Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: amigadave on November 07, 2007, 11:51:42 PM
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I searched the whole amiga.org site and forum threads for the answer to this question, but got nothing, so I'll ask it here and hope is has not been beaten to death before and I just missed finding it.
Which is the best Amiga Zorro bus Ethernet card? (I own all of the below choices and will put the best in my A4000s, second best in the A3000s, and slowest in my A2000s)
1. Commodore A2065 Rev.3 (used)
2. Hydra Systems Amiganet Rev.1.1 (used)
3. ASDG Inc. EB920 (used)
4. X-Surf Version 2.0 (new, never used)
5. None of the above, fill in the blank ______________
One other consideration is the other controllers that are part of the X-Surf cards (IDE & clock ports) and which Amiga models will benefit the most from having those ports, if any. Clock ports might be useful in the future for adding USB or something. The A2000s both have GVP TekMagic 060/50mHz accelerators, A3000Ds both have WarpEngine 040/40mHz accelerators, A3000T has Commodore 3640 (or is it 3460, I can't remember) 040/25mHz accelerator, A4000Ts both have CyberStormPPC 233mHz+060/60mHz accelerators
2nd question:
I have 5 ethernet cards (need to find numbers 6, 7 & 8) to install and create my Amiga LAN, actually I want to add the big box Amigas to my existing LAN which consists of a cable modem connected to a wireless router that has 4 ethernet RJ45 ports, one of which is being used by my Dell tower running Windows XP Media Center Edition. There are 3 laptops that also connect to this network via wireless as well as two other tower PCs that have wireless adapters. I also want to add my A1200-060 via wireless connection sometime later.
So with 3 remaining empty RJ45 Ethernet ports empty, what is the best way to add between 5 and 8 big box Amigas? Consider that all the big box Amigas are located close to the router and Dell tower in one massive wall shelving unit that I just built myself, so there won't be any long ethernet wire runs.
Thanks in advance for any advice. :-D
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5. None of the above: ARIADNE II!!!
I have two Ariadne II cards (one in my A2000, one in my A4000), and absolutely love them.
Of course, in my case, they sort of win the "best network card" prize by default, since I've never used any other Amiga network cards :-P
-dove
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This question is kinda silly.
I used Ariadne, Xsurf2/3 and 2065 and saw no difference whatsoever in performance. All seem to work just fine. personally i like ariadne as the chipset is newer without ugly isa hacks (seen on xsurf).
but any card you get is good. :-D
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Answer is still "None of the Above"
The best network card for Amigas is an rtl_8139D plugged into a Zorro->PCI bridgeboard
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amigadave wrote:
So with 3 remaining empty RJ45 Ethernet ports empty, what is the best way to add between 5 and 8 big box Amigas? Consider that all the big box Amigas are located close to the router and Dell tower in one massive wall shelving unit that I just built myself, so there won't be any long ethernet wire runs.
Simple - just get an adequately sized switch (100 Mbps, 5 ports: ~$10) and you're set. You can also use an old hub (probably ~$0).
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I have an Ariadne II, which has worked well for about 8 years. The Ariadne has a few feature connectors which were never utilised by Villagetronic, but can be used to connect a clockport and MP3 hardware:
http://www.rockus.at/Amiga/ariadne2clockport.html
http://www.rockus.at/Amiga/PROmp3.html
________
HONDA ANF125 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Honda_ANF125)
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i dont have (yet) any xsurf, so dunno how fast it is, but imo speed grid looks like this
(ive tried just ftp transfers, nothÃng more)
1. ariadne II
2. ariadne
3. A2065
4. hydra 1.2
5. hydra 1.1
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The Hydra Systems AmigaNET card apparently has a terrible reputation, and the drivers don't work under OS4 anyway, so if you intend to get OS4, don't put the AmigaNET card in either of your PPC machines :-)
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The plus for the X-surf is that it is actually available for sale and you don't have to try and eBay it. Recently network cards have been going for $75-$150 on eBay (the cheap one not even guarantied to work). I just purchased an X-surf from AmigaKit.
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The A2065 is a tight fit in the A3000 (just to get it in), so I'd put it in the A2000 or 3000T. Plus you'll need a tranciever. Other than that it's a great card. Compatible with everything (AMIX, etc.).
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AndrewBell wrote:
I have an Ariadne II, which has worked well for about 8 years. The Ariadne has a few feature connectors which were never utilised by Villagetronic, but can be used to connect a clockport and MP3 hardware:
AAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!
Cool! I wasn't aware of this!
A Clockport hack! Yesss!
:-o :-) :-o :-)
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Thanks to everyone for the advice and comments. I don't think I have any Adriadne (sp?) cards and they seem very expensive. All network cards for Amigas are 3 to 5 times the cost of PC cards but I don't have and don't want to go the PCI, or GoldenGate bridge route as I am using all the slots in almost every Amiga I have. I just completed putting a full A4000T together last night and had to modify the back of the case to have an opening for the Cybervision VGA connector Who ever designed the Amiga Technologies A4000T case was an idiot! The Power Tower for the A4000D is only slightly better. If I want to install the second CyberVision in the PT I will have to hack the bottom off the 3.5" drive cage. I ended up putting the X-Surf in both A4000 machines.
Edit: Should I worry about the 200watt power supply being enough for the Power Tower A4000D w/CSPPC, Toaster/Flyer, AD516 Sound card, X-Surf, Picasso IV? I didn't check the wattage on the A4000T, but it states on the back it is 115v 5amp?
Should I use the Picasso IV or Cybervision on CSPPC in the PowerTower? I have always heard/read and thought that the Picasso IV was the best card to use for a Toaster/Flyer setup, but using the Cybervision will make the PowerTower match the Amiga Technologies A4000T Toaster/Flyer setup and I will then put the Picasso IV into one of the A3000D or the A3000T Toaster/Flyer machines.
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I'd leave Hydra's Amiganet 1.1 for a2000... that doesn't work on newer models without little hardware modification and then it only works as last card in the chain. And at least for me it wasn't that stable in heavy use... well it was OK, but sometimes it just stopped transferring anything until next reboot ;)
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mdivancic wrote:
The plus for the X-surf is that it is actually available for sale and you don't have to try and eBay it.
The previously best-regarded was the Ameristar A4066. I almost had one at the St. Louis show one time, but Holger Kruse pulled out his wallet faster; good thing, because he used 'my' card in testing Miami.
The X-surf uses the most modern chipset, and Holger claimed the X-surf was probably the most reliable because of the good RF components and layout used on the ISA board. I have had a Hydra board seem to drift from lots of errors to inability to connect over time, probably because of crummy RF section.
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I won't say which one is the best, but I can say which one is the worst, without comparison: The ASDG EB920. It is not only a bad ethernet card, it even makes the machine unstable.
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xeron wrote:
The Hydra Systems AmigaNET card apparently has a terrible reputation
i have two cards, v 1.1 and v 1.2 (with RJ45)
while 1.1 really must be on the end of zorro chain, the v 1.2 is fokkin stable and works great under 3.9 in A4000/060
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stopthegop wrote:
The best network card for Amigas is an rtl_8139D plugged into a Zorro->PCI bridgeboard
Doesn't the RTL8139 steal lots and lots of CPU cycles?
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Iggy_Drougge wrote:
Doesn't the RTL8139 steal lots and lots of CPU cycles?
Doesn't seem to here on my Mediator 4000Di (I can't speak for other PCI solutions). Of course, transfers aren't near 12MB/s either.
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amigadave wrote:
I will then put the Picasso IV into one of the A3000D or the A3000T Toaster/Flyer machines.
arrrgh ... If you want to use PIV in a A3000 please trade it to me for a Cv64.
PIV has one of the best scandoublers ever made for the AGA chipset. Using it in a A3000 is a complete, utter waste of resources (since A3000 has its own scandoubler anyway)
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Iggy_Drougge wrote:
stopthegop wrote:
The best network card for Amigas is an rtl_8139D plugged into a Zorro->PCI bridgeboard
Doesn't the RTL8139 steal lots and lots of CPU cycles?
In my experience all network cards use heavily the cpu in maximum transfer rates. Both Zorro and PCI cards use all available CPU power with fast transfers... so faster the CPU is faster you can get data. With 060/66 I got max 600k/s with Amiganet on Zorro2 bus and around 900k/s with 10Mbps RTL card on MediatorZIV. With 10/100Mbps RTL card I've got roughly 1.3M/s... When using slower outside lines, then it doesn't matter that much, but in any case, PCI cards have worked better here.
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countzero wrote:
arrrgh ... If you want to use PIV in a A3000 please trade it to me for a Cv64.
PIV has one of the best scandoublers ever made for the AGA chipset. Using it in a A3000 is a complete, utter waste of resources (since A3000 has its own scandoubler anyway)
I have to agree with with countzero on this one. I know we are talking about network cards, but putting a PIV in a A3000(T) is a waste of a good scan doubler.
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How can i use a RTL8139 using Amithlon?
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I don't know anything about Amithlon.. I assume its just a PC emulating an Amiga in software, right? If so, I would imagine any $1.99 PCI network card should work...? On my Amiga, the rtl_8139 card requires a driver in "Devs:networks" called rtl_8139.device. In "libs:" should be openpci.library. In "Envarc:openpci" should be rtl8139-n.config (where 'n' is the unit number of the card, 0 being the nic in the lowest physical pci slot, 4 being the max). If 'n' is not specified in the filename, 0 is assumed. The config file contains only one variable (that I am aware of..), and that is the connection speed. I think "1" indicates 100M FD, and "4" is Automatic. I might have those backwards, not sure.. Will check to confirm.
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I have used nearly all of the above (and the Ariadne II mentioned later) and found the Ariadne was pretty much the easiest to install and deal with. While it otherwise seemed pretty good, I ran into some weirdness with the x-surf and other software (but it's been too long to remember what it was) so sold it.
The A2065 (or was it the hydra?) used coax, not rj45, so it required a terminator and an older hub that still had a coax port, but otherwise worked fine (but if you find one, buy the hub and terminator with it if you can).
A couple not mentioned already are the variations on PCMCIA ethernet (there were at least two on the market at one time, one I got from National Amiga in canada, can't remember on the other) and, the DKB A2000 68060 accel. has ethernet built into it, if you are lucky enough to find one still out there (definitely among the rarer, yet coolest hardware out there for the Amiga ever made).
Finally, I would imagine now that you might use one of the various still-avail. USB cards as an ethernet alternative too? I've done that route on occasion with PCs, why not Amigas?
good luck!
amigau
http://www.amigau.com
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amigau wrote:
The A2065 (or was it the hydra?) used coax, not rj45, so it required a terminator and an older hub that still had a coax port, but otherwise worked fine (but if you find one, buy the hub and terminator with it if you can).
More cleaner solution is to get transceiver into AUI-port (at least Hydra has that port). The one which converts AUI->RJ-45. On Hydra's Amiganet 1.1 you have to switch one jumper row to different position to activate AUI instead of BNC. Transceivers used to be pretty expensive, but nowadays they can be found cheaply as used... I found handful of them from one recycling center and they worked fine with Hydra :)
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How do i acces Envarc to put openpci in it?
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"Envarc:" is the alias for the directory "sys:prefs/env-archive". From a shell type "makedir envarc:openpci".
Then open editpad and save a file to the folder you just created called "rtl8139-0.config". When Genisis or Miami-init ask you for a "configuration" file, select this file.
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WOO! Genisis now shows RTL8139 as online (green light) but when i got on A-Web it doesnt connect to the internet, Why could this be? (thanx for all the help so far)
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Possibly you need to enter your DNS servers to resolve the URLs.
Can you access your router from the browser by entering it's IP address?
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Well i doesnt say unable to load page, the boing balls fly for a second then it just doesnt do anything, what do u mean by the dns thing?
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How do i find my DNS server name?
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@Gwion
Please open another thread for off-topic problems. You're hijacking amigadave's thread.
On topic: I have the Ariadne I card and it works fine. I get about 600-700Kb/s with FTP between Amiga and my PC.
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Oops sorry amigadave i'll start another thread :idea: