Classic II on Ethernet-LocalTalk bridge

[shifuimam]

I recently acquired an AsanteTalk Ethernet-to-LocalTalk bridge for my Macintosh Classic II. It was never used by the person who gave it to me, and it looked pretty beat up, but it powered on with no problems (speaking of which - what's the voltage requirement on the stock power adapter? I'm using a third-party adapter, and it powers up without problem at 7.5v, but I'd like to run it at what it was designed to take).

I connected it to my Macintosh and copied over all the extensions I could think of that it might need for AppleTalk and file sharing, and ensured that AppleTalk was enabled on my 733MHz G4 running Leopard. I also enabled EtherTalk on the JetDirect card of my HP LaserJet 2100tn.

However, nothing works, and I assume this has something to do with having no AppleTalk zones set up. My understanding through some Googling is that OS X can serve as an AppleTalk router, although I can't seem to get it to start up AppleTalk that way. My network is also based on a Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT v24 sp2.

I'd really like to get file sharing and printing working on the Classic II. I don't really know where to begin, and all my searching so far has turned up nothing of particular use. I know absolutely nothing about AppleTalk, so I'm not even sure where to begin. Any help is *greatly* appreciated.

 

[LCGuy]

You may need to put a 10Mbps hub between the AsanteTalk device and the network - a lot of Asante gear won't work directly with modern autonegotiating 10/100 gear.

 

[shifuimam]

Even then, don't I need to create an AppleTalk zone in order for my PowerMac and my Classic II to see each other?

 

[LCGuy]

No, but in order to connect to or from a machine running Leopard, you'll need to follow these tutorials, and ensure you have AppleShare Client 3.8 (which requires System 7.6) installed.

Hmm, you don't happen to have a copy of OS 9 on the G4 you could boot into, do you? Networking System 7 and Leopard *is* doable, but if you can boot the G4 into OS 9, that'll make things a *lot* easier.

 

[shifuimam]

I have a 9.4.4 CD I can use if running in Classic will work - my iBook G3 is running Tiger. I *can* install OS 9 on my PowerMac as a secondary OS, but I'd sort of rather not do that if I can help it. I use my PowerMac for testing the web applications I develop in the latest versions of Safari and Firefox for OS X, so OS 9 would be pretty useless in that regard.

 

[LCGuy]

Yeah...unfortunately in order to get it to work, you're going to have to either upgrade the Classic II to System 7.6 (which is not recommended, as System 7.6 has more bloat compared to other versions of System 7, and the Classic II can only take up to 10MB of RAM) or dual boot the G4 with OS 9 and Leopard.

 

[Gil]

However, nothing works, and I assume this has something to do with having no AppleTalk zones set up. My understanding through some Googling is that OS X can serve as an AppleTalk router, although I can't seem to get it to start up AppleTalk that way. My network is also based on a Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT v24 sp2.

I have a WRT54G running the exact same DD-WRT version as yours, and it absolutely WILL NOT pass AppleTalk packets. The stock firmware did not either.

 

[shifuimam]

I've found some forum posts on the DD-WRT site that indicate it does work, even if it's technically supported. There's also the possibility of installing the netatalk Linux AppleTalk package, which would allow for creation of AppleTalk zones.

I do have an old snow dual ethernet Airport base station - should I try using that? Can I connect it to my existing network in some way so that my PowerMac can do both?

 

[Gil]

I've found some forum posts on the DD-WRT site that indicate it does work, even if it's technically supported.

Yeah, I saw that too. However, I have never been able to get it to work. AppleTalk over TCP/IP works, but that's a different story.