Setting up Networking on the Macintosh SE/30 Using The Old Net router

Earlier this month I got the RS232 serial modem from The Old Net[1], so I finally got to set up networking on the SE/30!

[1] Tindie page for the modem

Setting up the modem was straightforward thanks to the included quick start guide. I used MacTerminal first, but this didn't work with PPP so I changed to ZTerm[2] and proceeded to set up my wi-fi credentials:

[2] ZTerm @ Macintosh Garden

Once I confirmed that I could get an IP address, I changed the baud from the safe-but-slow default of 300. While the modem itself supports 115200, the modem port has a max baud of 57600.

And in ZTerm: Settings > Connection > Data Rate to 57600. After confirming it worked, I saved the settings.

PPP

I'm using System 7.5.5 so I already have TCP/IP and OpenTransport, but I had to install MacPPP[3].

[3] MacPPP

Configuring PPP is easy, and The Old Net provides a video[4], but in Config PPP you need to create a new connection, set the port speed to the baud you selected, and set flow control to None.

[4] Video from The Old Net explaining how to set up PPP

Then in ZTerm I can dial to PPP

And click "Open" in Config PPP and that's it!

Browsers

I have iCab, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator installed, so I decided to try my own website[5] and play with the services and proxies offered by The Old Net[6]. All three loaded well except for displaying unicode characters incorrectly.

[5] My Own Website

[6] The Old Net

Netscape Navigator has OK performance and was able to load the website well, it has some issues identifying JS files which means you get a download screen, but otherwise nothing major. I disabled Javascript and Java by going to Options > Network Preferences > Languages

iCab seemed to deal better but it's extremely sluggish, I don't think it's suitable for this computer and I wouldn't recommend it.

Internet Explorer landed somewhere in the middle for me: Slower than Netscape but usable, and better at rendering HTML. I also disabled Java and Javascript by goign to Edit > Preferences > Web Content, and Edit > Preferences > Java

Other Apps

One thing I was able to test was wallops[7], an IRC app. This one is pretty speedy, and let me connect to libera chat no problem. Other than having to type the identify, I can actually see myself loading this every time.

[7] wallops by jcs

Macstodon[8], a client for mastodon was too slow and I didn't manage to authenticate at all. I might have been using an earlier version so I plan to give this another run.

[8] macstodon

Joshua Stein, the author of wallops has some other handy classic mac apps. Notably wikipedia[9], however this one worked on and off.

[9] wikipedia by jcs

AppleShare

One thing I did want to try was accessing a network drive using netatalk. I set up netatalk on raspberry pi and set it to serve the same directory I use in my samba share.

The version of AppleShare I was using didn't let me specify an IP address, so I had to update AppleShare to version 3.7.4[10] and Open Transpot 1.1.2[11], but after this it actually worked but it was R E A L L Y S L O O W and froze the whole finder.

I'm not sure if the issue is on the server or the mac so I decided to leave it be for now.

[10] AppleShare Client 3.x

[11] Open Transport 1.1.2

Moving Files Back and Forth

Since AppleShare didn't work, I needed an alternative to move files back and forth. I settled with FTP. I'm running vsftpd on a raspberry pi and that's how I got this file out of the computer and into the blog.

On the mac I'm using Fetch[12], which is pretty nice (though I might consider other apps as the window size for fetch is huge.

[12] Fetch

What's Next?

I want to build a small tool that lets me publish my blog directly from the mac. I reckon I'll still have to use the raspberry pi to provide most of the functionality, but if I can write a file and drag it to a window and see it live, I'll be happy!

This blog was authored on a Macintosh SE/30 using Anarcho 1.6.