Help with installing AmiTCP/IP

[emuola]

Running ClassicWB Lite v24. I managed to get me a compatible Network card and it works fine with the Amiga Network boot disk. How could I install/configure the AmiTCP/IP in(to) my ClassicWB? I tried to search, but could not find any guides for this I know that MiamiDx used to be in MyFiles/install, but it's not there anymore, at least in Lite...

[thomas]

I don't know what that network boot disk consists of, but given that everything is configured correctly, you usually only need to copy the AmiTCP directory to your harddrive, set an assign AmiTCP: to that directory and run the startnet script to go online.

[emuola]

Thanks

I got the 3.02b version and it has an installer. Is there any potential harm done, if I run the installer? My setup is working really well atm, so I really don't want to try anything risky here.

I *may have installed* MiamiDx sometime last year... I really don't recall If it indeed is there, any possible conflicst/problems? It's not working, that's for sure How do I uninstall it (if it is installed)?

[thomas]

The installer does not work correctly. You have to edit some of the config files manually anyway.

If the boot disk has a working config, you should just use that.

[emuola]

Ok, I'll give it a shot tonight We'll see how it goes.

[thomas]

Here is a small guide how to install AmiTCP 3.0B2:

Variant 1: use the installer. Anwer all the questions correctly (not so easy when doing it for the first time).
Then edit s:user-startup and remove the login command.
Also edit amitcp:bin/startnet and change lo/0 into lo0 and devs:networks/your.device/0 into eth0.
Finally edit amitcp:db/interfaces and add a line reading

eth dev=devs:networks/your.device

Variant 2: manual configuration
- information needed:
-> the name of your network driver (for example devs:networks/your.device)
-> ip address of your router (for example 192.168.0.1)
-> ip address for your Amiga (you can choose one, use the same as your router but change the last number, for example 192.168.0.42)
-> host name for your Amiga (you can choose one, for example "amiga")
- unpack AmiTCP-bin-30b2.lha to your harddrive (e.g. DH0)
- edit s:user-startup and add this section:

;BEGIN AmiTCP
assign AmiTCP: DH0:AmiTCP-3.0b2
path AmiTCP:bin add
;END AmiTCP

- edit DH0:AmiTCP-3.0b2/db/interfaces and add the line

eth dev=devs:networks/your.device

- change your.device to the name of your network driver (probably cnet.device).
- make a new file DH0:AmiTCP-3.0b2/db/netdb-myhost with these lines:

HOST 192.168.0.42 amiga
NAMESERVER 192.168.0.1

- change 192.168.0.42 to the IP address you chose for your Amiga
- change 192.168.0.1 to the IP address of your router
- create a new file amitcp:bin/startnet with this contents:

setenv HOSTNAME amiga
run >nil: amitcp:amitcp
waitforport AMITCP
ifconfig lo0 localhost
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.42 netmask 255.255.255.0
route >nil: add amiga localhost
route >nil: add default 192.168.0.1
Assign TCP: Exists > NIL:
IF Warn
  Mount TCP: from AmiTCP:devs/Inet-Mountlist
EndIf
run >NIL: AmiTCP:bin/inetd

- change the IP addresses to the same values you used in netdb-myhost.
- set the S bit for startnet, for example with the shell command

protect amitcp:bin/startnet +s

- now reboot and enter startnet into a shell window.
- enter ping 192.168.0.1 into the same shell window.

[emuola]

Thank you soooo much it works!!! You are so kind to post a step-by-step guide for an Amiga noob like me. Truly appreciated! I just got logged in Aminet with SimpleFTP Now I just have to try lynx or some other light browser. Any suggestions?

[emuola]

I thought I'll post the specs of the card/driver/etc, if anyone else is interested. The card is on of the "not-so-common-ones" from 3Com, specifically model 3CXE589ET. (just plain 10 Mbps, it has the x-jack connector, no dongle needed). Here's the full list for a working combo

A1200
ClassicWB Lite v24
AmiTCP 3.0b2
3Com 3CXE589ET
3c589.device -driver

Could the guide from Thomas be marked as sticky/guide or something else, so that it will not get buried under all the other stuff? I think this guide is very important.

[r0ber7]

I also would like to thank Thomas very much indeed!
For about half a day I'd been trying to get some sort of tcp/ip working between my Amiga 1200 and my router and laptop. My ultimate goal: a laptop that can boot into e-uae running on a base linux system (http://www.xamiga.net/).
Anyway, thanks to this wonderful guide I got my first ping response from the router!



on to an ftpd, or smb...

[r0ber7]

Actually, I've run into an odd problem with this...
This is the startnet I'm using now:

setenv HOSTNAME amiga
run >nil: amitcp:amitcp
waitforport AMITCP
ifconfig lo0 localhost
ifconfig eth0 192.168.2.202 netmask 255.255.255.0
route >nil: add amiga localhost
route >nil: add default 192.168.2.1
assign tcp: exists >nil:
run >nil: amitcp:bin/inetd

When I run this, it returns nothing, and I can not ping the router.

BUT when I type in all the commands from above script straight into the cli,
it does work, and I can ping the router succesfully.

In the testing process I've now typed that same script into cli over and over again, trying to get a connection to an internet server (which isn't working).

So far, I can only ping the router IF I type in every command manually.

Am I missing something here? I can't seem to find what's wrong, please help!

[thomas]

Remove all occurences of ">nil:" from the script and then try again and check if there are any messages.

BTW, the "assign tcp: exists" is only a check. It does not have any sense without the "if warn" etc. So if you remove the If, you can also remove the assign.

[r0ber7]

startnet without assign and >nil: & gives:

[CLI 1]
add host amiga: gateway localhost
add net default: gateway 192.168.2.1
[CLI 3]

and then... no ping to router. I've also noticed that on my router there are two lights for every LAN connection. The one my laptop's attached to has two lights on, the Amiga network connection has only one. Hmm...
The router itself has fairly basic firmware, I'm trying to see if I can install custom firmware so that I can ssh into it from my laptop, and try to ping the Amiga.

[r0ber7]

ping returns: wrote router 64 chars, ret=-1. what does that mean? i suspect it means we're able to send packets, but nothing is returned?

[thomas]

Originally Posted by r0ber7

startnet without assign and >nil: & gives:

[CLI 1]
add host amiga: gateway localhost
add net default: gateway 192.168.2.1
[CLI 3]

and then... no ping to router.

Question: did you stop AmiTCP before you start it again?

Or did you reboot?

What kind of NIC do you use? If it's PCMCIA, have you installed CardPatch and CardReset?

I've also noticed that on my router there are two lights for every LAN connection. The one my laptop's attached to has two lights on, the Amiga network connection has only one. Hmm...

The LEDs are for connection speed. The Amiga NIC is 10 MBit while the Laptop probably is 100 or 1000 MBit.

The router itself has fairly basic firmware, I'm trying to see if I can install custom firmware so that I can ssh into it from my laptop, and try to ping the Amiga.

Where did you take the IP address 192.168.1.202 from? It looks like one which the router could assign via DHCP. You should choose one which does not lie inside the DHCP range. 192.168.1.2 for example.

The router firmware shouldn't matter unless it has some kind of packet filter which does not allow packets to be routed inside the local network. Try to ping the Amiga from the laptop, this should have the same result. And of course ping the laptop from the Amiga, too.

[r0ber7]

Originally Posted by thomas

Question: did you stop AmiTCP before you start it again?

Or did you reboot?

I use amitcp:bin/stopnet to stop amitcp. when i use that, startnet replies as above. if i don't it tells me files are already created.

What kind of NIC do you use? If it's PCMCIA, have you installed CardPatch and CardReset?

pcmcia, yes, yes.

Where did you take the IP address 192.168.1.202 from? It looks like one which the router could assign via DHCP. You should choose one which does not lie inside the DHCP range. 192.168.1.2 for example.

i picked 192.168.2.202, because the dhcp range on the router used to be 192.168.2.100 - 200, before i turned off dhcp just to be sure.

The router firmware shouldn't matter unless it has some kind of packet filter which does not allow packets to be routed inside the local network. Try to ping the Amiga from the laptop, this should have the same result. And of course ping the laptop from the Amiga, too.

ping amiga from laptop & laptop from amiga fails. reason i'm thinking of changing router firmware, is because the original firmware doesn't supply any routing configuration options or ssh login. i wonder maybe the original firmware doesn't allow local network routes, or just hasn't been configured as such.

i've also typed this up, as much as i can remember from what i did last night. :P


i've been having trouble installing this card on my a1200.

it comes with a floppy containing the installer for its driver and both cardpatch and cardreset for a1200. installing the driver was no problem. startup sequence was properly configured, all good there.

my network setup:

router (192.168.2.1)
amiga (192.168.2.202)
laptop (192.168.2.100)

the router has dhcp turned off. both computers are connected with cables on the lan ports of the router. internet on the wan port.
the router has two lights for each LAN port.
the first light is called Link/Act, the second light called 10M/100M. I'm guessing the 10M/100M is data transfer, and the Link/Act is about low level connectivity.

netmask (255.255.255.0)
dns (192.168.2.1)


i tried:

1. easynet (supplied on cd by amigakit.com)

this, when i follow the instructions from the amigakit.com manual: 1 2, tells me it's online, but pinging the router doesn't work. after clicking "online", one of the two lights on the router's lan port lights up (Link/Act), but the other one (10M/100M) doesn't. stays on until i click "offline".

2. amitcp 30b2, followed installation instructions from here and from this thread.

i figured i'd try a pure amitcp installation, without easynet. configured amitcp:db/ and amitcp:bin/ files according to instructions. by now i've done that so many times, i can say i pretty much understand the amitcp config. no luck, same thing: Link/Act lights up, but no pinging.
EXCEPT, and this is the weird part, when I install amitcp, and MANUALLY enter the commands from amitcp:bin/startnet, which for some reason fail when run as a script.

after i enter these commands MANUALLY into cli, somehow, I am then able to ping the router on 192.168.2.1. pinging google.com or its IP, however, fails.

3. miami dx
followed installation instructions from here. after install, ran miamiinit, which succesfully found the driver and recognized the card. again i entered the network setup info as seen above. querying the device went succesfully as far as i could tell. added database info, followed some instructions from somewhere (can't remember). i clicked "online", and miami happily informed me that it was online. yet i couldn't ping the router. the difference here was that both the Link/Act and the 10M/100M lights on the router lit up and stayed on.

4. different routers (sweex & sitecom)
both configured to use static ips and 192.168.2.1 as their own ip. laptop connects fine through both of them, amiga doesn't. don't think it's a router problem.

5. several cables
all of these work fine when connecting my laptop to the router, so there shouldn't be a problem about using them to connect my amiga to my router.

6. re-installing the 3c589 driver from an online source.
i thought maybe it has been updated, but that didn't make a difference either.

7. network disk (http://jpv.wmhost.com/NetworkBootDisk/)
amitcp told me it can't open the device at all when booted from this disk.

8. miami 3.2b
miami init can't find gateway, netmask, or any other protocol-level information. it can find the 3c589.device and query it succesfully. going online: i can ping, from the amiga, 192.168.2.202 (amiga), localhost, but nothing else. dns, netmask, etc. configured as normal. both Act/Link and 10M/100M lights on router's lan port are lit continuously.

my current thoughts are that both amitcp & miami are able to recognize the interface and its driver, but they're unable to setup protocol-level stuff like routing (although ifconfig succeeds in amitcp, all sent icmp packets remain unanswered by the router). miami couldn't get an ip through dhcp when i turned it on, and the gateway wasn't automatically found during miami init. so how do i fix this...

phew! overall:

[thomas]

I'm guessing the 10M/100M is data transfer, and the Link/Act is about low level connectivity.

Your guess is slightly wrong. The 10M/100M LED only shows the connection speed: on = 100M, off = 10M. The Link/Act LED shows connection (permanently on) and activity (blinking). If both are off, the cable is not connected. If a 10M line is connected, only Link/Act is on. If data is transmitted over the line, Link/Act blinks.

Does your laptop have a PCMCIA slot? Can you test the NIC on the laptop?

Do you have an Ethernet switch or HUB? Can you test this instead of the router? Or a cross-over cable for direct connection between Amiga and laptop?

[r0ber7]

Ah, ok. The laptop has no compatible PCMCIA port. I just have these two routers, but I could try a crossover cable. That will have to wait until tomorrow though, shops close soon. Thanks for your replies, I'm quite determined to get this working and this forum has helped a lot so far.

[r0ber7]

startnet
ifconfig eth0

eth0:  flags=863<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING>
         inet 192.168.2.202 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255

that's after a simple startnet command. so it seems the ethernet driver is running and functional... i'm really starting to doubt whether there is anything wrong with my amitcp setup at all. i'm now looking into the router. unfortunately, in my attempts to install custom firmware, i bricked one of my routers. the other one (sweex broadband) is now running the latest firmware update from the vendor. could it be that both routers are having trouble with M10 connections?

i'm off to a shop to buy a crossover cable, let's see what that does...

[r0ber7]

Originally Posted by thomas

Do you have an Ethernet switch or HUB? Can you test this instead of the router? Or a cross-over cable for direct connection between Amiga and laptop?

Went into town today. Came back with a cross-over cable. Do you know how I set up AmiTCP for it? There's no "gateway", so I'm confused about the network config. Sorry if I'm spamming the thread.

[thomas]

You need to change the laptop's TCP/IP settings, too. On the laptop, choose a static IP address and use the Amiga as gateway. Leave the DNS entries empty. On the Amiga choose another static IP address and use the laptop as gateway. There is no DNS here, either.