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Wifi Extension Development Thread

Byrd

Well-known member
Hi ants,

what's the current bridge of choice to get for your extension?  Still the Vonets?

Thanks

JB

 

ants

Well-known member
what's the current bridge of choice to get for your extension?  Still the Vonets?
Personally I would choose the OpenWRT router, such as the GL AR300M. It's harder to set up than the Vonets, but once it's done this router is faster, more robust, and you can switch wifi networks without having to reboot your Mac.

 

10001001sos

Active member
Okay ants, I am sorry for my extremely late reply on my problems with the router.  I have verified that the bridge settings are working with internet access on my modern computer (At the correct speed of 10mbps).  This will only work though when both the router and my computer are configured for dhcp.  My next question is, since I don't and can't use OpenTransport (Only for certain cpu types and 7.5 and above), how do I configure the router and/or the the Macintosh SE to handle static addresses?  Thanks again  :) .

Note: I sent this forum post while connected to the router  ;) .

Edit: I am doing this with MacTCP 2.0.6

 
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ants

Well-known member
how do I configure the router and/or the the Macintosh SE to handle static addresses?
My AR300M router uses the 192.168.8.X IP range (the router address itself is 192.168.8.1) - is this the same for you? Your router address should remain as 192.168.8.1 no matter what Wifi network you are connected to. You your router IP changes when choosing a different wifi network then it's not configured correctly.

If your router has a fixed IP address, then you should just be able to enter any static IP into MacTCP within the same range and it should work, e.g. 192.168.8.20.

I've never actually used MacTCP, so I'm hoping someone else on this thread can give you some general advice on setting a static IP with MacTCP? I only know how to do this using Open Transport.

 

10001001sos

Active member
My AR300M router uses the 192.168.8.X IP range (the router address itself is 192.168.8.1) - is this the same for you? Your router address should remain as 192.168.8.1 no matter what Wifi network you are connected to. You your router IP changes when choosing a different wifi network then it's not configured correctly.

If your router has a fixed IP address, then you should just be able to enter any static IP into MacTCP within the same range and it should work, e.g. 192.168.8.20.

I've never actually used MacTCP, so I'm hoping someone else on this thread can give you some general advice on setting a static IP with MacTCP? I only know how to do this using Open Transport.
I take back what I said earlier about the static addresses.  I finally figured out that in addition to the IP, gateway, and the subnet mask, I needed to set the DNS address for it to actually connect.  I set this value to the router’s gateway, which seems to work when connecting to the internet.  Next, I will try setting MacTCP setting to the ones on my modern computer (I originally thought the extension automatically set this up, I now know it only configures the WiFi network on the router).  After that, I hope this works  :undecided:

Also, I like how when connecting to different networks, all that is needed is to switch the WiFi connection, no static IP Change!!!

 

10001001sos

Active member
Okay, so I was finaaaallyy able to access websites like google.com and youtube.com, but cannot access websites like http://www.ccadams.org/se or other simple html websites.  I am currently using MacWeb 2.0c Patched.  Unfortunately, the Wifi Extension is still not working.  It keeps saying Scanning for Networks... and doesn't change.  I really want to be able to use websites with basic html and have the extension working.  Hopefully this money was not a waste  :'(

 

ants

Well-known member
It's strange that you can access some websites but not others. It must be related to DNS and MacTCP - perhaps someone else here can provide some ideas? You could also try hitting some websites via IP address to confirm that it's a DNS issue or not.

In regard to the MacWifi Extension, are you on System 7? The extension won't work on anything less than that because it uses a Background-Only Application (BOA) which was only available in System 7 onward. But if you are on system 7, try deleting MacWifi Preferences from your Preferences folder and then reboot. It'll try scanning networks for a few seconds, but should then display a Settings menu.

Then under settings, select OpenWRT as your device, enter your IP address as the host (e.g. 192.168.8.1), then enter your router username and password (e.g. root + your root password will be fine).

 

Dog Cow

Well-known member
It's strange that you can access some websites but not others. It must be related to DNS and MacTCP - perhaps someone else here can provide some ideas? You could also try hitting some websites via IP address to confirm that it's a DNS issue or not.
I'm willing to bet that it's an HTTP protocol issue. 10001001sos, is your browser HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1? The former is incompatible with name based virtual hosting that's so prevalent around the web these days.

 

10001001sos

Active member
I'm willing to bet that it's an HTTP protocol issue. 10001001sos, is your browser HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1? The former is incompatible with name based virtual hosting that's so prevalent around the web these days.
That could be possible, but why can it access sites like google.com and YouTube.com that have advanced graphics, but can’t access simpler sites like Wikipedia and ccadams.org?

Also, the error that shows up is error 400.  Would deleting the cached files or preferences fix this issue?  As for the http version, I read somewhere that MacWeb 2.0c could cope with modern websites.

 
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Michael_b

Well-known member
Hey @ants,

I've been messing around with this great extension. I have an OpenWRT device all set up, and I can connect to the internet using your extension just fine on an iMac G3 running 9.2.1 using it. I'm trying to get the same functionality on my SE running System 7.1. I've put the extension in the extensions folder, and I see that it loads at startup. The WiFi icon is in the menubar, and it says scanning for networks. It never gets past that point. There is no preferences file that is generated, so I can't delete that and restart to try and clear things up. I did try copying over the preferences file from the iMac G3 after setting everything up to see if that would trigger things to work, and it did not.

So, I'm wondering if there is some incompatibility with System 7.1 and this extension? I can connect to the internet just fine using MacTCP - using a telnet client that someone left on the machine I've connect to Weather Underground - but I'd love to get your extension working for the full WiFi effect!

 

Michael_b

Well-known member
Also, I was able to install stunnel on the device - which in a nutshell works as a HTTP to HTTPS bridge. This could open a world of possibilities for vintage Macs to communicate with the modern web - all the heavy lifting of SSL encryption is done by the wifi device and not the Mac.
Also, trying to get stunnel set up correct for Spotify - my 

/etc/init.d/stunnel


seems very different from what it should be, according to the GitHub instructions (copied below):

vim

/etc/init.d/stunnel
Line 96: Change from:
printf "accept = %s:%s\n" "$accept_host" "$accept_port" >> "$CONF_FILE"
to:
printf "accept = %s\n" "$accept_port" >> "$CONF_FILE"
Line 134: Remove this line:
print_list_colon "$cfg" ciphers


I've attached the file that came with my stunnel install, as you can see, it looks very different from yours. Has there been some sort of update since the readme was written? According to

opkg list-installed


I have stunnel version 5.54-1. 

View attachment stunnel.txt

 

ants

Well-known member
Hey @Michael_b thanks for the info, that's great that you got the extension running on an iMac! I've not been able to test that.

I'll need to do some testing on System 7.1, or perhaps add some diagnostics / logging so we can see what's happening on your Mac. I'm also wondering if it's MacTCP vs Open Transport - as I've only tested on systems running Open Transport.

Bear with me, I only get a few hours of geek time each week but I'll try and help you out. I'll also look into your stunnel config.

 

Michael_b

Well-known member
Hey @Michael_b thanks for the info, that's great that you got the extension running on an iMac! I've not been able to test that.

I'll need to do some testing on System 7.1, or perhaps add some diagnostics / logging so we can see what's happening on your Mac. I'm also wondering if it's MacTCP vs Open Transport - as I've only tested on systems running Open Transport.

Bear with me, I only get a few hours of geek time each week but I'll try and help you out. I'll also look into your stunnel config.
It's really not a big deal if you don't have the time to spend at it - would be very cool if you could help get it working but I'm pretty happy with a functioning Wireless connection to this Mac as is. Might try and get it to communicate with the OpenWRT device via an SSL terminal and be able to change networks that way as well.

Interesting re: MacTCP vs Open Transport. I would give Open Transport a shot, but it seems to require a 68030 processor. I'll try and scrounge together a working SE/30 setup - I would be able to test MacTCP and Open Transport and see if there's any difference in functionality.

 
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10001001sos

Active member
Hey @ants,

I've been messing around with this great extension. I have an OpenWRT device all set up, and I can connect to the internet using your extension just fine on an iMac G3 running 9.2.1 using it. I'm trying to get the same functionality on my SE running System 7.1. I've put the extension in the extensions folder, and I see that it loads at startup. The WiFi icon is in the menubar, and it says scanning for networks. It never gets past that point. There is no preferences file that is generated, so I can't delete that and restart to try and clear things up. I did try copying over the preferences file from the iMac G3 after setting everything up to see if that would trigger things to work, and it did not.

So, I'm wondering if there is some incompatibility with System 7.1 and this extension? I can connect to the internet just fine using MacTCP - using a telnet client that someone left on the machine I've connect to Weather Underground - but I'd love to get your extension working for the full WiFi effect!
I’ve had this exact problem with my Macintosh SE and System 7.1  :disapprove:   no logs, no WiFi.  I have at least gotten some internet access (Google and YouTube).  But not access to .org sites and no WiFi settings coming up.  I can verify that MacTCP does work though.  I have given up for the most part.  Unless someone can figure this out, no walking into Starbucks with a Macintosh with WiFi  :`(

 

ants

Well-known member
@Michael_b @10001001sos I just did a quick test via the Network Software Selector to switch from Open Transport to MacTCP - and I was able to replicate the problem. And I was using system 7.5.

So I don't think it's to do with System 7.1 but MacTCP - I'm looking into it.

In regard to some sites not working in MacWeb, I believe @Dog Cow is correct. From what I've read MacWeb did not fully implement the HTTP 1.0 specification, meaning many modern website will not work. It's not so much about the web pages themselves, but the web server that they are being hosted on. See this article:

The MacWeb developers apparently took a look at the HTTP 1.0 spec, decided, “Who would ever need name-based virtual hosting?” and left out the feature that 99% of the sites on the modern web relied on. No support for virtual hostnames meant you got whatever you saw when you used the server’s IP address alone in the HTTP request, and for most sites, that was jack squat. Oh, and HTTPS, cookies, and CSS hadn’t been invented yet.

I'm also able to replicate the HTTP 400 error you see using a web debugger, by setting the HTTP version to 0.9:

ccadams.PNG

 

10001001sos

Active member
That makes more sense now, I will probably switch to a different browser for the Mac.  As for MacTCP, I hope support is added soon (if you add it, please add support for 2.06 or later).

 

10001001sos

Active member
Actually @Michael_b, which browser will you/are you using for your Macintosh SE?  NCSA Mosaic looks like an better option than MacWeb (due to HTTP protocol support).  If you know of one that will work better, please let me know.

 

Michael_b

Well-known member
@Michael_b I just did a quick test via the Network Software Selector to switch from Open Transport to MacTCP - and I was able to replicate the problem. And I was using system 7.5.

So I don't think it's to do with System 7.1 but MacTCP - I'm looking into it.
Great to hear it's reproducible on your end!

Actually @Michael_b, which browser will you/are you using for your Macintosh SE?  NCSA Mosaic looks like an better option than MacWeb (due to HTTP protocol support).  If you know of one that will work better, please let me know.
If I do end up trying browsers, I'll probably be looking at the ones listed on this page (you'll need to scroll down a bit)...

I don't think Web browsing is really happening on the SE though - 68000 and 4MB is too much a limitation (and I have the original 20MB hard disk to contend with...). I expect that on the SE/30 it will be exciting for about 10 minutes - then just too slow continue messing around with. I think telnet servers are a more realistic use of these computers.

 

10001001sos

Active member
Great to hear it's reproducible on your end!

If I do end up trying browsers, I'll probably be looking at the ones listed on this page (you'll need to scroll down a bit)...

I don't think Web browsing is really happening on the SE though - 68000 and 4MB is too much a limitation (and I have the original 20MB hard disk to contend with...). I expect that on the SE/30 it will be exciting for about 10 minutes - then just too slow continue messing around with. I think telnet servers are a more realistic use of these computers.
Thanks for the reply.  I can also second on telnet servers being a better option.  MacKermit seems to do a decent job at this (no ANSI Emulation though  :undecided: ). I might be able to use WiFi to connect to a BBS instead of a constant serial connection.  I am sure I can find a way around this  :rambo:

 
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