USB -> 10/100 Adapter -> Vonets WiFi?

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Found something interesting on Amazon: UGREEN USB 2.0 to 10/100 RJ45 Network Adapter

They say USB2  + Mac 10.6, but I'm wondering  if it's generic enough to do USB1 + OS9?

Anyone got recommendations for something that's known to work for 6400 and 6500/TAM? JB?

edit: mostly looking for something to plug into the internal port of a TANGO 2 or TANGOtrio in the Beige G3 to save a slot and better the built-in 10bT interface. 802.11b under OS9 would be a plus, but would it be faster or slower than simply hanging a wired connection off the backplane?

 

[EvilCapitalist]

The USB Ethernet adapter I've had really good luck with is the SMC 2208 (SMC2208USB/ETH).  It even includes the 8.6/9.x and 10.2.x/10.3.x drivers right on the CD in the box.  I haven't tried the newer USB 2.0 version (SMC2209USB/ETH) to see if that works or not though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123265875745

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nice! If nobody has a flexible placement "wired dongle" recommendation, I can get a couple of those and hack the bare nekkid PCB inside.

How hard does it look to crack open/dispense with the casing? [}]

edit: WHOOPEE! just dumped a couple of cards back in the drawer where they belong and found a Belkin USB card to try out this stuff in the Gossamer kluge. []

 

[Cory5412]

What Mac has USB but not Ethernet? Is this for the TAM thing? Why not just use Comm Slot 2 Ethernet and a regular wifi bridge?

ALso, Gossamer/Power Macintosh G3s had 3 PCI slots and onboard Ethernet as well, so they can use other, easier/better Wifi solutions.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

!0bT on my beige G3 or on CS2 is like  .  .  . 10bps no? Saw something about 802.11b being a bit faster than that, so with a USB 10/100 dongle as intermediary, would there be any noticeable improvement?

Since I'll have the Trio in the GossamerG3 kluge (sounds better than beige!) will USB from the Sonnet card to a 10/100 dongle be faster on a hardwired connection than logic board 10bT? Saves a slot that way, the other two are taken already.

Wondering the same things about the 6500 and 6360 boards and of couirse the TAM stuff too. Basically just curious in general about networking bottlenecks all of a sudden.

 

[Cory5412]

802.11b is only rated for eleven megabits, and only in extremely favorable circumstances.

Imagine an iBook sitting on a plastic table in the middle of a beautiful open field, totally flat, connecting to an AirPort base station that's twenty feet away. - You'd get 11 megabits!

You should look at 802.11N stuff at the absolute minimum, and ideally dual-band or 5GHz stuff, as that's where the real speed is.

I've been using my beige G3 with a QS'02 as a file server and I haven't felt like I would benefit from any faster networking. A few things would probably be faster, but not enough to actually do it.

Onboard 10BT is going to be "good enough" and ultimately, anything people say about USB hard disks being slower than FW400 hard disks because of the way USB works will also apply to USB-based Ethernet.

The other thing to consider is USB will always operate at 1.1 speeds when you're booted into Mac OS 9, and on most cards there's a single controller, so you're looking at a situation where you're asking networking, one or more disks and anything else that might strike your fancy to share a single 11 megabit channel into the computer. (Some later Macs have two onboard USB channels, but by then you had 10/100 Ethernet at minimum. anyway.)

So, doing this might be interesting, but you are going to end up with a wasteful solution that is less performant than other possible configurations.

 

[Cory5412]

Also I'm afraid but curious: What do you mean by "Gossamer kludge" -- are you upgrading a Power Macintosh G3?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

LOL! []

View attachment 13622

I only do OS9, so b is about as good as 102.11 gets in that scenario, no? The machines with outbound RJ-45 need it looped back in for VONETs WiFi playtime and that sounds to be a be a bit slower than tapping USB internally.

I'm interested in having a clean backplane with USB from an "additional slot" and VONETS antenna mounted to a printed "CS2 plug" whether it be the 6360, the 6500 drawer monstrosity, the Gossamer Glass House or someone else' TAM. [}]

There's plenty of  room in the ComSlot bay for the USB dongle and VONETs or equivalent in 6360 and TAM.

edit: not really worried about single channel being a problem. Network/KBD/Mouse ought to be fine.

 

[Cory5412]

It appears vonets is just a specific brand of wifi bridge? Get that bridge or any other and connect them to the Ethernet port on your favorite Mac.

Your Mac does not need to have wifi at all. I've ilnked another bridge a few times that should work fine for this purpose as well, and might be easier to get in the US: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Portable-Travel-Router/dp/B00TQEX8BO 

Again, I recommend you do not bother with internal wifi at all, because it'll be needlessly slower and less secure. ("secure" in the randos driving by your house can crack WEP encryption in a few seconds, look at all your wi-fi traffic, and use your internet connection for their own use sense.)

AirPort is "fun" but wifi is much better and the better way to use it at this point is ot just run a bridge from a modern wifi network to whatever ethernet device you want to use.

Of course, in all circumstances, wires are even better than all that.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, that's the one ants started using to set his SE/30 and CC on their wireless way. He's been currently developing drivers to make it easier for the likes of networking noobs like me to get it up and running.

Byrd's lack of a ComSlot Riser and question about a PCI Card PCMCIA adapter got me thinking again. technight's lack of any riser at all got me thinking farther out. Thinking's come back around to the dearth of gazelle compatible USB/FW combo cards. Having both isn't my cuppa tea, but it seems the thing in TAM circles.

Someone mentioned something about compatible FireWire cards being available. USB boards don't seem to be a problem, but both are available in combination only on the first rev Tango from Sonnet?  It's looking to me like having a FW card in the standard slot combined with a USB card in my theoretical (setback/inset) second slot beans three birds with one stone. FW/USB/WiFi all fit within the limited cubic of the Fat Back and coming in under power budget.

Dunno, you're undoubtedly right about what would be better, but if it were practical I wouldn't find much fun in it. []