Albert Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Atari 8-bit fans will soon be able to connect to the internet via an Atari 8-bit Ethernet Cartridge being developed by Chris Martin. Based on the work already done in the Commodore 64 community, this adapter will allow you to take advantage of telnet, e-mail, web browsing and a web server via the Contiki Operating System. For more information, including pictures and schematics, please visit the Atari 8-bit Ethernet Cartridge development page. You can also follow the discussion at Slashdot.org. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I guess the question I wonder about is 'Why'? Could I network my 8-bit with my PC and get stuff off of it that way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_bernstein Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Very very exciting !!! Especially as a Mac user - maybe it will be possible to use this cartridge as a SIO2PC of some sort (despite the fact that it's using the cartridge port and the not the SIO port). About surfing the web (at least text driven content), we'll see but could be interesting though (and the Midimaze group could even take advantage of this). AB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 You could possibly use this to add a cheap WebTV box to your TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 It will certainly be nice for 8bit users to directly do: FTP'ing from websites Newsgroup reading Email send/receive There are still several 8bit ug's that would be VERY grateful to know they can at long last join the internet directly from their 8bits. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Stella Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 i look forward to using one of these! has anyone created a bbs type software that will work with one of these? how cool would it be to run an old-school http or telnet based bbs on a classic 8-bit with ide harddrive? maybe some kind of rs-232/sio emulation layer to use the old bbs software? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 It will certainly be nice for 8bit users to directly do: FTP'ing from websites Newsgroup reading Email send/receive There are still several 8bit ug's that would be VERY grateful to know they can at long last join the internet directly from their 8bits. Curt Uh...... yeah... Neat idea... if I can afford one I may get one just for kicks. But ultimately it requires either a pc (connected to the net) or a cable/dsl connection that uses ethernet. And obviously limited in use, but still neat non-the-less. It would be even better if it supported file transfer, etc over the ethernet for storage purposes of course. It would also be neat if someone created an R: driver that could function over it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 It made the news http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/26/0714207 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velcro_SP Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 How far did this project eventually get? The webpage has long since vanished but is backed up at Wayback: http://web.archive.org/web/20031204203456/.../atari/a8ether/. Contiki is a great project to get 8bits on the Internet but just hasn't progressed into a user-friendly enough state to be popular. One of these http://home.columbus.rr.com/ksiders/ice.htm projects that Ken Siders identified might be a user-friendlier project. It would be very cool to have an Atari 8bit IRC program that logs on to #atari at irc.newnet.net through an ethernet cable straight from the Atari to the router (or even the cable/DSL modem). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetle Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 It would be very cool to have an Atari 8bit IRC program that logs on to #atari at irc.newnet.net through an ethernet cable straight from the Atari to the router (or even the cable/DSL modem). Indeed, i'll double that. And it would be within the a8 possibilities. Would you want to use an Ethernet cart as described above, or would connecting the a8 with any kind of RS232 interface to a Lantronx MSS-100 or similar be plug&play enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 eh... links are not working or bring up some crappy skin advertisement. Interesting though.... what's the projected price (since I can't see the site for whatever reason).. anyone know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velcro_SP Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 Well, it could be done in different ways, with user-friendliness a key goal. I was thinking of an ethernet cart along the lines of the USB cart sold at AtariMax http://www.atarimax.com/usbcart/documentation/ but certainly it could be a cart and cable that make use of the Lantronix MSS100 http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking...ers/mss100.html. Or a disk and cable, but the advantage of a cart is you don't need a disk-drive. Actually, I would like to have the possibility to use it on my 800 so a cable coming out of the cart might not be the best way for 800s and 400s given that the lid closes in the carts on those machines. It would be very cool to have an Atari 8bit IRC program that logs on to #atari at irc.newnet.net through an ethernet cable straight from the Atari to the router (or even the cable/DSL modem). Indeed, i'll double that. And it would be within the a8 possibilities. Would you want to use an Ethernet cart as described above, or would connecting the a8 with any kind of RS232 interface to a Lantronx MSS-100 or similar be plug&play enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrathchild Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I've started looking at Microchip's offerings as they have a solution that maybe utilizable. I bought a ENC28J60 board on Ebay and will hope to get a circuit built in the new year to be able to hook that up to the SIO Bus. Alternatively we are also asking the Microchip sales rep to see if we can get their 18F devices with onboard ethernet as a sample http://www.microchip.com/ParamChartSearch/...n&pageId=74 These are cheap enough devices for the hobbyists and in theory they take the burdon of the IP stack away from the Atari. The trick will be the protocol exchange between the Atari and the chip over the SIO bus. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Yeah, I had this working very nicely. I could telnet from my 130XE as well as browse the web and ping... The irc project compiled, but I never got a chance to try it out... But the maker of the EE-100 stopped producing them and I ran out of time to work on Contiki. It did work great and I still have all the parts including 2 EE-100 boards. However, there are many other CS8900a boards available for very cheap these days including: http://microcontrollershop.com/product_inf...roducts_id=1202 So, it is possible to bring this project out of the ashes for cheaper than back in 2003 and it will work, but I do not have the resources or the time to build the cartridge anymore. In fact, Sunmark was going to build one for me but that fell through, obviously. If someone wants to build some CS8900a A8 carts or even an adaptor cart to the product above, I will be more than happy to get the Contiki software up and running again on it... no problem! The old Virtual Ave link from Slashdot is long gone. Here is the new link: http://geocities.com/vlastaar/a8ether/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Hello Cybernoid Maybe Video61 can help. They are putting more cartridges on the market than any other source. Greetings Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppetmark Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Yeah, I had this working very nicely. I could telnet from my 130XE as well as browse the web and ping... The irc project compiled, but I never got a chance to try it out... But the maker of the EE-100 stopped producing them and I ran out of time to work on Contiki. It did work great and I still have all the parts including 2 EE-100 boards. However, there are many other CS8900a boards available for very cheap these days including: http://microcontrollershop.com/product_inf...roducts_id=1202 So, it is possible to bring this project out of the ashes for cheaper than back in 2003 and it will work, but I do not have the resources or the time to build the cartridge anymore. In fact, Sunmark was going to build one for me but that fell through, obviously. If someone wants to build some CS8900a A8 carts or even an adaptor cart to the product above, I will be more than happy to get the Contiki software up and running again on it... no problem! The old Virtual Ave link from Slashdot is long gone. Here is the new link: http://geocities.com/vlastaar/a8ether/ I may have some time after the holidays. The Job has been a real time killer lately. I actually bought a CS8900 board to mock up a test, but i never finished it. a ethernet cart is someting the 8 bit really needs. It would be even cooler if someone could make it work with MIDI Maze! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Maybe an Atarimax FlashCart/EthernetCart could be made with Contiki preloaded on flash! Wink Wink... Just plug it in and you are online! Well, something to think about after more prototypes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fröhn Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Why don't you simply build an adapter for the Amiga Clockport? You could then connect the RR-Net ethernet adapter (CS8900A based): Old RR-Net And the new RoHS design according to new EU laws: New RR-Net Fast RS232 interface: Silver Surfer For fast MP3 decoding: MP3@64 A soundcard: Delfina Flipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patarik Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 Forget It. Use something http://www.wiznet.co.kr/pro_wiz110sr.htm more useful. It will not require software implementation of TCP/IP. Atari 8-bit is very memory sensitive and vaste memory for software TCP/IP is too expensive. This module can be easy connected to SIO through SIO2PC or you can connect it more easily direct to SIO port with http://www.wiznet.co.kr/pro_iin_NM7010B.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrathchild Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 Hi patarik, that's similar to the approach I'd take with the PIC, which we are going to be given a sample of Not that the $3-$4 dollars per chip is breaking the bank though, as Cybernoid points out, the cost of doing a project like this has come down significantly. Regards, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 I haven't actually looked at it, but I believe that the Contiki 2.x codebase has been modified by someone to compile on cc65, and they stated that they are getting away from the "loadable module" model, and going with a "per app" type of setup. You wouldn't be able to run a browser AND an IRC client at the same time like you could with the old Contiki I guess, but that probably doesn't matter. Also, the Atari lacks the memory that the C64 has available for this anyhow. Even though the tcp/ip stack was very small, something that does the TCP/IP processing would probably be better (if not as aesthetically satisfying!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Neat! I'd love to browse Atariage on an 8-bit. There is no reason WHY I want to do such a thing, but it would be nifty indeed. Who woulda thought we'd b getting new hardware for the Ataris in *2007*. Every once in a while, the strangeness of that just kinda gets me, you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Forget It. Use something http://www.wiznet.co.kr/pro_wiz110sr.htm more useful. It will not require software implementation of TCP/IP. Atari 8-bit is very memory sensitive and vaste memory for software TCP/IP is too expensive. This module can be easy connected to SIO through SIO2PC or you can connect it more easily direct to SIO port with http://www.wiznet.co.kr/pro_iin_NM7010B.htm Well, Contiki doesn't take vast memory for the TCP/IP stack, but we are memory constrained. With the Serial to Ethernet boards it is easy to get connected to the net but you still need a shell account or a linux box to run the apps like mIRC or links to browse the web or do irc. Contiki will have these apps running right on the Atari. Now, with that said, we may be able to modify Contiki to run on top of some of the serial to Ethernet boards...maybe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppetmark Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Forget It. Use something http://www.wiznet.co.kr/pro_wiz110sr.htm more useful. It will not require software implementation of TCP/IP. Atari 8-bit is very memory sensitive and vaste memory for software TCP/IP is too expensive. This module can be easy connected to SIO through SIO2PC or you can connect it more easily direct to SIO port with http://www.wiznet.co.kr/pro_iin_NM7010B.htm Well, Contiki doesn't take vast memory for the TCP/IP stack, but we are memory constrained. With the Serial to Ethernet boards it is easy to get connected to the net but you still need a shell account or a linux box to run the apps like mIRC or links to browse the web or do irc. Contiki will have these apps running right on the Atari. Now, with that said, we may be able to modify Contiki to run on top of some of the serial to Ethernet boards...maybe... After reading this thread and doing some research. I would agree that the best way to do this is with a ethernet to serial board of some kind. Many of them have "built in" web pages where you can configure the IP. subnet and gateway. Then, to the Atari it should look like a serial device. However, I am not sure if the Atari baud rate will be fast enough. I am not much of a programmer but it seems to me it would be much easier to interface a serial adaper to the Atari SIO port than to try and run a tcp/ip stack. I would rather see the atari running apps like a text based web browser and an e-mail client. For what its worth, these development boards might help http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_i...roducts_id=7830 http://microcontrollershop.com/product_inf...products_id=558 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 (edited) I experimented with a home-made SIO2Ethernet bridge. It's possible, but the polling overhead for SIO really makes it very impractical. Some kind of direct hardware is needed, such as a cartridge that has a 1-2k byte mapped memory buffer on the atari side and an ethernet chip on the other side. Edited December 14, 2007 by danwinslow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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