ZuluSCSI Blaster with WiFi vs other Compact Mac Networking solutions

[applesos]

I have an SE with an accelerator, currently with a ZuluSCSI v6 emulating an actual SCSI disk. I've gotten the WiFi equipped blaster but have yet to actually install it. I'm a bit wary of just opening up my SE again for the heck of it, since it works fine and I could accomplish the same with a modern serial WiFi card or various AppleTalk to Ethernet bridges of 90s vintage.

I'm curious what people's experiences are with using the emulated networking on there since that's the main functionality I'm hoping to leverage- the micro SD cards in my EMU always seem to get fragmented so just grabbing files directly from the Garden or my home server via AFP would be quite nice.

 

[Fred1212]

A Tashtalk USB may do what you want if you only want to transfer files to your old mac.

 

[applesos]

I do want a working TCPIP stack though... I have thought about getting a Tashtalk USB to allow a modern machine to serve files over AppleTalk but that would probably be part of a different project.

 

[saybur]

I don't have much personal experience running Wi-Fi on one of these kinds of boards, but people are definitely using them successfully. Main pain points I've read are that AppleTalk on Wi-Fi doesn't work with some access points, the Dayna driver can be quirky, the wireless antenna on these small boards may not be able to reach your AP, and this wireless relies on 2.4GHz exclusively. If your main goal is TCP/IP that first issue is obviously less important, though configuring MacTCP or OT properly can be it's own bit of fun.

If you want to try it before cracking open your SE you could grab a 50 pin to DB-25 adapter and run the board outside the case. I use one like that all the time for easy swapping between systems, works a treat for that and would let you toy with the configuration more easily anyway.

If you get this fully working on the Mac side you won't necessarily need any hardware to get a modern system serving files, Netatalk can do that over both classic AppleTalk and AFP over TCP.

Finally, also worth noting that ZuluSCSI has toolbox support, so loading files in that way is another option if you don't want to go down the networking path.

 

[zigzagjoe]

You don't want to install any wifi-enabled SCSI hardware inside the case: as @saybur pointed out the pico/RM2 modules don't have fantastic signal strength/sensitivity to begin with and the EMI shielding on the case will reduce that further.

Instead, you should use something an external ZuluSCSI Slim if you want to use wifi.

 

[applesos]

Makes sense. I do have a pretty good WiFi setup but going the external route also allows moving the setup to other devices, so that's probably what I'll do.