A1260 PCMCIA Wifi worth it?

[Photon]

Asking like a teenager.

But yeah the main question centers around the router which obviously has Wifi.

As opposed to a teenager, I don't need my stuff to be wireless.

But my router has WPA2 by default and I don't know if I can create a non-encrypted network on the side to not waste 060 power on it or if I should try to find a wired card (with some RJ45 adapter) instead.

Specifically, I want to know if any PCMCIA card works with AmiTCP 4+ and bsdsocket.library, or if you have to know details of drivers and versions of this and that to install.

Cheers

[btp]

You will need a 16-bit PCMCIA wifi card (you can tell which are 32-bit cards because of their gold connector) with a compatible chipset. Cards with the PRISM2 chipset are the best supported (see https://aminet.net/package/driver/net/prism2v2 by Neil Cafferkey)

One issue is that these cards do not support WPA2 by default and you will need to flash them with newer firmware to enable it (from what I understand it is a process that depends on the particular card and involved some fiddling to locate the required tools and files)

Of course there are people selling pre-flashed Amiga-compatible cards.

[alexh]

They work really well but you have to find the right one. Unfortunately a lot of people have bought all of them and are now reselling them at high prices.

[fgh]

I compiled a list ages ago of some cards compatible with the prism driver.

[Sir_Lucas]

Originally Posted by Photon

Asking like a teenager.

But yeah the main question centers around the router which obviously has Wifi.

As opposed to a teenager, I don't need my stuff to be wireless.

But my router has WPA2 by default and I don't know if I can create a non-encrypted network on the side to not waste 060 power on it or if I should try to find a wired card (with some RJ45 adapter) instead.

Specifically, I want to know if any PCMCIA card works with AmiTCP 4+ and bsdsocket.library, or if you have to know details of drivers and versions of this and that to install.

Cheers

PCMCIA WIFI WPA2/AES cards work fine with A1200 and A600.
You need to check if your router also supports B/G or B/G/N as these cards support B only.

They support all TCP/IP stacks including AmiTCP. However, I strongly suggest to get RoadShow as it's the best TCP/IP and it supports DHCP as well.

Here's an example of a pre-flashed WPA2/AES PCMCIA card:

[Photon]

Thanks for all the tips! Maybe I should look into wired options, if that's more compatible and easier to set up on the Amiga side?

1. Can I use a PCMCIA card with RJ45 connector?
2. Is there an even better wired Ethernet option for 1260?

[klx300r]

@ Photon


I recommend an A314-cp https://github.com/niklasekstrom/a314


It's running nicely with my TF1260

[Sir_Lucas]

Originally Posted by Photon

Thanks for all the tips! Maybe I should look into wired options, if that's more compatible and easier to set up on the Amiga side?

1. Can I use a PCMCIA card with RJ45 connector?
2. Is there an even better wired Ethernet option for 1260?

1. Yes, you can use PCMCIA wired cards.

With wired PCMCIA and 060 you can go as fast as 800 - 900KB/s via FTP.

2. The only other option that comes to my mind is a Plipbox, but it's a rather slow solution in comparison to PCMCIA.

[alexh]

There are drivers for 2 wired PCMCIA network chipsets covering almost the entire 16-bit PCMCIA offering. As long as it's a PCMCIA and not CARDBUS ethernet it's almost certainly going to work.

https://aminet.net/package/driver/net/cnetdevice
https://aminet.net/package/driver/net/3c589

Just don't buy one without the RJ45 cable/dongle as they are usually proprietary and impossible to get.

Unfortunately price-wise Amiga resellers, just like Wifi, have bought most of them and now they retail for about 5x what they should.

[Swe_Kryten2x4b]

Originally Posted by Photon

Thanks for all the tips! Maybe I should look into wired options, if that's more compatible and easier to set up on the Amiga side?

1. Can I use a PCMCIA card with RJ45 connector?

Yes. I'm using a 3Com 3C589D and it works great. It's of course dead slow as compared to what is available now but it works. My Amiga is always at the same spot all the time so I didn't see the need for a wireless card.

Still, at cold boot the amiga may not immediately be able to use the card.

Check this thread:
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=97789

I've solved it by having a patched kickstart.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Swe_Kryten2x4b

Yes. I'm using a 3Com 3C589D and it works great. It's of course dead slow as compared to what is available now but it works. My Amiga is always at the same spot all the time so I didn't see the need for a wireless card.

Still, at cold boot the amiga may not immediately be able to use the card.

Check this thread:
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=97789

I've solved it by having a patched kickstart.

Not wanting to pimp the OP's thread....

Very interesting....

Would your patched ROM's be the same as the two files off Aminet??

https://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardPatch
https://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardReset

Both these made a 1D4 & 2B motherboard perform flawlessly with a D-Link DFE-670TXD PCMCIA 16Bit 10/100 ethernet card (RJ45) & a PCMCIA 3COM 10BaseT to RJ45 Adapter.

Without those patches in place, trying to network inbetween reboots was a proper farce. - Re-Amiga A1200 V1.5 does not need the patches in place.

[Swe_Kryten2x4b]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

Not wanting to pimp the OP's thread....

Very interesting....

Would your patched ROM's be the same as the two files off Aminet??

Sort of. Not the same software but the same functionality.

https://aminet.net/package/util/boot/BlizKick

It provides modules you can use with Remus to build your own kickstart.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Swe_Kryten2x4b

Sort of. Not the same software but the same functionality.

https://aminet.net/package/util/boot/BlizKick

It provides modules you can use with Remus to build your own kickstart.

All these years in the Amiga scene & didn't realise this....

Off topic so see PM please.

[Photon]

Hm. I found a Plipbox. It's supplied with power and shines with a constant Blue (power?) LED on the top and a constant green LED on the RJ45 connector when a known good RJ45 is connected correctly to my router. No orange blinks. EDIT: Yes, occasional orange blips.

Latest plipbox driver from lallafa is added to interfaces and I can set up Network to use it. On starting Network it say Online after a few seconds, and AmigaExplorer recognizes the TCP/IP stack (instead of defaulting to Serial, as it does when something is wrong).

But I think the Online status is bullsh#t and doesn't check jack, since I can't even ping the Gateway.

I could with the XSurf when I pointed Network to that interface. Now on the A1260 Plipbox won't work despite setting everything correctly AFAICT.

Q: What HW fault or missing configuration could cause Network to say "Online" when you can't even ping the Gateway (or other computers on the network)?

(When pinging the Amiga's address from another PC on the network, the specific error is "Destination host unreachable.")

[alexh]

Router Firewall?

[Photon]

No, router has been tested as said. And default ping port if closed should cause issues with all stuff connected on the network. I bet if I connect the same cable to the Xsurf in the A500 again it will work fine. So has to be something on the A1260. Up until the RJ45 jack on the Plipbox all seems fine.

[alexh]

MAC address filtering?

[alpine9000]

I've never managed to get a plipbox working without adding NOBURST to the plipbox.config

[Photon]

Originally Posted by alpine9000

I've never managed to get a plipbox working without adding NOBURST to the plipbox.config

GitHub instructions say that file is optional, grr. The 2 steps about plipbox0 and Sana2 I couldn't perform because there were no such files or folders. Where should the file go on WB3.1 hdd?

All I ended up doing was add the interface (I had to add UNIT=0 at the end as for the others) and then I could select it in Advanced settings in the Network program.

I'm going to try with the one from the original dev's blog and add NOBURST. And maybe add the right device to the tooltype as well.

Do you have your config file somewhere so I know what's supposed to be in it? The only one I've seen just had 1 line of text in it.

It's sketchy editing files like this. Is there some other floppy image with installer somewhere?

I didn't run the floppy image linked from Github because it will try to change settings for my existing AmiTCP4 and overwrite it with AmiTCP3. I could try it with some copy of existing WinUAE hdd directory to see what it does.

But OK, NOBURST is a lead.

Q: Where does plipbox.config go on the finished installed HDD, and how do I perform the plipbox0 step on the nonexistant nbddriver?

[alpine9000]

Details here: https://github.com/cnvogelg/plipbox/...plipbox-driver

My plipbox.config is in (EnvArc) Env:SANA2/plipbox.config and has only "NOBURST in it"