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Appletalk / localtalk question.
Posted by: melbourne on 2023-03-19 12:40:52
Hi,

Recently acquired a bunch of vintage compact macs. I’m wondering about the connectivity options.

I would like to connect one of my IIgs (rom3) to a few SE/30 and SE’s. 2 of the SE/30’s have Asante ethernet cards. Would the best setup be localtalk and one of the SE/30’s run localtalk bridge software?

From what I’ve read the localtalk would not be able to access the internet but could share files, print and play localtalk aware games.
The SE/30’s could access the internet.

Any advice appreciated.

-Mike
Posted by: Phipli on 2023-03-19 12:48:30
There was a similar discussion the other day here :

Best bridge machine?

I would vote for a Raspberry Pi as well. I'm thinking about buying a USB to serial adapter for 3€ and quickly hook up macs using that. I have a unused RPi0 that could do the job. Not sure how, but I'm sure there is a howto somewhere. Sadly you won‘t get native LocalTalk using a serial...
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Posted by: cheesestraws on 2023-03-19 12:49:10
I would like to connect one of my IIgs (rom3) to a few SE/30 and SE’s. 2 of the SE/30’s have Asante ethernet cards. Would the best setup be localtalk and one of the SE/30’s run localtalk bridge software?

That's what I'd probably do for now: you can upgrade to a dedicated localtalk <-> ethernet gateway later, should you need to.

From what I’ve read the localtalk would not be able to access the internet but could share files, print and play localtalk aware games.

You can run IP over LocalTalk, it's called MacIP. It's ... slow and unless you really want to do it, it's not very useful. But yes, AppleShare file sharing, PAP printer sharing and the like will work. I don't personally run IP to my old Macs unless I have a specific reason to.
Posted by: melbourne on 2023-03-19 15:32:33
Thanks, yes just looking something simple.
Posted by: mactjaap on 2023-03-21 12:10:38
Have look at my web site www.macip.net to see if there is something you like. I personally like to use LocalTalk to get connected to the internet. And if you have machine which can act as LocalTalk bridge it is easy.
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