Broadband for Amiga 1200 - What do we need?

[Hyperspeed]

It'd be nice to add some form of broadband to my A1200 and I was
wondering what you think is the best form.

aDSL or Cable?

What is the best PCMCIA card and do I need a router to connect to the
aDSL/Cable modem?

What sort of BNC/RJ45 style cables/dongles will I need and how/where
do I get a PCMCIA hardware reset mod.

(When I pull cards out of my PCMCIA port the A1200 resets
automatically, could I already have this mod done?).

Then onto software, if I'm using Genesis (Newer AmiTCP) then what
problems will I encounter when using the Genesis Wizard with the
broadband providers?

Hope some broadband A1200 owners can offer some advice!

:-)

[Acill]

I recomend you use MiamiDX. Most of the current providers require you have DHCP. If you use a router like a Linksys then you can use Genesis since the router will handle the DHCP. Next your going to need a compatable card for the A1200. Just about any of the old 10Mbit cards will do as long as its cnet.device list. Also some of the 3Comm cards not work with a newer driver found on Aminet. If your still using a stock 020 A1200 with no extra RAM its not going to be a pleasent experence getting on the net. I would at least find an 030 with some RAM, no less then 8MB and ideal would be 32MB. You also need a browser. Ibrowse works well as does Voyager and Aweb.

[doctorq]

@Hyperspeed

I need to correct you on something here. The PCMCIA hardware mod isn't about getting the computer to reset when you remove a PCMCIA card. It is used to reset the PCMCIA port after a reset of the computer. This can be done with a hardware hack, but you will also be able to do this software wise. Look for CardReset on Aminet. It can be found as a executable and as a BlizKick module.

I have been told that the GreyCell GOLD ethernet cards is one of the best cards for use with Amiga, and it's supported by cnet.device, also found on Aminet. Unfortuanately I have sold the last one I had already, but if you want to see pictures of it, let me know.

With the above mentioned ethernet card I have been using broadband with my Amiga, directly from cable modem --> Amiga without any problems. I used MiamiDX as TCP/IP stack by the way.

If you need a router or not, is difficult to say because it depends on how you establish connection with your provider. My provider lets me add a MAC adress that should be put online when it's present. Since only one MAC adress is allowed (unless I pay extra) I bought a wireless router to be able to get online with all my machines at the same time.

Hope this helps you out a bit

[Hyperspeed]

What makes the GreyCell Gold PCMCIA ethernet card so good?

Would the software reset-fix need a reset or cause a delay on bootup,
I really don't like those...

:-)

Can someone explain what DHCP is? I don't really want to use MiamiDX
for three reasons:

1)It's not available anymore, the author doesn't respond to people
2)The rumours about DC finding backdoors in it that sent spyware
packets to NordicGlobal?
3)MiamiDX is a little bloated compared to Genesis and I find that even
though it is more feature packed, it's not as efficient in my opinion
with handling incoming connections

What is a MAC address?

[Brian]

I'm not a network tec so I'm probably wrong in something here but basicly DHCP = The server sends an IP adress range and your machine sets itself up with an IP number in that range. MAC adress = An indentifyer for all network hardware and the adress the hardware actually use to communicate with eachother.

The Cardreset will not reboot or halt the bootup... only thing you will notice is the link indicator will go down and up again.

I use MiamiDX and I find it to be by far the easiest thing to use. If you have a different TCP/IP-stack that you know and are comfortable with then use that.

Why GreyCell Gold PCMCIA ethernet card would be any better than other cards I don't know. I and a friend of mine both have Repotec and they work well for oss (are available with both as RJ45 and RJ45&BNC combo). I'd say any card supported by the cnet.device (or 3com drivers) found on Aminet is an ok buy... so go hunt for your 10Mbit PCMCIA 16bit Ethernet card and don't look yourself blind on a specific brand. (An actuall driver for wireless pcmcia ethernet cards are in the making aswell, keep your eyes peeled.)