursday, November 8, 2001

NesterDC 4.0 beta Posted by CyRUS64 @ 13:22
Takayama Fumihiko, the new programmer for NesterDC, and former author of Expanded NesterDC, has released a "testers" version of NesterDC beta 4.0 at the Expanded NesterDC Site =)
Here are the new features...


  • FDS Support (without ex-sound)
  • FDS Saving: uses approx.3blocks
  • FDS State saving: uses approx. 66 blocks
  • FDS menu is bound to quick save/load menu. press B pulling R trigger.

You can download the release in its various forms, from Takayama's site. I'll put up the downloads locally asap.

LaserDC Source Released Posted by CyRUS64 @ 13:10
The source to LaserDC has now been kindly released in its entirety by ss_teven. You can now download the src / binary release from the Arcade Emulators page.

Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Posted by CyRUS64 @ 15:02
Atani has made a fairly big update at his site. In summary:
1) DCGen source minus gui released.
2) DCGBA, the supposed GBA emu for dreamcast, will now not be released, since apparently the scene are "not ready" for it =)
3) Other projects planned such as DCBliss / RPG for dreamcast.

Monday, November 5, 2001

DCGenerator port legal problems... Posted by TheGypsy @ 4:37
Just so people know... There appears to be some legal problems with ATani's port of Generator to the DC (and his Win32 port for that matter). Generator is released under the GPL. According to my interpretation of the GPL, ATani must make the sourcecode available for his ports of Generator -- and he is, so far, refusing to do so.

Those wishing to discuss this may do so here.

I am looking into this -- and will let you know what I find. Hopefully ATani corrects this situation soon and makes the sourcecode available. I will keep you updated...

- John...

Sunday, November 4, 2001

FCE Ultra DC released Posted by ss_teven @ 5:20
The author of UNester (and now NesterDC) has began porting FCE Ultra (a NES emulator) to Dreamcast. He states that the original APU engine is too heavy for the Dreamcast, so he is developing his own, and speed is equal and sometimes even better to NesterDC.

So this is yet another NES emulator for Dreamcast, not my favourite 8-bit system, but it is a great system none the less.

You can find more information and the source code to it here.

Friday, November 2, 2001

Interview with Atani Author of DCGEN Posted by wraggster @ 22:54
My good friend Lilmuckers has interviewed Atani the author of the recently released emulator DCGEN.
To read this great interview go HERE

DCGen CD/DVD Covers Competition Winners Announced Posted by wraggster @ 22:45
Atani has now just posted the winners of the DCGen CD/DVD covers competition. This is what he says:

Many great submissions were made, It was a difficult choice, but here are the results of the FAN submitted contest... I am going to produce one further cd cover for the next release... All three of you please contact me..
1) scotch
http://members.aol.com/dhotline/dcgen.jpg
2) elped
http://www.pedsoft.co.uk/covers.htm
3) mwmdragon
http://dragonsden.emuunlim.com/DCGENcover.jpg

Thanks to all involved it was really hard choosing a winner with so many great entries, believe me you all were great.

DCGEN Released Posted by wraggster @ 22:22
Atani has released DCGEN ver0.34 the first Legal playable Genesis/Megadrive Emulator for the Dreamcast.It runs full speed,nearly full sound,The VMU is not currently supported but will be in the future for save games,

[Updated by CyRUS64 - New Genesis Emulator page added.
Links:
Download
Sourceforge Site
Official Atani Software Site]

Boob! Covers Central updated Posted by wraggster @ 12:56
T-Money has again updated our great covers site Boob! Covers Central with this news:

Evil-N has just sent me his covers (DVD, and NTSCCD) for DreamAmp, the front image on both is great. The cover is simple, and classy. It doesn't look to Gaudy or anything. Its perfect, simple and to the point. I also talked to Javex tonite, and his covers will be added here shortly in the DreamSNES section, as well as SwissCheeseman's QuakeDC Cover (a MUST to check out), and Harry Tuttle's DC2600 cover. All great work by these guys, be sure to check em all out!

So please keep them coming to the premier Dreamcast covers site on the net.

Thursday, November 1, 2001

Jam Bombs Posted by CyRUS64 @ 15:13
DCGrendel has released a new mini-game. Here's some info on it:

"Well, just to prove I'm not slacking off, heres a beta of my latest addition to the Jam games collection, Jam Bombs - a minesweeper clone. Should be noted this is intended for serial cable owners, and might lock on machines without one attached."

Download
Official Site