Vintage Computer Festival West
Vintage Computer Festival West
This is already over, but was a great success, and we created what is surely one of the largest ever Econet networks in North America, comprising:
1x BBC Micro
2x BBC Master
2x A3020
1x System 5 (Replica)
1x Raspberry Pi 4 (Bridge)
1x Raspberry Pi 400 (Via Bridge)
There was also quite a lot of attempted explanations of what Teletext was to bemused Americans. A fun weekend!
1x BBC Micro
2x BBC Master
2x A3020
1x System 5 (Replica)
1x Raspberry Pi 4 (Bridge)
1x Raspberry Pi 400 (Via Bridge)
There was also quite a lot of attempted explanations of what Teletext was to bemused Americans. A fun weekend!
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
Wow. This is superb! I bet the set up got plenty of interest!
- flaxcottage
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Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
That looks great.
I wonder if a Bridge could be made using a Pi that links to another network via the Internet then we could have a truly international Econet.
I wonder if a Bridge could be made using a Pi that links to another network via the Internet then we could have a truly international Econet.
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
...and that is entirely possible! I've already done that with @cr12925 where our local Econet networks have been connected together over the internet, via a PiEconetBridge at each end.flaxcottage wrote: ↑Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:49 am That looks great.
I wonder if a Bridge could be made using a Pi that links to another network via the Internet then we could have a truly international Econet.
- BeebMaster
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Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
We'd have to call it "Inter-Net"!
How does the Teletext feed work, as it's showing "current" current affairs?
How does the Teletext feed work, as it's showing "current" current affairs?
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
The Teletext signal was generated by VBIT2 running on a Raspberry Pi which scrapes news from the BBC News website.
https://github.com/peterkvt80/vbit2/wiki
https://github.com/ali1234/raspi-teletext
https://github.com/peterkvt80/vbit2/wiki
https://github.com/ali1234/raspi-teletext
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
What was running on the Pi 400? Was it RiscOS? If so, was it easy enough to get it connected to the network?
I tried getting RiscOS running on a PC (RPCEmu, IIRC), but struggled to get the networking bit working! I gave up in the end.
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
It was designed and implemented with that in mind... check out the trunking functionality One way of doing it is to set up a t3.nano machine in AWS that is just a hub for trunks. The trunks speak Acorn 'bridge' protocol and will exchange known networks at startup of any bridge in the network. It also has network address translation in case of overlapping network numbers... and a firewall.flaxcottage wrote: ↑Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:49 am That looks great.
I wonder if a Bridge could be made using a Pi that links to another network via the Internet then we could have a truly international Econet.
C.
Edit: PS. It also contains a gateway for Phil Blundell's EcoTCP ROM, so Beebs/M128s can make raw TCP & telnet over TCP connections to things on the Internet... e.g. Viewdata systems (shamless plug: see http://github.com/cr12925/phoenix).
2 x Master 128, BBC B+IntegraB, Viglen floppy drives, A3000 ZIDEFS+Econet, RISC PC StrongArm Mk3+Econet ModulePidule, 3 x Econets, 5 x Pi Econet bridges, organist, former purveyor of BBS software...
- flaxcottage
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Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
That sounds great. There is only one problem - I don't really understand what you said.
I still understand the vanilla, wired Econet and can program that and make all sorts of connectors for it but this new technology is way over my head.
A box that plugs into my existing Econet and just 'does it' would be magic. I don't mind a bare board even because I can always fabricate a box.
Then, of course, one would need some sort of easy way to connect to the Inter-Econet; a full-time server somewhere would be great ( just type
*I AM :<address>.<user name> <password>
to get in to one's own workspace).
It is nice to dream.
I still understand the vanilla, wired Econet and can program that and make all sorts of connectors for it but this new technology is way over my head.
A box that plugs into my existing Econet and just 'does it' would be magic. I don't mind a bare board even because I can always fabricate a box.
Then, of course, one would need some sort of easy way to connect to the Inter-Econet; a full-time server somewhere would be great ( just type
*I AM :<address>.<user name> <password>
to get in to one's own workspace).
It is nice to dream.
- BeebMaster
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Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
I don't understand any of it either, but that's pretty much what the Pi Bridge does.
In the past I have had Beebs connected to Ken's Beeb file server. That's not quite international yet, but that's up to the "Supreme Court"!
In the past I have had Beebs connected to Ken's Beeb file server. That's not quite international yet, but that's up to the "Supreme Court"!
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
I do that now... I can sit at work and connect to my PiFS or (if I left it switched on) my L3FS... There are two ways. Either I use a VPN to home, or I connect over AUN to a PiFS I have in Amazon Web Services, which then has a trunk back to my home network. (My home network has a whole mesh of trunks, and the server in AWS thus learns about them all.)flaxcottage wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:34 pm That sounds great. There is only one problem - I don't really understand what you said.
I still understand the vanilla, wired Econet and can program that and make all sorts of connectors for it but this new technology is way over my head.
A box that plugs into my existing Econet and just 'does it' would be magic. I don't mind a bare board even because I can always fabricate a box.
Then, of course, one would need some sort of easy way to connect to the Inter-Econet; a full-time server somewhere would be great ( just type
*I AM :<address>.<user name> <password>
to get in to one's own workspace).
It is nice to dream.
Have a read of the docs that come with the bridge - thesedays, the High Performance Bridge is probably easier to start with because the config is simpler to read and understand.
Once you set up your local network then, assuming the one(s) you want to talk to have different network numbers, all your need is:
Code: Select all
TRUNK ON PORT xxxx TO <hostname>:<remote port>
Code: Select all
TRUNK PORT xxx XLATE DISTANT NET 5 TO LOCAL NET 10
If you decide that someone is announcing a network to you that you don't want to know about, you can filter it out:
Code: Select all
BRIDGE DROP NET nnn INBOUND ON TRUNK PORT xxxx
Code: Select all
BRIDGE DROP NET nnn OUTBOUND ON TRUNK PORT xxxx
Code: Select all
BRIDGE DROP TRAFFIC BETWEEN nnn.sss AND xxx.yyy
Chris.
2 x Master 128, BBC B+IntegraB, Viglen floppy drives, A3000 ZIDEFS+Econet, RISC PC StrongArm Mk3+Econet ModulePidule, 3 x Econets, 5 x Pi Econet bridges, organist, former purveyor of BBS software...
- flaxcottage
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Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
I'm sorry. This is all flobblop, weeed.
I guess I'll have to admit I'm now too old school and stick to;
10 PRINT "Hello World"
Thanks for trying to explain.
I guess I'll have to admit I'm now too old school and stick to;
10 PRINT "Hello World"
Thanks for trying to explain.
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
?
Were you using the original bridge ir the HPB?
2 x Master 128, BBC B+IntegraB, Viglen floppy drives, A3000 ZIDEFS+Econet, RISC PC StrongArm Mk3+Econet ModulePidule, 3 x Econets, 5 x Pi Econet bridges, organist, former purveyor of BBS software...
Re: Vintage Computer Festival West
For those who are struggling with this, and just want to get a simple home Econet network running, can I suggest you follow this quick guide I put together:flaxcottage wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:34 pm That sounds great. There is only one problem - I don't really understand what you said.
I still understand the vanilla, wired Econet and can program that and make all sorts of connectors for it but this new technology is way over my head.
A box that plugs into my existing Econet and just 'does it' would be magic. I don't mind a bare board even because I can always fabricate a box.
Then, of course, one would need some sort of easy way to connect to the Inter-Econet; a full-time server somewhere would be great ( just type
*I AM :<address>.<user name> <password>
to get in to one's own workspace).
It is nice to dream.
viewtopic.php?p=365863#p365863
That should get you up and running in about 30 mins!
Once you've got the basics up and running, we're here to help you extend that out to other networks if the jargon is getting you confused .
Note that the above referenced guide is for use with revision 2 and above of the v2 hardware (rev 2 and above has the in built Econet clock and termination). You've got v2 hardware if it's SMD based, and everything is on the one board. It's v1 hardware if it's thru hole based, and the econet module is separate to the bridge board.
I can provide guidance for earlier hardware too, if required.
Note that the above referenced guide will install and automatically start the original bridge. You have to take some extra steps to switch from the original bridge to the High Performance Bridge (HPB). These extra steps are not detailed in the guide I produced. Again, I can provide guidance if required.