| OmegaDog
187th Post
 
Regular Customer
   
|  "Need worthy, non-buggy Dreamcast BBA browser."
, posted Mon 7 Oct 14:21
Can anyone suggest a good Dreamcast web browser that would be compatible with the Broadband Adapter?
Here's what I'm looking for:
1) Support for all HTTPS servers.
2) VMU support (i.e. the browser doesn't hang whenever it tries to do anything with the VMU).
I used to have a browser disc, a rendition of the fan-hacked Broadband Passport US BETA 1, that would work quite fine; it only had a couple graphical glitches with regards to text, but everything else was working fine.
However, I seem to have misplaced the disc on the move back to the university back a couple months ago, and the link for that rendition of BBP US BETA 1 has disappeared. I found another, more commonly available rendition of BBP US BETA 1 -- but it has the fault of not being able to load all sorts of HTTPS pages (when the previous one I found could do that) -- and it has the further fault of hanging whenever it does anything involving the VMU (including, if you leave the VMU in while the program is loading, the program tries to access it and hangs before it even really starts). [I'm wondering why it's also called US BETA 1... and oddly enough, it's actually labeled on the page as "Broadband Passport v3.0", even if the v. numbers have nothing to do with the US BETA numbers.]
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The reason I need it: My university's servers have a policy of needing to register every network card that connects to the Internet through the University, so that the DHCP server can assign a unique IP Address to each network card for the entire year. (The university has 65536 total IP addresses.) Basically, whenever we try to access the net for the first time each year with a certain network device, the university servers automatically redirects to the DHCP server, which has an HTTPS port which has a page that describes the rules and policies of net usage at the university. After we acknowledge that we've read the page and agree to the policies, we're then free to use the net after that with any programs we have.
But, this current Broadband Passport disc that I have doesn't seem to even be able to load the page, saying along the lines of "Host cannot be found." That's a problem, as I can't seem to register my Dreamcast BBA (when I could last year with the other rendition of BBP US BETA 1.)
Now, I can temporarily put in my own regular computer's IP address and info on the Dreamcast, and access pages that way (that's how I found out that this current BBP US BETA 1 rendition that I have can access some HTTPS servers, but not others). However, it doesn't solve the problem of not being able to register my Dreamcast BBA. The upcoming paragraph is the reason I want to do all this...
I've occasionally used my Dreamcast to run Linux for working on stuff (when my regular computer is doing something for which it shouldn't be disturbed, and the two public computers in my dorm hall are in use), and the only way I can transfer stuff to my regular computer is by uploading my work to the 'net (or telnetting to an account in the first place and using the server-side text editor). Because LinuxDC doesn't use any of the BBA info that's stored in the Dreamcast's system memory, my Dreamcast can't masquerade as my regular computer on the network -- and furthermore, it seems the browser disc doesn't come with any browsers that support HTTPS. So, any hope of being productive at a time when I need a computer (when other options aren't available, and other computers are too far away) are shot.
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That -- and, of course, since I like to download keys to my Dreamcast games (i.e. to unlock songs on Samba de Amigo, or to see if I can finally browse some custom-made Jet Set Radio graffiti designs, if there are any decent ones...), it miffs me that this edition of the BBP US BETA 1 that I have hangs upon any command involving the VMU.
So... can anyone help in this regard, and suggest where I can get a good BBA browser? Post here, or e-mail me at OmegaDog@IGNmail.com . Thanks a bunch!
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