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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: diamondgeezer on January 08, 2004, 09:00:40 PM

Title: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 08, 2004, 09:00:40 PM
As an old A500 user I'm quite impressed with a recently acquired A1200 ('030, CD, large HD) and I'd like to connect it to the internet.

My research tells me that the Ethernet Gold II PCMCIA card I bought on ebay is cnet.device compatible and that I need TCP/IP software that can handle the dynamic IP allocation my broadband provider (ntl) uses (DHCP I'm almost certain). This probably means Miami.

I plan to:
a) install cnet.device
b) plug in the PC card & configure cnet.device to use the card
c) install Miami & configure to use cnet.device
d) plug in the ethernet feed from NTL

In order to use NTL's broadband any  NIC needs to be registered online (probably with the MAC). In fact the reg page is the only page that is sent back (regardless of address) until this is done.

Phew! I'm not a techie although I love to play with SAS/C and AmigaTeX (Turrican II isn't bad either). My question is: have I missed anything?
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: HopperJF on January 08, 2004, 09:22:22 PM
sounds about right to me although i'm no expert, i only  use my Mac online
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: restore2003 on January 08, 2004, 09:28:55 PM
Sounds like the right way to go, good luck  :-)

btw welcome to amiga.org! Quite a lot of new members recently  :-)
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 08, 2004, 09:29:41 PM
Erm...the MAC (or Ethernet) address is the individual number built-in to network cards - this allows your card (rather than your computer) to be uniquely addressed. I'm wondering if this might be an issue with my Gold card?
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Spidey on January 08, 2004, 09:55:41 PM
Hello diamondgeezer and welcome to Amiga.Org ;-)

You shouldn't have problems with your Gold card and MAC-adress, I don't have it with my A1200 and PCMCIA-card.

Bye,

Spidey
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 09, 2004, 01:49:55 AM
Thanks for you input. Does any one know how I can get a copy of Miami?
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Lemmink on January 09, 2004, 06:32:42 AM
Unfortunately today it is next to impossible to get a (legal) registered copy of Miami, as the autor of it doesn`t give a damn about it anymore.
By the way, as it is you would need either MiamiDX to use DSL or you have to hook up your Amiga to a router. With a Router you could also use Genesis instead of Miami, that comes free on the OS3.9 CD.
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 09, 2004, 01:40:43 PM
I suppose we should change thread now as this has become a discussion about software but ... I've heard about something called Roadshow. It's supposed to be a TCP/IP stack that can handle DHCP etc. but seems to be linked to OS4. Any info?
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Ryu on January 09, 2004, 02:06:27 PM
yup RoadShow is the TCP/IP stack that is to be included with OS4. It is my understanding that it has been finished and ready for some time. However we wont see a stand alone package until after the release of OS4..
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Colmiga on January 10, 2004, 05:39:12 PM
In your situation, MiamiDX would be the best choice if you can get a copy of it. It is possible to use DHCP with AmiTCP/GENESiS with client software from Aminet though I had great difficulty getting that working (my home LAN uses DHCP for IP allocation so I wanted my A4000 to do that too). I'll have to try again after I've got my A4000 up and running again after its ATX case conversion.

Another thing I'd be cocerned with connecting an Amiga directly to the Internet is the lack of a firewall. Roadshow will fix this issue by having BSD Packet Filter built in but with Miami/AmiTCP i'd be stopping any non esstential services and blocking unused port access to the net. Another option is to connect the Amiga to a system that has decent firewalling/security and use that to connect to the net.

I currently do this for my A4000 but years ago before I knew about the issues I had a direct dialup connection to my Amiga and actually had a few nasty things happen to me.

If anybody knows of firewalling software for the current Amiga I'd like to know.
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Amiga1200PPC on January 10, 2004, 07:15:44 PM
What is this firewalling software good for?
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: HopperJF on January 10, 2004, 07:20:26 PM
whats a firewall  ;-)
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: AccyD on January 10, 2004, 08:57:33 PM
Quote

HopperJF wrote:
whats a firewall  ;-)


Firewall Definition (http://www.commerce-database.com/firewall-definition.htm)

In case anyone is unsure !!  :-o  :-D
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: desborough on January 10, 2004, 09:11:05 PM
Check out this (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/index.html) site for hints on tips on NTL connection. IIRC the mac address that is registered is the mac address of the cable modem. not the network card.
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Robbie on January 10, 2004, 10:12:42 PM
I always presumed my Amiga was safe without a  firewall because I thought people trying to mess around with my computer would be expecting a PC at the other end... :-?
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: Will-i-am on January 11, 2004, 08:15:28 PM
Thought I would toss out a question on this subject...I have an a4000T w/os3.9, CSPPC, and A4066 ethernet. My wife's pc is connected to a cable modem w/ a router. When I try to hook the 4000 to the router and connect w/ Ibrowse I get the impression that my browser bombs at the router. Is there a particular set of TCP/IP commands I need to know to get out to the web? Should I be using Genesis instead? Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: vpamicue on January 11, 2004, 09:24:19 PM
Actually you do not need Miami DX unless you need a DHCP server. Miami has a built in DHCL client that works well, I am using it on my Amiga now with dhcp and it works fine.
Again DX is only if you would like to use Amiga as a true server as a client you can use Miami or Miami DX.
Thjere is only one thing that could prvent Miami not connecting and that is if the server conection (NTL) requires ppoe tunneling this is not supported by Miami and you must use Miami DX. I f you buy one of the cheap cable dsl routers available now and set it up for Static routing on the LAN side (not very complicated on most routers exept of course Microsoft routers ;) you can even use Genises or AMI/TCP, which by the way are faster than miami.
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: NeRP on January 12, 2004, 08:59:55 AM
You only need MiamiDX if you want to run your *own* DCHP server.  Most people do not want or need to do this.

Miami (non-DX) can use DHCP based connection schemes quite easily.  (IE: I've done it for years)
Title: Re: Hooking up to the internet
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 13, 2004, 05:41:58 PM
That's nice to know. Only thing now is to locate a copy :-? .