Networking the Amiga to PC

Since my wife and I both choose different platforms it has always been a problem to share files.
We started with floppies since my Amiga can read the Dos formatted floppies but soon the files became too large.
We then bought a matching pair of Syquest EZ 135 scsi drives. This made file swapping much easier since the syquests were faster and hold about 128 MB on each disk but there were times when using these could also be unproductive. While looking at the items for sale on the Amiga usenet page I saw a Commodore ethernet card for sale and I bought it.
I installed the 2065 card in my 3000T system and proceeded to find the information I needed to get this network up.
I quickly learned that not only is there very little information on networking Amigas it is spread out all over the net. Much of the information is very dated, confusing or downright wrong.
I am hoping that this page will make it easier for people to get thier Amigas networked. Since I first made this page we have used ISDN and presently Roadrunner Cable access to the WWW. < If your like me and have a wife and children who use computers the time spent networking can save you a lot of money later. The reason is you only need 1 modem, or ISDN box or Cable box for web access and likewise one printer can handle all the machines.< br> You can also email me at sixis@infinet.com with any questions and I will try to help you.
This page is far from completed but this is what I learned so far.

The Amiga. Any Amiga ethernet card will work. Amiga Arcnet cards come in two variations so be carefull if you try to use these. The two versions are Star & Buss topology. You should only use the Buss cards as finding an Arcnet router will be difficult. There is also the problem that the IETF standard was changed. This means that an Arcnet card will not talk to a machine running windows. If your going to use an arcnet card to connect to a windows machine you will have to use Miami since it supports both standards. If you know nothing about Amiga networking I will recomend "Connect Your Amiga" by Dale Larson. The book doesn't go very indepth but he does explain all the different options concerning Amiga networking. You'll need a TCP/IP stack. AmiTCP has been around the longest and many older programs expect AmiTCP. Since I had already been using Miami this page reflects that choice. Holger presently has Miami Deluxe in a beta and soon it will be relased. Miami Deluxe will let you run multiple TCP/IP stacks and the networking features will be top rate. I strongly suggest you buy Miami Deluxe if your going to be networking your Amigas. It will save you a lot of headaches. Presently I am using AmiFTP to FTP to my wife's PC. This let's me move files back & forth to each computer at speeds of 75,000 cps (quite often greater) which is great, considering my 33.6 modem is lucky to get 3800cps over the internet.
We started out using RG58 cable and had 2 PC's & 2 Amigas connected.
Since then we built a 486DX120 out of spare parts to use as a server and now have a hub installed.
Hubs are simply plug and play. I bought an 8 port hub for around 40 dollars so now my system is a mix of rg58 and catagory5 wire.
My Amigas are also running Envoy at the same time.

On the PC my wife has WARFTP Deamon for Windows 95 which is FREEWHARE as her FTP server. War uses about 5MB of hardrive sapce. As we get farther along we will add to this page & hopefully provide ways to get the software we use. Presently my settings are as follows;
PC1 address is 192.168.0.1
Amiga address is 192.168.0.2
PC2 which is my daughter's machine is address 192.168.0.3
My Amiga 1200's address is 192.168.0.4
The main point here is you can add machines later without having to set each machine up each time. Once we got the first PC-Amiga set up working we added our daughters PC and then the 1200.
My net mask is 255.255.255.0
Windows says the Local host is 127.0.0.1 which is a special address that refers to the machine that is the gateway or host machine.
This is technically called a Local Loopback Address. This address helps in that the other machines don't have to figure what the gateway computers IP address is.
Miami, Click on the Interface & choose SANA-II Ethernet Device. My 3000 is using a C2065 card so it uses the C2065.device Unit 0.
IP Type Static IP address 192.168.0.2
Netmask Static Netmask 255.255.255.0
Gateway Static Gateway 200.0.0.1
Multicast Disabled
Multicasting is the process of a system broadcasting network packets to a group of clients. A good example would be a live web broadcast using netshow or real audio. Multicast are normally used for one-way comunication of "streaming" media.
I have my do PPP ping off.
Pinging is a way to let other machines know your still online and a good way to check if the connection is good when you first start setting up your network. Pinging will slow down a network if it is set at too high of a rate. The only example I can think of when you actually need to have this on is if a provider kicks you offline after so many minutes.
In my SanaII Parameters my Hardware address is 00:80:10:00:27:74 yours will be different.
The first 3 sets are default numbers for the Commodore board.
The second set of numbers is my boards personal address, this way no two boards will have the same address.
This numbering system is all done in hardware.
IP type 2048 Arp Type 2054 Rarp type 32821 MTU 1500.
Actually these setting Miami found by itself by clicking on the Query Device button. I just included them for reference.
In the PPP window the only thing I did was uncheck "Get DNS from IPCP" this is so the browsers do not hang up waiting on an DNS.
Ignore the Dialer window.
Database settings.
In the DNS Servers window I have two numbers.
204.210.252.250
204.210.252.252
I also made a couple of changes under the Hosts settings.
I have 127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.0.1 pc1 This is the name of my gateway machine.
In the Networks window under name I have loop, the ID is 127 and under aliases it is loopback.
In the TCP/IP window dynamic is unchecked host name is 192.168.0.1 which is the PC address or server machine.
I have Use ICMP.
ICMP is needed for certain programs and for error recovery when sending or recieving information across the network.
Fake IP, Use DHCP, T/TCP, Verify DNS servers, Auto-Add domain, Down when Offline, Ping Flood protection and Get time are all unchecked.
Use BootP should be turned off. It works very similar to "Get DNS from IPCP" and is not needed unless a machine is assigning you an address.
There is nothing to change in the Events, Modem, Logging or Windows or Gui.
Once everything is set up click on the online button. If this works save the settings as MiamiInitSANA2.config. My file size is 2458. Now if you are only going to use miami for the LAN then you can save the settings as default.
My AmiFTP settings are as follows; Profile Name PC1 Host name 192.168.0.1 Port 80 (80 is the standard FTP port).
There you have it. Later as I figure out Apache or Samba I'll leave those settings here.
Enjoy,files at 75,000cps is pure pleasure.
That figure is directly related to your hardrive speeds, processor ect.

A1200 PCMIA slot for networking

As much as I enjoy my A3000T I have always used a 1200 or CD32 just for AGA stuff. After I managed to get my 3000T on the ethernet I wanted to connect my 1200. After looking around I decided to use a pcmia card I bought from National Amiga. This card uses the cnet.device and in the cnet documentation there is a list of other boards that work. The pcmia slot on the 600 and 1200 has been known to have problems. Remember, Commodore was one of the first computer manufactures to use this slot and as always, someone else had a better idea. Some machines may need a small soldering job and there is always a chance the slot will be defective. Since I use Miami I will post the settings below, I had to do this manually as while Miami could find my card miami couldn't set everything up. This is a known problem with some PCMIA ports. Miami Settings for the APNET PCMIA Ethernet card.
Interface screen;
Interface type SANA-II other bus/ring
Device cnet.device Unit 0
IP Type static IP address 192.168.0.4 (remember the 4 is whatever number you assign)
Netmask Type static Netmask 255.255.255.4
Gateway Type static Gateway 200.0.0.6
Multicasts disabled
Under inactivity I have do nothing.
SANA-II Parameters
Query Device should find these numbers for you.
Hardware Address 00:00:B4:4E:60:48 overide is unchecked
IP type 2048 requests 10
Arp Type 2054 requests 4
RArp type 32821
MTU 1500
Dialer this is for modems
TCP/IP
Host name dynamic is unchecked with the address 192.168.0.1
Real Name obvious, user name obviuos
Only the Use ICMP is checked.
Use DHCP, Verify DNS servers, Fake IP, I/TCP, Auto-add domain, Down when offline and Ping flood protection are all off as is Get Time.
These settings will get you connected. Presently I can go through my PC & out in the net through the cable modem (roadrunner is fast)

Envoy

Envoy is peer to peer networking software for the Amiga.Envoy lets you mount drives from any Amiga on the network to any other Amiga on the network.
My main reason for using Envoy is my 1200 renders VistaPro pictures and saves the files in 24 bits to the 3000's hardrive which I can then view on the picassII card.
Envoy is fairly simple to set up.
Since this page is aimed at beginners I'll walk you through it.
Create a drawer in Devs called Networks. This is where you install your ethernet device driver. ex 2065.device This must be installed before you install Envoy.
If you are only going to connect two Amigas just use the simple network option.
If you are planning on accessing the web from both Amigas or connecting to a network with PC's involved get out some pen and paper.
Select Intermediate, proceed, proceed then select Hardisk. I then select the SYS: Drawer.
Next up is enter the name of this Amiga's owner. (your name)
Then the name for your Amiga. examples, 1200, 3000, whatever you prefer to call it but you will need a different name for the other Amiga.
Select Complex Network.
Please enter the network address for your Amiga. If this is your main Amiga or server or gateway to the net the default address of 192.168.0.1 is correct. (you should set the server up first).
If you are adding an Amiga to the network select the number of the machine. ex; 192.168.0.2 or 192.168.0.4 Notice that only the last number changes.
Is your network using a default subnet mask? Yes
Do you want to select the default router? No
Please enter the name of your Amiga's Realm. NET
Please enter the network address of your Realm Server. 192.168.0.254 From what I understand this default is wrong. Change the 254 to 1.
Select the networking hardware you are using with envoy. Self explanatory.
Proceed then click on the device in the Amiga you are setting up. ex cnet.device Proceed
Enter the type number of IP packets for your network interface. 2048 I change this to 2049 if you are going to run other networking software at the same time. Such as Miami or AmiTCP.
I do the same to ARP packets. Change the default 2054 to 2055.
The reason I recomend changing those two numbers is Miami defaults to the same numbers and sometimes the two networks will cause a lock up when using them at the same time.
Please select which envoy services you would like to run. Since you can add printers later just use the default File System.
You'll get the working on installation notice
Remove the Envoy Install disk and select proceed to reboot your Amiga.

I hope this page has been helpfull. As I learn more I will add more to this page.
I would like to thank all of the people who have helped me get this page completed.
Please feel free to email me if you have any other information that should be on here.

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This page was designed by SIXIS IMAGING
Jan 16 1999