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FreddyVRetro / ISA-PicoMEM

PicoMEM Doc and Firmware
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NE2000 (PicoMEM) in combination with LSL and IPXODI – is that possible? #70

Open themustysmell opened 2 weeks ago

themustysmell commented 2 weeks ago

Today I executed the following commands under MS DOS 5 on an IBM PS/2 Model 30 (8086):

LSL.COM NE2000.COM 0x60 3 0x320 IPXODI.COM

Board revision 1.20A with the BIOS from October 3, 2024.

The NE2000.COM is the one from here: https://github.com/FreddyVRetro/ISA-PicoMEM/tree/main/drivers

My goal is to connect two computers via IPX (for network-capable games). The NE2000 emulation of my PicoMEM works (tested with mTCP and httpserv).

My question would be – is what I am planning even possible? In relation to the interaction of LSL, IPXODI and PicoMEM/NE2000.

The result of my attempt can be seen in the following picture.

DSCF6226

Greetings, Marco

FreddyVRetro commented 1 week ago

Hi,

I am not a network expert to tell you if IPX is possible via the NE2000 Packet driver. But I think another driver is needed.

cml37 commented 1 week ago

Yea, you are going to want to use a Novell NE2000 ODI driver as opposed to a packet driver, it's a little confusing since it will also be a .com file.

mbbrutman commented 1 week ago

Hi ... use one set of drivers on an Ethernet card at a time. Trying to run a packet driver at the same time as a different driver on the same card is just going to lead to problems or crashes.

You can't have two different competing pieces of software touching the same hardware. It doesn't work. Load one or the other. If you must have both types of drivers you will need a second network card.

themustysmell commented 1 week ago

Hello. Thank you for the feedback and tips. After further research, I am now pursuing the following approach:

PM2000.COM 0x60 LSL.COM PDETHER.EXE IPXODI.COM

With a suitably adapted NET.CFG. At least IPXODI can now be loaded without errors and is also recognized by diagnostic programs.

Next, I need to configure a second computer accordingly (a self-built 286) and bring it into the network.

As I wrote in the first post, I want to play network-capable games via IPX. Specifically, it is about this game: (Multiplayer IPX for DOS: Elephant Herding). This supports IPX and also runs on an 8086 processor with 640kB RAM.

If I manage to network the two computers with this game, I will submit the corresponding NET.CFG.

In addition, a short description of the function of the individual files or drivers:

PM2000.COM (DOS Packet Driver or ODI (Open Data-Link Interface)) LSL.COM (Novell Link Support Layer for DOS ODI) PDETHER.EXE (ODI to Packet Driver adaptor) IPXODI.COM (IPX/SPX Protocol)

Regards, Marco