Here are the steps I took to be able to browse using the new WiFiPi wireless network driver, and Miami DX.
Version 0.1: First version to document my experiences - still finding and fixing typos
Version 0.2 (8 May '24): Corrected grammar and added a bit more explanation to steps. Nothing fundamental has changed which alters the steps.
Version 0.3 (29 May 2024): Added DNS instructions for Miami as requested by bp500 in the comments.
Version 0.4 (12 June '24): Corrected the fact that my listed DNS server IP addresses are Virgin Media's, not Googles. Listed Google's IP addresses too.
Version 0.5 (16 August '24): updated observation about CPU usage.
Downloads:Emu68Tools from 23 April:
https://github.com/michalsc/Emu68-tools/releases/download/nightly/Emu68-tools-20240423-75ea45.zip (this version contains the first version of the Alpha wifipi driver to support encryption; check here for later versions
https://github.com/michalsc/Emu68-tools/releases)
Emu68 release 1:
https://github.com/michalsc/Emu68/releasesPrism2v2:
https://aminet.net/driver/net/prism2v2.lhaMiamiDX (demo):
https://aminet.net/comm/tcp/MiamiDx10cmain.lha and
https://aminet.net/comm/tcp/MiamiDx10c-MUI.lha (I already had this up and running with a 3COM PCMCIA card)
The info for where to copy the files is based on Michal Schultz's post:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/wi-fi-alpha-102261532The steps probably also work for other versions of the PiStorm but I don't have the hardware to test with.
Important to note that currently this is still an Alpha version of the driver so bugs or problems can be expected.
Set up the Wireless network driver (these steps are the same for any Network stack, not just MiamiDX)1: Unpack Emu68 tools
2: Copy file Emu68-WiFi/Devs/Networks/wifipi.device to DEVS:Networks
3: Copy the whole folder emu68/WiFi/Devs/Networks/Firmware to Devs: (so you end up with Devs:Firmware containing a series of txt, bin and clm_blob files; 14 files in the version I originally used) NOTE: I didn't have the Devs:Firmware folder to start with but some of you might)
4: Unpack Prism2v2.lha you can choose to run the installer or copy some files manually
IF MANUAL
5: Copy Wirelessmanager to C:
6: Create a text file in Envarc:sys/ called wireless.prefs
7: Add the lines
network={
ssid="<name of your wireless network>"
psk="<your network passphrase>"
}
8: Save the file
9: Reboot
IF USING THE INSTALLER:
5: Use expert mode
6: Choose 'No' when asked to install firmware for the Hermes chipset
7: Choose 'Yes' to set wireless preferences
8: Enter you wireless network name and password when prompted
9a: Choose whether or not to start WirelessManager automatically (it's up to you - see 'Observations' at the end)
9b: Finish the install and reboot
What's the difference between the Manual and the Installer set up?The process using the installer creates an encrypted version of the wireless password and uses that instead of the open text version which is handy if you don't want your password saved in plain text on your Amiga.
My personal experience is that I couldn't connect after setting up the wireless.prefs file manually, I would just get a timeout. Users Lemaru and Shaytam on the PiStorm discord assured me it should work without the encrypted PSK, so I uncommented the plain text line and commented out the encrypted line, rebooted and it then worked. The timeout was probably not related to the setup method I used (I have an old house with thick brick internal walls and Wifi can sometimes drop).
Starting the Network10: If you chose to use the installer and start automatically, and all being well, the wifipi.device should have been initialised on reboot. This is done silently so you won't see anything on screen to confirm it.
11: If you have chosen the manual route open up a Shell and enter 'Wirelessmanager wifipi.device' - after a few seconds you hopefully get confirmation that you are associated with a MAC address, key negotiation is completed and CTRL-EVENT-Connected ie you're connected to the access point.
Configuring MiamiDX (Note I already use MiamiDX with a PCMCIA card and copied the original settings rather than set up from scratch)
12: If not already done, install MiamiDX
13: Run Miami and open up `Hardware` > `New` to open up the 'Hardware definition' window
14: Give it a name e.g. WiFiPi (remember this for step 22)
15: `Type` should default to SANA-II driver (if not change it to that using the cycle gadget)
16: In `Driver` enter `DEVS:Networks/wifipi.device` (or browse to it) and leave `Unit` as 0
17: Open `SANA-II parameters`
18: Choose `Query Device` - the settings should auto-complete.
19: Choose `OK` to close the SANA-II parameters window and again to close the Hardware definition window
20: Choose `Interfaces` from the MiamiDX menu
21: Choose `New`
22: My settings are:
- Name: eth1
- Alias: WiFiPi
- Type: Ethernet
- Hardware: (whatever you called the interface in step 14)
- Priority: 10
- IP type: Static (note DHCP might work for you but my router doesn't serve DHCP to my Amiga properly)
- IP Address: something relevant to your network
- Netmask Type: Static
- Netmask: 255.255.255.0 (pretty common)
- Gateway Type: static
- Gateway: ip address of your router
- Multicasts: disabled
- Multicast pri: 0
- Control panel: ticked
- GUI default: unticked
(I don't have any Auto-connect/disconnect settings or Manual routes/aliases)
Select `TCP/IP settings` and in the `Interface TCP\IP settings` screen::
- Use ICMP: ticked
- Fake IP: unticked
- Get dynamic hostame, priority: 0
- Get dynamic DNS servers: Ignore
- Preferred offline state: Suspended
- Get time: unticked
- DHCP Enable: Ticked
- Send hostname in request: Ticked
- Host Name: Something you want to identify your Amiga on if looking in your router interface
23: Select `OK` to close the `Interface TCP/IP Settings` window and again to close the `Interface definition` window
24: Go to `Databases` from the left hand menu
25: Use the cycle gadet at the top to get to `DNS servers`
26: Select `Add` and enter an IP address of a DNS server* in the `IP address field`, press enter (mine is set to 194.168.4.100, which is Virgin Media's)
27: Optionally repeat 26 to add a backup (mine is set to 194.168.8.100)
28: Right-click and choose 'Save' from the Settings menu
*Google's DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Others are available if you search.
Now to test:
29: In MiamiDX, and the `Interfaces` section, select your newly created Interface and select 'Online'
Observations:I Use Tinymeter and as soon as I run wirelessmanager the CPU drops to around 30%-33% free, so I'm going to continue to run this manually for now, only when I want to go online. Discussion on Discord says this is because direct polling, not DMA is used. There's still more than enough free CPU to run web tools like IBrowse, FTP programs etc and not get noticeable slowdown.
UPDATE: I have a new router from my ISP and connecting to the 5G WiFi signal results in negligible CPU usage. The Amiga won't connect to the 2.4 G signal so I don't know if the difference is due to the new router or the choice of signal.
If you make any changes to the wireless.prefs file reboot for them to take effect.
