Broadband -Overkill?

[N7VQM]

Viking wrote:
I wonder if I can use my PPC Amiga on broadband?
What hardware do I need?
Something special I should be aware of, like possible difficulties?

As I recall, the AmigaOne is supposed to have 10/100 Mpbs hardware on-board.  (Any one care to confirm this?)  I don't see USB-only broadband modems being an option for alittle while, at least.

The more important problem is wether your prospective broadband provider uses DHCP or PPPoE.

[N7VQM]

Herewegoagain wrote:
You are right about the AmigaOne.   But if he has a PPC Amiga already, he can just add an ethernet card and go.

Ahh...for some reason I equated PPC Amiga to A1.  My apologies.  However, as far as hardware for a Zorro-based Amiga, I would recommend the XSurf card.  I used one in my A3k and it worked great.  Minimal hassle.

Exactly.  If it is a cable modem, it's standard DHCP, but DSL is usually PPPoE (or PPPoA).

That may not always be true.  PPPoE can be used on a cablemodem system and may be easier to manage that DHCP in some cases.  You have to ask before getting the service.

[N7VQM]

Herewegoagain wrote:
Yeah, but that is again, only if he is using a USB modem.  Which at this point, is not an option for Amiga (well, you can plug it in but you won't have any drivers)   :-D

Based on my experiance with USB-connected cable modems, I don't think they're much of an option for Windows, much less Amiga.  I had no end of problems including intermittant connection loss and machine crashes when my IP changed.  Plus, I was getting tired of stringing my Amiga to my PC with a serial connection.  So, once I had had enough, I got ethernet cards for my machines and an SMC router for the bunch.  Now, I can honestly say I'm happy with my cable modem.

[N7VQM]

Viking wrote:

What part of the Amiga is limiting the speed? The ethernet card? The 68060 or the PPC? All these parts? ( I suppose the browser is run by the 060.)

The limiting factor is the Zorro bus.  But, don't worry.  You really won't feel limited by the Zorro bus bandwidth.  The XSurf card I had in my A3k (RIP) is built to the Zorro 2 spec and I saw sustained download speeds of 150-175KB/s (1200 bps to 1400 bps) on cable modem which is more bandwidth than the 1Mbps connection offers.  Just for comparison, my current Win32 and Linux boxen with PCI 10/100 ethernet cards both can achive 300KB/s (about 2.34Mbps).  Of course, that must have been on a "really good" network day.

[N7VQM]

Viking wrote:
What's your advice for me?

Get a Zorro based Ethernet card such as an XSurf card from individual Computers.  Another option would be a used Ariadne.  The USB card has nothing to do with this conversation.  AFAIK, both the Ariadne and XSurf are Zorro 2 cards but, Zorro 2 cards work on Zorro 3-equiped Amigas in all but a few cases.  For example, the XSurf worked flawlessly in my Zorro 3 Amiga 3000.

Miami, Genesis, TCP/IP stacks, =protocols. But a protocol, is this the same as a piece of software?

A protocol is a method of doing something.  In the case of networks, a protocol is a method of data transfer.  A TCP/IP stack is a software package that allows  your computer to use the TCP/IP protocol so you can connect to the Internet.  Miami and Genesis are TCP/IP stacks.  You only need one.

 I recommend Genesis because you'd need something close to a miracle to get Miami registered.  Holger Kruse, the author of Miami, doesn't seem to want anything to do with Amiga.

[N7VQM]

Karlos wrote:

Does anybody know if any decent PCI ethernet cards work with either the GREX or Mediator? If so, what's the top throughput you could expect?

The Mediator Driver Guide  has a list of 10 and 100Mbit cards that have been tested with the Mediator.  What you'll get as a maximum throughput is hard to gauge.   I'd imaging that with a Mediator and a SharkPPC, one would get some pretty good performance.  I didn't find much on the GREX other than a reference to Realtek chipsets.

If you get a Mediator, would you report your findings?  I'm concidering a Mediator as a way to resurect my A3k.