Doin' the network shuffle.

Intro:
Sneaker Net: - slang - 1. One of the oldest network technologies used in computing. Data is transferred using human locomotion, and some form of removable read/write media. Characterized by low data transfer rates.

Sneaker Net has long been the favorite solution for moving files from the Amiga to the PC - mainly because it's been built into the Amiga operating system for years. You simply put a PC formatted floppy in your Amiga, copy the files, hoof it over to a PC, and read them there. Getting stuff back to the Amiga is just as easy.

Nowadays, there are a number of reasons Amiga users need to transfer more than what will fit on a single MS-DOS floppy. This article will mention some of the rudimentary tricks to getting data between the Amiga and a PC. However, the main focus will be setting up an Ethernet TCP/IP connection between one Amiga and one PC.

There are dozens of ways to link an Amiga and PC. Swapping floppies, and using modems has long been popular. The easiest way to move more than a floppy-full of data is to use communications programs on each machine, and hook them together over the phone lines. While slow, it does make it possible to transfer huge files. (Expect to spend half an hour just moving a couple of megabytes - a 14.4Kb modem will transfer about 1.5KB per second.)

If the two computers are close enough to link up physically with a NULL modem cable (a special serial cable that can be used in place of two modems), it's possible to increase the file transfer speed almost five-fold. Once a direct connection has been made, it's also possible to use special programs like TwinExpress, and LinkIt to simplify the copying process. TwinExpress is a small shareware program that runs on the Amiga and the PC. When two computers are talking through TwinExpress, each computer display shows a traditional prompt. From this prompt, it's possible to use traditional commands like 'copy', and 'dir' to manage files on both platforms. The downside is that it's still a fairly simple interface without the ability to copy lots of files easily. Link-It is a commercial product the comes with it's own custom wired cable. I've never seen it in operation, but they claim to have a much 'friendlier' interface, and it's Win95 compatible!

Finally, one thing to make serial transfer faster and easier is to use LHA on the Amiga to compress entire directory trees into one big file. You can then transfer the single big file over to the PC and unpack the files, retaining the entire directory structure. (BEWARE: The standard LHA available for the PC does NOT support long file names, so you'll lose all your naming information. MAKE SURE to use LHANT - a version of LHA custom compiled to support long filenames on the PC. A copy should be available on the NewTek BBS, along with all the other network files you'll need.) For people making a one time jump from the Amiga platform, this is probably the cheapest and easiest solution.

As animators and Toaster Users migrate to faster WinNT platforms, many have a need to move megabytes of objects, scenes, and images back and forth. (As an example, I just checked, and the 3D: directory on my Amiga has 16,000+ files in 480 directories, totaling over 570MB of data.....That's alot of floppy disks!!!) And, once people begin working on the PC, they may find they'll need to get rendered images back to the Amiga for output through their Toaster or PAR cards. Obviously, there's got to be something better than Sneaker Net!

Also, new operating systems like WinNT, and Win95, take advantage of full length filenames on the MS-DOS platform. Now, animators can effortlessly move their entire 3D libraries over without having to rename everything to conform to the 8.3 limit of MS-DOS machines. The big problem remains how to get the data over to the PC.

CrossDOS (built into WorkBench 2.04+) doesn't support the new long filenames, and you really can't move much on a single floppy anyway. The commercial version allows you to plug in any PC formatted hard drive and copy to it, but there's still the 8.3 character filename limitation.

A new product, AmiFiler from Media4 (the makers of MaxDOS - a util to mount Mac HDs on an Amiga SCSI bus) is sort of like an AmigaDOS filesystem for WinNT - it allows an Amiga formatted hard disk to be plugged into the SCSI bus of a machine running WinNT. AmiFiler is actually a program that looks like a simplified DOpus utility. When run, it searches for an Amiga formatted drive. If found, the contents are listed in a standard Windows File Manager style list on the right side of the window. The destination directory (located on the WinNT system) is shown on the left hand side. Copying files is as simple as selecting them and waiting for them to be copied - at hard disk speeds! Unfortunately, it's not as elegant as CrossDOS on the Amiga, since you can't actually mount the AmigaDOS drive transparently into the system - future revisions might allow that, though.

Finally, all these solutions require you to power down one system, unplug a hard drive, plug it into the other system, and then wait until the system has booted to begin using it. Not a workable solution for most production environments.

For truly demanding situations, where the Amiga is part of an entire suite of tools, the most elegant - albeit costliest - solution has to be Ethernet.

Ethernet has become the defacto standard for networking among PCs, and it's easy to find cheap Ethernet cards for PCs, priced as low as $30. Expect to pay at least $300 for an Amiga Ethernet, unless you can find a used one. Also, be ready for hours of frustration, as you try to figure out exactly which software component (of a seemingly endless number) is failing.

An excellent resource for anyone trying to network an Amiga is the book, appropriately titled: 'Connect Your Amiga! - A guide to the internet, LANs, BBSs, and Online Services' by Dale Larson. Inside you'll find brief descriptions of all the Ethernet cards available for the Amiga, along with a much broader discussion of networking than I can offer in this short article. If you have little or no experience with networking hardware, this is book will give you enough knowledge of cards and wiring topologies to safely network more than a few computers together. The one thing it sorely lacks is any kind of comprehensive index. The book can be purchased directly from Intangible Assets Manufacturing (www.iam.com) by calling 610-853-4406.

Setting up an Amiga with AmiTCP:

First of all, you'll have to install Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) in all the machines you want to network. Installation of Amiga cards is a simple plug-n-play operation. All configuration is set through software. Depending on the age of your PC and Ethernet card, you might have to manually set dip switches on the PC cards. Make sure and read all documentation thoroughly to familiarize yourself with the cards!

You will also need networking software for all your machines. In this case, we will be using the industry standard TCP/IP protocol - mainly because it comes free with both WinNT and Win95! Since networking software is not included with the AmigaOS, I've taken the liberty of compiling all the files necessary to install the demo version AmiTCP (a fully functional demo of one TCP/IP software package for the Amiga.) on the NewTek BBS. You will need the following file: AmiTCPv4.lha. (Unfortunately, this assumes you have access to a modem. There is no way of getting these files, except electronically - or through a local user group. You could always have a friend download it to her PC and give it to you on a floppy.)

There is also a commercial TCP/IP package available from Interworks, called I-225. A five node license is available for $395US. For more information, send e-mail to info@iworks.com, or call 909-699-8120.

An extra bonus of installing TCP/IP on your Amiga is that with the addition of a modem, and a few other programs, your Amiga will be ready to 'surf the net' along with the best of platforms. Seriously, by adding a program called AMosaic, your Amiga can access the entire World Wide Web, just like the other platforms do. If you have a CompuServe account, or any other local PPP provider, it's simple to access the internet once you have the right software installed. Once on the internet, you'll find a treasure trove of LightWave objects, media discussion groups, and anything else you might ever possibly be interested in. (And a lot of things you probably could care less about......Want to talk to a guys cat? How about the SPAM page? There's a movie showing how PopTarts will burst into flame if left in the toaster too long. Well, Toaster related, maybe, but I digress...)

Now, assuming you have installed the Ethernet cards, that they work, and you've got the AmiTCP software, we're ready to begin:

Testing the network:

Now, let's do a few quick tests to make sure the network is up and running.

First of all, at a Shell prompt, type 'whoami'. This is a network utility that should identify you with the user name you created when installing the software. It should just spit back the name you logged on with, like 'Ralph', or whatever.

We'll assume you are who you think you are. (If not, try typing 'login -f your_name_here' and re-enter your password.)

Next, we'll use the 'ping' command to make sure that the Ethernet card to TCP/IP software link is working.

'ping' is sort of like using network radar. What you do is give it an IP address, and it sends out a special data packet that gets 'reflected' by the network card that's using the specified address. By 'ping'ing your own machine, you verify that the network card has the IP address you gave it during the Install.

Do this by typing 'ping 10.1.1.1' (Cool tip: Remember when you made up the 'host' and domain names? [Steps 21-23, above] Well, since you gave it those names, you can also type 'ping A4000.elfworks.com', or even better, 'ping Amy4K', and it should give you the same response. [Of course, you'll want to replace my examples with your own host name or alias.]) You should see something like this: (Note: 10.1.1.1 = A4000.elfworks.com = Amy4K)

Type CTRL-C to exit the program, since it'll just go forever.

If both of those tests passed, then we're part-way to being networked!

It's now time to move to the PC platform. There are two sections which follow. The first will tell you how to set up TCP/IP networking under Win95, and the second section details the process when using WinNT. While it's possible to network Win3.11, at this point in time, it's just not worth the trouble - the Win3.11 implementation is slower, and hard to use. The Win95 version is far easier to use, and is recommended for anyone not running WinNT. (True masochists may feel free to attempt this, or other network solutions, but I take no responsibility for their sanity!)

Since the networking software is included with WinNT or Win95, all you need is the original install disc. We'll assume everyone is using a CD-ROM copy located in drive F: on the PC. (People using floppy versions should follow the instructions included with the package.)

Setting up TCP/IP on Win95:

1. Go to the Start menu in the lower right corner of the screen.

2. Select Settings -> Control Panel.

3. From the Control Panel, select 'Add New Hardware'

4. Using the 'hardware wizard', follow the on screen prompts. Your first choice is to allow the 'wizard' to try and auto-detect your hardware. If you have a pre-configured system from a mainstream retailer, and you've only added the one Ethernet card, then you should be safe in making this choice. (The wizard worked fine in a 3 year old Gateway system with a bunch of add-on cards. Your mileage may vary.)

5. Next, you'll get a warning that your system will be busy, and might lock up during the tests. From this point on, you'll get the most help from the on-line support built into Win95. Since I've never encountered any configuration problems, you'll have to rely on the help documentation. (Which seems to be very thorough, and easy to follow - complete with step-by-step instructions.) The 'hardware wizard' - the new plug-n-play interface for Win95 - should be able to detect the Ethernet card and supply you with recommended settings. If you have an uncommon network card, you might have to contact the card manufacturer for Win95 compatible drivers, or instructions.

6. If all has worked, at the end of the installation, you should be able open the Network icon in the Control Panel and see a new little green icon with the name of your Ethernet card. (In my case it said 'Intel EtherExpress 16 or 16TP' because I had an Intel Ethernet card installed. You should see something similar, except the name of your card should replace the 'Intel EtherExpress 16 or 16TP' part.)

7. Double click on this icon to open up the 'properties' dialog box for the Ethernet card. In the case of my Intel card, it had several different connector types available on the back, so I had to select the 'Advanced' properties, and set my 'Transceiver Type' to Thin Net (BNC/COAX). Make sure and set this option if you have to - check with the documentation for your network card if you have any questions.

8. Once you have the hardware configured, the final step is to add the TCP/IP protocol to the Network services. From the Control Panel, open the Network icon. The Network dialog box will offer a number of options. First, click on the Add button.

9. From the 'Select Network Component Type' dialog, select 'Protocol'.

10. From the 'Select Network Protocol' dialog, select 'Microsoft' from the list of "Manufacturer's" on the left-hand. This will change the list of available 'Network Protocols' on the right side. From the list of network protocols, select the 'TCP/IP' option, and then select 'OK'. (If you don't have the drivers already loaded, then you will be asked for the original Win95 install disc.)

11. Once the drivers have been installed, you should be back at the original Network control panel. On this control panel, you'll see a list of installed network components. Scrolling towards the bottom of the list you should see something like 'TCP/IP -> Your_Card_Name_Here'

12. Double-click on this entry to bring up the TCP/IP properties for the Ethernet port.

13. OK, now we've got a ton of options to deal with - fortunately, we're only interested in the first panel. For IP Address, you should check the radio button "Specify an IP address:", and specify the following example IP address: '10.1.1.2' (Note: this is only one value different from the 10.1.1.1 address you gave the Amiga computer. Try to only change the last number in the group of 4 numbers - this will make life easier when you actually get on the internet.) Leave all the other options unchanged.

14. That's all folks. Select 'OK', and close the Network dialog box. At this point you should be given a choice to restart your computer. Once you reboot, your Win95 system should be ready to get and send files from an Amiga running AmiTCP v4.0........

Testing the network under Win95:

Testing TCP/IP on the PC is similar to doing it on the Amiga. Since Win95 doesn't come with the 'whoami' utility, we'll just skip to the 'ping' test.

From the Start menu, open an MS-DOS shell, and type the following:

The final section of the article details how to use the PC utility called WS_FTP32 to transfer files between your PC and Amiga, so users who aren't configuring WinNT systems can just skip ahead to that section.

Setting up TCP/IP under WinNT:

Hint: Buy a well-known, brand name Ethernet card that you know is supported by WinNT directly.

How to use WS_FTP:

WS_FTP32 by John A. Junod is a great little freeware FTP utility that seems to run under both WinNT, and Win95. (Again, the latest version should be available on the NewTek BBS as WS_FTP32.zip.) I tried some of the Amiga utilities, but WS_FTP seems more stable, and it has much better file handling capabilities.

Once you've got WS_FTP unpacked into a directory, invoke the program by running WS_FTP32.exe. When it first opens, you will notice a line of buttons along the bottom. Select the 'Options' button, and then select 'Program Options' from the list that appears. At the bottom of the 'Program Options' dialog box, change 'Recv Bytes' to 4096, and 'Send Bytes' to 1024. (These numbers seemed to provide optimal transfer speed on my system. You might try experimenting with these after awhile.) Go ahead and 'Save' the options.

Next, click on the 'Connect' button in the lower left corner. This will bring up the 'Session Profile' dialog box. Click on the 'New' button. For profile name, enter 'AmigaNet'. Enter '10.1.1.1' for the 'Host Name', and select 'Amiga' as the 'Host Type'. For User ID, enter the name of the user you created on the Amiga (i.e.: Ralph), and type in the password. (Make sure and select 'Save Password' so you don't have to keep entering it.) Select 'Auto Save Config. And finally, you can set the initial directories to whatever path you prefer. (In my case, the 'Remote Host' field is 'DDH0:', and the 'Local PC' field is D:\)

Now, when you click 'OK', you should actually connect to the Amiga you configured earlier. You can watch the status of the connection in the small text window at the bottom of the screen (just above the control buttons.) If everything worked, you should see something like this in that little window:

Also, as soon as you connect, you should see a listing of the Amiga directory in the right hand side window. Once the Amiga is listed, you copy files by double-clicking on them, or select huge groups of files using the Windows standard selection features. If anything is confusing, the program does have a limited on-line 'Help' facility, with answers to most questions.

Wrap up:

If you've made it this far, consider yourself worthy of an award! Networking is not an easy concept, and even after a full year as a network administrator, I find all this TCP/IP stuff bewildering. I would be amazed if anyone gets through this installation the first time. So, if you're still having problems, just keep plugging away at it. If you're like me, it'll all suddenly start working, and suddenly you'll have your own little Infobahn! Like some sort of enclosed race track, you'll marvel at how fast and easy it is to move files around between platforms.

Indeed, once it becomes easy to move files around, great avenues of exploration open up. Now, it's possible to take your rendered images, move them over to the PC for touch-up in PhotoShop, (or maybe a quick pass through Pennello Lite, since it comes free with LW 4.0), and then just dump them straight back onto your Amiga PAR recorder - over the network!!! With a small TCP/IP Ethernet network, your Amiga will become an integral tool, working alongside the many powerful tools only available on other platforms. (And the opposite is true! I would hate to have to give up Sparks, Motion Master, and all those other great Amiga tools I've got, just because I'm using the PC to render on. Now, I just drop the necessary files over to the Amiga, run them through the right program, and bring them back to the PC in a couple of mouse clicks.)

In closing, if you've gotten your TCP/IP network up, consider yourself on the verge of a huge new world of opportunity. If you hook up to an Internet provider through the modem, you'll be able to use the very same FTP programs that you talk to your Amiga with to retrieve files from archives all around the world. And even without an interface to the outside world, the convenience of a high-speed digital connection between all your workstations can do nothing but spur creativity.

Have Fun!

byline: Erik Flom is the president of ELFWORKS 3D Construction Co., a full-service 3D animation facility in the San Francisco/Bay Area.

The above text is ©1995 Erik Flom. No portion may be reproduced without my express permission.


Erik@ELFWorks.com