I still want to get an internet connection on my A500+, but am still not sure what I need to do about modems.
Would I be fine withjust a standard v90 serial modem or do i need an amiga specific one?
Cheers
Steve
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I still want to get an internet connection on my A500+, but am still not sure what I need to do about modems.
Would I be fine withjust a standard v90 serial modem or do i need an amiga specific one?
Cheers
Steve
You don't need Amiga specific modems to connect to the internet, just the right software.
Yep, the modem isn't really important, as long as you can find software to control it. You would therefore probably be better off with an external modem made around the mid 90's or earlier because it would be more likely that others used them with Amigas too.
So just a modem and TCP/IP software then?
On my A1200 I just stuck my v34 PCMCIA modem into the PCMCIA slot and installed the TCP/IP stack (forgot what it was called) and it worked. For some reason though it didn;t work with my Force 9 dialup account. It did however work first time with Freeola.
That is good to know you managed to get a PCMCIA modem to work with the A1200. Especially when you consider that a PCMCIA modem was not a common hardware item back in the Amiga days. External Modems that connected to the serial port were the common type back then and would need specific drivers to work.
Is useful to know the PCMCIA modem worked in case others are looking for a similar solution. BTW, what make was the modem?
This is the modem:
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/5233/sta60022pk4.jpg
You can get 56k versions but I don;t have one so can't say whether it works.
I don;t know how old it is but I know that the one shown in the photograph existed in 1997.
It was dead easy to set up on the Amiga, as it is on a Macintosh (just stick it into the slot, go into the modem control panel, select themodem and select Generic PC Card Modem)
I got a Supra Express v90 serial modem today. Can't test it yet though due to lack of a cable. I'll have to order one as I don't have one.
Had to go and collect it from someone in Worksop earlier. Got to play Deluxe Galaga on his A1200 Tower with Scandoubler as well while I was there.
My first modem was a Diamond Supra Express 56k v90. The later blue one. Great external modem. I never had any problems with it and it is still working and stored away in its box in case I need a modem in an emergency.
I think that will be the one I have as it is Diamond branded and is blue.
Do you know how old it is? It's just that some of the CDs that came with it are for AOL/CompuServe etc which mention Windows 95, but one of them is an AOL 100 hour free trial which has instructions for Windows XP.
I bought mine new in 1998 and I think it came out that year. An older non v90 version was out before this. I remember also getting free AOL/Compuserve discs with mine too. I expect the other XP on wasn't originally with it.
Does anyone know where I might be able to find a serial cable to connect this to the Amiga? It needs a 9 pin male - 25 pin female cable and I can't find one anywhere.
BTW, I am assuming that AOL no longer send free 1x0 hour trial CDs any more?
You probably have a nullmodem cable lying around, right? Finding a converter for one end of that might be easier, 9-pin F to 9-pin M or something?
Why does no one ever look on Maplin? Go to www.maplin.co.uk and look at the computer cable section. They have serial gender changers including a 9 to 25 pin changer, and 25 to 9 pin cables.
Have been to Maplins in the past, thought they were a bit pricey.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harrison
I always tend to look at Maplin first as I have their catalogue and they do not have what I require.
Maplin do have what you need if you look but TiredOfLife is right, they are pricey. The null modem cable, plus the gender converter you would need would come to £15
But I just thought of another site I used to use a lot called http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk and they have some very good prices.
I just looked and they have a 9pin female to 25pin female cable for £5.77:
http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catal...roducts_id=258
And you would need a gender changer for the 9pin end which costs only £0.95p:
http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catal...products_id=42
So that is much cheaper at a combined price of £6.72p. Hope that helps.
I already have a Null modem cable, so wouldn;t need to buy one. I use it for other things though as well.
I need to buy some 9 pin an 25 pin connectors anyway so I'll just make my own.
I am pleased to say that i finally made a cable, and got the moddem set up and working.
The TCP/IP stack I used is Miami.
I tested the internet connection using AmIRC. I will try and use AWEB, but I'm not sure if it is compatible with WB2.04.
IRC wasn't too slow. It took ages for text to appear after I typed it in, but it went straight into the channel window after pressing return, and other things were done nice a quickly.
Well, as quickly as a 56K modem can do things, which when compared to current connects is very slow. A theoretical Maximum 7KB/s (56Kbps) on a 56K modem compared to a theoretical Maximum of 1MB/s (8,192Kbps) via an 8Mbit Broadband Max connection, or an even higher 3MB/s (24,576Kbps) via ADSL2. These figures just show how out of date and dead dialup 56K modem connections now really are.
Have you tried connecting your Amiga's via ethernet to broadband yet Steve? Would make a big difference.
Its pretty funny....our ISP hasnt sent us a bill in over a year...prob doesnt even realise we are still using it...
Is the a broadband or dialup connection?
Pretty cool if it is broadband. If that was me I would have it sucking as much down the connection as I could each day until they ever found out. Then you could claim you no knowledge of it because as far as you are aware you haven't been paying for any internet connection for a year. ;)
That isn;t possible because I don;t have an ethernet controller, which is the exact reason I wanted a 56k modem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Harrison
Do bear in mind that this is the A500+.
And somehow, I can't see ADSL being much different with IRC on such a computer. Or Web sites for that matter. As the speed is really limited by the speed of the serial port and of the computer itself. e.g. IRC via the v34 modem on the A1200 seemed faster than IRC on the A500+ via the v90 modem due to the A1200's Blizard.
I can chat on IRC on a modern PC over a 56k modem and the only noticabe difference in speed between that and ADSL is when it connects and displays the MOTD, which takes a couple of seconds longer.
When I said about typing the text in, I could press a key and it would take about a second to appear on the screen. The time delay between me pressing return and the text being sent to the server and appearing in the channel window was not much different to that of the PC for one reason - it is a small bit of text.
No, only dial up, so cant really download anything...lol I wish it was broadband
ISPs must love you Steve. Their favourite customers are those that pay for an internet connection and then never push the connection at all. Means they have minimum overheads serving you your connection.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Coates
As we have all stated at various points in the past, none of the rest of us could manage via a dial-up connection at all any more. The range of activities available online these days and the speed difference even loading a single webpage is so big that we couldn't stomach it.
I also disagree with you regarding dial-up being OK for looking at websites. This may have been tolerable when websites were all static html based pages, but now nearly every website is serving pages dynamically and using Web 2 based technology to make the users experience unique and interactive. Using such technology via dial-up would not be easy, and I can imagine in a lot of cases a modem would be too slow to cope and the connection would time out between the server and browser trying to run many site pages these days.
Although I expect you only mainly view pages created in the 90's. After all, why would you need modern websites. Surely those created a the dawn of the internet are good enough for you! ;)
You obviously don;t get that I wouldn;t want to view such pages on the A500+ anyway.
Also, I do have and use ADSL. And I use it alot (well, used to, until recently when I finally decided that the internet is too boring to continue to use regulaly). I just can't use that on the A500+ because a) it is three miles away from the ADSL connection and b) I do not know anything about ethernet connections.
Anyway, getting a modern internet connection working on an old computer is supposed to be fun. (Yes, modern - as far as I'm aware we din't have 56k modems in 1991)
Sometimes I forget that you are not old enough to have been around when modems were the fastest and most wanted device for bbs and early internet connections. For this reason I can see your facination with wanting to get such old hardware working with the Amiga.
But for the rest of us certain standards and hardware isn't nostalgic for us or something we would want to revert to, and the biggest of such hardware has to be the dial-up modem. I hated them back when I had to use one, and I hate them just as much now. Slow, unreliable (dropping the line when mid game or download), sometimes annoying to configure etc... In contrast, these days broadband is fast, you can share a connection between multiple machines, no connecting each time, or dropped lines. A complete contrast.
BTW, 56K modems first appeared in 1996. In 1991 the v32 modem was standard with a speed of 19.2K. So yes it was even slower, but in 1991 the internet we know today didn't exist. There were no webpages or search engines. You had to log into BBS servers or directly to FTP servers. You has to know the exact details to log into these too, not like the internet today where you can browse around from site to site. In those days 19.2K was fast enough to browse the text based interfaces of BBS systems. Today a modem is too slow and is out of date to be of any practical use.
How come the sudden change of interest in the internet? Annoyed too many forums? ;) What do you do all day Steve if you don't use the internet? Saying the internet is boring is quite a strange comment when you consider the internet contains information about anything and everything in the world. Only a boring user with no interests could possible find it boring as they wouldn't be able to think of anything to look at.Quote:
well, used to, until recently when I finally decided that the internet is too boring to continue to use regulaly
:wall: trust me, dial up IS NOT ok! I think all ppl with dialup should automatically be placed on broadband! I should start a petition!
:lol: Have you finally got broadband yet Submeg? or are you hoping to be one of the lucky recipients of said free upgrade! ;)
No waiting for my dad to get off his arse...so frustrating! Gah! I wish I could get a free upgrade :rolleyes: but still its cool, we have free net, so Im not complaining...just wish it was faster
You are right, for alot of things these days, ADSL is better. I like my ADSL because it is easier to use it on a network, and I can download big files quickly. Smaller files, even web pages, I can wait for on dialup though. Maybe I just have more patience than you.
But in the above posts, I was refering to IRC, which only needs a modem to be effective. Yes, you can stay on IRC all day with ADSL, but it WORKS just as good with a modem.
You said that a 19.2K modem was fast enough to use a text based BBS. Would it still be fast enough if you were using the exact same BBS as you were back then? It certainly wouldn't be any slower.
Saying it works could mean anything. I could run Windows XP on a PC with a 486 processor and it would work, but you couldn't do much with it!
And fast enough is a relative term. At the time when something is the fastest technology it seems fast compared to anything that came before it, but a lot of the time it was far from fast. As with all things you live with what you have at the time.
I didn;t think XP worked on 486s.
So your Athlon 64 isn't fast at all then?Quote:
And fast enough is a relative term. At the time when something is the fastest technology it seems fast compared to anything that came before it, but a lot of the time it was far from fast. As with all things you live with what you have at the time.
You need at least a Pentium to get XP to run. You can however get it to run on an underclocked Pentium running at 8MHz but you can't do anything with it really (so Harrison's point stands).Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Coates
I forgot XP is coded to not allow less than a Pentium 1 or less than 64 MB of ram. So just subtitute my 486 example for a Pentium 1 and the argument is the same.
As for the Athlon 64, I have now had this current CPU nearly a year, and it is much faster than anything that came before it, but as with anything you can always do with it being even faster. Some applications I use such as 3D rendering and video editing can always benefit from as much speed as they can get and that will never change. And the newest games currently run fine without any slowdown or problem on it, but once more start to become optimised for dual and quad core it will start to fall behind. Equally the graphics card is more than fast enough at the moment, but once DX10 is employed in more new releases it won't be able to do everything.
As I said, speed and performance are relative to the time they were released.
Period. "Discussion" finished.
Speed in a computer is like money.
You can never have enough.
Hated dialup when it was new.
You knew it was slow even then.
You could compare downloading a file to say copying it from a cd to your hd.
Broadband rules.
Boring?
You can read about anything.
Plus there is always pr0n.:D
Who else doesn't get why Steve now finds the Internet boring? Steve, please say why you find the internet boring?
We would love to know your view on this, especially as the internet is always expanding with new and exciting resources of information and entertainment. And with the Web 2.0 standards that are now taking place it is also becoming a much more dynamic, interactive and fun place to explore, interact and contribute to.
Wikipedia for example is a great source of information if you need to quickly find anything out. It might not always contain everything about a subject, but is a great resource with normally many other external links to explore. Video hosting sites are rich with users submitted content that can be explored for as long as you have time, other video sites such as Atomfilms have huge resources of fan and small budget releases... Audio sources online are huge and easy to explore and discover new genres, gaming and emulation has vast stores of information and historical interest to explore, or back to basics literature, geography, history, astronomy, science, art... it's all there to explore and discover, entertain and learn. To say the internet is boring is, in my view, just the short sighted nature of the user, to be interested in anything you much have an interest.
Because everything I have done on the internet I have already done a couple of years ago.
The only things I want the internet for now are IRC, looking at a couple of forums, shops and a couple of other things.
Everything else I am not interested in.
I am yet to see something decent on one of those horrible shitty sites.Quote:
Video hosting sites are rich with users submitted content that can be explored for as long as you have time,
I do use Wikipedia, but not that often. I only lok at it when there is something I want to read about.
A few years ago when I first got an internet connection it was really exciting. I have done on the internet all that I want to now and only use it for one or two things which can be interesting and pass time away.
I am moving onto other more interesting things now which don;t rquire use of the internet.
Moving on to "more interesting things" (i.e. Pr0n) shouldn't mean you have to abandon the internet Steve! It will be a very expensive "hobby" if you do! ;)
Lol, too funny. But I get Steve's point. A while ago I was like "hey lets go on the net!" But then after a while, I discovered that my mind wasnt imaginative enough to find new things so I would go on and then think "now what?" There needs to be a page that gives you random links from a search engine or something
Fair enough, there are plenty of interesting things to do l "as well as browse the internet"
Anyway, what are these new things you are interested in?
Simple. Napalm. Works every time.
True, a great game.
Although death is quite possible as an outcome.