68kMLA Classic Interface

I agree Jonny scsi appears the best all around option and probably one ofthe fastest too. Surely theres some expertise on here that could design a scsi board?

You think so.  I think the problem Potato was looking at was because these network cards or adaptors have now become silly expensive like most of these mac cards, I’ve been looking at 33/40mhz upgrade cards for the se/30 and they’re so expensive now so i do think maybe its time to look at these ventures again, do you not think?

agree with you Jonny, apologies i was typing when you posted.

I’ve never tried one to be honest so you probably know better but it does seem time to revisit some of these options, things like the commodore or spectrum have some amazing new add ons. It could be done too for these old macs, wifi cards etc 🙂

You may be right, it has finally reached that point. Hopefully it can be done better than it was because some of those original SCSI <-> Ethernet adapters were rather garbage.

Well, if engineering interests in this project don't materialize, I will lend myself to it. I can do at least a basic hardware design, but I would have to leave the software completely up to someone else.

i dont think it works on the 6200 as it disables the seriel port when the comms slot is in place

So TechEdison, my question for you is: what kind of speed did you see with the serial setup?

It does, if there is a modem in the comm slot. I can't 100% vouch for the behavior if there is an Ethernet card in the slot.

However, you would just use the Printer port for localtalk and make sure you select that in the AppleTalk control panel on the 6200.

Without a little extra You won't get the SE/30 talking directly to the iMac, but you could either use the 6200 as a client to both, or the 6200 as a client to the iMac and the SE as a client to the 6200, or, if the 6200 is the bridge mainly, use it as the server to both.

It depends on what you "need" though. You won't [easily] get TCP/IP this way, just file services. That's a huge boon for compact macs, but I do know an SE/30 can be expanded enough to where TCP/IP (with OpenTransport, even) is reasonable on it. It's worth keeping your eyes out for an ethernet card. They do exist for that Mac.

SCSI ethernet is another extant option.

There are also IP to Localtalk bridges, I forget who it was but someone mentioned running one on an old Cisco router, there was a software one, so if you want to put some effort in, that might be worth it. It'll be a little faster than dial-up as well.

Fast enough to load the website I linked in less than 30 seconds... it’s 56k but can be up to the max that MacPPP supports. 

I think the problem Potato was looking at was because these network cards or adaptors have now become silly expensive like most of these mac cards

Is the 2400 baud max just a limitation of the Global Village modem, or is it an issue with the Pi Zero? I'd love to be able to do some BBS'ing with the authentic modem sounds on my Macs, but I don't think I can tolerate 2400 baud 😛 . 

I think you did great Potato! 

I believe the 2400 baud is the limitation of any serial connection on the old mac if ive read correctly but I’m no expert 

Is 2400 baud not ok for bulletin boards?

I'm pretty sure it's the Global Village modem, NOT the Pi Zero W. I can only connect to it at 2400 baud through MacPPP; it doesn't respond at any other speeds. Mine is a Global Village Teleport Bronze A861. I think there are Silver and Gold counterparts that are faster, like this one. Does anyone have a faster modem we can test?

TechKnight can chime in here.

I haven't tried a BBS, but I have done some telnet with it and it is just fine! Watching Star Wars is painfully slow... but actual telnet stuff is certainly usable.