Wifi'ed A1200

[darkage]

Ok just got a A1200,

Of course have to add on a wifi card..

I do have an older (circa - 2003) wireless card pcmcia and a CF wifeless card that I used with my Sharp Zaurus SL5500 & SL3200

I assume the wifi card just has to have a prism2 chipset and nothing else?  Any other restrictions I should look out for?

With the CF card I could probably use a CF -> PCMCIA adapter..  oh well have to check tonight for chipset type

[Gulliver]

Yes, just remember your wifi conection should use WEP  (there is no WAP support).

[darkage]

Yes, just remember your wifi conection should use WEP  (there is no WAP support).

Yeah my Sharp Zaurus doesnt need further configuratoin when using just plain WEP so I've stuck to that standard.

Just wondering if the PCMCIA wifi card doesnt work if theres any reported issues with using PCMICA <-> CF Adapters..  wondering if chipset on adapter plays any role in incompability etc.  

Probably have to find out myself

Does the PCMCIA card definitely have to be 16-bit interface or can it be 32-bit?

[tone007]

Definitely 16-bit.

[Gulliver]

Yeah my Sharp Zaurus doesnt need further configuratoin when using just plain WEP so I've stuck to that standard.

Just wondering if the PCMCIA wifi card doesnt work if theres any reported issues with using PCMICA <-> CF Adapters..  wondering if chipset on adapter plays any role in incompability etc.  

Probably have to find out myself

Does the PCMCIA card definitely have to be 16-bit interface or can it be 32-bit?

Yes, it is better to find out by testing things yourself.
Anyway, only 16 bit pcmcia devices will work.

[darkage]

Yes, it is better to find out by testing things yourself.
Anyway, only 16 bit pcmcia devices will work.

Cool my CF wifi card is definitely 16bit,  I have 3 pcmcia cards lying around so guess have to check them out and see

[amigadave]

What do you plan to do with the wifi card?  Surf the Internet on a otherwise stock A1200?

I have a wifi card on my 50MHz 68060 powered A1200 w/256mb Fast RAM & IndivisionAGA display enhancer and using either Miami Delux, or AmiTCP & AWeb3, or IBrowse2.4 to browse the Internet is still not a pleasant experience, though it is usable.

Good luck (sincerely)

[darkage]

What do you plan to do with the wifi card?  Surf the Internet on a otherwise stock A1200?

I have a wifi card on my 50MHz 68060 powered A1200 w/256mb Fast RAM & IndivisionAGA display enhancer and using either Miami Delux, or AmiTCP & AWeb3, or IBrowse2.4 to browse the Internet is still not a pleasant experience, though it is usable.

Good luck (sincerely)

Well even if its a poor experience, its good to just have the experience which I never had.. So would be good to see how crappy it is if its seriously that crappy.

[Zac67]

Even if it's the only way to go - stay clear of WEP. A WEP 'protected' network is cracked in less than one minute.

The only serious solution is a wired network which can be wirelessly extended with a wireless bridge. Much more expensive and bulkier but secure.

[runequester]

other than web browsing, some things that should work is stuff like IM (sabremsn etc), IRC chat, FTP stuff etc.

[Xanxi]

Dudes, there is now WPA support for amiga.
It seems no one read the news as the author of prism2.device told me i am tje first os3 consumee.
I have updated my ma401 to the proper firmware and i am checking my emails for the key to come soon :-)

[Daedalus]

Well, WEP is marginally better than nothing so if you're gonna use wireless without WPA, use WEB rather than leaving it open. That way at least you don't have the casual neighbours connecting and stealing your bandwidth. Keeping your SSID private and limiting access to certain MAC addresses will help to eliminate opportunistic "hacking" with iPhone apps and the likes.

I haven't heard about the WPA-capable driver, but isn't WPA dependent on the CPU for some of the encryption? Might not be fun on an already slow machine.

As for the "Why?" question, I use Wifi on my A1200s for transferring files via FTP, works a treat! With most of the WWW depending on CSS, JavaScript etc., browsing is next to useless unless you use it just for downloading from Aminet. 10 years ago it was bearable, not any more.

[gertsy]

I dont even bother to plug in my PCMCIA Etherlink 3 anymore.  I only used it for FTP. Batch transfers via the PCMCIA/CF Card reader are so much faster. The CF reader is permanently plugged in.  
Wireless is sooo noughties...

[TCMSLP]

I browse the web on my A1200 with 50Mhz '030, AGA (not RTG) and 16Mb fast ram.  It's reasonably fast.  Most sites don't render properly but then I'm perfectly happy with text only browsers under Linux so it's not a huge deal for me.

[tone007]

The best use I've found for an internet connected Amiga is downloading WHDload games directly from the web!