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MacIPgw VM 3.0 | TCP/IP over LocalTalk gateway

mactjaap

Well-known member
Version 3.0 is now the newest and current version of MacIPgw virtual machine (MacIPgw VM).
An easy and hassle free way of getting your old Macintosh on the Internet. The ultimate TCP/IP  over LocalTalk gateway.

2017-02-06.png
I publish it as VirtualBox Appliance. The file is an Open Virtualization Format Archive (.ovf)

 
You need three things to run the gateway:
– Virtualisation software, like Virtualbox (https://www.virtualbox.org/)

– The virtual machine with macipgw on it . Download below.

– A LocalTalk bridge. Can be hardware or software.
For hardware see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LocalTalk-to-Ethernet_bridge
For software solution see: http://68kmla.org/fo…&t=22036#p21405

41DRT0N3YJL._SY300_.jpg.58144e88741d6bd531e8e9c698100618.jpg
      
dayna-mini-etherprint-localtalk-to-ethernet-bridge-for-10base-t-or-thin-ethernet-network_7240454.jpeg.04a04b6858208ee11ff383e22c3f8228.jpeg








Just download the MacIPgw-VM-3.0.ova file.
( 1.8G md5sum: aa842a6d9907d2d1a55d0fe63ee09876 )
Or the 7z (strong zip) file: MacIPgw-VM-3.0.ova.7z.
( 1.7GB md5sum:  d7d0f3119d58918cb19a2af32ed4c269)
Internet Explorer recognizes the file sometimes as a .tar. Be sure to save it as a .ova!

…..and import it in VirtualBox. This is done under File / import Appliance.
Be sure that the network device is on Network Bridge Adapter.

If you start up the virtual machine give it some minutes to boot. Specially the atalkd daemon will take some time to settle. If you login an nbplkup is done so you see all the AppleTalk devices in your network
  NEW in MacIPgw virtual machine version 3.0
A BIG NEW ONE.  Full NAT ROUTING!
You can now surf the Internet without any router configuration.

Enter 172.16.2.2 as your IP address in the MacTCP or TCP/IP control panel on your old Macintosh, 172.16.2.1 as gateway and 8.8.8.8 as your DNS and you are done. The MacIPgw VM takes care of sending your TCP packages to the Internet. You can startup your telnet session, browser or any TCP/IP application.

I have a special prepared 800K disk image which works perfect in combination with the Floppy Emu.
Or make it to a real disk with DiskCopy 4.2.

Download it here:

http://cdn.macip.net/macipgw-800k.dsk

You can also use a special prepared Basilisk II disk image. Boot from it and start an ancient Mosaic. Will work direct.

MacIPgw-VM-3.0.hfv

  About the MacIPgw virtual machine:
• Linux Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial32 bits
• FULL NAT on the MacIP connection. You can now surf the Internet without any router configuration
• sshd started at boot. You can login with ssh. User macipgw can login with ssh. Password is also macipgw. If you like to be root login as root or do a sudo su and enter the macipgw user password: macipgw
• telnetd started at boot. You can login with telnet. Use user macipgw and password macipgw
• Host name resolution. You can point to gw.macip.net and it is resolved as 172.16.2.1 and you can point to mac.macip.net as your Macintosh with IP address 172.16.2.2
• motd updated. You now see a lot of information, like all the Macintosh and Appletalk devices in your network
• Small disk 1.5 GB, but can grow to 10GB
• gw.macip.net and mac.macip.net are now resolved by DNS
• Installed nmap for testing
• Installed aecho for testing
• Installed nbplkup for finding AppleTalk devices
• Some more old services are starting up, besides telnetd and ftpd also tftpd, finger, daytime are started. Nice for testing old MacTCP applications. For ftp login with the macipgw account with password macipgw. Or anonymous login with user anonymous and any password
• Web server on port 80 so you can test a web browser. Point it to http://172.16.2.1and you will see a page telling you reaches a default web page.
• Lynx web browser. Login with telnet user: lynx and password: lynx and you will get the text only web browser so you can surf the web. No support for https however….If you close lynx your shell access will also be closed.
• Elinks web browser. Login with telnet user: elinks and password: elinks and you will get the text only web browser so you can surf the web. And yes… support for https! If you close lynx your shell access will also be closed. If you are logged in you can also type: MacWWW
• Add any package you want to add. Use apt install .. or apt-get install .. to install and apt-cache search … to find packages

    MacIPgw VM File ServerAgain out of the box AppleShare file sharing with Netatalk 2.2.5 installed.  If you open the Chooser you will find the “MacIPgw VM File Server”. On this server is a volume called: MacIPgw VM DISK.

2017-02-04 (1).png

Login with the macipgw credentials:

username: macipgw
passwd: macipgwI also put some old Internet Abandonware on the disk so you can start right away with some applications

There is also a volume called Home Directory. This is the home directory of user macipgw

     



PROXIES– HTTP 1.1 to 1.0 proxy
– Web Rendering Proxy
–  stunnel TLS Proxy ( for email clients without SSL)

HTTP 1.1 to 1.0 proxy
Starts at boot and listens on port 8082. It allows old web browsers (e.g., Netscape 0.9 or Mosaic) to communicate with modern web servers by inserting the missing “Host:” header. Many sites are hosted now on shared servers. That wasn’t the case in the old days. So one IP address had one web servers. HTTPS is not supported!

Read all about it on:
https://www.jwz.org/blog/2008/03/happy-run-some-old-web-browsers-day/
Download old browser on: http://home.mcom.com/archives/

Web Rendering Proxy
If you are adventures you could try the Web Rendering Proxy. The Web Rendering proxy(WRP) is a HTTP proxy service that renders web pages in to GIF images associated with a clickable image map of the original web links. It basically allows to use historical and obsolete web browsers on the modern web.

Read all about it on:
https://virtuallyfun.superglobalmegacorp.com/2014/03/11/web-rendering-proxy-update/
https://github.com/tenox7/wrp
You have to start this by yourself. Do it from a terminal window in VNC. It needs a graphical environment to start. Use a VNC client to connect to the VM.
Use the command /root/wrp11/wrp11-qt.py to start up. If it gives an error stop it echo with ^C and start over again. Be patience! It’s buggy. You can have an error easy. No https is supported. It will give an error and give up. Start over again.
Try http://www.park.org/main.htmlor http://www.apple.com in your old browser. These two sites work perfect. It will run on port 8080 of this VM

See it in action below:

               

stunnel email proxy

The stunnel program is designed to work as TLS encryption wrapper between remote clients and local (inetd-startable) or remote servers. The concept is that having non-TLS aware daemons running on your system you can easily set them up to communicate with clients over secure TLS channels.

stunnel can be used to add TLS functionality to commonly used Inetd daemons like POP-2, POP-3, and IMAP servers, to standalone daemons like NNTP, SMTP and HTTP, and in tunneling PPP over network sockets without changes to the source code.

Default configuration for Gmail on board.

Read more about it on:
https://supportdesk.win911.com/support/solutions/articles/1689-configuring-gmail-use-stunnel-as-an-ssl-email-proxy

https://www.stunnel.org/static/stunnel.html

Let me know how you like the MacIPgw VM!  Check  out also the MacIPpi.



 

PowerPup

Well-known member
I didn't realize you got the stunnel email proxy added in that quickly. Nice work! This update will definitely be useful when I get around to networking my Classic II again. Thanks for all your effort in providing the community an out-of-box solution!

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
Yes stunnel is new because I did see people ask for it.

I personly find the WRP very nice. To see modern web sites in Netscape 1.1 is great. But again...not many people will need it :)

You should see it as fun.

You are very welcome with questions ones you start with your Classic II

My next goal is to work on PPP out of the box. First on a PI (the MacIPpi) and maybe later on this VM.

I keep you updated on the forum, but will take my time....

 

archer174

Well-known member
Wow this is really cool! The direction you're headed this could easily become an all-in-one solution for any vintage machine. 

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
The tinyMacIPgw 1.0 ISO


This version of MacIPgw, the so called tinyMacIPgw-1.0 is the newest product of MacIP.net, the web site totally dedicated to enable TCP/IP over AppleTalk (MacIP).

You need three things to run the gateway:
 
– (old) Intel machine. Better then Pentium 2 with 512 MB is OK. With cabled network.
– The ISO with macipgw on it . Download below.

– A LocalTalk bridge. Can be hardware or software.
For hardware see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LocalTalk-to-Ethernet_bridge
For software solution see: http://68kmla.org/fo…&t=22036#p21405

41DRT0N3YJL._SY300_.jpg.58144e88741d6bd531e8e9c698100618.jpg
      
dayna-mini-etherprint-localtalk-to-ethernet-bridge-for-10base-t-or-thin-ethernet-network_7240454.jpeg.04a04b6858208ee11ff383e22c3f8228.jpeg


An easy and hassle free way of getting your old Macintosh on the Internet.


This version comes as a very small .iso image (49MB). Just burn it on a CD or dump it on an USB stick and boot your hardware. So now you can run macipgw on any kind of (old)Intel machine without the need of running it as a virtual machine. You will have a MacIP gateway out of the box. Minimum recommended specs are a Pentium 2 or better and 512mb of ram.

An easy and hassle free way of getting your old Macintosh on the Internet.

To set up tinyMacIPgw as a live CD, follow these steps:

  • Download http://cdn.macip.net/tinyMacIPgw-1.0.iso .
    (md5sum ce6abbff80b053f24603a35a78fed24c – file size 49 MB)
  • Burn it the iso file on CD. Use ImgBurn on Windows or the Finder on OSX
  • Boot your Intel machine from this CD
  • Start up until usable. If Netatalk finds it difficult to see a network card it will tell you that auto start up has failed. In that case you can press enter and type     macip     with an <enter>. Netatalk will restart and find the correct network card. You will see the message:|
#####     tinyMacIPgw is now operational   #####”

To set up tinyMacIPgw as a live USB, follow these steps:

  • Download http://cdn.macip.net/tinyMacIPgw-1.0.iso
    (md5sum ce6abbff80b053f24603a35a78fed24c – file size 49 MB)
  • Put it on a USB stick. Can be as small as 64MB. Use Rufus  on Windows or Etcher for Mac, Windows and Linux.
  • Boot your Intel machine from this USB. Check in BIOS if USB boot is enabled.
  • Start’s up until usable. If Netatalk finds it difficult to see a network card it will tell you that auto start up has failed. In that case you can press enter and type macip with an <enter>. Netatalk will restart and find the correct network card. You will see the message:|
#####     tinyMacIPgw is now operational   #####

About tinyMacIPgw:

  • Tiny Core Linux ( see http://tinycorelinux.net )
  • FULL NAT on the MacIP connection. You can now surf the Internet without any router configuration
  • Auto login user tc. Just press <enter>
  • sshd started at boot. You can login with ssh. Password for user tc is   tcuser
    User macipgw can also login with ssh. Password is: macipgw. If you like to be root login as root with password macipgw or do a   sudo -s
  • ftpd started at boot. You can login with ftp. Anonymous ftp possible, use any password. Or use user macipgw. Password is also macipgw. The directory of the ftp daemon is also accessible for sharing disks with the chooser ( afpd)
  • telnetd started at boot. You can login with telnet
  • Host name resolution. You can point to gw.macip.net and it is resolved as 172.16.2.1 and you can point to mac.macip.net as your Macintosh with IP address 172.16.2.2
  • Live ISO without hard disk. Remember that the disk is empty when your start up again. Only temporary file storage.

MacIPgw-AFPAgain out of the box AppleShare file sharing. For old school Macintosh . If you open the Chooser you will find the “tinyMacIPgw TEMP File Server”. On this server are three volumes called:

  • Home directory of user ( macipgw or tc)
  • tinyMacIPgw TEMP Disk
  • tinyMacIPgw TEMP FTP Disk
For debugging you can see the log at /var/log/afpd.log.

tinyMacIPgw is also available as VM. With the VM you will have that files you upload are permanent available even after reboot.

To set up tinyMacIPgw as a virtual machine, follow these steps:

  • Download and install VirtualBox.
  • Download TinyMacIPgw.ova virtual machine. (md5sum 405cbce477a19fad4c009f9f0e1a0892 – file size 192 MB)
  • Open VirtualBox, and choose “Import Appliance…” from the File menu. Select the file you downloaded (TinyMacIPgw.ova).
  • Click Import.
  • When it’s done importing, click TinyMacIPgw, then click Settings, then click Network.
  • Ensure that “Attached To:” is set to “…Bridged Adapter”.
  • Click OK.
  • Start him up! Select tinyMacIPgw and click on green arrow…Start.


 

3583Bytes

Well-known member
This is really cool but Local Talk Bridge does not seem all that common.  Have you considered making this work with the Serial port null cable.  Because serial to USB is still possible to get.

 

mattislind

Member
There is apparently a widespread misconception that LocalTalk is what we commonly know as asynchronous  serial communication. Well. It is not. LocalTalk is 230400 bps FM0 coded bit synchronous SDLC.  

It is all described in this book Inside AppleTalk. Check Appendix A for more details.

So just put a serial cable and a USB adapter would not get you anywhere unless you also go for the AppleTalk Remote Access suite. There is also AppleTalk over PPP according to RFC1378.

The remote end also need suitable software to handle ARA or PPP.

I think it would be easier and better performancewise to run LocalTalk to a bridge and then Ethernet to the MacIPGW.

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
You say it loud and clear. LocalTalk is really something different then "just" serial.

My next goal with the MacIPgw project is however to do something for people without a LocalTalk bridge. Maybe include a PPP daemon or even have a look at ARA.

 

FacnyFreddy

Well-known member
So if I read this correctly, I could use this on a Pi or in a VM to "proxy" or "tunnel" non-TLS aware apps on from OS7/8/9 (like email clients) into SSL secured IMAP/POP3 servers.

correct?

How does the HTTP proxy work with things that have forms/logins?

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
@FacnyFreddy

You need the MacIPgw VM for this. The tinyMaciPgw is whiteout all the proxy stuff. It's 49MB is only for the macipgw basics. Also not on the MacIPpi.

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
@FacneyFreddy

About the proxy and forums. I would say. Just try it out and see if it helps you with your needs

 

FacnyFreddy

Well-known member
Is there a convienent way to setup a different primary hostname and IP address than what you have for defaults?

I would like to set mine up as macipgw.localdomain with an address like 192.168.0.76, then have it route to my network gateway on 192.168.0.1 (DNS is 192.168.0.2)

I've already created a DNS entry in my local LAN for these... And I gave the VM 4 cores and 8GB of memory to work with so that it runs a bit faster. ;)

 

FacnyFreddy

Well-known member
The web proxy stuff is interesting, but, breaks with alot of websites. (CNN works, but, startribune.com is hosed as an example)

But, its an interesting way around some of the stuff. I might try it in Linux at some point.

Just getting email and stuff working again would be huge!

Now, to just add a bigger LUN to allow larger files/backups. ;)

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
[SIZE=10.5pt]First of all.... really GREAT to hear you are actually using my MacIPgw VM! As for now you are the third person on earth to use it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]You maybe heard that in the early 1940s, IBM's president, Thomas J Watson, said: "I think there is a world market for about five computers."
You can now add my prediction that in 2017 MacTjaap said: "I think there is a world market for about five MacIPgw VM’s." So we are now on 60% of that goal!
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I added your IP request to the DNS of MacIP.net.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]So,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]facneyfreddy.macip.net = 192.168.0.76[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]ffnetworkgateway.macip.net = 192.168.0.1[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]ffdns.macip.net = 192.168.0.2[/SIZE]

 
[SIZE=10.5pt]First of all.... really GREAT to hear you are actually using my MacIPgw VM! As for now you are the third person on earth to use it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]You maybe heard that in the early 1940s, IBM's president, Thomas J Watson, said: "I think there is a world market for about five computers."[/SIZE]

You can now add my prediction that in 2017 MacTjaap said: "I think there is a world market for about five MacIPgw VM’s." So we are now on 60% of that goal!
Make that 80%! I've actually been thinking about picking up an RPi or C.H.I.P. or something similar as a combined Wi-Fi bridge/network storage/ssh server for my Quadra 700 for a while now, so I'm very happy to see someone having made significant progress on this front. 

In terms of features, is there anything the MacIPgw VM can do that the OrangePi version can't? If so, are there plans to bring the Pi port back to feature parity? Most of my really old Macs are on a separate network from my main machine and in a different room, and the power/space cost of a dedicated machine to run the VM would be a bit much compared to the Pi. 

The GIF-based web proxy is definitely one of the coolest hacks I've ever seen. Very excited to try it out.

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
[SIZE=10.5pt]The MacIPpi is not missing much at the moment. You can run the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]GIF-based web proxy on that one too. The [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]MacIPpi is only running on an Orange PI One ( or Zero). But I would prefer the OrangePi One. More memory and more power. So yes, that is better then a machine with a VM on it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The MacIPpi project can be found here:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]http://www.macip.net/?page_id=113[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I will try to update this image. but having some problems with newer kernels. The Ethernet card on a Orange Pi is not officially supported in the kernel yet, so very experimental[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]You can also test or use a very old Intel machine ( like a Pentium 2/3/4) with the tinyMacIP ISO[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]http://www.macip.net/?page_id=250[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]But that’s only with basic macipgw functionality. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Any more questions..... please feel welcome![/SIZE]

 

Themk

Well-known member
I got this to work fantastically with my SE/30, and the Dayna Mini EtherPrint Plus! Thank you so much Mactjapp!

 
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