If so or if not, why?

Yes, to let two or more Amigas talk to each other
11%
4
Yes, to exchange software and data with my more modern computers
29%
10
Yes, to use a NAS
14%
5
Yes, to use FTP or WGET to get software, e.g. off of Aminet
17%
6
Yes, to browse the web or use other protocols such as IRC or mail
14%
5
No, I would love to but I'm running 1.x
3%
1
No, the hardware would be too expensive
No votes
0
No, because I have a better way to exchange files with the rest of the world
3%
1
No, because I don't have any need for my Amiga to talk to the rest of the world
9%
3
No, too daunting a project
No votes
0
 
Total votes: 35
User avatar
iljitsch

Posted Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:01 am

I was wondering: how many people have networked their Amigas?

I've had two Amigas during the 1990s (still have them now 8-) ) and nothing else back then. So I initially networked them together to get data from one to the other. Then I used my A1200 to connect to the internet for stuff like mail and the web until I decided I had waited for new Amigas long enough and got a PC in 2000.

Then, with much reduced Amiga use, until 2019 I mostly downloaded new software and stuff directly from the internet using IBrowse. In 2019 I got a NAS (network attached storage, a box with a bunch of harddrives that connects to your local network as a file server) and now it's super easy to exchange files between all my computers (Macs and Amigas) because they can all mount the NAS over SMB.

I still have a script to quickly download stuff directly from Aminet, though.

For big box Amigas, iComp makes the X-Surf 100, a Zorro Ethernet card that costs 140 euros.

But for the A1200 (and A600) you can get an old PCMCIA Ethernet or Wi-Fi* adapter, there are now drivers for many of those. So that's very cheap.

Another option is Plipbox, which is an Ethernet adapter for the parallel port for about $45. (Doesn't work on the A1000 or I think there may be a special A1000 version.)

* I have an old PCMCIA 11 Mbps Wi-Fi adapter. It works very well on open networks, but I couldn't get the modern WPA/WPA2 security to work with the Prism2 driver. It does work with WEP, but that's pretty insecure and isn't even supported by many modern Wi-Fi base stations anymore.

Anyway, interested to hear all of your networking experiences.

User avatar
Crispy
Sunhillow

Posted Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:21 am

I have a LAN that connects my Windows gaming box, Mac Pro, build box (Core i5 based mini PC in a fanless case running Linux that I use for compiling FPGA code and Linux C code), and Amiga 4000.

The A4000 has an Ariadne II ethernet card, and is running an ftp server and an rlogin server. I use Transmit on my Mac to transfer files between the Mac and A4000 via ftp, and I can rlogin to the Amiga to do things like compile source code, or package up files with LhA. Of course I also sometimes use IBrowse when I'm at the A4000 keyboard.

I've been focusing on my A1000 lately, and at first I had it networked to my A4000 using Amiga-Link, but now I use an SD card to transfer files to and from the Mac.

My A2000 also has an ethernet card, but it's currently out of commission with a dead hard drive.

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:55 am

My A500 has an ACA500+ and the network add-on but I have yet to actually use it. My A1200 has a PCMCIA WiFi and a PCMCIA ethernet card but yet again, I have not actually used either of them. My Amiga 2000 has no card for network so it is local only.

What I have used is the WiModem for using terminal programs and browsing BBSs. I have also used my A500 with Amiga Explorer connected over serial to a Windows ME PC to exchange files and create floppy disks from images. I did this for quite a while until I started using a KryoFlux for creating ADFs and writing back to Floppy.

That is pretty much the extent of my Networked Amigas. I don't have a need to browse the web or use it for email or any other "modern" type tasks. It is not the main usage scenario for me.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:03 pm

What I have used is the WiModem for using terminal programs and browsing BBSs. I have also used my A500 with Amiga Explorer connected over serial to a Windows ME PC to exchange files and create floppy disks from images.
^ This for me. In the BBS world, there is actually a benefit to running 1.3 because 64Door was written for it. I can launch it via HDD and hit my favorite BBSes which are running off 8-bit Commodore machines. The added benefit of 64Door is it fully supports PETSCII as well as 80 column modes. It's freaking awesome, and I do this on a weekly if not daily basis.
I don't have a need to browse the web or use it for email or any other "modern" type tasks. It is not the main usage scenario for me.
100% this for me as well. I have zero interest in getting my Amigas truly "online".

And like Crispy, lately I've been moving files over a lot more regularly via SD cards and even an external Gotek, if an ADF is involved. Combined with Disk Mimic I've got pretty much all of my bases covered these days. :boing: <3

User avatar
stevelord

Posted Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:34 pm

My Amiga 4000 has a ZZ9000 but I have various stability issues with it, more so on os 3.2 for some reason. I also have a deneb so I use a usb ethernet dongle instead which is way more stable. I recently found lowering resolution seems to help so I wonder if there are timing issues or z3 bus contention issues involved.

I mostly use the Internet for aminet although historically I've used twitter, telegram, slack through amirc and bitlbee, rss with amrss and stunnel, and of course ibrowse, which works great with 68k.news and frogfind. I've not yet got network printing fully working but i live in hope one day i'll be able to print from final writer, wordworth or pagestream.

I'm considering a wifimodem for my CDTV once it has permanent storage. I've a 500 to bring back to live and was thinking of running dnet or ser/parnet with a view to implementing a bridge on the esp32. If i can integrate
it into a wifimodem that would be ideal but I havent started yet.

User avatar
bwldrbst

Posted Fri Jul 23, 2021 5:43 pm

I have a Vampire in my A1000 and a 1200SDE in my A1200. Both support dirt cheap Arduino ethernet adaptors.

I mainly use the network for downloading things from Aminet or http://whdownload.com, and transferring things from my modern machines. When coding on my A1000 it's sometimes nice to be able to browse the docs at http://amigadev.elowar.com directly on the machine.

I'm on the hunt for an ethernet card for my 2000 as well. I should probably just bite the bullet and order a new X-Surf rather than waiting for a local second hand one to fall into my lap.

User avatar
SPiFF

Posted Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:53 am

intric8 wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:03 pm
I don't have a need to browse the web or use it for email or any other "modern" type tasks. It is not the main usage scenario for me.
100% this for me as well. I have zero interest in getting my Amigas truly "online".
Same here. I do have the WiModem to play with, but that is the most I really want to do.

I do have a compatible PCMCIA wifi card if I want to play with it. But, it would be just for the fun of getting it to work. Not really with the goal of getting online.





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