#A-Max II, IV & Emplant
6 messages in this thread
I'm out of touch with the Amiga world, but I want to use my A-Max II again and
network with my Mac. Judging by the messages, there are lots of problems with
IV (which I didn't even know existed). Should I stick with II for reliability?
What about Emplant v. A-Max?
John,
The simplest way is to use Localtalk. If your network has a Localtalk
server or network card in the network server, then you can easily network Amax
via Localtalk. However, if you want to use an Ethertalk net you will need a
network card for the Amiga. Amax II does not support network cards, although
Amax IV does. Frankly, I don't know about networking Emplant other than thru
Localtalk. Emplant does provide support for SCSI devices, as does Amax II, and
this is a second alternative for Ethertalk. There are quite a number of
Ethertalk "cards" for the Mac which connect to the SCSI port.
>Amax II does not support network cards, although Amax IV does.
Really? You mean I could connect my AMax IV equipped Amiga to a netware
and be there not only as an Amiga (via Oxxi's client software) but as a
Mac? Fascinating! Do you have any details?
-Karl
Karl,
Well, not exactly. According to Amax IV if you have an Amiga network
card in your computer, the Mac emulation can use it. Leastwise, that's what
the docs imply. Any Amiga device can be accessed by Amax IV and used by the
emulation. However, you need the Amiga network card and you need the software.
You will probably need the Mac software as well, I would guess. However, I
have no experience with this, so I can't advise you on what to do.
Since I no longer have my Amax IV, I'm not sure of the procedures. I
believe that in the devices setup screen in Amax IV you should be able to tell
the emulation about a network card. Perhaps someone else here has actually done
this. If not, you may need to call Readysoft for some technical assistance.
This is about all that I know Karl.
Now, all that aside, whether you have Amax II or Amax IV, if your
network server has a Localtalk card or Localtalk port (I believe some Novell
cards or TOPs cards may have this), then you can network the Mac emulation via
Localtalk using the Amax's Mac serial ports. This I know works because I had a
3000 with Amax II networked this way (it's slow, however, by comparison to a
true Ethertalk connection). A second way which will work with any Mac emulator
is to buy a Mac network adaptor which uses the SCSI port. These adaptors are
commonly used on old Mac Pluses and laptops which have no slots for a network
card. Most of the mfgrs, Dayna, Farallon, etc. make them for various Mac
models including the Pluses. They cost around $279 via mailorder.
Thanks for all the info. I'm interested in getting familar with the
Mac/Amiga interface to NetWare, so you see why I got excited. It looked
like two for the price of one!
-Karl
Hi John,
>> Should I stick with II for reliability? <<
As someone who spent about $500 on Amax IV (from Amax II), my suggestion is to
stay with the II. I do have color, but it is s……l……o……w……! I
don't have the ability to read low density Mac drives any more and I can't see
any big positives in going to IV. Wish I had my II (and my money) back.
Brian