Ethernet on Amiga

[slk486]

I finally got my new (old) A4000 set up and got this AMI GANET card from Hydra Systems, with an RJ45 modulator, but have no idea where to start with setting it up. Anyone know how to do it or can link to guides on the issue?

I'm using a CF installed ClassicWB (thanks Bloodwych!).

[alexh]

You will need to install a TCP/IP stack. AmiTCP, Miami (Deluxe) or Genesis.

You will also need the Hydra Amiga-Net SANAII driver.

There are millions of guides out there. Now you know the names of the tools it will only take a few minutes of googling to get you a full guide.

[Peter]

Alex, is it my imagination or did I read that Genesis is faster than Miami...??

[gulliver]

Genesis is noticeably faster than MiamiDX (about 30%), but then Genesis is a buggy piece of software, and between several things, it is missing DHCP (dynamic IP setups) support.

[slk486]

Originally Posted by alexh

You will need to install a TCP/IP stack. AmiTCP, Miami (Deluxe) or Genesis.

You will also need the Hydra Amiga-Net SANAII driver.

There are millions of guides out there. Now you know the names of the tools it will only take a few minutes of googling to get you a full guide.

Ok, thanks a bunch alexh!

[Info-Seeker]

Genesis is that crap thing that comes with 3.9, right? I had to launch an app that doesn't minimize to get on the internet. I though that was extremely lame... I have long been a fan of AmiTCP. Being a unix admin, it was extremely easy to setup and install, and I understood everything it was doing from the start. It also ran services which made life very easy, the ftpd server in particular.

I know Genesis is a version of AmiTCP, is it faster than AmiTCP?

Somewhere I have a box with an older version of AmiTCP installed on it that I somehow finagled in to forcing a login requester after the OS boots up. I thought this was an awesome feature, even if accidental. It reminded me of SunOS on bootup. I have been trying to reproduce the login prompt for some time now, without any luck, but that's a different story all together.

If you still haven't gotten your nic up and running, SLK, let me know, I have the same card and setup on 1 or 2 of my 2000s.

[zipper]

Originally Posted by Info-Seeker

I know Genesis is a version of AmiTCP, is it faster than AmiTCP?

At least it's faster than Miami.

[Hewitson]

Strange. Miami performs about 2x faster than Genesis on my card (cnet.device).

[Bamiga2002]

I have come to a conclusion that MiamiDX rocks!

[fitzsteve]

+1 for miamidx

[thomas]

MiamiDx is overkill for home use. Miami is completely sufficient for simple internet access and much easier to configure.

[rkauer]

Genesis requires MUI, Miami doesn't.

But Genesis have DHCP support, which Miami does not.

On lowly-expanded Amigas Miami is better.

[fryguy]

Eh.. Miami has DHCP support which Genesis doesn't iirc.

[rkauer]

Are you sure? I remember I had to use Genesis with my Wifi PCMCIA card because Miami doesn't have DHCP...

[rare_j]

What's so great about DHCP? It fills out your IP, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS. Whoop-de-do. Surely on an Amiga you'd want to fill all this in yourself, once, and go with whichever stack is fastest?

[Jope]

DHCP is quite handy. Especially if you use your Amiga in more than one place.

[Info-Seeker]

I hard config all my boxes, Amigas or otherwise, for their respective networks, so I do not care about that. I really like the fact that AmiTCP runs inetd and configs up services like ftpd or anything else you want to run in the background. I also like the fact that it is always on the net and I do not have to run some stupid thing like that inet connector applet in genesis.

It also uses the home/user directory structure like unix, and doesn't let you read files without permissions like unix.

I get about 150k/sec via ftp to the 1200s with the stock ide controller and a 15 to 20 gig 2.5 ide drive in it. I get 120 to 150k/sec to the 2000s with hydra cards, GVP 030s and a 10k rpm scsi sca drives with a 50 pin adapter running 3.1+Scalos. And, if I remember correctly, I get 250 to 300k/sec to the 4000 with the Amiga 2065 card in it, an 040/25, and the stock ide interface.

My only real bitch about AmiTCP is it doesn't get along with whdload sometimes...

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Info-Seeker

My only real bitch about AmiTCP is it doesn't get along with whdload sometimes...

I think you'll find that is the ethernet hardware generating spurious interrupts and would probably occur with any TCP/IP stack which cannot be disabled.

Originally Posted by whdload

There is a general problem with all extra hardware connected to the Amiga which generates Interrupts at random or regular times. An example is my network card (Hydra). If I have my TCP/IP stack running, nearly every installed program will freeze after a short time because the card creates PORTS interrupts (the same type as interrupts created by the keyboard) which cannot correctly replied to by the installed program. This is because as soon as the request has been acknowledged with an rte, the next interrupt occurs. To avoid this problem, the TCP/IP stack must be stopped before starting WHDLoad.
In the same category are falling USB-stacks (use "AddUSBHardware REMOVE ALL" for Poseidon) and the Voodoo interrupt of Mediator boards (you have to set "VoodooInt = No"). Starting WHDLoad version 16.8 there is a built-in work around for the interrupts created by Mediator boards, therefore no special settings are required.

http://www.whdload.de/docs/en/bugs.html

[Bamiga2002]

Originally Posted by thomas

MiamiDx is overkill for home use. Miami is completely sufficient for simple internet access and much easier to configure.

There was some downsides to which i based my selection between Miami vs. MiamiDX can't remember what it was. In general there's a recommendation that AmiTCP for lower confs and Miami/MiamiDX for miggys with more horsepower.

I get full internet speed with MiamiDX once i configured the caches etc.

[Peter]

What version of AmiTCP do people use?

I see a version 4 Demo on Aminet - but is there another version I should get?