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SE/30, AsanteTalk & MacIPgw Virtual Machine Question

mikkel2326

Member
Hello:
I could use some help. I have an SE/30 with an AsanteTalk LocalTalk to Ethernet bridge. I am trying to get AppleShare working on the SE/30 with a MacIPgw-Virtual machine on my Windows 10 system. To test the Virtual Machine, I downloaded the Basilisk II hfv (MacIPgw-VM-3.0.hfv) image from MacTCP. Everything works fine in with that image on Basilisk II (it is running on a Windows XP machine). I can see file shares and share files.

nbplkup on the VM doesn't reveal the AsanteTalk. Turning it on and off make no difference.

I am thinking that the switch I am using for the SE/30 could be the problem. The AsanteTalk is attached to the Printer port via din8 and the Ethernet cable is hooked to a gigabyte switch. I'm thinking the AsanteTalk I got the bright idea of using my old Linksys WRT54GL as a switch as it only can handle 100mbs. When I made the switch to the Linksys router/switch, there was no difference in result for the SE/30. I cannot see any shares hosted by the VM.

I'm using pretty much standard settings in MacTCP

IP: 172.16.2.2
Router: 172.16.2.1
DNS: 8.8.8.8
Subnet: 255.255.0.0 (255.255.255.0 doesn't work either.)

I've also done the on and off mambo with the AsanteTalk per this thread (https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/connecting-an-se-30-to-the-network-internet-with-asantétalk.7973/)

Any thoughts?

Michael
 

Johnnya101

Well-known member
To clarify: you say you can share files in basilisk. Are you saying sharing works or am I reading it wrong? Or do you mean you can share from basilisk to the MacIP server?

To see if this is a MacIP problem or a networking issue, try something internet based on the Mac and see if anything works. If it does, the problem is on the MacIP side (probably). If not, it's the switch being too fast. Think I had to buy a specific old 10mb switch for my se/30.
 

NJRoadfan

Well-known member
Out of the box, netatalk 2.2.5 and 2.2.6 needs to be patched to reliably work with the AsanteTalk bridges. The patch has since been merged into the main netatalk 2.2.x tree, but that requires one to download and compile the whole thing. The issue is the AsanteTalk boots up in Ethertalk Phase 1 mode and has trouble switching to Phase 2 mode if netatalk's atalkd is running on the Ethernet network.
 

mikkel2326

Member
To clarify: you say you can share files in basilisk. Are you saying sharing works or am I reading it wrong? Or do you mean you can share from basilisk to the MacIP server?

To see if this is a MacIP problem or a networking issue, try something internet based on the Mac and see if anything works. If it does, the problem is on the MacIP side (probably). If not, it's the switch being too fast. Think I had to buy a specific old 10mb switch for my se/30.
Thank you for replying! I can share files to and from MacIPgw VM with Basilisk but not on the SE/30. In the AM, I'll try configuring MacTCP to connect to my router w/o MacIPgw involved. I know if I try connecting to 172.16.2.1 via the SE/30 on the VM it seems to try to negotiate but ultimately times out.
 

mikkel2326

Member
Out of the box, netatalk 2.2.5 and 2.2.6 needs to be patched to reliably work with the AsanteTalk bridges. The patch has since been merged into the main netatalk 2.2.x tree, but that requires one to download and compile the whole thing. The issue is the AsanteTalk boots up in Ethertalk Phase 1 mode and has trouble switching to Phase 2 mode if netatalk's atalkd is running on the Ethernet network.
I suppose I could plead with @mactjaap to see if this is something that could be or has been integrated into the latest MacIPgw VM (3.1). And as @Johnnya101 wrote, I may need to try to find a 10mb switch!

 

mactjaap

Well-known member
I’m absolutely in to use Netatalk 2.2.x in future MacIP products. I only need to find some time to do so….

I have two AsanteTalk boxes and yes… they are picky .. so connect them to a old switch helps. And power on power off wil help. If you can “see” you AsanteTalk with nbplkup you are good and can connect a Mac.

I use the MacIPRPi (Raspberry Pi) nowadays at home. This is the latest project I have updated. Both my AsanteTalk work as expected.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Thirding this: the AsanteTalk bridges are incredibly picky and prone to weird behaviour. Being plugged into modern network devices doesn't help, but even surrounded by all period stuff they're still prone to acting a bit like cats and doing whatever they like.
 

robin-fo

Well-known member
Attach your AsanteTalk to a 10baseT Ethernet hub (not a switch, but I haven't tried pure 10baseT switches though) or connect it directly to a computer (your PC or a Raspberry Pi) using a crossover cable and set the ethernet settings there manually to half-duplex and 10baseT. It is likely to work then... I had the very same problems as you and these were the only methods that worked. The same counts for the EtherMac printer adapter and some NuBus ethernet cards. Good luck!
 

mikkel2326

Member
These responses are really helpful. Regarding the hub, would something like this be a possibility?:

SMC EtherEZ Hub 5-Port 10BASE-T Ethernet Hub 3605T


If any of you are wondering why I am bothering with such a fiddly solution as the AsanteTalk, several years ago, before i got this recapped SE/30 board, I used a MacCon IIsi-SE/30 Ethernet Card, which worked fine. When I try to use it in the 'new' board, I get a screen that looks like SimiSimac, so I abandoned it as I had the AsanteTalk bridge available. I'll revisit the MacCon eventually, it sounds like a better solution.

@robin-fo, cool idea regarding the crossover cable and direct connect. So I would connect the AsanteTalk directly to the Ethernet port on the PC? On the XP laptop, I can see how to manually change the ethernet settings. I'm guessing I turn on Internet Sharing. Then I would direct connect to that with the VM running separately on the Windows 10 desktop.

@mactjaap Thanks for chiming in! I really like your work. Like I wrote, your VM works perfectly in combo with Basilsk on the PC. I cannot 'see' the AsanteTalk on the VM as of yet.
 

mikkel2326

Member
Update: I setup internet connection sharing (ICS) on my Windows XP laptop. I also per @robin-fo set the ethernet speed to 10mbps with half duplex. Sonic Speed test bore out that the connection was less than 10mbps.

I was able to share the internet connection with my MBP running Mojave. The network settings on Mojave configured Manually as:

IP Address: 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.0.1 (a quirk with XP ICS makes this the default)
DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Search Domains: mshome.net

I duplicated these settings on SE/30, 7.0.1, MacTCP 2.0.6. The crossover patch cable is plugged into the ethernet port of the XP laptop and the other into the AsanteTalk. The serial is attached to the printer port on the SE/30. I get a DNS entry not found error when I try to navigate to http://frogfind.com for example. Turned the AsanteTalk off and on several times and waited for magic. No dice.

An odd thing I found about MacTCP is I am unable to leave the Domain blank in the Domain Name Server Information section of MacTCP setup. I have noted where other instructions say to leave this blank. If I do that, I get the error message "An invalid entry in the Domain Name Server list was encountered. Please enter a valid value." So I fudge with mshome.net which works on the MBP.

I have a 10 base t hub coming. So I may set this aside until it arrives unless there are some ideas from this group.

Many thanks in advance.
 

robin-fo

Well-known member
:unsure: Did you restart your mac after configuring MacTCP? Can you send pings to your Laptop or receive them? You can also skip DNS by directly entering an IP address in your browser.

It is also likely that the AppleTalk packets cannot pass the NAT which is probably done in your XP machine, so the AsanteTalk only gets IP packets which cannot pass LocalTalk (so your SE/30 gets no packets at all). This would mean that the Internet Sharing approach is not feasible..

I‘d now try the following: Connect the AsanteTalk directly to the machine with the MacIPgw Vm and make sure that the VM network adapter is bridged to the ethernet port with the Asante. Again, use a crossover cable and set the ethernet settings to 10baseT etc… You probably won‘t have an internet connection then, but it is at least likely that you will be able to communicate. Use Trawl and nbplkup to check for the other device. As soon as you have the hub, things will hopefully be easier…
I hope any of this helps! Good luck, I‘m sure we can get this running somehow!
 

mikkel2326

Member
Success!! @robin-fo 's guidance regarding the 10base t hub did it. I was able to daisy chain the hub off of my existing gigabit hub and things started showing up. Also, @mactjaap 's MacIPgw 800k floppy image booted by my FloppyEMU gave me the correct info to put me on the right path.

I had to change to the local DNS of my main router to get DNS to work. These changes were implemented in both the MacIPgw virtual machine as well as the SE/30 MacTCP settings.

I can see and login to the MacIPgw file server running in a virual machine on my Windows 10 machine. I can ftp into it with Fetch on the SE/30 or Filezilla on my Windows machines. I can surf on the SE/30 using MacWeb

Encouraged, I did some looking around and found this:

PC MacLAN 9.0 for Windows NT/2K/XP

This is a really nifty bit of sofware. I was not only able to create a share on my XP laptop, I was also able to set up printer sharing of our Epson XP-830 inkjet. This enabled me to print from the SE/30! I have not tried it to see if I can 'surf' the web with it, but it already exceeded my expectations. It allows both the MacIPgw file share and the fileshare on my windows xp laptop to co-exist.

Good Stuff!! Thank you everyone.
 
Last edited:

mikkel2326

Member
I had to change to the local DNS of my main router to get DNS to work. These changes were implemented in both the MacIPgw virtual machine as well as the SE/30 MacTCP settings.
I got confused with MacPPP & SlirP. I didn't do this to get MacIPgw to work. I can't figure out how to edit the previous message to delete.
 
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