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Introducing (and interest check) AirTalk: Wireless plug-and-play LocalTalk dongles

just.in.time

Well-known member
Started from scratch with a new minivmac folder from the downloaded source code
cd to minivmac folder (located in my user directory)
gcc setup/tool.c -o setup_t (runs no output/error)
./setup_t -t mcar -m SEFDHD -lt -lto udp -speed z > setup.sh (also runs no errors or output)
chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh (runs no errors or output)
make ( outputs make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop. )

setting target to -t mc64 for 64 bit Intel instead of arm native has same exact output.
 

just.in.time

Well-known member
Tried exact same steps on an older Intel Mac running Catalina to confirm it wasn’t a difference between zsh and bash (using mc64 as target). Got same exact output when running make.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
So, just an update on where this is: we're coming to the end of batch 3, there's now single digits left. I've ordered boards for batch 4 before I run out, this time, because I have learned!

This will mean that before too long there will be 150 of these in the wild, which feels a bit odd, given that I was expecting to shift maybe 30 of them.

Thankyou all for your continued patience with the speed with which I'm able to get and dispatch these.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
I'm file sharing my heart out with an SE/30 (7.5.5) and a TAM (7.6.1/9.1). It's working well and I have speeds comparable to earlier reporters. The wireless network an Eero Pro (eeroOS 6.10.3).

Only just saw, this, somehow: glad it's working for you!
 

just.in.time

Well-known member
Sharing my experience: successfully sharing files between an SE/30 running 7.5.5 and a Mini vMac based SE FDHD running 7.1 on an M1 MacBook Air.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Sharing my experience: successfully sharing files between an SE/30 running 7.5.5 and a Mini vMac based SE FDHD running 7.1 on an M1 MacBook Air.

Excellent. Are you getting a reasonable speed, and is your mini vMac on wired ethernet? (No need to measure speed, but if you're getting a usable speed with mini vmac on wifi, I'm suddenly very interested)
 

just.in.time

Well-known member
Excellent. Are you getting a reasonable speed, and is your mini vMac on wired ethernet? (No need to measure speed, but if you're getting a usable speed with mini vmac on wifi, I'm suddenly very interested)
The Mini vMac host computer was on WiFi. With no special configuration on the router for this, I got what I felt was reasonable performance. It took probably 2 minutes to move a 700kb game from the SE/30 up to mini vMac system. Reminded me of dial up, but for the size of files I’m generally moving definitely usable. Very satisfied with the AirTalk.

That said, definitely slower than using the SE/30’s Ethernet card, making it the FTP host, and connecting with an FTP client from the MacBook. But this trades that speed off for convenience of not having to run an Ethernet cable over to the SE/30.

I might try playing around with some of the router configuration this week to see if I can drop the latency a bit, as well as comparing mini vMac to AirTalk against AirTalk to AirTalk to see if my router or if mini vMac is my bottleneck.
 

retr01

Active member
It took probably 2 minutes to move a 700kb game from the SE/30 up to mini vMac system.

Let's see:

2 minutes = 120 seconds
700 kilobytes = 5600 bits
t = 120 seconds, where t is time
D = 700 kilobytes, where D is the data file size
t
--- = R, where R is the transfer rate
d
120
--- = 5.83
700
R = 5.83 kilobits per second

Reminded me of dial up

I remember, too. :sneaky:

That said, definitely slower than using the SE/30’s Ethernet card

Yes, indeed! :)

I might try playing around with some of the router configuration this week to see if I can drop the latency a bit, as well as comparing mini vMac to AirTalk against AirTalk to AirTalk to see if my router or if mini vMac is my bottleneck.

What did you find out? Did the Mini vMac emulator slow the transfer rate as it emulated the LocalTalk connection rather than shoving through the modern TCP/IP vis WiFi? :unsure:
 

robin-fo

Well-known member
And it works! Using two AirTalks, I was able to connect an iMac G4 (using CircuitTalk for native LocalTalk), a WGS 8550 and a a modern Mac using WiFi only.

Well done, @cheesestraws !!!
 

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retr01

Active member
index.php

Hi, @cheesestraws! Sorry I am bringing this up. I thought this was SO cool to do in the six Apple colors. I don't mind one color; I wonder if you are considering that again?

By the way, I see you have five colors. Where is red? :sneaky:
 

retr01

Active member
That‘s native LocalTalk speed: It takes 4.34 microseconds to transmit a single bit.

Ah. So, AirTalk is faster than AirDock? I am not sure about that. Since 230.4 kbps is the native LocalTalk transmission rate, IR used with AirDock is slower than AirTalk unless the light of sight then faster than WiFi since WiFi signals are not a line of sight but bouncing all over the place?
 

robin-fo

Well-known member
Ah. So, AirTalk is faster than AirDock? I am not sure about that. Since 230.4 kbps is the native LocalTalk transmission rate, IR used with AirDock is slower than AirTalk unless the light of sight then faster than WiFi since WiFi signals are not a line of sight but bouncing all over the place?
Nope, the AirTalk is definitely not faster than native LocalTalk (wired or IR)
 
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