USB AND DSL

[QuikSanz]

Thinking about switching to dsl. Has anyone had luck using a usb connection on a beefed up A2000?
What are the options :-?

Chris

[magnetic]

HI Chris
 Do yourself a favour and use ETHERNET for DSL. USB was not intended for this. Ethernet is - the Internet is one big Network after all and you should use an  Amiga network card like Xsurf and others.
magnetic

you should use an Amiga network card like Xsurf and others.

Or a Mediator and a PCI Ethernet card for a superior surf.  (Sounds like a washing powder advert ;-) )

[QuikSanz]

The reason I ask is that earthlink says the modem they supply is USB. How bout a usb w/ethernet card?

Chris

Get cable broadband if you have it in your area. It's better and you don't have to piss about with a router to use an ethernet card. You just plug it into the RJ45 point they put on your wall.

[KennyR]

If the ISP says they will only supply a USB modem, they are a crap ISP and you should go elsewhere.

[magnetic]

I have to agre with everyone. Dont use an ISP if it only uses USB. USB SUX for DSL

USB SUX for DSL

USB sucks for everything.

[Floid]

Beg for an ethernet modem.  If they're your only option, and are uncooperative, hit up DSLReports/BroadbandReports's forums, and find out what ethernettable hardware works.

If they use PPPoE, you may want/need a standalone router (Linksys/D-Link/2Wire box) to handle that side of the equation, or a copy of Miami Deluxe.

All that done, comes the question of how to get ethernet on the Amiga.  X-Surf is an obvious possibility.  As the owner of some erstwhile 2000s myself, I like the idea of a USB controller (Highway, Thylacine, Algor) and a supported USB ethernet adapter.  This gives you a good balance between price (as far as I know, $Thylacine + $USB_ethernet_off_Pricewatch = $X-Surf), performance (pre-Algor, speeds may not reach peak ethernet performance, but should be plenty for DSL), and future expandability- so far as I know, USB is as close as you'll get to PCI on a 2000.

Of course, if you can afford it, the Highway/Algor + Norway is certainly an excellent (and less waiting-for-shipping-from-Australiaey?) product, it just doesn't come out
Not sure exactly what the deal with USB stacks is (no offense to their authors!), so if you go this route, doublecheck the value-propositions in terms of any additional licenses needed.

...sadly, even if you have a USB card, it's quite unlikely that you'll be able to plug in the USB modem directly and play.  While the current USB modem hardware might be becoming more standardized (I've no idea, really), free *NIXes have barely caught up, let alone Amigas.  Maybe that'll change for OS4, but it's a headache best avoided for now.

[Floid]

mdma wrote:
Get cable broadband if you have it in your area. It's better and you don't have to piss about with a router to use an ethernet card. You just plug it into the RJ45 point they put on your wall.

That sounds like a uniquely sane British/Europeanism.  Just about everything in the US (save the uber-sweet, uber-cancelled Sprint ION service, which everyone would've gotten *if Sprint had said what it was in their ads*...and maybe a few of the mom-and-pop WISPs) works on the "magic box" principle.  "Plug this magic box in your phone line!"  "Plug this magic box in your cable jack!" ... to the point that they were selling cable modems in major electronics stores before DOCSIS even became a standard.

Wonder how many customers didn't return the hardware when it turned out their neighborhood wasn't active yet...  Yes, there are/were plenty of "You mean it costs a monthly fee???" stories out there.

[QuikSanz]

Thanks to all for great feedback. Part of the problem may be, I spoke to sales. Maybe I need to call tech to get the real story on modem/connection. Time to make another call.

Chris

[QuikSanz]

@ mdma

Mediator for an A2000. Where? Im looking!

Chris

[Floid]

QuikSanz wrote:
Thanks to all for great feedback. Part of the problem may be, I spoke to sales. Maybe I need to call tech to get the real story on modem/connection. Time to make another call.

I'm not sure, but Earthlink's support may be outsourced- meaning the techs may have no idea what sales/other departments are up to.  At least, my experience trying to request a 'changelog' for their recent i-Opener update (kudos to them for providing it at all, though in absence of the information, I've no way to tell if it 'took' on my grandmother's unit) suggested such.

DSLReports is, as always, the best (and practically only) place to find out what's up.  Try to home in on PR 'plants' in the forums if you find any from your provider- excellent way to get issues resolved quickly. ;-)

Edit: Oh, and obviously, when asking anywhere in "real life," don't expect anyone to know much about the current state of the Amiga.  Come armed with a list of capabilities: "I *can* use ethernet," "I *can* use PPPoE, but it's a bit of a hassle if I can avoid it," "I *can't* use a USB modem, as there are no drivers and no PPPoA support."  Basically, partition it into 'your problem'- getting ethernet on the Amiga- and 'their problem'- providing you with a device that bridges DSL<->ethernet.  Using a router to get around any PPPoE and DHCP issues (can it be right that only Miami has a DHCP client??? No personal experience with Amiga stacks...) is sort of a gray area- it's cheap and easy to handle yourself if you need to, but a lot of providers are starting to offer routers as options, or built into 'deluxe' DSL modems, like the 2Wire 1000/1500s.

[Dagon]

Guys stop that "USB sux" crap just tell him that there is no usb ADSL modem support yet for Amiga.
I bet most of USB bashers have linux and because their useless OS doesn't have any decent support for this they say these things.

Well I'd prefer to buy a usb board for my amiga and have there a usb adsl modem and some other accessory than buying a second very expensive x-surf. Do you know the minimax law? if not stay with your bloated OS linux, and stop those cliches.

[amigau]

I haven't used USB to ADSL on my A2000 (nor the webserver A2000 for AmigaU) because I have ethernet cards, and in most cases, I don't know why you'd use USB instead of ethernet, ethernet is faster and in nearly every case, you'd be hard pressed to use even the 10Mbps on a base Amiga ethernet card, let alone 100mbps, because most DSL connections aren't even *1*mbps anyway.  More than enough bandwidth for your needs, to be sure.

Yes, I've seen buddies with cable modems that can download faster than I can on DSL, but so what?  If you need to run servers, then you can't, plain and simple (unless you want to be changing port#'s and have them shut you down and possibly kick you out if they catch you - yes, the cable companies aren't hacker central and probably won't, but most cable networks only work fast in one direction anyway, for downloading.

If you need USB *and* Ethernet on the same machine, just get a HIGHWAY card with its NORWAY ethernet module, and get the best of both worlds. Then you can get a cheap USB card reader and mess around with digital pics, etc. too in addition to surfing the internet with your ethernet.  The X-surf is also a great ethernet card (or a used Ariadne II if you can find one on eBay or similar) but it doesn't have USB, so if you wanted a card reader it would likely have to be IDE.

Good luck, have fun!  Note that if you are serious about surfing the internet on your A2000, a graphics card like a CGX64/3D using Picasso96 or CGX4 is probably a must, too, since surfing the internet in 16 colors and having little to no Chip RAM (most A2000's only have 1MB, after all) will shorten your Internet stay very quickly unless you are only retrieving email or newsgroups, IRC.. .

kevin orme
amiga university
www.amigau.com