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Networking a Powerbook Duo: serial -> OS X/unix -> internet

epooch

Well-known member
Yes, because the Bluetooth adapter has it's own built-in bluetooth stack, It should work.

consider setting up ttys with pppd, or calling if after you login with getty instead of having to run it manually from the OS X machine.

 

virusys

Member
Hey everyone, I've been trying to follow along with this thread with no luck :(

I'm trying to hook up my PowerBook 180c to an intel Mac-Mini with 10.6 to no avail... I have a USB-to-Serial adapter that is recognized by the system, but I'm not sure what to do in order to connect the two.

The only network-related programs I have available on the PB is the standard MacTCP and TCP/IP control panels. I have no way of transferring any files to the PB unless I get this working.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

epooch

Well-known member
Hey everyone, I've been trying to follow along with this thread with no luck :( I'm trying to hook up my PowerBook 180c to an intel Mac-Mini with 10.6 to no avail... I have a USB-to-Serial adapter that is recognized by the system, but I'm not sure what to do in order to connect the two.

The only network-related programs I have available on the PB is the standard MacTCP and TCP/IP control panels. I have no way of transferring any files to the PB unless I get this working.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Do you have a terminal program of some sort (MacTerminal, Microphone, ZTerm, anything that uses the Apple communications tool box) for the PB? You need to get MacPPP on your PB if you want TCP/IP access, or a terminal program if you just want to transfer files without using disks.

 

virusys

Member
a question
Do you have a terminal program of some sort (MacTerminal, Microphone, ZTerm, anything that uses the Apple communications tool box) for the PB? You need to get MacPPP on your PB if you want TCP/IP access, or a terminal program if you just want to transfer files without using disks.
I have both ZTerm, MacPPP and FreePPP on my PB, and I've been trying to follow the steps on the first post as closely as possible.

The only problem I'm having really is with step 3.. I'm kind of a noob when it comes to networking so I'm not sure how to setup the DNS.

 

Anonymous Freak

Well-known member
Does it seem even remotely possible that the CF card would be recognised?
I would have thought IDE devices were driven in a very different way to PCMCIA.

IDE (ATAPI) are basically storage devices, end of story.
Actually, the very original PCMCIA memory cards were descended from micro-card ATA memory cards with the pins and form factor that later became PCMCIA. When PCMCIA became a standard (and later became "PC Card", which evolved into "CardBus",) they kept the old ATA compatibility.

And Compact Flash cards are just reduced-size PCMCIA flash cards. And thus, retain 100% ATA compatibility.

That's why a Compact Flash-to-IDE converter is just a simple wire converter, with no active controller chip.

 

epooch

Well-known member
I have both ZTerm, MacPPP and FreePPP on my PB, and I've been trying to follow the steps on the first post as closely as possible.

The only problem I'm having really is with step 3.. I'm kind of a noob when it comes to networking so I'm not sure how to setup the DNS.
Don't worry about the DNS for now. Typically, the ppp server on Mac OS X will forward the DNS requests for you. I have used a similar setup before and have never had to specify a dns server in either the MacTCP control panel or in the /etc/ppp/options file on Mac OS X.

Here is a post that will give you more specifics on getting the terminal connection running. Once you do that, it is easy to get ppp running using the terminal in FreePPP or MacPPP.

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11335&start=25#p117254

Using that way you won't have to manually type in the long pppd command every time you want to log in.

--Eric

 

agg23

Well-known member
If I had a modem hooked to my SE and connected to one of my OS X Macs would this work? Or did this only work because of the serial connection?

Thanks,

agg23

 

agg23

Well-known member
The problem is that I don't have a serial to usb. I wanted to know if something similar would work for making my own dial up isp, and connecting to it via a phone line and modem.

I guess it was a stupid question :(

 

tecneeq

Well-known member
This one is old, but i guess it fell through the cracks. 8-o

Code:
My question is: when I want to stop the connection and the IP forwarding, I just type:

sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=0

or is it more complicated than that?
That would just stop IP forwarding. The OSX kernel can either transport packets from one network to another, say, from your 68kmac-OSX-serial-network to your OSX-ISP-network, or not. That is all. The 68kmac-OSX-network still runs, as long as the serial connection is established. Wich means, you can still accesss a FTP server on your OSX machine, but not on the internet. To stop the serial connection, kill the ppp daemon or client.

 

bd1308

Well-known member
Just kind of stumbled on this thread...the modem-to-modem connection is definitely possible. There are two things you need to fix to enable this:

First is line power -- all telephone lines provide a low amperage power to communicate/power phones/etc.

this page describes the "line simulator" that is required to make this work. http://www.jagshouse.com/modem.html

Second part is the modems themselves. There are several lines between a modem and serial line that need to be possibly manipulated. An example I can think of is the following:

I had a laptop with a modem (running linux) that connected to the 56k modem on my dreamcast. There was a web browser disk that would allow you to dial up to a ISP and connect to it, and allow you to browse the web. The first part is the easiest --- the physical part. Hook em up together. Done.

The second part is telling the OS on the "server" side that whenever the modem answers, it needs to provide IP services (PPP). Typically, in windows, this is provided via DUN listening on a serial port.

Now, the last part is the oddest part and the one I dont 100% remember: Ordinarily, modems are connected via telephone switching stations, which take one active call, route it to where it needs to go, prefixing that "connection" with a telephone ring. The idea is to simulate that. You'd dial any number, setup PPP/DUN, and to connect the call, you'd connect the lines together. The modem would detect the carrier and the ringing noise on the line, put the modem off the hook (answering the call) and there ya go. You *may* have to configure the dialing end to "ignore dial tone before dialing" because there wont be a dial tone. But once the modem dials the number, it'll send out carriers and the "server" modem will be listening.

 

Mk.558

Well-known member
I have managed to make this technique work in OS X*.

*: But only OS X 10.4 (haven't tested lower). In 10.5, I'm still in the process of working on figuring out how to revise the command so it works correctly. For 10.4 and the LCII with a USB FTDI RS232 adapter, I type:

Code:
sudo /usr/sbin/pppd 38400 tty.usbserial-A601FT6I local persist passive maxfail 0 proxyarp 192.168.1.100:192.168.1.125
In 10.5, running this command in a separate Terminal window is a good idea:

Code:
tail -f /var/log/system.log
During a session of monitoring the output, I get some issues in 10.5 which make it not work. I don't have 10.6 or higher so I can't speak for those.

I use MacPPP 2.0.1 in System 6 and 7.0.1. System 7.0 and 7.1 have a most abhorable bug where the MacPPP INIT can't start because of "insufficient memory". I tried 2.1.1SD (can't find 2.0.1cm4, but probably won't fix it) and 2.2.0a and all had the same exact problem. Basically this is the equivalent of shipping a car to consumers with no windows on it.

The proper command for Linux is also something I'm working on. The only real digest worthwhile is some pages which are over a decade old and pertain to kernel 2.0 and 2.2. :eek:)

 

Mk.558

Well-known member
As I thought about this process, I wondered if there is a way to pipe Lynx output from a host *nix or OS X computer to ZTerm .9 or 1.0b on a old mac over a serial port.

jag does mention it:

If everything goes as planned, you're in. If it doesn't, make some coffee and read a few Dilbert strips. After the obligatory intorduction text appears and stops scrolling, type the word Lynx and hit the enter kley. If your ISP has Lynx on their server, you should automatically go to a web page, more than likely it will be your ISP's home page. You are now on the web with 1 meg of ram!
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Actually, I think there was a post that was bumped 7 years or something. Can't remember.

Nevertheless, a 5 year bump is impressive.

c

 

Huxley

Well-known member
This is kinda crazy - I recently dug out and resurrected my old PowerBook 1400, and I'm dying to get it back online. I've gotten there, sorta, by leveraging a serial cable and my handy-dandy Simple WiFi232 modem, which allowed me to access some BBS's using the Communications tool within ClarisWorks, but I'd love to go a big step further and get some real Web access going. This method sounds like just the thing, since I have the serial cable and at least a couple Keyspan Serial-to-USB adapters floating around. Looking forward to trying this soon!

 
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