Networking on A1200 - PCMCIA or USB?

[bbond007]

The subway really only supports a fraction of usb 1.1 speed @ 250K/sec or so.

The stack being active cause issues with some applications.

Also the usb stack (poseidon) consumes about 25% of my CPU at all times when it is active with just a mouse. I have an 030/40mhz. I hope that number goes down when I get my 1260.

The subway is a nice device, but I don't leave it active unless I need it.

I have installed a eSATA port in my 1200 so I can connect an external HD or a DVD.

So I say PCMCIA.

I have an Amiga 1200 with a Blizzard IV (64 MB RAM, 50 MHz) that I have recently begun to update.  I have installed a Subway USB on it and upgraded my hard drive to a 60 GB.  I am now considering a way to connect it to my home network via Ethernet.  I believe I have 2 options: a PCMCIA ethernet card or a USB Ethernet adapter via my Subway USB.

Which is better and why?

So far, the cons are:

PCMCIA - 16-bit only, takes up PCMCIA slot so I can't use my Squirrel SCSI card
USB - Only supports USB 1.1 speeds

I am planning on Wired because my A1200 is in my family room which is already wired.

At some point in the future, I would also like to get the new Indivision AGA (new version) when it comes out.

So what has been your experience and recommendations

[bbond007]

I did not realize that Poseidon used so much resources all the time.  I may want to reconsider running it all the time too and just start it and stop it when I need it.  Thanks for the info.  I'll have to check Jens speed increase numbers for using the Subway in my A600 w/A604 memory expander card and ACA630/25MHz.

Maybe its something with my system but tinymeter shows only like 25% so in use, sysinfo shows 36mhz (down from 40). Speedometer under Shapeshifter takes a 25% hit with my USB active as well..

I would definitely test to see if you have the same overhead.

Anaiis does not seem to have the overhead, but I have yet to find a wireless usb mouse that works correctly with it.

[bbond007]

My Blizzard is actually a 030/50 MHz processor.  Thanks for all the feedback.  I think I will go with the PCMCIA solution, even if it means I must switch it out with my SquirrelSCSI card.  I really on use it for my CD-ROM Drive (which I could replace with a IDE one if a got the Fast ATA adapter with a second IDE port.  I believe it will perform better than the USB one.  I took a look at the latest Poseidon archive (4.4) and it looks like there were some improvement on resource use when using USB Ethernet devices.  The Subway USB is great.  Very versatile (USB Keyboard, USB Mouse, USB Flash Drives, Digital Cameras, etc...).  But perhaps not for Ethernet.

I used a 4xEIDEx99 with the IDE->SATA adapter for a while. That device was like $30 or so.

Now I ahve a FAST ATA MK-IV...

gets around 6mb/sec in PIO5.