Networking Amiga

Introduction

I never had a modem and I was born in a small town in deep forests in Finland. Even though I have used computers as long as I can remember, my networked life really begun only in 1999. My exposure to networks, and the Internet, was very limited starting from 1995. Anyway. This is how I got the set up networking with Amiga in July, 2007, ("Juhannus") when everyone else in Finland was boozing.

Ingredients

Setting up

Preparing to install AmiTCP

  1. Acquire distribution package for AmiTCP. You can use double density floppies to transfer the file to Amiga. If the file won't fit on a single floppy, use split -b 880000 amitcp.lha to split the file on GNU/Linux, copy files one by one to Amiga, and merge then with join file1 file2 file3 TO amitcp.lha.
  2. Extract the package
    1. Open Shell
    2. Type makedir Work:t
    3. Type cd Work:t
    4. Type mount PC0:
    5. Type lhA x PC0:amitcp.lha

Installing and configuring AmiTCP

  1. Launch the installer from Work:AmiTCP-4.0/Install_AmiTCP
  2. Choose Intermediate User and click Proceed With Install
  3. Choose Install for Real and optionally Log File and click Proceed
  4. Please remember during this installation:
    click Proceed
  5. Install to SYS:Expansion/AmiTCP. Click Show Drives, click on <ASN> SYS:, then <DRW> Expansion, click Make New Drawer..., add /AmiTCP to the directory name, and click Proceed twice.
  6. You will be shown the readme file. Some some reason this fails occasionally. Press q to close the window and proceed.
  7. AmiTCP/IP is a copyrighted...
    Click Proceed
  8. (Installed copies files)
  9. Do you want to install Napsaterm fonts, napsa?:
    Click Yes
  10. Select directory where to install Napsaterm fonts.:
    Make sure the field reads fonts:, then click Proceed
  11. Enter the default user name:
    Type wnd and click Proceed
  12. Enter the login name of the new user:
    Make sure the field reads wnd and click Proceed
  13. Enter the user ID of the user wnd:
    The field should read 100. Click Proceed.
  14. Enter the primary group ID of the user wnd:
    The field should read 100. Click Proceed.
  15. Enter the real name of the user wnd:
    Enter your name, then click Proceed
  16. Give the home directory of the user wnd:
    Pretty much anything will do here. Default value HOME: should be ok. Click Proceed.
  17. Enter the name of command interpreter for the user wnd:
    Default value shell should be fine. Click Proceed.
  18. Are you sure you want to add following user ...:
    Check the values and click Add wnd
  19. A new window will open, Changing password for wnd.
    Enter password twice.
  20. Is your network connection dynamic?:
    Click No
  21. Enter the host name of your computer (not including domain):
    Type amy and click Proceed
  22. Enter the domain part of your host name:
    Type katei.fi and click Proceed
  23. Give aliases to your computer amy.katei.fi one at a time:
    Leave the field empty and click Proceed
  24. Select the network interface type to be used:
    Choose SLIP/CSLIP and click Proceed
  25. Select the network interface to be used:
    Choose rhslip and click Proceed
  26. IP address for the interface slip0:
    Enter 172.16.180.2 and click Proceed
  27. Give the destination address for the point-to-point interface slip0:
    Enter 172.16.180.1 and click Proceed
  28. Give netmask of the network on the interface slip0:
    255.255.255.0
  29. This in the information you gave for this interface ... Is this correct?
    Click Yes
  30. Select the SERIAL device driver to be used with slip0:
    Choose serial.device and click Proceed
  31. Select unit numner for the serial.device:
    Check default value 0 and click Proceed
  32. Give the baud rate for the serial.device unit 0:
    Enter 19200 and click Proceed
  33. Give the Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) for the slip0:
    Check default value 1006 and click Proceed
  34. Select additional options to be used with the slip0:
    Select Hardware-handshake (CTS/RTS) and click Proceed
  35. This in the information you gave for the configuration for the slip0 ... Is this correct?
    Click Yes
  36. Enter the IP address of the default gateway:
    Check the field reads 172.16.202.1 and click Proceed
  37. Enter the IP addresses of the name servers:
    Enter 172.16.1.1 and click Proceed
  38. Enter the IP addresses of the name servers:
    Leave the field empty and click Proceed
  39. Give domain names (one at a time) to search:
    Check the field katei.fi and click Proceed
  40. Give domain names (one at a time) to search:
    Leave the field empty and click Proceed
  41. Do you want the AmiTCP/IP to be started at the system startup?:
    Click No
  42. Do you want Installer to make the required changes to your s:user-startup script?:
    Click Yes
  43. Do you want the Inetd to be started at the AmiTCP/IP startup?:
    Click Yes
  44. You will be shown anothe text file to read. Some some reason this fails occasionally. Press q to close the window and proceed.
  45. Installation complete!
    Click Proceed
  46. Reboot

Setting up traffic forwarding on Linux

  1. Load module for slip: 
    sudo modprobe slip
  2. Start slattach: 
    sudo slattach -v -d -p slip -s 19200 /dev/ttyS0
  3. Create network interface: 
    sudo ifconfig sl0 172.16.180.1 pointopoint 172.16.180.2 up
  4. Set up network forwarding: 
    iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o sl0 -j ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
echo "1" >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

Changing AmiTCP configuration

If you need to change AmiTCP configuration, run the installer in install-location (SYS:Expansion/AmiTCP/Install_AmiTCP and go through most of the qustions again.

Accessing the Internet from Amiga

Before you have Internet connectivity on Amiga, you'll have to start AmiTCP. To do that, run startnet on command line (such as Shell), and type your password as requested. After this you should have fully TCP/IP connectivity. You try this by pinging a remote host: ping www.google.com (interrupt with Ctrl-C).

Troubleshooting

I can't access the Internet on Amiga!
Try pinging 172.16.180.2 on the Linux box, or 172.16.180.1 on the Amiga. If this doesn't work, check your configuration and read My connection drops. This this does work, you have the network interface properly set on Amiga. On Amiga, try pinging a known host on the Internet to respond to ping, such as www.google.com. If this doesn't work, there is probably something wrong with traffic forwarding on your Linux box. Go figure it out yourself.
My connection on Amiga drops every now and then.
So does mine. I don't know why this happens, but it does. When this happens, try restarting slattach and bringing up the network interface on Linux back up again. (See Setting traffic forwarding.)
My network connection from or to Amiga is slow.
It's 19200-baud connection. I know it's slow. Live with it.