• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Wifi for the PC?

Chuck(G)

Chuck(G)

25k Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
44,626
Location
Pacific Northwest, USA
I'm moderately curious if anyone has implemented Wifi networking for the 5150->later using the very inexpensive ESP8266 modules. Interface is a basic Hayes-type AT serial command set.
 
Nope. I'm not so much of a soldering guy. But if it counts - i used this obscure ethernet-to-wifi bridge thing i have at home a few times. I originally bought this for my company laptop - due to stupid security policies they had the wifi disabled in the BIOS. So i bought this little box, just plug it into ethernet port of any network card and the box connects to any wifi. A bit of cheating, but convenient solution if you just wanna connect to a wifi quickly from any ethernet port.


Edit: Different model, but mine looks nearly like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wifi-Brid...DreamBox-Sky-HD-Box-Anytime-PS3-/300787593511
 
Last edited:
I use an RTL8019AS NIC with a WAP11g ethernet-to-wifi bridge powered from the gameport.
I don't have any experience with the ESP8266, but to would be nice to have a packet driver for it.
 
I have a couple of cheap TPLink Access Points that also work as clients. They don't get used often as most rooms in the house have ethernet, but they work pretty well...
 
Same here. I use a TP-LINK TL-WR702N Wireless N150 Travel Router, Nano Size. The thing is ultra small - about the size of large book of matches. Just configure it in 'Client' mode, plug it in to the NIC and go.

Regards,
Mike
 
Last edited:
Have an RJ45 (twisted pair) NIC in the 5160 and connect the TL-WR702N to the NIC via the included RJ45 cable - really that simple. I am assuming the NIC has the matching packet driver installed. I use mTCP to get my DOS IP connection.

Regards,
Mike
 
You miss my point.

All of your solutions mandate a NIC.

All one of the ESP8266 modules needs is a simple serial interface.

Is anyone still building 8-bit ISA NICs?
 
I'm confused. There are still plenty of 8 bit Ethernet cards out in the world.

The word "wireless" is very ambiguous here. When people talk about WiFi they are often explicitly thinking about wireless Ethernet. While that device (ESP8266) does use wireless Ethernet, it presents an AT command set interface to the host machine, not a packet driver interface. It has a whole TCP/IP stack built in. Using a device like that basically means using software designed for a serial port, not Ethernet (wireless or otherwise).

For real wireless Ethernet the 8 bit NIC using a bridge device lets you use software designed for Ethernet on the PC without any changes. What would really be nice is a new Ethernet card for a PC that could do wireless, but I suspect the authentication and encryption code would be fairly complicated. Which is why cheating with a travel router is so appealing.
 
mbbrutman said:
I'm confused. There are still plenty of 8 bit Ethernet cards out in the world.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but it seems there's always someone asking about "what will work with my 5160".

The word "wireless" is very ambiguous here. When people talk about WiFi they are often explicitly thinking about wireless Ethernet. While that device (ESP8266) does use wireless Ethernet, it presents an AT command set interface to the host machine, not a packet driver interface. It has a whole TCP/IP stack built in. Using a device like that basically means using software designed for a serial port, not Ethernet (wireless or otherwise).
Click to expand...

That's just my point--a serial command set would be time-perfect in this case. Use DSZ to transfer files. I don't recall that ethernet for PCs was well-developed in 1984. ARCnet, maybe. Even in the early 90s, I considered myself to be fairly typical in the PC area and I was still using 10Base2 as an interconnect. Wireless for PC would have to wait for something like the DMMC HomeFree cards.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Perhaps, but it seems there's always someone asking about "what will work with my 5160".
Click to expand...

That's a problem that I don't understand. There are so many people with working 8 bit NICs on XT class machines. A little time with the search engine of your choice readily identifies compatible NICs. But people don't know to search or perhaps they are searching using the wrong terms.

If you just want wireless communications then a solution like yours will work. And it's compatible with a wide range of serial port based software. But it's also like using a null modem cable to connect to a Linux machine, and then claiming you can run telnet to access the internet. It's fun, but we all know it's just a dumb terminal at that point.

If I didn't have a day job then figuring out how to graft on a wireless chipset and create a packet driver would be one of my projects. I don't particularly care about the encryption part; if the restriction for using wireless on your 5150 is that you can't use WPA then so be it. It'll be just like old times ... just don't try to do your banking over telnet. ;-0
 
Chuck(G) said:
Perhaps, but it seems there's always someone asking about "what will work with my 5160".
Click to expand...

IMHO that's one of those questions that belong in the same class as "whats this worth.". The problem is not that there are no suitable cards, its that its not obvious which ones work in a basic PC or XT machine. Some 16-bit cards work in 8-bit slots and some don't and 16-bit cards are more plentiful than 8-bit cards.

I note there are some NE1000 8-bit packet drivers here :-

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?41081-NE2000-Packet-drivers-for-8-bit-slots

that work with a wide variety of 16-bit network cards. I have a box of various network cards which should work with the above driver that I am about to skip as no one wants them and I don't have the space for them.

In addition why add a WiFi link. If you are using the serial port to access the WiFi link why not just use a cable with KA9Q or similar to transfer files....
 
mbbrutman said:
I'm confused. There are still plenty of 8 bit Ethernet cards out in the world.

The word "wireless" is very ambiguous here. When people talk about WiFi they are often explicitly thinking about wireless Ethernet. While that device (ESP8266) does use wireless Ethernet, it presents an AT command set interface to the host machine, not a packet driver interface.
Click to expand...
Now it's more likely to be programmed with Lua instead of AT commands. Very easy. Things have improved. And this thing is extremely cheap compared to just about anything, including a used NIC for an 8-bit PC. The ESP8266 is a way to get everything from your old PC to a thermometer networked with your home wi-fi router. I've got plenty of them now.

One reason for using wi-fi is that it may be impractical to wire things up. For me it definitely is - I have to make holes in the wall for the cable(s) to where my access point is. That's not going to happen.
 
My thought was to use the ESP8266 as sort of a "universal modem". Most vintage gear, including older floppy-only 8-bit machines have some sort of communication capability. I've got an old Smith Corona word processor with terminal software that speaks Xmodem. Of course, this would also be a minimal solution for IBM PC-compatibles, but cheap Wifi for say, a Dictaphone 6000 system might not be such a bad thing.
 
This isn't helpful to the main discussion, but maybe an outsider will find it interesting: All my vintage PCs with ethernet are connected via wifi using those little cheap $20 dongles. I set up the dongle on a wired PC, then move it to the vintage PC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top