A1200 going online

[Snoozy]

Hi ppl,
 
I am thinking to put my a1200 online to enable better file transfer etc, I have ordered a PCMCIA wired ethernet nic, so i have couple questions:
 
1) Is my A1200 3.1 rom, 4gb cf with accelerator card ACA1230 @ 28mhz 64mb on classic WBLite up to the task?
 
2) What software do i need to install to my a1200,  TCP/IP software AmiTCP, Genesis(build in AOS3.9) or Miami ??
 
Thanks if you can help

[Snoozy]

Your A1200 w/accelerator and extra RAM is up to the task of going online for the purpose of transferring files. Any of the TCP stacks you mentioned will work, just choose which one you want to use and find a FTP file transfer program you like.
 
If you bought your A1200 NIC from AmigaKit, they might have included their "EasyNet" software to help you get connected. If not, it is available from them for a small amount.

Hi, well i didn't buy from amigakit but i would buy their software but its on a cd, so can you copy the cd onto pc and then from pc on to a CF and PCMCIA adaptor and install to the 1200 that way?

[Snoozy]

That's basically the hardware I use. 3.0 ROM and Classic WB Full, but that shouldn't make any difference.
I do run in Interlace with MagicTV to reduce the effect of the flicker on my 1084s.
 
 
 
I use AmiTCP 3 personally.
I'm not at all bothered by command line configs. (Not that there wasn't some confusion. It didn't work the first few times.. ;-)
I also don't like time limits or nag windows, and licenses on some of those are hard to come by, so I went AmiTCP. If I'm not mistaken (I don't use it), I think Easynet uses AmiTCP 3 also.
 
For file transfers, I haven't had any problems with AmiTradeCenter (I think that's it).
I just run an FTP server on one of my machines at home. I can prep files on it and then send them to the Amiga or I can just download directly using AWeb.
 
desiv

Hey Desiv, its reassuring to know there are others with a similar set-up that are already online. How are you getting on with your aca1230 these days, has there been any more news on the new aca card that was set to be released about now?

[Snoozy]

Ok thanks to you all for your advice, I think I will go with miami in the first instance.

No doubt I will be back for further consult when it comes to setting it up

[Snoozy]

You should definitely use MiamiDX for 3.1 ... Great TCP/IP stack!

http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/MiamiDx10cmain
http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/MiamiDx10c-MUI
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=209883&postcount=10

I think this is all you need...

to transfer files you can use this:

http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/AmiTradeCenter

I also use SAMBA wich works great but may be really slow on a 030 as its kinda sluggish on my 060.

http://www.birrabrothers.com/tiger/data/samba/download/index.htm

if you get a browser like Ibrowse or aweb  going you can use this portal to access this site.

http://aoproxy.extropia.co.uk

Hi, i'm having some problems installing miamidx, as  it keeps telling me i need to install the mui files which i i've aready installed...hmm is miami for os 3.1?

I'm using OS 3.9 and i see on my internet options that i have genesis already available. When i double click genesis it tells me to insert amitcp in any drive - i have already installed amitcp so i don't know why it can't find it  (I have a pcmcia card plugged in with ethernet cable to router)

Any advice?

[Snoozy]

i do agree with cammy that the 1200 keyboard is better quality compared to modern keyboards. Although i do as little typing as possible these days by using "dragon naturally speaking" software :lol:

So do i need to install amitcp into the genesis folder? Do i need a key file for genesis to work?

[Snoozy]

Ok, so I will go and have a look at my s:startup sequence and report back. I knew this wasn't going to be straight forward!

[Snoozy]

Ok at the bottom of my S:User-Startup..

;TrueMultiAssigns
;END ViNCEd
;BEGIN AWeb
Assign AWebPath: "hd0:Internet/Aweb3SE"
;END AWeb

hmmm should i replace the Begin Aweb section with:

;BEGIN Genesis
assign AmiTCP: "SYS:Internet/Genesis"
;END Genesis    

:confused:

[Snoozy]

hmm if i use aweb (which seems the default setting on my OS3.9) I can get as far as the urls appearing etc but wwhen i try and load a web page it tells me that a TCP stack must be started first. Does this mean I need to Assign AmiTCP in my User-Startup?

erm help?

[Snoozy]

You generally have to manually start the TCP/IP program first.
 
Assigning it doesnt make it start automatically (and if you use WHDLoad, you probably wouldnt want it to in any event)

Ok, so i should have easynet in the next day or so (ordered from amigakit and will be on cd)

So i extract the files from cd onto cf card and copy over to 1200 via pcmcia.

The Easynet files will arrange my tcp stack and then i just use either Aweb or Genesis to browse? Is that right?

Do i need to input my IP address somewhere into the 1200 Aweb software?

And what is the risk to whdload of using the internet on a 1200?

Thanks if any can offer advice for those that have already trodden this path

[Snoozy]

You do have to set it up. It isn't too too hard, though if you haven't done it in a while, fiddle with it a bit and be prepared to google information.

Easynet includes a TCP/IP stack and you just use whatever web browser you want. It isnt fast but its handy for some things.

THe risk to WHDload is just that it may crash your machine if an IP stack is running. No big deal. I usually reboot after using it anyways, to avoid memory fragmentation troubles.

hey runequester,

So what you're saying is keep whdload gaming sessions and internet browsing completely separate, ie cold reboot between the two?

[Snoozy]

Hey guys, I use my A1200 with a 28Mhz 030 (an old DKB Cobra, slower than the ACA1230/28) with 64MB RAM as my main computer system every day. I own several PCs and other computers but my A1200 is the one I use the most, and I'm online all day! So have no fear, it's perfectly up to the task if you don't have your expectations too high. You should definitely try using your A1200 to chat with, the keyboard is a dream to use compared to any modern keyboards which use cheap rubber components instead of coiled, metal springs like the A1200. You can also play some online games, the best would have to be Dynamite. It's like Bomberman but you can play against a whole heap of friends (and enemies) online. I recommend MiamiDX for TCP, it's the best there is until Roadshow comes out. You can even get free keyfiles for it.

I have recently been setting up a new A1200 and made a backup of the customised Workbench 3.1 setup I have put together so far and uploaded it online for other Amiga owners (who legally own Workbench, since they own the hardware) to download and try on their A1200s. It already has both AmiTCP 3.2b and MiamiDX installed as well as a bunch of updates, patches and better datatypes and things. It also has the IBrowse 2.4 demo installed as well as the unrestricted IBrowse 1.2 which was given away free with Aminet CD 24.

If anyone would like to try it, send me a private message and I'll send you the link. It's an uncompressed LHA file inside a Zip file. You unzip it first to produce the uncompressed LHA, which you would transfer to the A1200 somehow (through a PCMCIA card reader or by putting your drive in a PC and using WinUAE), then extract it to a bootable partition. It's actually the beginning of a new Workbench pack a few of us are working on, so we need some testers if anyone would like to try it and help us perfect it for release. I made a demonstration comparing Composite and S-Video recently, and to demonstrate I used Workbench and some programs, including Doom and Shapeshifter. Everything you see in the video is included. This was running on a plain 14Mhz 68EC020 A1200 with only a 8MB RAM card, no CPU upgrade so expect better performance on your 030s.

Some good internet software:

WookieChat (Internet Relay Chat) - http://wookiechat.amigarevolution.com/wookiechat/
SabreMSN (MSN Instant Messenger) - http://wookiechat.amigarevolution.com/sabremsn/
AmIRC (Internet Relay Chat) - http://www.amirc.org/
AmiMSN (MSN Instant Messenger) - http://members.iinet.net.au/~trebs/AmiMSN/
Dynamite (Online Game) - http://amisource.de/dynamite/
AmiTwitter (Twitter) - http://amitwitter.sourceforge.net/
AmiGift (P2P File Sharing) - http://amigift.sourceforge.net/
IBrowse (Web Browser) - http://www.ibrowse-dev.net/
AmiNetRadio (Music Collection & Online Radio) - http://amigazeux.net/anr/
TwinVNC (Virtual Network Computer Client) - http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/TwinVNC0.8beta
MiamiDX (TCP/IP) - http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/MiamiDx10cmain
MiamiDX GUI - http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/MiamiDx10c-MUI
MiamiDX Keyfile - http://www.fatcat.vispa.com/keyring/

Here are some useful files that you can copy to your Amiga on a 720kb DOS-formatted disk (remember to cover the second hole on a HD floppy disk with tape) so you can begin using some PCMCIA cards.

If you're using your PCMCIA port you might experience lockups when the card doesn't reset itself and the Amiga tries to access it. If this happens, you can usually unlock the computer by pulling the card out and re-inserting it. In any case, you should either perform a simple hardware fix or install these patches which will reset your PCMCIA port each time you boot up:

CardPatch - http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardPatch
CardReset - http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardReset

If you use a cheap PCMCIA CF or SD card reader, you will need the driver and a filesystem that recognises FAT-formatted drives:

CompactFlash Device - http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/cfd
Fat95 - http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/fat95

When using a PCMCIA network card you will need one of two drivers, depending on the chipset your card uses:

CNet Device - http://aminet.net/package/driver/net/cnetdevice
3c589 Device - http://aminet.net/package/driver/net/3c589

Also you might want to try a lighter, but harder to configure TCP stack, AmiTCP 3.2b is free and there is a very useful setup guide here:

AmiTCP - http://www.wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de/~andreas/amitcp/index.htm

And of course the most useful file of them all, which you will need before you can extract anything, LhA:

LhA 2.12 (Run this first) - http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/lha
LhA 2.15 (Then extract this) - http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/lha_68k

What else?

Thanks for your help bbond007.

Hey Cammy,

Can you tell me where i can find Dynamite (bomberman) game as once i am online i think i may appear and do battle

[Snoozy]

Ok so i copied the easynet files onto cf card and then onto 1200 hd in my works drawer on wb, called easynet drawer.

When i double click on the install icon it launches the easynet installer, then when i click proceed it tells me to insert easynet in any drive!!!

Is this because it came to me on cd and the driver is looking for the cd to install from? How do i get round this?

(i don't have a cd drive for my 1200 and can't imagine why amigakit are using cd to install from)

[Snoozy]

Hey buddy, are you saying I need to run an assign in my s:start-up?
 
How did others install easynet from cd if they don't have cd drives? Somebody had suggested saving the easynet cd as an iso image on pc then copy to cf? Does this fool the 1200 into thinking the easynet file is in a cd drive?
 
Why have amigakit put this sotware on cd?? When will they move into the 21st century and give it as a download with a keyfile that can be installed to the 1200 via cf pcmcia?!

[Snoozy]

Hey, can you let me know when you remember as I'm stuck at this point at the moment