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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: jjans on May 15, 2005, 07:06:18 AM

Title: Websurfing with A500
Post by: jjans on May 15, 2005, 07:06:18 AM
Well it ain't pretty, but it is now possible.
After weeks of fighting with this old girl, I am finally
actually posting to amiga.org directly from my old A500.

I did it with a NULL Modem connection with Miami, and AWeb,
connected through a NT Server and RAS.



Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Garyed40 on May 15, 2005, 07:21:52 AM
Very cool

Congrats bigtime

Gary
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: HyAmi on May 15, 2005, 09:58:12 AM
Good work! I was thinking to do the same, but I do not really like the NULL modem part. I mean, what "speed" can you get out of it?

I was wondering if there are more ways of connecting an A500 to the internet. I know it's possible to get USB working on this machine (clockport adapter from Jens and the subway from E3B). But are there any known USB-to-ethernet solutions that work for the Amiga? By the way, what is the bandwidth on a (stock) clockport?

oh, and btw, this is my first post, so "Hi to all of you!"
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: mr_a500 on May 15, 2005, 01:26:22 PM
Nice work jjans! You're the only other person I know of (besides me) who uses an A500 for web browsing. ("only in Canada, eh?...pity" - using quote from annoying tea commercial)

Why go through an NT server though? Why not just get a cheap external 56K modem (like I've got). Is the NT connection faster?

I wish I could get high-speed for my A500.

Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: AmigaEd on May 15, 2005, 05:03:14 PM
@jjans,

would it be possible for you to pass on the details of what you did so that some of us other A500 users could try this out as well?

Thanks,
AmigaEd
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Amigaz on May 15, 2005, 05:22:34 PM
Indeed, would be very kind of you
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: jjans on May 15, 2005, 05:33:42 PM
Quote

mr_a500 wrote:
Nice work jjans! You're the only other person I know of (besides me) who uses an A500 for web browsing. ("only in Canada, eh?...pity" - using quote from annoying tea commercial)

Why go through an NT server though? Why not just get a cheap external 56K modem (like I've got). Is the NT connection faster?

I wish I could get high-speed for my A500.



I went the NT Server route for 2 reasons.

1. Yes a modem would have been easier, but I wished to share my ISP cable/broadband connection from the Windows machine. I already had NT 4 Server, so no extra cost. No NIC card for my old A500, so Null Modem was the only solution.

2. The second reson was "because". The difficulty in getting it to actually work was bugging me. Plus I wanted a direct access to aminet from the amiga.

In regards to speed, I have only attained 38400 bps thus far using the built in serial.device. However, I have successfully connected using the BaudBandit.device, and so I may be able to squeeze 57600 out of her. I am going to have to shorten my serial cables to attain that, re-arrange the furniture too...

When I get a chance later today, I'll document everything I did for you guys that are interested.
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Framiga on May 15, 2005, 06:11:02 PM
great job jjans :-)

Would be great to share your experience, to all the A500-600 users around.

Thanks :-)
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: jjans on May 17, 2005, 01:39:10 AM
OK I revamped my setup a bit to help others that may not have access to NT Server and Proxy 2.0 (both a pain to configure at times...)

1.    First you need a serial NULL Modem Cable as documented elsewhere on Aminet for example. Normal serial cables and NULL Modem box at Radio Shack works fine, as well as a couple of 25 pin to 9 pin adapters to fit on the box and the amiga's serial cable will be required as well. I first tested the connection with Terminus2.0 (Amiga) and Hyperterm (PC)with ZMODEM protocol.

2.     Next I downloaded Browsegate 3 (http://www.softforall.com/Internet/DialupConnectivity/BrowseGate_306040009.htm) and installed on the PC, pretty much with the default settings. I enabled DHCP and DNS, and found it worked fine, but you may assign staic IP's on the amiga if you wish.

3.     Next I downloaded MiamiDX, and I really wish I could remember where I found it, but I suppose you could just use Miami as is. I just found the MiamiDX easier to configure, and with more options.

4.    Ami2PC-TCP.lha (http://main.aminet.net/comm/tcp/Ami2PC-TCP.lha) on aminet works better as a null modem installed on the PC to use instead of the "connect 2 PC's" device on Windows (98 to XP). I found I had the best luck achieving successfull connection with this Null Modem device available here mdmhayes.inf (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Network/SerialPPPWithXP) . You can try both and see which one works out for you, as I found the first few attempts to connect pretty hit and miss.

5.    To set up the connection follow the instructions for Browsgate, that are quite good, and although they are aimed at the different Windows platforms, you can configure the Amiga by also following the Miami.guide at the same time. Note that Browsegate has a 15 day eval period, but is helpfull to get the idea. You can replace it later with Wingate later if you wish. As for myself, I am going to try Server 2000 with ISA Server next...

Hope this helps!

Note also that I am using a 68030/FPU A500 running OS 3.5.
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: AmigaEd on May 17, 2005, 04:46:08 AM
I see that you have used Miami...

I'm wondering if AmiTCP/IP could be used instead of Miami.

Also Does anyone know what KS/OS is required for AmiTCP/IP? I read through the documents on Aminet, but didn't seem to find any reference to what version of KS/OS is required.

-AmigaEd
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Argus on May 17, 2005, 11:47:10 AM
I have a dialup A500 alternative with the following hardware at 56K speeds:

A500 w/ 2mb MegaChip, Superdenise
VXL 68030 w/ 2mb 32-bit RAM on RAM-32 card
KS 3.1
Dataflyer SCSI/IDE sidecar w/8mb 24-bit Fastram daughter card
Individual Computers A500 clockport adapter
SilverSurfer fast serial port on clockport
Zoom 56K modem
external 2x scsi cd rom

Not bad for posting but tough on memory to surf with only 10mb fast ram (need to flush memory cache often).
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: patrik on May 17, 2005, 03:06:28 PM
@AmigaEd:

KS/OS2.0 is required for AmiTCP.


/Patrik
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Generale on May 17, 2005, 03:54:41 PM
Wow. Very cool. I hd better finish the kickflash for my a500. Haven't been in the mood. Still need to get the ecs denise and paula too. Then the internet for my a500!!! Muahahahaha!!!
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: CU_AMiGA on May 17, 2005, 04:21:58 PM
Hey Yo!

Anyone find this site useful? It's a little old:

Pete's Amiga Page (http://peta.mobilserver.cz/amiga/#BASIC)

Regards,
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Munchkin on May 17, 2005, 08:47:36 PM
Sounds interesting.

I've been thinking about hooking up my A500 to my A4k just for fun and I wonder what would be the best solution. My A4k is connected to my home network through ethernet so I need to use that as a gateway somehow. Is a parnet cable a possible solution?
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: AmigaEd on May 18, 2005, 03:19:37 AM
@Patrik,

Thanks Patrik.

Well, I guess that takes care of that Idea. No internet for my A500 until I get cracking on that Kickflash like Generale. :-(

-AmigaEd


EDIT: Ah... I just saw the post about Peta's page... A very good read. Now I have some hope again. I didn't think about softkicking the system.
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: jjans on May 18, 2005, 06:41:17 AM

Quote

Munchkin wrote:
Sounds interesting.

I've been thinking about hooking up my A500 to my A4k just for fun and I wonder what would be the best solution. My A4k is connected to my home network through ethernet so I need to use that as a gateway somehow. Is a parnet cable a possible solution?


I tried getting Miami to recognise the parnet.device, so I could try a TCP connection with another Amiga. No such luck however. This was qquite some time ago, and I cannot recall the exact error, but Miami certainly wasn't recognising parnet unfortunately. Perhaps a hack exists for parnet.device to use TCP/IP out there?
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Mortifis on May 18, 2005, 09:08:11 AM
I registered here at amiga.org just to reply to this post.  You say that using a NULL modem connection to an NT system was the only solution to get broadband internet for your A500?  I beg to differ!  Why not just use a serial-to-CAT5 similar to this one http://www.ipcas.de/english/products/ipether232telnet/ipether232telnet.html  You can use this built-in virtual modem to speak to the device and simply plug the adaptor into a router, hub or directly into a cable/DSL modem ... cool, eh? ;)

--------------------> SNIP <-----------------------------

I went the NT Server route for 2 reasons.

1. Yes a modem would have been easier, but I wished to share my ISP cable/broadband connection from the Windows machine. I already had NT 4 Server, so no extra cost. No NIC card for my old A500, so Null Modem was the only solution.

Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: ivibozic on May 18, 2005, 10:03:05 AM
Hey JJans!

Go for the HD option. Always for the HD option!

-- ive

;-))
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: Crumb on May 18, 2005, 10:25:14 AM
@jjans:

You need a PLIP Sana II driver (http://www.aminet.net/search.php?name=plip&q_desc=OR&desc=slip&type=advanced)

BTW, AFAIK a parnet cable is not the same as a PLIP one, but if I remember correctly there are SANA II drivers for parnet too.
Title: Re: Websurfing with A500
Post by: jjans on May 19, 2005, 07:46:03 AM
Quote

Mortifis wrote:
I registered here at amiga.org just to reply to this post.  You say that using a NULL modem connection to an NT system was the only solution to get broadband internet for your A500?  I beg to differ!  Why not just use a serial-to-CAT5 similar to this one



I am impressed. Certainly looks like an easier solution. I didn't mean to imply that the method I used was the only definitive way to share a PC's broadband with an A500. I simply wished to try to make it work with what I had in house.

It was kind of a fun challenge to get working. I am glad I started this this thread here on amiga.org, as I appreciate the different ideas mentioned in the replies.

I intend to check them out when I get a chance!