Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: brianc@helser56.res.iastate.edu (Brian J. Cerveny) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: I-Card ethernet card for Amiga 600/1200 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 14 Feb 1994 01:59:39 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 239 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2jmlub$ks1@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: brianc@helser56.res.iastate.edu (Brian J. Cerveny) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: networking, ethernet, PCMCIA, A600, A1200, commercial PRODUCT NAME The I-Card: PCMCIA Ethernet card for the Amiga 600 and 1200 [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review was updated on Feb 16, 1994. Search for the text "[UPDATE:" to find updated information. -Dan] BRIEF DESCRIPTION The I-Card is an ethernet card which installs in the PCMCIA expansion port of an Amiga 600 or 1200 computer. It supports both 10-Base-T (twisted pair) and 10-Base-2 (thin net) ethernet connections, and comes with a SANA-II device driver. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Interworks Address: 43191 Camino Casillas Suite B2469 Temecula, CA 92592 USA Telephone: (909) 699-8120 (Voice and FAX) LIST PRICE I am not aware of the list price of this product, but I paid $289 (US) at a mail-order house. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Amiga 600 or 1200 computer. No RAM requirement for this product in particular, although software utilizing the I-Card may have its own memory requirements. Some conflicts with RAM cards -- see the "REVIEW" section below. SOFTWARE AmigaDOS Release 2 or higher. A networking package which support's Commodore's SANA-II networking device driver standard is necessary. COPY PROTECTION None. The included SANA-II device driver is hard drive installable. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 1200, 4MB fast RAM, 2MB chip RAM. Microbotics MBX-1230XA 50 MHz 68030 accelerator card. 80MB Seagate internal 2.5" IDE hard drive. AmigaDOS 3.0. Commodore AS225r2 TCP/IP networking software. (At the time of this writing, this networking software is available only to registered Commodore developers.) INSTALLATION Installation of the I-Card is as simple as can be. A tiny script is included to copy the SANA-II driver to its proper place on the hard drive, and the card itself plugs effortlessly into the PCMCIA port. The ethernet connectors (10BaseT and 10Base2) are enclosed in a small gray box along with a jack for a power supply which must be used with 10Base2 connections. Since the card is PCMCIA, you can safely plug in and remove it while the power is on with no danger to the computer at all. REVIEW I'll start with the obvious. This card is SMALL! The card itself is exactly the size of a credit card and as thin as a 3.5" floppy disk. All of the electronics are contained within this space, which I find incredible. A long, 18" cable extends from of the back of the card, leading to a cool little molded gray box, roughly 2" by 3" and 3/4" tall. It isn't a plain-looking box either; it has various raised areas to make it look nice. There are three connectors for ethernet: a standard RJ-45 jack for 10BaseT, a BNC (coax) connector for 10Base2, and a small DC power jack. There are two tiny LEDs on the top corner of the box: a green one indicating a good link, and a yellow one which lights up whenever there is activity on the net. Once you plug in the card and install and configure your networking software, you are set to go. My software of choice is Commodore's AS225r2 TCP/IP networking package, which at the time of this writing is available only to registered Amiga developers. My Amiga 1200 is now a full-fledged member of the Internet community, and I *LOVE* it! I can now use ftp, telnet, AMosaic, talk, news, IRC, and many other Internet programs from my own machine, and it's wonderful. The performance of the card on the local network while using AS225 is very good. It has reached throughput of 100kB/sec while transferring a large file by ftp from a workstation on campus to my hard drive. I have not yet tested performance of transfers to another machine in my same building (on the same subnet), but I expect the results will be higher yet. While I use AS225, this card will work with any networking package which supports the SANA-II device driver standard. Other SANA-II compliant packages include the freely distributable AmiTCP TCP/IP package, Interworks' ENLAN-DFS filesystem, and Commodore's Envoy peer-to-peer networking software. Interworks claims support for the OXXI ACS Novell Client software is on its way, and suggests that users contact OXXI at (310) 427-1227 for more information about OXXI's I-Card driver. [UPDATE: This review previously claimed (incorrectly) that Envoy was available only to developers. In fact, Intangible Assets Manufacturing is now shipping Amiga Envoy. Thanks to Dale Larson for this tip. - Dan] The I-Card's operation is completely transparent, except for the incessantly blinking activity light. Since first plugging in the card, I haven't had even to think about its being there. However, there is something which must be said about this. The Amiga 600 and 1200 have only one PCMCIA slot, so you can't use the board if you have (say) a PCMCIA RAM card plugged in already. On the A600, you are stuck. On the A1200, I don't recommend using a PCMCIA RAM anyway, since the RAM will be 16-bit and the rest of the system 32-bit. (32-bit RAM means a faster system.) But even if you have a RAM board plugged into the 150-pin CPU expansion bay underneath the A1200, you may have a problem. When a PCMCIA card is installed, the lower 4MB of address range normally available to the CPU slot card is stolen by the PCMCIA card. So if you have an 8MB RAM board installed, you will only be able to address 4MB while the I-Card is installed. Note that the above problem applies only to boards that have RAM only, or RAM+FPU. Accelerator boards with built-in RAM, such as my Microbotics 68030 board, are normally configured starting after the first 8MB of RAM, and are thus not affected by the presence of a PCMCIA card. DOCUMENTATION The documentation consists of four single-sided sheets stapled together. It explains the procedures for configuring the I-Card for use with Interworks' ENLAN-DFS network file system, Envoy, and AS225r2 TCP/IP. The last two pages contain questions and answers for help with troubleshooting. While the description of the documentation sounds sparse, there is really very little involved in configuring the card. Most of the work is in configuring the networking software once the card is already properly installed, and your software will come with its own documentation. LIKES AND DISLIKES My only complaints with the card involve the PCMCIA aspect. Since the card is basically a PC laptop card under OEM from Socket Communications Inc., it does not quite match the design of the 1200. There are two problems here, discussed below. First, the card sticks out a few inches from the computer, elevated about 3/8" (1.5 cm) above the desk. This makes the card vulnerable to being bumped. While it cannot harm the computer if disconnected with the power on, it may disrupt communications. My solution was to slide a small matchbox beneath the card, which is the perfect height and shape for the task. I have not yet had any trouble with this and don't expect to, but be aware that it could be a problem in some locations such as a lab. Since the card must conform to the PCMCIA 2.0 standard, though, there is very little which could be done about this. The other problem is that the cable which is attached to the back of the card comes out at an angle which is aimed toward the user on a Amiga 600 or 1200. I simply looped the cable toward the computer and underneath the card. While neither of these design aspects bother me, they do reflect the fact that the card was not designed with the Amiga 600/1200 in mind. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS I have used only the Commodore A2065 Ethernet Adapter in addition to this card. From what I can tell, the performance of the cards in a large network situation (college dormitory) is similar, although I have not had a chance to do any direct performance comparisons. Installation of the I-Card is certainly MUCH easier than any Zorro-II board such as the A2065, as those cards require opening of the computer case, while the I-Card is simply plug-and-play. BUGS None found. VENDOR SUPPORT Calling Interworks' telephone number will usually connect you right with the company's president, who happens to be a very friendly guy with a most interesting acquired accent. :) When I called several months ago after I first heard about this card's being developed, I spoke with him for about 20 minutes. I expect that any problem a user might have that requires a telephone call to Interworks should be quickly resolved. WARRANTY The I-Card is covered from manufacturing defects for two years, although the exact terms of the warranty are not specified in the documentation. CONCLUSIONS Simply put, this is the coolest little card you could put on an Amiga 1200 or 600. I have had no problems at all with it, and expect to get my money's worth over the next 8 months while I'm still in school. I highly recommend the I-Card to anyone with an Amiga 1200 or 600 computer who needs a high quality, high speed networking solution. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 by Brian J. Cerveny. All rights reserved. This review is freely distributable, but all additions and corrections should be made through the author. - Brian J. Cerveny brianc@helser56.res.iastate.edu --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews