Post AlIdIOgZP1wrNlMga0 by vkc@linuxmom.net
(DIR) More posts by vkc@linuxmom.net
(DIR) Post #AlIdIMAEmGtfYuDpuC by vkc@linuxmom.net
2024-08-23T13:33:51Z
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Adding an ISA Ethernet card today so I can test my website using the only performance test that matters: Netscape Navigator on my 486.
(DIR) Post #AlIdINbZQ8M41y1B9E by vkc@linuxmom.net
2024-08-23T15:14:04Z
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Oh my wow... the ISA Ethernet card is... NEW IN THE BOX.I... did not realize this when a client gifted it to me after cleaning out a networking closet.I just unsealed it- will now take photos and blog it assuming everything is working as I'm expecting.
(DIR) Post #AlIdIOgZP1wrNlMga0 by vkc@linuxmom.net
2024-08-23T18:50:31Z
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Someone needs to make a search engine that lets you select the specific OS you're looking for help with.I don't need Windows 11 help when I'm searching "ISA Combo Adapter" and "Windows 95".
(DIR) Post #AlIdIPjnUW7ke3smFU by vkc@linuxmom.net
2024-08-23T20:11:02Z
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I managed to get online with this card! But, the day is getting away from me and I have some more troubleshooting to do for other projects. So, I'm going to ask you all to help with one piece.The card is an "HP DeskDirect EL-10 ISA Combo LAN Adapter." My brief searching on archive.org doesn't show anything on it but I know these cards could be labelled something different there.Anyone see driver disks for it on archive.org? Or should I get to uploading?#DOS #retrocomputing
(DIR) Post #AlIdIQn1a0IduMOruy by vkc@linuxmom.net
2024-08-23T20:32:21Z
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Model details from the box!
(DIR) Post #AlIdN1gULfPhUcXAnY by dalias@hachyderm.io
2024-08-23T13:38:48Z
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@vkc Another way to do it if ISA network card is hard to come by: ISA USB card. 😁
(DIR) Post #AlIdN2XJBHfG8RFM80 by dryak@mstdn.science
2024-08-24T14:16:15Z
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@dalias oh, you mean someone has written a driver+firmware combo for those CH375 ISA cards that does NE2000 emulation instead of HD? That would be very interesting to me!(context: my Pocket386 has such a CH375 onboard)
(DIR) Post #AlIdN3Aeoz8k6TemSe by dalias@hachyderm.io
2024-08-24T15:04:47Z
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@dryak I don't know enough to say but I figured a kernel that supports running on such old hardware would have drivers for whatever hardware you would use to get USB on such a machine.
(DIR) Post #AlIdN3lAdELZvijwNE by dryak@mstdn.science
2024-08-24T17:29:58Z
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@dalias oh, I see. Well, thing is: these are not like PCI USB cards (or built in port) which work as long as you have standard UHCI or OHCI drivers (some even exist for DOS).The CH375 is a small microcontroller which on one side speaks to a USB device and on the other exposes an emulated peripheral on the ISA bus.i.e. the handling of USB devices doesn't happen inside the host computer, but inside the card itself, thus you can use it an meager ancient 8bit hardware (e.g. Book8088)
(DIR) Post #AlIdN4QIALExzFymTA by dalias@hachyderm.io
2024-08-24T17:50:26Z
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@dryak Oh. That might be what you'd want if running ancient DOS but not if running Linux or BSD..
(DIR) Post #AlIdN5L0lSbupAW4sS by dryak@mstdn.science
2024-08-24T17:32:57Z
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@dalias The default firmware+drivers uses USB flash drives and exposes them as harddisks to DOS.But other things are possible (e.g..: I've seen modified drivers to handle mice in Win3.x)In theory USB network would be possible.(think of the USB ISA cards as poor man's PicoMEM / PicoGUS - same concept of firmware emulated peripheral, but much lower specs and thus less capable)