PCMCIA network setup problems

[Bane]

Firstly I'm a complete newbie when it comes to Amiga and networking (separately and combined), so this has been a disaster waiting to happen.

Using an A1200HD 3.0 ROM, a 1230 32MB accelerator, and trying to install an Amigakit (3Com 3CCE589ET PCMCIA) network adaptor. This has been my second mess up, so now after advice on what I'm doing wrong, or alternative software to use.

I sure the problem relates to installation of AmiTCP 3.

After going through installation I get a password block on bootup.


Pressing enter to the above beings the following


I can bootup with Workbench 3.1 disk and bypass this as a temporary work around. But that messes up general workings of Workbench as it's bypassing HD stored files.

Looking at the installation, for user database


Brings up the following


Pressing enter brings this screen


I had planned to reformat Workbench partition and start again, but wanted to know if I can recover from this first.

Trying to start Easynet brings the following


Which I guess is caused due to the password problems I've got as no password should exist.

Someone put me out of misery. Thanks in advance.

[rare_j]

I cant remember how I did this originally, but this should help.

Edit amitcp:db/passwd in your favourite text editor. The first line should be root's login settings. The second value in this pipe-separated list is root's password. It's probably set to *.

Replace the * with the value in the screenshot I've attached. This should set root's password to be "rubbish". you can then change this to whatever you like using the app amitcp:bin/passwd

I'm going to be reinstalling amiTCP myself in a few days using a 3Com, so if you can wait till then I'll post full installation and configuration instructions for you.

[Bane]

Thanks, I'll wait and read how it goes for you.

In the mean time I re-installed Workbench 3.1, this time using a bigger partition, before you posted the above.

Re-installed the PCMCIA card via floppy disk driver to fix the PCMCIA reset problem. The final option listed on this install was to install AmiTCP from CD, but as I don't have a CD drive I moved the zipped file to the Amiga hard drive using PC and USB enclosure, and extracted and run it from there manually. Maybe if the floppy driver install was followed fully (if I had a CD drive) it would set it up properly.

[rare_j]

Here's what I'm using,

Hardware
A1200 3.0 ROMs 200MB HDD and 1230IV 64MB
3Com EtherLink III (3C589D) PCMCIA Network card

Software
WB3.0 (ClassicWB)
3c589.lha (3Com EtherLink III device driver) from Aminet
AmiTCP-demo-40.lha from Aminet
CardPatch.lha from Aminet
CardReset.lha from Aminet
also, installers use Installer-43_3.lha from Aminet

Here's what I did. I'm not saying this is a difinitive installation guide or anything, but it worked for me.

Preparation for AmiTCP
Unpack and install the 3c589 driver using the installer program. It installs to DEVS:networks/3c589.device

Unpack CardPatch.lha and CardReset.lha, and copy CardPatch and CardReset to C:

Edit S:user-startup, add these lines at the start:

C:CardPatch
C:CardReset

Insert the EtherLink III card, connect it to the network, and reset the Amiga.

Install AmiTCP
Unpack AmiTCP-demo and run the installer.

Select your installation directory, and wait while it copies files.
Then you come to the add users section, It'll ask you for a login name, user name, and real name. I always make these the same name. It also asks you for a home directory, which I make DH0:
Accept the default user id and group id. It also pops up a separate window asking for a password for your new user, leave this for now until you've finished installing.

Then it asks for your network details. I opt for a fixed IP address, obviously something that no other machine on your network is using. If your PC is, for example, 192.168.0.1, the make the amiga 192.168.0.something else.
Subnet mask is usually 255.255.255.0 but check your network settings on the PC and use what's there.
For Default Gateway and Name Server (DNS) settings, again, check your PC and use what's there. For hostname I just enter amiga, and domain I leave blank.

The next question is a choice of network protocols I believe, so I choose Ethernet.
The next question is the difficult one. It asks you what type of network device you have, but the 3Com isnt listed as an answer. Don't choose 'none', choose 'hydra' for now and we'll sort that out later.
It asks if you want to copy over some device drivers for other cards, it doesn't do any harm to but I always skip them.
Start AmiTCP at system start? I always choose NO.
Start inetd with AmiTCP? Inetd starts the services included with AmiFTP, I always choose yes, because I use the amigas ftp server to transfer files to and from my PC.
The istallation should be complete now. turn your attention to the password requester for the user you created earlier, choose your password and enter it.

Configure AmiTCP
Now we've got to edit a few AmiTCP configuration files to sort out the fact we had to configure for a hydra during installation because no 3Com was available.

First is AmiTCP:db/interfaces
You need to configure the 3Com device driver. Add the line
EtherLinkIII DEV=DEVS:Networks/3c589.device UNIT=0

somewhere without a # at the start of the line, of course.

Next we need to edit the script that starts amiTCP to tell it to use the EtherLinkIII device rather than the hydra we set up earlier.

Edit AmiTCP:bin/startnet
Where it says
; Configure hydra
AmiTCP:bin/ifconfig hydra {IPADDRESS} netmask 255.255.255.0

change it to

; Configure EtherLinkIII
AmiTCP:bin/ifconfig EtherLinkIII {IPADDRESS} netmask 255.255.255.0

Lastly, we need to change the FTP server settings. By default the ftp server logs all actions, which is undesireable.

Edit AmiTCP:db/inetd.conf

Remove the options on the end of the ftp startup line, and change "root" for the username you created during the install.
It should read like this:

ftp stream tcp nowait your_username AmiTCP:serv/ftpd ftpd

That's it. Save it and reset the Amiga.

Now start amitcp!

AmiTCP:bin/startnet

It'll ask you to log in using the details you specified during the install. Then in the demo version it pops up a window with demo terms and conditions, which you have to wait for 5 seconds then ok. Back in the shell window, it'll display your IP address and default gateway.
Don't close the shell window you used to start AmiTCP. Leave it open until you've stopped AmiTCP using AmiTCP:bin/stopnet

The first thing you should test is if you can 'ping' your PC.

cd AmiTCP:bin
ping your_PC_ip_address
You should get a response back instantly. ctrl-c to exit ping.

That's it, you should now be able to connect to your amiga using your favourite FTP program, logging on as the user you specified in the install process, with the corresponding password. Don't specify a default directory to connect to in the FTP site setup configuration; the amiga ftp server will drop you straight into the home directory you specified for your user in the install process (for me, DH0: ). If you want to browse a different device, say, DH1 or RAM, just enter DH1: or RAM: in the box in your FTP browser where it allows you to manually specify a remote machine path.

There is some more setup you can do to refine the FTP server, most usefully to install an ls command on the Amiga that will list icons as well as files in the FTP browser, but this is a niceity rather than a necessity.

Security
I should mention that I'm setting my Amiga up on an internal network behind a hardware firewall. I expect my Amiga is about as secure as a chocolate teapot. There's no way I would expose the Amiga directly to the internet while also connected to a PC. Keep this in mind.

[kriz]

Nice guide rare_j!

I mostly use Miami DX for tcp/ip, you could try that if everything else failse...

Good luck Bane

[Bane]

Good instructions. There is hope for me yet.

Will be trying it tomorrow.

Thanks again for your time, to write it all down.

[DrCreep]

I've done this 4 month ago.
I have an A1200 an the 3COM 3CCE589ET PCMCIA Card.

First, I installed(copied) the 3c589.device into DEVS:networks/.

Then I installed AmiTCP and choosed the gg_3c503-Card.
After that, I changed the File AmiTCP:db/interfaces.

At the Line : "gg_3c503 DEV=DEVS:Networks/gg_3c503.device", I replaced "gg_3c503.device" with "3C589.device".

That was all. Reboot, and after writing "startnet" in CLI it works !!!

[Methanoid]

Jeez, no wonder i never got my Amigas set up for networking. With my PC its really a piece of piss. I would LOVE a simple way to get an Amiga networked with my PCs and using the broadband router. Is MiamiDX easier? Termite TCP?

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by Methanoid

Jeez, no wonder i never got my Amigas set up for networking. With my PC its really a piece of piss. I would LOVE a simple way to get an Amiga networked with my PCs and using the broadband router. Is MiamiDX easier? Termite TCP?

I made it sound long-winded but it is, in fact, really easy. Installing the 3Com driver is a few clicks on the installer. Adding cardpatch and cardreset to startup-sequence takes 2 minutes. To run through the AMITCP installation steps, including editing 3 lines in 2 configuration files, all in all it's 20 minutes, tops.

The reason you have to edit any text files at all is because the amiTCP-demo installer isn't aware of the new 3Com device driver.

I got my 3com PCMCIA card off ebay for £3 and all the software is freely downloadable. That's cheap networking!

FTPing to RAM:, it does 538 kbytes per sec!
Even writing to my decade-old 200MB seagate HDD I get 88 kbytes per sec.

Well worth giving it a try.

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by DrCreep

I've done this 4 month ago.
I have an A1200 an the 3COM 3CCE589ET PCMCIA Card.

First, I installed(copied) the 3c589.device into DEVS:networks/.

Then I installed AmiTCP and choosed the gg_3c503-Card.
After that, I changed the File AmiTCP:db/interfaces.

At the Line : "gg_3c503 DEV=DEVS:Networks/gg_3c503.device", I replaced "gg_3c503.device" with "3C589.device".

That was all. Reboot, and after writing "startnet" in CLI it works !!!

That's a quick and dirty way of doing it that should nevertheless work perfectly.

[DrCreep]

I have no Problems ! A1200 is connected to my Router and works fine !
On PC i use AmigaExplorer - also works fine !!

No Errors !!

I got my 3com PCMCIA card off ebay for £3 and all the software is freely downloadable.

Yeah, it's very cheap !! I also got my 3CCE589ET at ebay - €5,50 !!!

[Bane]

Not had much success. Not sure if there is a hardware fault causing problem, or my installation. I think it's hardware from picture at end.

Firstly this has been done on a clean installation of Workbench 3.0 and 3.1

Added the cardpatch and cardreset to "S:Startup-Sequence" as "User-Startup" didn't exist at the time. But swapping them over after didn't make any difference.

For installation part I used "amiga" for default user name and login name. Left real name blank and also tried "amiga" again on further attempts.

After clicking "no" to dynamic connection I used "amiga" again for host name, and nothing for domain and aliases.

Didn't enter a IP address for default gateway, name servers, or anything for domain names

Once I run the final startnet command, it begins to work. The demo version licence splash screen pops up. Click OK to clear it after time delay

The machine locks up stuck at this stage


If I leave card in and reboot. Once Workbench has loaded removed card and re-run startnet


Edit:
Have tried it without accelerator card fitted. And PCMCIA works on PC.

[rare_j]

during installation, AmiTCP added the following lines to my s:user-startup script:

;BEGIN AmiTCP/IP
assign AmiTCP: DH0:System/AmiTCP
path AmiTCP:bin add
Assign APIPE: Exists > NIL:
IF Warn
Mount APIPE: from AmiTCP:devs/APipe-Mountlist
EndIf
;END AmiTCP/IP

check these lines are in your startup-sequence somewhere.

Otherwise it could be networking settings. Did you specify a subnet mask? Can you attach your startnet script, and your interfaces file.

[Bane]

My s:user-startup is identical to yours except for path of AmiTCP.
assign AmiTCP: Work:AmiTCP-4.0

These screen captures are after a few attempts, and tweaks. So things mightn't show as if I followed you instructions exactly each time.

The PC is 10.0.0.11, 255.0.0.0 using TCP/IP. Amiga is 10.0.0.10. Firewall gets disabled on PC before attempting connection via network cross-over cable that is known to work as tested with PC to PC.

The below shows Hydra adpator, but this is after several attempts and reinstalls. The next screen capture shows I added the 3c589.device to the Hydra also so hopefully would correct the startnet problem if that was present during all attempts.

Startnet


Interfaces


Regarding computers IP address, i could try anything if a more suitable one is suggested. The PC connects to a hub via USB wireless, so the plugin network adaptor isn't used (is enabled). Just guide that came with PCMCIA used those IP's as examples.

[rare_j]

well those both look ok, did you tinker with any other files?

[Bane]

I've only edited the three files you listed.

Will be having another tinker with it this weekend, but am sort of resigned to having to keep taking the hard drive out to transfer files.

[kriz]

Methanoid: Yes , MiamiDX is very easy to use, use the GUI ...

I just set it up myself, if you know someting about network adresses and so on its no problem! On the pc (proxy server) I used CCProxy, again VERY easy to use..

Im posting this on my networked 4000.

I have amiga 1200 and 3com 3C589D-Combo pcmcia card.Card is in amiga 1200 and connected my my adsl modem, but the light in my modem does not turn on.PCMCIA card is working i have tested it on my friends laptop, also network cable and modem are working.I haven't setup up the card yet, but shouldn't the light still turn on even when the connection is not configured yet?

[kriz]

Have you tried to reconnect the pcmcia card after a reset , you have to do this, or run the cardreset fix from software to make it work on the 1200..(you can also do the hardware hack )

I use a zorro and a mediator now but have used a pcmica card before...

btw. I think I would try to connect the adsl modem to a switch/hub and then connect an amiga and a pc to the network.. if you have switch/hub its something to try

[Shrub]

Originally Posted by Trinitron_fx68

I have amiga 1200 and 3com 3C589D-Combo pcmcia card.Card is in amiga 1200 and connected my my adsl modem, but the light in my modem does not turn on.PCMCIA card is working i have tested it on my friends laptop, also network cable and modem are working.I haven't setup up the card yet, but shouldn't the light still turn on even when the connection is not configured yet?

Do you have any devices in devs:dosdrivers/ that are activated in the startu-sequence? My card wasn't working properly either when the the SCSI CDROM device was loaded up.
I think the light only came on when the 3c589 driver was configured in MiamiDX