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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: lauri.lotvonen on May 24, 2011, 08:48:15 AM

Title: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: lauri.lotvonen on May 24, 2011, 08:48:15 AM
Im looking for a pcmcia wlan card for my A600 this time, but I dont know which one should I get?

Does the card have to be 16bit as I recall?
If I understood right, the card also has to be a "prism2" card?

There is really cheap ones at evilbay, and I'm tempted :rolleyes: :

http://global.ebay.com/Netgear-WN511B-RangeMax-Next-Wireless-N-PCMCIA-PC-Card/190514993612/item

16-bit card, could this work:

http://global.ebay.com/DELL-1150-ORINOCO-GOLD-16BIT-PCMCIA-WIFI-CARD-16-BIT/110638704173/item
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: Colani1200 on May 24, 2011, 01:23:58 PM
Short answer: check the manual inside the prism2.device archive (http://aminet.net/driver/net/prism2.lha)
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: pVC on May 24, 2011, 01:24:37 PM
Lucent Technologies' WaveLAN and Orinoco cards have worked fine on my A1200. Bronze, Silver and Gold models of them..

Those are pretty common cards and you can see them locally all the time too. I just bought Orinoco Gold (128bit WEP) to replace my Silvers (64bit WEP). It was just 3e including the postage (from huuto.net) :)

Some current examples:
Orinoco Gold (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/orinoco-gold-16-bittinen-pcmcia-wlan-kortti-11-mbit_s/178023739)
WaveLAN Silver 1 (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/wavelan-silver/178160746)
WaveLAN Silver 2 (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/wavelan-kortti-kannettavaan-pmci-paikkaan-ei-hvta/178315046)
Or you could see if this (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/orinoco-silver-pcmcia-wlan-5v-16-bit-vanhaan-kannettavaan/176327364) comes in sale again ;)

BTW. prism2 driver requires kickstart 3.x, so it won't work on stock A600... only if you've upgraded the rom.

For other models I'd just try to read compatibility part carefully from the prism2.device guide.
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: digiflip on May 24, 2011, 01:34:22 PM
do any wireless g cards work for amigas with 3.1 roms?
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: utri007 on May 24, 2011, 01:37:31 PM
digiflip: Did you read any of earlier posts?
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: Cammy on May 24, 2011, 05:09:27 PM
Bookmark or remember this link, it's a page for listing working and non-working PCMCIA network cards for Amigas:  http://www.g-mb.de/pcmcia_e.html
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: ChrisUnionNJ on May 25, 2011, 12:34:15 AM
This one works I picked it up on amibay cheap!!

Netgear MA401

Chris  :argue:
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: lauri.lotvonen on May 25, 2011, 07:01:50 AM
Quote from: pVC;639948
Lucent Technologies' WaveLAN and Orinoco cards have worked fine on my A1200. Bronze, Silver and Gold models of them..

Those are pretty common cards and you can see them locally all the time too. I just bought Orinoco Gold (128bit WEP) to replace my Silvers (64bit WEP). It was just 3e including the postage (from huuto.net) :)

Some current examples:
Orinoco Gold (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/orinoco-gold-16-bittinen-pcmcia-wlan-kortti-11-mbit_s/178023739)
WaveLAN Silver 1 (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/wavelan-silver/178160746)
WaveLAN Silver 2 (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/wavelan-kortti-kannettavaan-pmci-paikkaan-ei-hvta/178315046)
Or you could see if this (http://www.huuto.net/kohteet/orinoco-silver-pcmcia-wlan-5v-16-bit-vanhaan-kannettavaan/176327364) comes in sale again ;)

BTW. prism2 driver requires kickstart 3.x, so it won't work on stock A600... only if you've upgraded the rom.

For other models I'd just try to read compatibility part carefully from the prism2.device guide.

Thanks for these, made the buying part really easy for me :).
Purchased the WaveLAN Silver 2 card you linked, as it was dirt cheap :lol:.

About that kickstart issue, I'm ordering the ACA630/25 someday, so I assume I could Re-Kick the 3.1 rom with the Maprom function.
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: lauri.lotvonen on May 25, 2011, 07:03:07 AM
Quote from: utri007;639951
digiflip: Did you read any of earlier posts?

Thats what I thought also....:(
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: pVC on May 25, 2011, 11:51:41 AM
Quote from: lauri.lotvonen;640105
Thanks for these, made the buying part really easy for me :).
Purchased the WaveLAN Silver 2 card you linked, as it was dirt cheap :lol:.


You're welcome ;). BTW. those Silvers should be upgradeable to Golds. I just didn't bother to google how, because they were cheap enough to buy real thing too :P
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: Jools on April 21, 2015, 12:14:12 PM
It must be my lucky day or so. I'm specifically interested in finnish links and someone provided huuto links right here for me. Thank you very much!

I can however only find the orinoco silver version. Is the only difference that the gold has 128 bit WEP? Since I have a stock A1200, wouldn't 64-bit actually be better, since it uses less CPU for encryption? WEP can be cracked anyway so how does 128 vs 64 bit matter?

Also, funny that the driver carries the name PRISM, since we're talking about hacking into systems :)
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: gertsy on April 21, 2015, 12:57:58 PM
WEP is WiFi connection authentication not for transport. There is no CPU encryption/decryption to be done by your miggi.  Unless you are using SSL or TLS from/for some other app layer client on the TCP stack after an Ethernet connection is established.
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: Jools on April 21, 2015, 06:33:57 PM
Ok, thanks. But there is talk about software vs hardware encryption, though I think they are talking about WPA/TKIP security. But according to this site, also orinoco silver supports WPA/TKIP encryption: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57885

It seems from the picture that Orinoco silver has white connectors.
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: ncafferkey on April 23, 2015, 04:13:21 AM
WEP is encryption, it's just very weak. WEP128, WEP64 and unencrypted should all be the same speed since these are done in hardware.

Orinocos can perform WPA/TKIP encryption, but the firmware doesn't work with many modern routers. True Prism-II cards are more compatible and also support WPA2/AES/CCMP, but would be extremely slow with WPA/WPA2 on a stock A1200.
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: Jools on April 23, 2015, 11:53:23 AM
But many routers don't support (or allow) using only WEP, or even only WPA/TKIP. Not that I would like to open up my wireless network anyway.

But does someone have experience with setting up a second network (one with WEP or no encryption) within the same subnet as one secured with WPA2? Is it even possible? You need 2 DHCP servers with non-overlapping ranges? Or can computers see each other on separate subnets somehow? All online guides recommend only using one DHCP server, but I suppose most don't have to deal with using WEP in year 2015.

I guess one difference between using WEP and no  encryption is a legal one: with WEP you at least tell other people they cant use your network for sending 100 vulgar emails to the pope.

Also, what's the point of encryption anyway: maybe to keep your snooping neighbour out. But against government agencies: they already have infiltrated the end points and also put back-doors into security standards. But maybe the Amiga is so old that it's free from those.
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: pVC on April 23, 2015, 12:52:38 PM
Quote from: Jools;788259

But does someone have experience with setting up a second network (one with WEP or no encryption) within the same subnet as one secured with WPA2? Is it even possible? You need 2 DHCP servers with non-overlapping ranges? Or can computers see each other on separate subnets somehow? All online guides recommend only using one DHCP server, but I suppose most don't have to deal with using WEP in year 2015.


I have two wireless routers in my setup, a main router as a gateway to the outside internet which also provides wireless WPA2 access, and then another one just for Amiga usage with WEP.

The WEP one is connected to the same LAN with others (no WAN connection at all on it) and I have disabled DHCP server on it. I haven't even tried if Amigas would get addresses with DHCP from the other router, I guess they should, because AFAIK DHCP client finds the server with broadcasting.. but using static addresses is easier with Amiga anyway.

So, all devices are happily in the same LAN/subnet on my system, but I usually keep the WEP router off and only turn it on on the rare occasions I need to get online with my wireless Amigas. It's still not the most secure way, but at least much better than having WEP available all the time. I guess you could make them to different subnets for more security and then have port forwarding for the services you want to share locally...
Title: Re: Which PCMCIA-wlan cards work with A600/A1200 ?
Post by: cunnpole on April 23, 2015, 04:08:00 PM
I do something similar to PVC, except I also have a MAC address whitelist and can disable broadcasting of the SSID on the netgear wireless box