Networking on A1200 - PCMCIA or USB?

[rdolores]

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

[Amiten]

Hi,
 
My experience with Networks on A1200 it´s PCMCIA RJ45 and WIFI not try USB but the Cable its good for me Wifi have problems with WPA key and Routers etc...
 
in short probability here some one help´s you a little more.
 
Regards
Amiten

[Daedalus]

If you were looking to do a bit more upgrading, might I suggest getting a SCSI kit for your Blizzard card and using that instead of the Squirrel? It'll be a lot faster, and will free up the PCMCIA slot for a network card. As you pointed out, it will only accept 16-bit cards, but there are plenty of them around. Besides, the network will be less of a bottleneck than SCSI over the PCMCIA interface.

I've never tried a network card over USB, but it's probably the easiest of your options, provided you can find one that works. Is there much extra overhead for running a network adaptor over USB, does anyone know?

[runequester]

I only have experience doing it through pcmcia but it works pretty well. Speed isnt amazing but its fine for downloading amiga stuff, email, IM and so on.

Wired is a lot easier than wireless but mine is wireless and its a lot of fun.

[dougal]

I would imagine USB to be extremely slow.

[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

[amigadave]

If you were looking to do a bit more upgrading, might I suggest getting a SCSI kit for your Blizzard card and using that instead of the Squirrel? It'll be a lot faster, and will free up the PCMCIA slot for a network card. As you pointed out, it will only accept 16-bit cards, but there are plenty of them around. Besides, the network will be less of a bottleneck than SCSI over the PCMCIA interface.

I've never tried a network card over USB, but it's probably the easiest of your options, provided you can find one that works. Is there much extra overhead for running a network adaptor over USB, does anyone know?

I agree, get a SCSI kit for your 1260 card.  It will let you add more RAM too, I have 256mb of RAM in my A1200, which is twice the RAM that I have in either of my Cyberstorm PPC A4000's (not counting the 16mb on the motherboards).

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 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.

[rdolores]

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.

[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.

[amigadave]

With USB on Classic Amiga systems being slow, to very slow, it does not make any sense to a USB wireless NIC (at least not when using a Subway controller, I don't know if Deneb is faster than the Subway by enough to make using a USB wireless NIC feasible).  But what about using USB wireless NIC's on NG Amigas that have faster USB ports?

I have read in the past that OS4 had some problems with USB2.0 and don't know if that has been resolved yet, but if it has, using a wireless USB NIC like this:

Brand new Retail Box Sealed!

Ashton Digital 802.11b WRUB-2011i  Prism 2 Chipset Most Reliable.

This wireless USB Stick will work with any Desktop and Laptop with a usb port.

Linux Compatible! with driver

might work for both OS4 and MorphOS, which to my knowledge are behind AROS in implementing wireless networking.

The above was copied from an eBay listing and the wireless NIC only cost $7.99 plus shipping (IIRC), so I went ahead and ordered one to test with Neil Cafferkey's Prism2 driver for Amiga 68k, while running MorphOS2.7 on my G4 MacMini and PowerMac.

The price is right, so if it works (even with only WEP encryption), it will make using my MorphOS computers in more different locations around my house, or someone elses when I visit a much more convenient way to access the Internet than being limited to locations with Ethernet wiring.

This has probably already been discussed to death, but I couldn't find it quickly using the search function here, so I hijacked this thread instead.  ;-)

Edit:  Can Neil Cafferkey please comment on this?  You are THE MAN that would know the answer(s)!

[LaserBack]

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

forget about USB....it will be slow and you will suffer slowdown problems
the best way to go is PCMCIA
you can purchase on AMIKIT the easynet pcmcia ethernet card
it works very well I guarantee
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=121
also there is a wireless card there but I don't tested it so I can assure if works fine or not

[ncafferkey]

@amigadave

I'll probably never get around to adapting prism2.device for USB (there are significant differences from PCI/PCMCIA), but the RTL8187B 802.11g USB driver I've just released for AROS could be ported to MorphOS and OS4.

[runequester]

forget about USB....it will be slow and you will suffer slowdown problems
the best way to go is PCMCIA
you can purchase on AMIKIT the easynet pcmcia ethernet card
it works very well I guarantee
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=121
also there is a wireless card there but I don't tested it so I can assure if works fine or not

thats what I use and it works fine.

[amigadave]

@amigadave

I'll probably never get around to adapting prism2.device for USB (there are significant differences from PCI/PCMCIA), but the RTL8187B 802.11g USB driver I've just released for AROS could be ported to MorphOS and OS4.

Not having researched or kept up to date with AROS development, are you saying that you HAVE completed and released an AROS compatible USB driver for USB wireless NIC's that use he RTL8187B 802.11g chipset?

I am desperate to get some kind of wireless networking running on my G4 PowerBook (hopefully before Oct. 21st when the AmiWest 2011 Show begins), but would also like to have wireless networking from my G4 MacMini while running MorphOS2.7.  If I had wireless networking for MorphOS, I would use it ten times more often than I do now.  It is the one thing keeping me from using MorphOS as my primary OS and getting away from MacOSX.

If I had wireless networking for MorphOS, I would only use MacOSX very rarely for video creation and would only boot my Windows computer when I wanted to rip movies, manage finances with QuickBooks, make CAD drawings with TurboCAD, or render 3D objects with Lightwave3D.

How much work are you talking about to port your RTL8187B driver from AROS to MorphOS2.7?