Atomwide Ethernet V - Topcat removal ?

[AndyMc1280]

Hi

Finally got round to installing the Atomwide V card that Zarchos sent me as per this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8634

As you'll see it has a Topcat Diskless boot for podules ROM. Which loads up a whole lot of probably not required stuff, at least for what I want to use it for

I have *Unplugged NTStartup, is there anything else I can get rid of ? The A5000 is an 8MB machine so memory is not a squeeze, but still.

cheers

Andrew

[poink]

The podule I got from Zarchos in the same thread turned out not tou have TopCat on it.

However, from memory of the NC, the only thing that's exclusively 'TopCat' on podules is actually the NTStartup module. Past that, you've got stuff like LanManFS and Internet modules, which, depending on version, 'might' be useful.

I suspect that, with the exception of the Ether* module (and MBufManager if it's got a DCI-4 rom), it's likely all out of date and the Universal Boot Sequence has newer versions.

Having a look at the output of *ROMModules should tell you what's on it, and whether they're Active, Dormant or Unplugged.

[AndyMc1280]

Will do

once I get the A5000 working again. PSU Died. Pity as I had it and the R260 in my bedroom chatting happily over wireless.

Thanks for the tip.

[poink]

Shame. Hope you get it running again.

I'm not sure what happens with *unplug, but AIUI the potential problem with old versions of modules on podule ROMs is that they tend to fragment the RMA (and thus waste a little bit of RAM).

I should have a go at software to rebuild a non-EASI podule ROM at some point; possibly starting with the ROM on my Ethernet III podule.

Even if I end up creating a 'moduleless' ROM image - ie., just enough for podule ID/name etc., - it could still be useful; that is, assuming my understanding of the fragmentation problem is correct.

[simonm]

Hi all,
I've just acquired one of these for my A5000 (RISC OS 3.1). As a total newbie on these things can any helpful person point me in the direction of what software or commands I'll need to get my A5000 talking with my home network?
TIA!

[poink]

Hi all,
I've just acquired one of these for my A5000 (RISC OS 3.1). As a total newbie on these things can any helpful person point me in the direction of what software or commands I'll need to get my A5000 talking with my home network?
TIA!

Essentially, for TCP/IP support[1], you need the Universal Boot Sequence (or presumably the appropriate components, like !Internet) from within. You can get a copy of it on RISCOS.com. (You'll likely want most of the contents of that page eventually.)

Once that's working, you should be able to double click on the !Boot icon to get the configuration program, then set the network up with a static address from there. (Pre-RISC OS 4, there's no support for DHCP). Frankly, expect some "fun", because networking on RISC OS 3 has always seemed a bit shonky to me.

Once you've done that, you should be able to download and use programs like Sunfish (for NFS), LanMan (for SMB), NetSurf (for HTTP) etc.,

[1] I'm assuming you want TCP/IP, rather than one of the more Acorn specific things like ShareFS.

[simonm]

Thanks, yes, TCP/IP is all I need and an FTP server probably.
I tried out the podule tonight and it seems functional - ShareFS has appeared on the taskbar.
I'll check out the links you shared.