Subject: Farallon EtherWave
To: None <netbsd@foakes.demon.co.uk>
From: Ken Nakata <kenn@synap.ne.jp>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 07/20/1998 01:10:46
Andrew Foakes wrote:
> 
> But, all this still makes it a stand alone box.  It would be ideal if I 
> could get my Classic to talk to the rest of my network.  Under MacOS, I 
> use a Farallon EtherWave adapter that connects via the printer port.  
> Given that I suspect the chip inside this is the same as other EtherWave 
> boxes and hence is supported, is there any way I can get NetBSD to squirt 
> TCP through the printer port?  Where do I start to look for 
> hints/tips/code etc?

I'm gload that things are much better now for you, especially when
NetBSD 1.3.X reportedly broke for the Classic II.  But I have to tell
you there is a fundamental difference between the ordinary Ethernet
cards and your adapter:

While software can make *direct* accesses to the chip on board with
the ordinary Ethernet cards that are inserted into some kind of bus
(i.e. NuBus, PDS, PCI, & CS as far as Macs are concerned), there's no
way for software to do the same for the adapter that's connected via
serial port or even SCSI port.

So, you have to figure out the protocol used by the device to
communicate with the main processor.  If we don't know the protocol
between the main processor and the device, we can't even start writing
a device driver for it.

I guess the only way is to disassemble, with MacsBug, the MacOS device
driver that came with the device, before you can write a NetBSD device
driver.

Ken