Q: Wireless USB Ethernet via Deneb & Miami

[save2600]

Just bought a non-wireless USB<>Ethernet dongle that works great with my Deneb card. It's a 'Linksys by Cisco' USB300M to be exact. Caught the other thread a short while back about using a wireless ethernet dongle, but was wondering if it is possible (maybe someone here has done this) to use a wireless USB ethernet dongle with an Apple Airport? When using other Mac's around the house and I set my main Mac up to share its DSL connection, the satellite Mac's see the pathway as 'Frank's iMac'. That's all well and good with my Mac's as I simply click on the server name, but I'm curious as to how Miami would connect or handle this? Is it possible?

Someone mentioned that wireless drivers or classes have not been written yet, but I thought someone else in another thread had said that they are using a wireless setup and that the Amiga 'thinks' it's just a hardwired connection...

[Matt_H]

That might have been me. I'm using a Linksys WRT54G with the DD-WRT firmware hacked in (http://www.dd-wrt.com) which allows it to function as a wireless bridge. The bridging is all handled by the router and is configured through a web-browser interface.

As far as the Amiga is concerned, just configure Miami like it's plugged directly into the main router, i.e. DHCP for everything or a static address with the main router (192.168.1.1 in my case) as Gateway and DNS server.

Getting the hacked router configured is a little tricky, so let me know if I can help with that.

[save2600]

Hi Matt, yep it was you. Thanks for the info. The firmware hack you mention - that's very cool stuff, but it's not like I can hack the firmware for my iMac's built in Airport, right?

I'm trying something else, but am sure I struck a brick wall. I've got a cable modem here. An RCA/Thompson model that has both RJ45 and USB connections. Ethernet coming out of the modem to my Mac and now I've plugged the USB cable from the modem to my Deneb. Yeah, I'm sure you can only use one jack at a time, but sometimes, these modems also double up as "routers". SO... as of right now, Poseidon/Trident recognises my Thompson modem as a 'USB CDC device' with no .class bound to it.

If there was a .class or driver for this, would I not be able to use my one modem (wired, I don't care) for both computers?

Reason I was asking about the wireless thing with my Airport is because it would save me the money/hassle of getting a physical router...
 

[Matt_H]

Hmmm, I'm not sure there's much more you can do without additional gear. What exactly does your setup look like? It sounds like your only hardware is a cable modem.

It could take years for a driver for that modem to appear (if ever), and as you say, you can't use RJ45 and USB simultaneously. That would mean cutting off net access to all your other machines while the Amiga is online - not very practical. And configuring Miami to access a cable modem directly is a separate (though smaller) challenge.

The hacked WRT54G and ~$20 USB->Ethernet dongle combination is something you could hook up right this instant. It's cheap and since it has additional ports you can hook up all sorts of wired-only computers to it. I've got my 4000T, 4000D, Pegasos, and network printer connected to mine. If you need more ports you can just hang a hub off it.

EDIT: If you can get one of the Macs and the Amiga connected over a wire, you could probably use the Mac as a gateway for the Amiga in the same way you use that one Mac as a gateway for everything else. That might work without additional hardware (except maybe a crossover cable).

[save2600]

Yes, only hardware is a cable modem. No routers, hubs or switchers in line. Have never needed any of that stuff with my Mac's since they all share an internet connection via their built-in Airports.

And yes, that would be ideal: hooking the Amiga directly to the Mac and then sharing an internet connection, file transfers, etc. I don't have the appropriate USB cabling for that, but I doubt it would work right off the bat anyway. In a perfect world, I'm imagining when I hook the Deneb's USB output to the Mac's input I would see a removable drive icon on the Mac and Amiga. And setting up Miami to network through the Mac would be a snap. lol

[midwan]

Interesting...

I also have a Linksys router (WRT54GS) with dd-wrt on it, but I never thought of trying what you have done.

Could you please mention what USB->WiFi dongle did you use for that? I'm willing to give it a try...

[Matt_H]

@ midwan

I assume you meant USB->WiredEthernet :-). I'm using a Linksys USB100TX adapter. I've also successfully used a TrendNet TU2-ET100. Anything that Poseidon says will work should do. There are lists kicking around the forums.

@ save2600

And yes, that would be ideal: hooking the Amiga directly to the Mac and then sharing an internet connection, file transfers, etc. I don't have the appropriate USB cabling for that, but I doubt it would work right off the bat anyway. In a perfect world, I'm imagining when I hook the Deneb's USB output to the Mac's input I would see a removable drive icon on the Mac and Amiga. And setting up Miami to network through the Mac would be a snap. lol

I meant that you should plug the Ethernet end of your Deneb's USB->Ethernet adapter into the Mac's Ethernet port. This is your only option if you want to avoid buying any more equipment. You just need Ethernet cabling, possibly a crossover cable, as I mentioned above. The software configuration should be relatively simple, but I don't know the specifics.

Directly connecting the machines over USB almost certainly won't work. You need a special cable. See the ethwrap.class documentation in the Poseidon distribution.

File sharing will be the same as any other network configuration: Samba and  smbfs.

[Jose]

Hey I also have one, mine's a GL.
Getting the router configured through IBrowse wasn't practical though, had to turn my PC on. OWB and a PPC machine might do it though...

[Jose]

BTW, there's also some very cool hardware hacks around for this router, one's an upgrade to 64MB! The other allows you to connect an SD card! DD-WRT supports them. Only more expensive routers allow that. Applied together, with these hacks you can run some interesting stuff in the routher, even let it do downloads for you. Gotta play with it and learn though, it's Linux... I haven't found the time patience to do that yet...

[Matt_H]

@ Jose

Yeah, IBrowse definitely didn't cut it for configuring DD-WRT. MorphOS OWB didn't work either since it doesn't support HTTP-AUTH yet. I haven't tried Sputnik or OS4 OWB.

[Claw22000]

I'm not a mac user but I'm pretty good with networking.  If you mac already share the net out to the other ones can't you just crossover a cable to the Amiga and direct connect.  If you don't have one you can take a standard net cable and make it a cross over like this

Pins
1----3
2----6
3----1
4----4
5----5
6----2
7----7
8----8
Should make a crossover for ya 1 to 3 and 2 ta 6 the rest aren't really even used for anything else other than a cleaner connect.  Makes it go faster if you know much about Twisted Pair.

Hope that helps.

[save2600]

Thanks for the tips Claw. I've got a couple of USB Ethernet solutions coming in the mail here soon. I took a chance on a wireless rig, but it was cheap enough, so I thought I'd give it a try. I know the wired USB Ethernet works fine, but will need a router if I want to keep my main Mac and Amiga hooked together. I'm hoping the wireless works with my Airport, which would negate the necessity for more junk in the house. lol   I have not tried Matt_H's suggestion of hooking the Amiga to the laptops ethernet port yet and sharing a connection there. I bet that would work, but the logistics of that setup are a little tricky with all three systems sharing the same room.

Edit:

Received both USB Ethernet adapters yesterday and tried 'em. One is a wireless kit that of course, does not work. It's sort of recognised by the software, but there is no class or binding for it. The other is a wired USB<>Ethernet adapter that gets the dm9601eth.device treatment. Glad that driver was available as my other wired ethernet adapter used the usbasixeth.device. I had read that the dm9601eth driver was recently written
(thanks Chris) for the "cheapy" devices and this one would certainly qualify  ;-)  

Linky to USB Ethernet adapter