Classic II on Network with Asante SCSI Adapter

[UNA_Lion]

Greetings!

Background information follows: I used PCs almost exclusively until the advent of the horrible Vista - that turned me to Macs: Now have an relatively new iMac, MacBook Pro, and bought a Macintosh Classic II off of eBay, along with a SCSI Asante Desktop EN/SC adapter. Love messing with older computers and intend to push the Classic II for all it's worth. Conducted a search to see if anything had been posted that would answer the mail - came up as a no-go, so ...

Equipment:

Classic II:

10 MB RAM (4MB built-in)

40 MB HD

OS 7.5.3

MacBook Pro:

4 GB RAM

160 GB HD

OS 10.5.6

Problem set:

Installed the Asante Desktop EN/SC adapter with accompanying software. Am able to plug LAN cable either into the overall cable modem port (via NETGEAR wall-plugged bridge XE102) or straight into the MacBook Pro. Tried using this site to network my Classic II and MacBook Pro to each other - got to the point where I could see the Classic II in the MacBook Pro's Network Utility, but could accomplish nothing else:

Found 3 entries in zone *
65290.001.252	Jay's Old Mac:PPCToolBox
65290.001.253	Jay's Old Mac:  Macintosh
65290.001.004	Jay's Old Mac:Workstation

No luck with connecting to the internet at all. Have installed MacWeb 1.00A3 on the Classic II.

Intended Task:

I'd like to get my Classic II to be able to swap files with my MacBook Pro at the very least. Ideally, I'd like to be able to browse the internet with the Classic II. Has anyone cracked the nut on this one? Thanks in advance!

 

[beachycove]

Your Appletalk versions are incompatible. It is not going to work without further considerable fuss, or purchase of a beige Mac more capable than the CII, to serve as a bridge machine between the CII and anything running X.4 or higher.

There was a 68kmla thread a couple of months ago, as I recall, that went into this at some length. You need to do some digging. Further instructions on networking are also available on www.system7today.com , but they do not apply to something as lowend as the CII.

As you are interested in old Macs, I'd get a later machine to serve as a bridge. A MacOS9 machine could connect to your MacBook, and your CII could connect to your MacOS9 machine, for instance. There are other ways of doing the business, but this is probably the easiest.

 

[Gary_W]

FYI - Just so this type of info is in one place for future searchers.

Another resource for networking information is Tyler's site at: https://www.fenestrated.net/~macman/

I followed his suggestions to get my SE/30 online.

Gary

 

[UNA_Lion]

Thank you both - I have searched extensively for solutions and found all websites and forums you both posted - none answered the mail. :-/ They offer solutions for getting on line with a dial-up modem - something I neither own nor intend to own again. What I do have is an Asante Desktop EN/SC adapter that plugs into the SCSI port in the back of the Macintosh in order to use my LAN connections (read: cable high-speed internet).

As the first responder wrote, I may well be SOL on this, but I've got to believe that some bright bulb out there has come up with a viable solution to this - I cannot be the only cat out there to have bought an Asante Desktop EN/SC adapter for his Mac, only to find that it's little better than an expensive paperweight. As I wrote in my initial post, my MacBook Pro does see my old Mac, but I cannot get it to do anything other than see it. Currently, the only means I've got for sending data back and forth is a USB floppy drive.

 

[superpantoufle]

What's your network software on the Classic? Have you tried setting up OpenTransport 1.1.x? With the Asante adapter it "should" act just as any 68k Mac with ethernet support, so there are (imho) no obvious reason it shouldn't work. I have never seen such an adapter, though.

I do network all my "without ethernet" Macs through LocalTalk Bridge with a serial cable connected to another beige Mac, and then via ethernet to my router, and it works like a charm.

I re-read the article you're linking to at jaghouse's, and I'm pretty sure the iMac he's talking about runs OS 9. Direct connection between a 7.5.3 and an Intel 10.5 machine just won't work.

 

[macdownunder]

I gather that IP is working.

This should allow you to use an FTP client on the Classic II and run the built in FTP server on the Macbook to share its files at least.

Regards,

Macdownunder

 

[UNA_Lion]

I gather that IP is working.
This should allow you to use an FTP client on the Classic II and run the built in FTP server on the Macbook to share its files at least.

Regards,

Macdownunder

That sounds promising. I'll search for such a client. If it answers the mail, I'll post about it.

In answer to the network software question, the Asante disk came with EtherTalk Installer with SNMP MacAgent (v. 5.6.1). Going to Ethernet Built-In, you get three methods of obtaining an address:

• Manually
  Server
  Dynamically

Assuming you select Server, here is a snapshot of what that looks like.

 

[macdownunder]

Someone with more recent experience in setting up a Classic II may need to way in here.

In the meantime here are my thoughts:

1). You probably don't have a local DHCP server (otherwise it would have assign a better IP address and a gateway - which is hasn't). Was the screen shot taken when plugged into the Macbook or the Netgear Router? I'm guessing it was connected to the Macbook.

2). Try plugging into the Netgear Router and see what settings the Classic II gives. I am assuming the Netgear will have a DHCP server in it and that you have NAT (network address translation) enabled

3). You need to identify the Gateway settings for your Netgear router (your Macbook will show this when connected correctly). Same for your DNS settings.

4). You need to identify an unused IP address on your NAT LAN network (ie not your Router's gateway and not your Macbook) that the Classic II can use (needs to have the same subnet - ie first three sets of numbers of all units on your NAT LAN network: 192.168.1.X or similar)

5). On the Classic II choose manual settings and put in the Gateway and unique IP you selected for your Classic II. Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

6). Save the settings and restart the Classic II (the older OSes need to be restarted to use new IP settings)

I'm sure my memory has forgotten something in here - others might jump in to help.

Good luck!

Macdownunder

 

[UNA_Lion]

I should add that the screen shot was not my Macintosh, but I pulled it from a website. The fields for mine are the same as in the screen shot, but the information entered in mine (which may well be wrong) is different.

 

[macdownunder]

Ok then,

Provided when your Classic II is connected to the router:

1). The gateway address shown is the same as on your Macbook

2). The DNS address(es) shown is the same as on your Macbook

3). The IP address for your Classic II has the same first three numbers, and a unique last number

You should be connected to the internet, and your local network for IP.

An older Netscape or similar browser should work - but be aware that they are old and will have significant problems with current webpages. You should be able to do FTP easily enough though.

Regards,

Macdownunder

 

[UNA_Lion]

Thanks much for the advice - my Macintosh Classic II is now officially online and reading web pages. As it is over a LAN connected to a cable modem, it is very fast (limited of course by the processor speed and RAM of the computer itself). The endstate has been met!

:beige:

 

[equill]

Good to hear that you arrived at your intended destination. My own Classic IIs are full-time members of my LAN, through a newer Desktop EN/SC (fixed SCSI ID=6, and inbuilt SCSI termination) and an older EN/SC (larger, with selectable SCSI ID and dual DB-25 ports). Given that, who needs floppy disks any longer? You may or may not find that the interposition of a 10Base-T hub between the EN/SC and the remainder of a LAN is an advantage. Decent Gigabit and 10/100 switches will play 10Base-T as well as 100/1000, but the hub can be the clincher/ameliorator for connection and reliability.

You are also on the path to discovering the various hiatuses between Macintosh Systems/OSs with respect to AppleTalk, AppleShare, OT, TCP/IP and more. Some of it is dealt with here.

de