Networking my A1200

[mel_zoom]

Hi!

If I wanted to network my A1200 what would I need? My A1200 isnt what you would call very expanded - just a hard drive and a blizzard 1230.

I heard that you can use certain pcmcia network cards if you get a suitable driver. Unfortunately I use a CD on there but if the machine was networked I think it would be more flexible anyway.

What pcmcia network cards are compatible and what else do I need?

Thanks!

[Jabaruk1]

Hi,
   You want the cnetdevice.lha  from aminet  http://aminet.net/
There is a list of cards that should work with CNETDEVICE the PCMCIA Cards are always up on EBay,You may also need the PCMCIA patch's off Aminet i,m not sure but 1 is a reset patch someone here will know.

[Flashlab]

The Cnet.device homepage:

http://www.g-mb.de/cnet/index_e.html

Here you can see which cards are supported and what quirks they might have. Not all cards need the Gayle Reset patch I thought.

[Argus]

Aside from cnet.device, you could try the aminet 3Com driver.  It works with the very common 3Com589? pcmcia Type II card that works with RJ45 or BNC depending on the dongle.  There is also a wireless pcmcia driver (prism2.device) for any card using the Prism2 chipset (Netgear, etc.); it was written by an amiga.org member (ncafferkey).  You need to make sure the wireless card is Type II 16-bit pcmcia and not 32-bit Cardbus (which will not work).  For all of these drivers you usually just create a folder called "Networks" in Devs: and place the xxx.device driver in that folder.  Then you select the device using your tcp/ip software.

You will, however, need to do something about the reset problem in the A1200's Gayle chip (which provides the pcmcia port).  You can either use the card reset software patches on Aminet or do a physical hardware modification to the Gayle chip. The easiest way to do the hardware fix is to simply buy one of the clip-over-chip CC-Reset pieces originally made by Eyetech but now sold by amigakit.com.  It's a tiny board with the modification already done to it that clips onto the Gayle chip and corrects the hardware fault.

[mel_zoom]

Thanks for the advice!

So what are my options when it comes to the tcp/ip side? I just have a basic 3.1 install at the moment and Im sure it doesnt have any networking software built-in.

[Argus]

Depends upon the type of networking.  If you're simply after a fast internet connection, there are several tcp/ip stack programs available.  The oldest is AmiTCP, for which you'll need to either manually configure or use a separate config program.  Genesis is a program built into OS3.9 which has a custom wizard gui for AmiTCP and works pretty good and is fairly fast.

Other gui-configurable tcp programs include Miami and TermiteTCP.  Miami or Miami Deluxe are available from Aminet but they're no longer registerable and the demo for each times out every 30 minutes.  Then there's TermiteTCP, also no longer produced, but may be still purchaseable.  The best bet speed wise and support wise is probably AmiTCP either through Genesis or some other configuration program.  I'd personally recommend buying an OS3.9 CD as you'll get Genesis (and AmiTCP) built in and a nicer Workbench.  It installs from CDROM and you already have the 3.1 roms and a Blizzard so it should run fairly well.

Download the latest versions of Ibrowse for the web and YAM (Yet Another Mailer) for email.  There are many other programs available for download as shareware or freeware (e.g. ICQ, IRC - Wookiechat, etc.).  Browsing may not be so great but it's serviceable and the other apps actually work surprisingly well and quickly.

To network the Amiga to a PC, there are several options.  Samba is one such program and there may be others but I can't recall atm.

[Gojirax]

Hmmmmmm... I have an old Spectrum PCMCIA wireless card from an old hospital system from around 5 or 6 years ago.

How would I find out if it's supported as a Type II 16-bit pcmcia wireless card?

[Christian Johansson]

There's a compatibility list in the prism2.lha archive on Aminet (and there's an url to a list of supported cards in Linux, as the amiga prism2 driver is based on a linux one afaik).

[leirbag28]

@mel_zoom

Don't worry about the CDROM Drive. You can always install one internally into the A1200 using a Laptop CDROM drive, but you will have to cut the hole for it..........take a look at my photo album here by clicking on my name and you will see my Black A600 with internal CDROM.

Also keep in mind you can use:

Compact Flash
SD cards
MMC
MicroSD
MiniSD
Sony Memory Stick

and others using a PCMCIA adaptor commonly used for Laptops.

You just need to download the drivers at Aminet.


cfd.lha I think its called and Fat95.lha


Makes life 10 billion times easier :-)

now you can download images from you Digital Camera :-)

Also you can buy USB ports from AmigaKit which supports USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 (No highspeed mode)

you can also add MP3 decoding using a Delphina sound card or MASplayer.

Amiga 1200's are great!

[ncafferkey]

fryguy wrote:
There's a compatibility list in the prism2.lha archive on Aminet (and there's an url to a list of supported cards in Linux, as the amiga prism2 driver is based on a linux one afaik).

No, it's not based on any other driver.

Spectrum chipset cards don't work unfortunately. They seem to have a hardware incompatibility with A1200s.

[patrik]

No hardware gayle reset hacks are needed, it is solved in software nowadays: CardReset.

Just put the executable in C: and add a new line containing "Run >NIL: C:CardReset" after the SetPatch line in your S:Startup-Sequence script.

You can find a guide here on how to install an older free version of AmiTCP.


/Patrik