a3000, networking question

[koaftder]

Ive got a pretty much stock a3000. I would like to get it on my lan. I see that i can get a ethernet board for ~100 usd. Is it really worth it? I had a 70MHz mac a while ago, and i could only get like 12K/s out of the 10baseT interface. I could get similar performance out of a serial connection.

So the question is, is it worth it to get an ethernet board for the a3000, or should i just use serial and setup slip or something on a linux box to nat to it? What kind of performance can i expect with an a3000 with ethernet?

[InTheSand]

Hi,

I'm also interested in the answer to this... Currently deciding on whether or not to splash out on an X-Surf Zorro network card for my A3K or to go the good ol' SLIP route...

 - Ali

[DamageX]

Don't know if an A3000 would have this problem but on my A2000 w/ A2630 the serial port performance is not so good. Every time the harddisk is accessed the serial port drops bits which results in an error/retry. Downloading to RAM: is fine at 57.6Kbps but downloading to disk is mad slow.

[nadoom]

Hi there,
i use an X-surf 3 from individual computers on my amiga 4000 and it gives me excellent speeds over my network. The amiga is connected to the internet via the network and regularly downloads at over 80kbs.

a3000 and 4000 are both zorro 3 machines i reckon you would get similar performance with the same card

[InTheSand]

That's good to know, thanks!

I think I will get one... I'll just have to hide it from the missus, or it'll be "you spent WHAT on stuff for that old Amiga junk??!!" !!!  :-D

 - Ali

[ArcticSon]

@Ali

I just bought and installed an X-Surf3 in my A2000
and am loving it.  Its like having a whole new
Amiga!

For me it was a lot like some previous 'milestones'
in my Amiga's career, such as when I got an RTG
card and there were so many colors my senses
could not stand it!  :-)

So, go for it, I am sure you will love the
extra speed.  Who knows, perhaps even the missus
will like it!  Oh... never mind... (recalling my
wife's blank stare when I demonstrated copying a file
from her PC to the Amiga and back) :-) ... it'll be
fast, at least!

[patrik]

@koaftder:

I found the ttcp results from a friends A3000 on my harddrive. It has the original X-Surf card (the same card, except minor details).

Some details about his A3000 and software:
68030+68882/25MHz
2MB Chip, 8MB Fast
Buster 7
X-Surf
AmigaOS 3.1
AmiTCP 4.3

Amiga->PC (TCP):
ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001 tcp ->
10.95.1.73
ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 44.04 real seconds = 372.03 KB/sec +++
ttcp-t: 2048 I/O calls, msec/call = 22.02, calls/sec = 46.50
ttcp-t: 0:44real

Amiga->PC (UDP):
ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001 udp ->
10.95.1.73
ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 28.40 real seconds = 576.90 KB/sec +++
ttcp-t: 2054 I/O calls, msec/call = 14.16, calls/sec = 72.32
ttcp-t: 0:28real

PC->Amiga (TCP):
ttcp-r: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001 tcp
ttcp-r: 16777216 bytes in 32.56 real seconds = 503.19 KB/sec +++
ttcp-r: 2302 I/O calls, msec/call = 14.48, calls/sec = 70.70
ttcp-r: 0:32real


The TCP results are what you can expect as max for this hardware/software-configuration given well written network applications. Mark my words, inefficient network applications are very common on the Amiga.


/Patrik

[Castellen]

The A3000 will be fine with the ethernet board.  You probably won't get the 300-400kb/s you would if it had an 060, but using AmiTCP/Genesis you'll probably get up to 100kb/s.

If you use something with low overheads like FTP, it'll be quick, but obviously a *lot* more sluggish if you want to run a Samba server which is a bit resource hungry.

Web transfers will obviously be faster so long as you're not waiting on the browser to display images, draw the HTML page, etc.

@Ali
If you want an ethernet board, I might be able to strike you up a deal.  Got at least one spare.

[patrik]

@Castellen:

If you want some fast "samba action" , try it the other way - using the Amiga as a samba client with smbfs.

Smbfs very fast - it reaches a read speed of just a few Bytes under 500kByte/sec on my 030/25MHz A2000, when benchmarking it with diskspeed for the tests with 32kB and larger requests. Though, even at 4kByte requests, it clocks in at a respectable 350kByte/sec.

This is running Kick/WB 3.1, AmiTCP 4.3 and the network card is an A2065. When testing with ttcp, it manages to receive a bit over 500kByte/sec TCP traffic.


/Patrik

[fx]

How is everyone suceeding in getting such bad speeds on Amigas with Ethernet? ;-)

I remember getting ~300kB/s with my A1200 and Blizzard 1230 using a cnet PCMCIA Card. And back then I was even using Miami, no MNI-driver and measuring with an FTP client.

*edit*
forgot to add, even my Amiga 600 manages 100kB/s


Amiga -> PC (TCP):
ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001  tcp  -> 192.168.0.1
ttcp-t: socket
ttcp-t: connect
ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 236.73 real seconds = 69.21 KB/sec +++
ttcp-t: 2048 I/O calls, msec/call = 118.37, calls/sec = 8.65
ttcp-t: 3:56real

Amiga -> PC (UDP):
ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001  udp  -> 192.168.0.1
ttcp-t: socket
ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 157.87 real seconds = 103.78 KB/sec +++
ttcp-t: 2054 I/O calls, msec/call = 78.71, calls/sec = 13.01
ttcp-t: 2:37real

PC -> Amiga (TCP):
ttcp-r: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001  tcp
ttcp-r: socket
ttcp-r: accept from 192.168.0.1
ttcp-r: 16777216 bytes in 156.46 real seconds = 104.71 KB/sec +++
ttcp-r: 2301 I/O calls, msec/call = 69.63, calls/sec = 14.71
ttcp-r: 2:36real

[InTheSand]

@ArcticSon:

That's good to know - but I doubt the missus will be impressed!!


@Castellen:

Definitely interested, will be in touch via email.


 - Ali