A600 and PCMCIA ethernet..... will this work?

[circlip]

Hi again everyone. I'm hoping this isn't a double-post, because I accidentally posted it, but it didn't show up.


Anyways, I have a stock a600 with 4Gb hard drive. I just acquired an "Asante Friendlynet" ethernet card (16-bit, not cardbus)

Was wondeirng if this would work, plus

# What drivers fo I need for workbench?

# What browsers are available to me for a stock A600? (without chewing up all the memory.)


Thanks everyone,


Circlip.

[rkauer]

 For the network stack: a pletora! Miami, Miami DX and a lot of others.

 For the browser... I tell you bad news. There is not a single one who runs OK on a plain 68000 with only chip memory available.

 But you can use FTP, networking a PC for file transfer and e-mail, if you want. Nothing much more than that.

[circlip]

How about ALynx or AMosaic?

And also, will my card work ok with an Amiga 600?

[mike-]

Amirc should run if you use a small tcp/ip stack, i used amitcp on the a600, amirc ran for a few thousand lines before crapping out. Lynx, hmm, well you'll need the ixemul library which is a few hundred kb(?) and ixnet. i guess there might be a port that doesnt require this.. But do try Theres a 1 meg upgrade on the thing, right?

[circlip]

Mike:

It's a stock amiga 600, no ram upgrade.

[Rebel-CD32]

You'll find a list of A1200/A600 compatible PCMCIA network cards here - http://www.g-mb.de/pcmcia_e.html

The list isn't complete, so even if your card isn't listed, there's still a chance it could work. Drivers are available on Aminet, and there are links to the appropriate ones on that page (3c589, CNet etc).

As for software, AmiTCP will be the most memory efficient to run, although it harder to set up, but not impossible. Miami might run too, but loading MUI takes a fair amount of RAM. The same thing goes for AmIRC, so you'd be better of using Grapevine for IRC. ALynx should work for browsing, but it's only text based and very old. AmiMSN is command-line based so you could use a Shell for MSN if you wanted. I'm sure there are some email, news, FTP and Terminal solutions that should work in 1MB too.

To be honest, you'd be better off upgrading your A600, and taking advantage of more modern programs like AmIRC/WookieChat, IBrowse, SabreMSN, YAM and others.

You can buy a Kickstart ROM Switcher and install a 3.1 ROM on it, which is essential for some newer software. They're available here - http://www.amigamaniac.com

You'll also gain a lot from installing an extra 8MB RAM. You can get an 8MB RAM card for the A600 from here - http://amigasc.nm.ru/english/buy.html

Best of luck getting your A600 online!

[circlip]

thanks Rebel! Btw, my card isn't listed on that list, and I can't find any Asante drivers on Aminet... is there a "Generic" driver that might work?

EDIT: found "cnet" on Aminet. What do I do with all the files, after unzipping with winRAR?

[Rebel-CD32]

You'll need some method of transferring the files to your Amiga first. Either copy the lha file (still compressed) to a PC formatted Double Density floppy disk (720k), then extract them on the Amiga with LHA (available on Aminet). There are other methods like using a null modem cable, but it's complicated. Don't copy the uncompressed files onto the PC floppy because it'll change the filenames and the files may not work properly on the Amiga, so it's always best to decompress on the Amiga side. You would also need CrossDOS or OS3 with the PC0 device driver. Once it's on the Amiga, the files need to be put in the Devs directory and possibly L. The docs should say where they go.

A simpler way to get online might be to use the Network Boot Disk for Amiga, available here - http://jpv.wmhost.com/NetworkBootDisk/

You'll need either Un-ADF or DMS to unpack the files. If you want I can send you down a copy of this disk in the post tomorrow, and it should arrive in a day or so (I'm in Northern NSW). I just scored a few packs of 25 floppies for $4 each at Jaycar, so it's no problem.

I haven't tested if this disk works in a stock A600 yet, but I'm curious enough to try it, so I may report back in the next couple of hours if it works on mine.

[circlip]

thanks for that link Rebel!!

I have no probs transferring to floppy, I know how to use Amiga Explorer on both pc and Amiga (I have both), it's just the "how do I use the cnet drivers" part. I have WinUAE too, so putting onto "floppy image" is no prob also. I just have never done this before.

Report back Rebel if you wish, I'm gunna try this tomorrow! Too sleepy now!  :oops:

[Rebel-CD32]

No worries mate, I'm glad you know your way around Amiga Explorer and UAE. I haven't used the cnet drivers before so I can't honestly say what's involved. I did get that network boot disk working first time on the A600 with my 3Com Etherlink III card though, it connected to the PC no problems, but I didn't go much further than that, I tried to run Grapevine but it didn't load so I went to bed. I'll set it all up properly later and give it another go though.

Good luck getting yours working!