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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Sdnet Questions Tingy

Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
21 Sep 2017 23:01


Hi i have seen some videos about networking using sdnet and read some post on the forum so i have to see to get networking is this is an option and is better than the plip box ?.

Do this work on the actual gold release not beta ones ?
What hardware do you have to purchase and is necessary to do a custom cable or something what is the pinout ?.

Theres documentation of how to get this working ?

Thanks :D.



Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
21 Sep 2017 23:34


Sebastian Blanco wrote:

  Do this work on the actual gold release not beta ones ?
  What hardware do you have to purchase and is necessary to do a custom cable or something what is the pinout ?.
 

 
  Surely there are a bit of cables and stuff, a driver, setting a TCP/IP stack to use it and forgetting on SD Card as media as price.
Also core 2.5 seems to be baseline for SDNet.

  Most of stuff you can find in existing SDNet thread 
  CLICK HERE  and SDNet driver thread CLICK HERE 
  DONT download past drivers, use latest official SAGA driver that include it. There are couple You Tube tutorials by Pedro Cotter, just try SDNet Vampire on Tube.
 
  Good luck, hacky and limited stuff, but needed.


Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
22 Sep 2017 15:44


Thanks Vojin this just what i need to know :D


Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
30 Oct 2017 00:20


ok now i have build the sdnet thingy module on all its glory.
also downloaded the sdnet pack that includes mimi dx.
the problem is how i can copy the sdnet pack to the amiga ?.
im running the apollo os image from CF.


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
30 Oct 2017 04:04


Sebastian Blanco wrote:

ok now i have build the sdnet thingy module on all its glory.
  also downloaded the sdnet pack that includes mimi dx.
  the problem is how i can copy the sdnet pack to the amiga ?.
  im running the apollo os image from CF.

Mount the CF card on a PC, run WinUAE or FS-UAE and copy the files over?

Less friendly methods could be a serial cable transfer using a null modem cable hitched to a PC. It works sometimes...


Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
30 Oct 2017 15:09


Roy Gillotti wrote:

Sebastian Blanco wrote:

  ok now i have build the sdnet thingy module on all its glory.
  also downloaded the sdnet pack that includes mimi dx.
  the problem is how i can copy the sdnet pack to the amiga ?.
  im running the apollo os image from CF.
 

  Mount the CF card on a PC, run WinUAE or FS-UAE and copy the files over?
 
  Less friendly methods could be a serial cable transfer using a null modem cable hitched to a PC. It works sometimes...

You are right, i was going that route but i have the hope that this days could be an easier way :D.



Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
31 Oct 2017 01:10


Using ApolloOS R43
    Vampire 500+
    SDnet v0.8
    enc module 3.3v version.

    Added the vampire.resource to the startup sequence like the readme says.
   
    Copied the sdnet.device to DEVS:Neworks.
   
    Removed sagasd.device from DEVS:.
   
    Run the sdnettest binary fine, outputs that finished all tests ok. But my amiga gets frozen when i finish and i have to reboot not sure if this is normal.
   
    Tried using the build in Apollos roadshow tcp/ip stack but got an error that sdnet.device is not found, not sure why because is copied in the correct folder.

captures from adapter and output
EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK


Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
31 Oct 2017 09:13


Sebastian Blanco wrote:

Added the vampire.resource to the startup sequence like the readme says.

Sdnettest reported vampire.resource missing. The hardware is working fine. Re-check the entry in startup-sequence. When Loadmodule is successfully loading the vampire.resource, then a rehoot takes place. You can verify the resident installation by calling "version vampire.resource" from CLI. Other option: install Gold 2.5, which ships the resource in ROM.


Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
31 Oct 2017 16:14


Henryk Richter wrote:

Sebastian Blanco wrote:

  Added the vampire.resource to the startup sequence like the readme says.
 

  Sdnettest reported vampire.resource missing. The hardware is working fine. Re-check the entry in startup-sequence. When Loadmodule is successfully loading the vampire.resource, then a rehoot takes place. You can verify the resident installation by calling "version vampire.resource" from CLI. Other option: install Gold 2.5, which ships the resource in ROM.

Thanks for the reply i added the vampire.resource entry to my startup-sequence but don't seem to be working. Where i can download gold 2.5 ?, the last release available for download is gold 2.



Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
31 Oct 2017 19:51


Sebastian Blanco wrote:

 
  Thanks for the reply i added the vampire.resource entry to my startup-sequence but don't seem to be working. Where i can download gold 2.5 ?, the last release available for download is gold 2.
 

Here is the link in the other forum, Also Make sure to change that setpatch line specified in this post in the startup-sequence before updating to save some hassle>

EXTERNAL LINK 



Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
31 Oct 2017 21:52


Sebastian Blanco wrote:

  Thanks for the reply i added the vampire.resource entry to my startup-sequence but don't seem to be working. Where i can download gold 2.5 ?, the last release available for download is gold 2.

See Roy's post for the download of Gold2.5. If you'd like to stay with Gold2, test "loadmodule" by hand from CLI. Please remember that you have to give the full path to the vampire.resource as argument to loadmodule. After the reboot, you can verify successful initialization by "loadmodule list".


Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
01 Nov 2017 13:13


Thanks for the info after updating to gold 2.5 i was able to get the ball rolling and seems to work great.



Sebastian Blanco

Posts 148
03 Nov 2017 13:18


Build my interface using a micro sd extender, desoldered the ribon and soldered some wires to the module removed them from a old atx case.
The manual says that you have to keep your wires short, but i like to install the module fixed inside the amiga, so i wrapped it in tin foil and tape over to protect from short circuit.
next to the floppy drive is a nice spot to mount the module.

EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK


Tiago Epifanio

Posts 2
08 Jan 2018 22:29


I just posted a tutorial on how to assemble an sdnet device on github (using the arananet adapter). I could use some peer review:

EXTERNAL LINK


Joni Valtanen

Posts 12
09 Jan 2018 06:44


Tutorials are always excellent idea.

About peer review:

To be more general tutorial:

1. I would not say that ApolloOS is required. It might misslead some users. Just sdnet.device from Saga-driver package and some network stack (Roadshow, Miami, AmiTCP). Of course you could mention that ApolloOS is ready to go setup.

2. I didn't find the sdnet0.8.lha package from Aminet.

3. Step3 would need some reason why you do that. What if someone would like to start Roadshow at startup? I know there are some pitfalls to start network stack at startup. For example: WHDLoad usually does not like if there is network stack up and running. I created scripts to start and stop Roadshow, added icons to those and put icons on the dock.

Overall it was nice tutorial. It probably helps already many people with their problems with sdnet.


Martin Soerensen

Posts 232
09 Jan 2018 13:44


I think the latest WHDLoad package already has commands in the startup and shutdown scripts to disable/enable the TCP stack, or at least they are in there and commented out so it is simple to add the function. And yes, keeping the TCP stack enabled at all times can cause some problems although I have not had any issues with anything but WHDload. Any system-friendly software should not have any problems (and since WHDload shuts down the system, it cannot really be considered system friendly).
 
Regarding the Ethernet module, I also have a ENC28J60 module here that I want to use with SDNet, however it has two more pins than the one you use.
 
The one I have looks like this:
EXTERNAL LINK   
Anyone knows what the difference is? I can see a 3.3V regulator on the under side of the PCB, so I think it is a 3.3V version.


Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
09 Jan 2018 14:49


The module is most probably built for 5V VCC (Arduino style). You could power it from the Amiga PSU for the 5V, for example via the Floppy connector.

If you'd rather like to use a single cable and draw the 3.3V over the MicroSD connector, then I'd suggest to de-solder the regulator or cut the respective trace. Many of those regulators don't like getting voltage fed into their output pins.


Tiago Epifanio

Posts 2
09 Jan 2018 22:30


Thank you very much for your review, Joni Valtanen. Given your comments, I made some changes.

As for the "ApolloOS" being required, I simply changed the title of the section "Requirements" to "Hardware and Software I used". As I mention in the introduction, this is not exactly a tutorial... it's more a report of what I did. I didn't intend for it to be very detailed.

I also put the direct link for the sdnet0.8.lha file (as you said it was not in aminet). I'd rather link to some general sdnet page with the current version, but I didn't find one.

I also  added the reason for disabling Roadshow on startup.

posts 18