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ISA Network Adapters

Compgeke

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2011
Messages
780
Location
Fairfield, CA, USA
I'm trying to find a network adapter to stick into one of my AT&T PC-6300's that has an RJ45 port. The problem being is I have 3 adapters to choose from,
1.) NE2000 RTL8019AS based card, will it work in 8-bit mode?
2.) UMC9008F based card, can't find ANYTHING on this, except for the "Novel Netware" ready sticker. I'm sure if I search through my old hard drives I'll find some specific drivers for this as I know it came out of my AST Adventure! 400.
3.) Somewhere I have an Intel 8\16 TP card, haven't seen it since 2010 so that tells you where it's at, and problem being is I'm sure I would have better luck with this one.

The reason for needing an RJ45 port is because I really don't have the hardware to run a BNC network (sure I can run cards, but that excludes cabling, terminators, etc). I can't run AUI because who in their right mind has that? I've never even physically seen anything except for the connectors, and Wireless is out of the question because, as far as I know, there never were any ISA wireless cards. I also need to be able to tap into my already-existing network as I want to try and run an IRC client on it as a "hey! I'm IRCing on an 8 MHz 8086!" thing.

Thanks!
 
Both chips will work in 8-bit mode. However, they're PNP and finding the configuration utility that will work in 8-bit mode is a little more difficult, so you might have to do the configuration on a system with a 16-bit slot and then run the thing as an NE1000 adapter.
 
<snip>

The reason for needing an RJ45 port is because I really don't have the hardware to run a BNC network (sure I can run cards, but that excludes cabling, terminators, etc). I can't run AUI because who in their right mind has that? I've never even physically seen anything except for the connectors, and Wireless is out of the question because, as far as I know, there never were any ISA wireless cards. I also need to be able to tap into my already-existing network as I want to try and run an IRC client on it as a "hey! I'm IRCing on an 8 MHz 8086!" thing.

Thanks!

I think you misunderstand AUI. AUI is the port on the back of the card that lets you hook up whatever transceiver you would like. On my AUI cards I have a $5 device that converts the signal to a modern twisted pair signal that I use with my modern hubs and switches. Take a look at this picture:

PCjr_WD.jpg

That's a Western Digital 8003 with a twisted pair connector, but that connector is not compatible with modern twisted pair. (It is actually LaticeNet, which is a precursor to the official standard.) The Centrecom 210T hanging off of it on the AUI connector allows it to run on my modern twisted pair network.

So in reality, you have a far wider choice of cards. Just look for a card with AUI and get the Centrecom 210T.


Mike
 
In that case I have some Everex card that came in one of these, can't find any exact models but the numbers on it are EV-2015 (seems to be the model) and PWA-00305 which is also printed on the PCB (I have a Everex 8-bit ISA display adapter, that took forever to identify).

Although the next part is finding an AUI adapter, and the drivers for a card like this (wonder if I can contact the person who I got these from and see if they have anything, such as the modem drivers or the Everex card drivers).
 
I'm trying to find a network adapter to stick into one of my AT&T PC-6300's that has an RJ45 port. The problem being is I have 3 adapters to choose from,
1.) NE2000 RTL8019AS based card, will it work in 8-bit mode?
2.) UMC9008F based card, can't find ANYTHING on this, except for the "Novel Netware" ready sticker. I'm sure if I search through my old hard drives I'll find some specific drivers for this as I know it came out of my AST Adventure! 400.
3.) Somewhere I have an Intel 8\16 TP card, haven't seen it since 2010 so that tells you where it's at, and problem being is I'm sure I would have better luck with this one.

The reason for needing an RJ45 port is because I really don't have the hardware to run a BNC network (sure I can run cards, but that excludes cabling, terminators, etc). I can't run AUI because who in their right mind has that? I've never even physically seen anything except for the connectors, and Wireless is out of the question because, as far as I know, there never were any ISA wireless cards. I also need to be able to tap into my already-existing network as I want to try and run an IRC client on it as a "hey! I'm IRCing on an 8 MHz 8086!" thing.

Thanks!

Okay, we must be from parallel universes because I just did this over the weekend and I posted about it in another thread.

The AT&T PC 6300's bus is a little wonky. Not a scientific term obviously, but the upshot is that many cards don't work properly. Cards that normally work on PC/XT/clones, like the Intel EtherExpress 8/16 LAN or many generic NE2000 cards, DO NOT WORK in the 6300. What I eventually found this weekend that worked -- very well I might add -- was SMC 8013 (specifically an "SMC8013EWC EtherCard PLUS Elite 16C Combo"). The crynwr packet driver works great with it if you jumper the card to force port 280, irq 3, memory window at D8000 (it's the middle position of the jumper, the other two positions are "some combo that only works on ATs or later" and "soft" which means you use the SETUP utility to configure it).

There were many SMC cards with the "SMC 8013" part, some with two connectors, some (like the above) with three. They should all work.

Once you've got the card, I would suggest the following:

  • Jumper it like described above
  • Run the DIAGNOSE program to make sure it's working
  • Run, don't walk, to the latest mTCP distribution
  • Use mTCP to:
    • Grab an IP address via DHCP.EXE
    • Use SNTP.EXE in autoexec.bat to automatically set the time correctly when you boot up
    • Run FTP.EXE to see just how fast your card can go (should be at least 50KB/s)
    • Run IRCJR.EXE to brag to all your buddies that you're IRC'ing from an ancient computer

According to http://pigtail.net/LRP/8013.html the SMC had the following variants:
  • SMC8013W EtherCard PLUS Elite 16T
  • SMC8013WC EtherCard PLUS Elite 16
  • SMC8013EPC EtherCard PLUS Elite 16C
  • SMC8013EWC EtherCard PLUS Elite 16C Combo
  • SMC8013EW EtherCard PLUS Elite 16
  • Western Digital WD8013 EtherCard Plus
  • Western Digital WD8013 EtherCard Plus Elite
 
And when you get on IRC be sure to drop in at slashnet.org #vc - a lot of the regulars are there.
 
I'm trying to find a network adapter to stick into one of my AT&T PC-6300's that has an RJ45 port. The problem being is I have 3 adapters to choose from,
1.) NE2000 RTL8019AS based card, will it work in 8-bit mode?
2.) UMC9008F based card, can't find ANYTHING on this, except for the "Novel Netware" ready sticker. I'm sure if I search through my old hard drives I'll find some specific drivers for this as I know it came out of my AST Adventure! 400.
3.) Somewhere I have an Intel 8\16 TP card, haven't seen it since 2010 so that tells you where it's at, and problem being is I'm sure I would have better luck with this one.

The reason for needing an RJ45 port is because I really don't have the hardware to run a BNC network (sure I can run cards, but that excludes cabling, terminators, etc). I can't run AUI because who in their right mind has that? I've never even physically seen anything except for the connectors, and Wireless is out of the question because, as far as I know, there never were any ISA wireless cards. I also need to be able to tap into my already-existing network as I want to try and run an IRC client on it as a "hey! I'm IRCing on an 8 MHz 8086!" thing.

Thanks!

in my 8-bit machines, i use mostly 3com 3C503 and NE1000 cards. they are cheap and easy to get.
 
FWIW, my Vicki (XT clone) runs mTCP with a 16-bit RTL 8019A based network card SIIG 8/16 in 8-bit mode. However as Trixter wrote, your computer might be much more picky so it wouldn't take just about any card that otherwise can be configured in 8-bit mode.
 
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