• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Asante Mac Con SE and MacTCP

I'm trying to get my Mac SE connected to the internet. Specifically the happymac / floodgap gopher servers. I'm running system 6.0.8 with MacTCP connected to a linksys router flashed with DD-WRT and set up as a client bridge. The port I have the mac plugged into is configured to be 10mbps half-duplex and I can ping the router, modem, and even various websites using MacTCP Ping. I can even telnet into the router using NCSA Telnet so it seems that it's communicating over the network okay.

The problem is I can't access anything else. Turbo Gopher will not load any gopher sites and I can't connect to any telnet BBS's either. Turbo Gopher will hang at "connecting..." for a good 30-45 seconds and NCSA Telnet will just hang indefinitely trying to connect to a BBS. Any clues on what would cause these issues?

I'm wondering if, even with the port throttled down all the way, the router is not playing nice with my Mac Con SE. Maybe there is another setting in DD-WRT I am overlooking. Maybe I need to put an age-appropriate hub or switch between the router and the Mac Con. I also noticed there is no Zone set in Ethertalk and wondering if that maybe has something to do with it. Not even sure how to create a 'zone' or what they are for. Any thoughts?

Oh another thing I found interesting is when I ping the router or modem about 1 in 3 pings will time out. I don't see this issue pinging google or the floodgap servers.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
I'm wondering if, even with the port throttled down all the way, the router is not playing nice with my Mac Con SE.

If you can telnet into the router, this is unlikely.

I also noticed there is no Zone set in Ethertalk and wondering if that maybe has something to do with it.

Zones are for AppleTalk. Make sure MacTCP is set to Ethernet, not Ethertalk/MacIP. If you do not have an AppleTalk router on your network, there will be no zones. This is normal.

I can even telnet into the router using NCSA Telnet so it seems that it's communicating over the network okay.

Can you telnet beyond the router, say to towel.blinkenlights.nl / 213.136.8.188 ?
 
Make sure MacTCP is set to Ethernet, not Ethertalk/MacIP.
I think it's set that way. I don't see those specific options but this is how I have it:
MacTCP.jpgEtherTalk.jpg
Under the more button on MacTCP I have it set to Manual, Class C, with the appropriate gateway and DNS addresses. Don't see anything referencing MacIP.

Can you telnet beyond the router, say to towel.blinkenlights.nl / 213.136.8.188 ?
Ahh the starwars telnet - why didn't I think to use this as a test link. But no I cannot telnet beyond the router. I can ping the server but get indefinite "being looked up" when I try to connect to it.
blinkenlights-failed.jpgblinkenlights-ping.jpg

I feel like I am so close to success, but at the same time hitting a brick wall...
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Ahh the starwars telnet - why didn't I think to use this as a test link. But no I cannot telnet beyond the router. I can ping the server but get indefinite "being looked up" when I try to connect to it.

Did you try to telnet to it by IP? "Being looked up" sounds like the DNS request is hanging

If you can ping, you are getting packets to and from the Internet, which is good. Yes, I think you're close to success... which is an irritating place to be stuck!
 
Did you try to telnet to it by IP? "Being looked up" sounds like the DNS request is hanging

If you can ping, you are getting packets to and from the Internet, which is good. Yes, I think you're close to success... which is an irritating place to be stuck!
I know! I've been stuck here for a couple days now :mad: it's super irritating.

I get the same results using an IP address in telnet. Also if the DNS was wonkey, wouldn't MacTCP Ping have trouble resolving addresses too? I really don't think there is much more to be changed with the Mac which is why I am wondering if there is something in the router that isn't right?

Also, a G3 powerbook I have can use the same router/bridge to access the internets just fine...
 

mdeverhart

Well-known member
Out of curiosity, can you telnet to servers on the Internet from one of your modern machines? I’m wondering if maybe your ISP is blocking less commonly used protocols.
 
Thank you for the link! I haven't come across that one. I wonder what the unofficial patched MacTCP is all about. I do not have an FTP Client but I can ping FTP servers using MacTCP Ping. That's whats so confounding I have been able to ping everything I can think of but have been unable to connect to anything outside the router. I'll try installing the patched MacTCP tomorrow.

I can use telnet and gopher from my modern machines. I even connected with Floodgap using a G3 Powerbook through the same router! One thing I just thought of is I only have the port being used by the Mac SE throttled. The other 3 ports are full duplex, Auto-negotiate, etc. I don't see how it would make a difference but maybe I'll throttle all the ports down to half-duplex, etc. and see if it does.

The last thing I am curios about is whenever the Turbo Gopher connection fails it flashes an error message too fast to read. It goes from "Connecting..." to an error message that is several words long, to "Unable to connect". I would love to know what that error message says but it is on the screen for less than a second. Does turbo gopher have a log file? Not that I have been able to find...
 
SUCCESS! I can't say for certain that using the patched MacTCP 2.1 was what did the trick but I think so. I also re-installed the asante drivers and removed/reinstalled MacTCP v 2.0.6 before attempting the patch. Before I did that I tried to swap out the v2.0.6 with an already patched v2.1 but that resulted in the bomb icon w/ memory errors when trying to run any internet app (gopher, ping, etc.). So I figured I would give everything a fresh install and run the patch myself. The patch ran but said it failed with an error code -50 but despite that the MacTCP displayed the patched version (2.1) and everything just seemed to work!

Here is a pic of it accessing recent news headlines from floodgaps gopher server. I wish I had more time to play around with it but I gotta go to work so maybe another day I can connect to happy mac gopher server and see what kind of downloadables are there. It would also be pretty cool to watch star wars via towel.blinkenlights.nl ;)

Thank you so much everyone for the replies and tips. This forum has always been super helpful just searching other threads and my first experience posting was great as well. Cheers!

MacOnTheNet.jpg
 

bigern77

New member
I created an account just to say thank you! I am using a hardware emulated Mac Plus (MiSTer fpga) and all of my internet apps could access the internet EXCEPT my TurboGopher 1.0.8b4 install (version 2.0 doesn't load at all). All I did was swap out the MacTCP (2.0.8 I think) from the Control Panel with the MacTCP 2.1 and restart and voila, now it works! I don't know why, but I don't care because now I'm happily surfing (or digging?) through floodgap! Thanks again.
 
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