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x68000:irc_internet_on_x68000_using_null_modem_cable

Irc, Internet on X68000 using null modem cable

This article is a kind contribution by our forum member Neko68k. Thank you for shedding light on this rather grey area !

First of all you will need to download these:

It might also be useful to install TwentyOne (long file name support) if you haven't already.

  • unlzh PPPXR5.lzh
  • put PPP.SYS in \SYS
  • put PPP.X KILL.X and PPPX.BAT in \BIN

If you install PPP.X anywhere else, be sure to modify the first line of PPPX.BAT to point to that directory.

I found it helpful to add the following line to the end of PPPX.BAT:

inetdconf +dns 192.168.0.1

You have to do this anyway so might as well just make it happen. This is to point at your dns server, I used the IP address of my router.

While you're at it, change:

inetd

to

inetd -t -1

This allows internet to work in KOWIN.

  • unlzh TMSIO031.LZH and put TMSIO.X in \BIN
  • unlzh TCPPACKA.LZH and merge the folders it contains with your existing \BIN \ETC and \MAN
  • edit \ETC\hosts and \ETC\networks to reflect your actual network, for example:
#
# /etc/hosts
#
127.0.0.1	localhost		localhost
192.168.0.11	x68k			x68k
#
# - /etc/networks
#
127		loopback
192.168.0	private-net

Optionally add this line to \ETC\services, clat asks for it:

irc			6667/tcp

Add to your config.sys the following (RSDRV.SYS comes with Human):

PROCESS 16 10 50
DEVICE = \SYS\RSDRV.SYS
DEVICE = \SYS\PPP.SYS

Once this is complete plug in your null modem cable and reboot the x68. A wiring diagram for making a null modem cable can be found here:

RS232 null modem cable with partial handshaking

  • On your x68k run PPPX.BAT. On the emulator this throws an error, it can be safely ignored.
  • Once at the ppp> prompt type 'term' and push enter then switch to your Linux box. This also throws a couple errors in emulation and they can also be ignored.
  • On your Linux machine(I am using Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat) open a terminal.
  • At the prompt type the following where:
    • 192.168.0.10 is the host IP, 192.168.0.11 is the x68k IP. It doesn't matter what these are necessarily as long as they dont collide with any other IP addresses on your network.
    • /dev/ttyS0 is your serial port(ttyS0:COM1 ttyS1:COM2 etc)
pppd -detach crtscts lock proxyarp 192.168.0.10:192.168.0.11 /dev/ttyS0 38400

If everything worked you should see something like this:

To test it out try:

ping google.com

and ignore any errors that may occur.

You can try the following Web browsers:

  • Lynx is probably as good as any.
  • I tested VWX and it had serious out of memory problems.
  • I also tested WebXpression, this version works very well.
  • For IRC I recommend Clat

To configure clat, put clat.x somewhere handy and create a file called clatrc in the same folder and fill it in as follows:

SERVER irc.efnet.org
NICK yournick
MAIL blah@whatever.com
NAME whatever
USERINFO blahblahblah
QUIT yourquitmessage

You have to be in the directory you installed clat.x and clatrc or it will fail to find the clatrc file. I think the docs said there is a way to change that but I didn't follow up on it. If you have TwentyOne you can also call it .clatrc but it doesn't matter.

I didn't test out NFS but it seems pretty straightforward.

Keep the scene alive !

x68000/irc_internet_on_x68000_using_null_modem_cable.txt · Last modified: 2019/08/27 20:45 by 127.0.0.1