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Software AppleTalk router?
The PSU in my Cayman Gator box has just failed. I was using it for LocalTalk to Ethernet routing as well as MacIP serving. I had two zones set up, one called LocalTalk and one called Ethernet. Imaginative hey.

I have replaced it with a Farallon iPrint which does work (sort of) but it doesn’t define zones, all you get is an “*” for the zone name and a few things don’t make it across the bridge.

Is there a software product that would allow for zone creation? I know there are software solutions for the basic routing (LocalTalk Bridge) and MacIP (IPNetRouter) but I can’t seem to find anything that allows you to define zones.

Does anyone have any experience with this from back in the day?


Posted by: CTB on 2023-12-05 18:26:27
I believe AppleTalk Internet Router can do this... but, why not repair the power supply?

Posted by: finkmac on 2023-12-05 18:35:51
If you really need zones, netatalk's atalkd daemon can create them and assign network ranges. It won't help with the LocalTalk side though. I'd fix the power supply.

Posted by: NJRoadfan on 2023-12-05 18:44:35
Hoping it is the PSU and don’t really have time for diagnostics, parts etc before Christmas. I was hoping for a simple software solution I could throw into a 6100 or something.

Posted by: CTB on 2023-12-05 19:46:17
Netatalk, Apple Internet Router and any AppleTalk capable Mac OS X machine can seed zones and networks

I also have a portable AppleTalk (router) stack in preparation which also can support LocalTalk, but it‘s not yet ready for public release..


Posted by: robin-fo on 2023-12-05 23:31:32
How would I used a Mac OS X machine to seed the zone info?

Posted by: CTB on 2023-12-05 23:43:23
I use Apple Internet Router on an LC II. Works fine. Been using it for about four years at this point, and it's only as annoying as any of the other options 🙂

Posted by: cheesestraws on 2023-12-06 00:44:53
appletalk -d # Shut down AppleTalk stack
appletalk -r … # Enable AppleTalk in router mode

This is just from memory.. Check the man page. You need to create a config file with the network and zone infos and pass is to appletalk -r


Shame this doesn‘t work with A/UX’ built-in appletalk command 😅


Posted by: robin-fo on 2023-12-06 01:20:05
I use Apple Internet Router on an LC II. Works fine. Been using it for about four years at this point, and it's only as annoying as any of the other options 🙂
Performance is fine with an LCII? After all it is LocalTalk, there isnt a great deal of data bandwidth anyway. 😂


Posted by: CTB on 2023-12-06 02:28:42
Performance is fine with an LCII?

It's been fine for me - at least for what I use it for. I don't do MacIP, though, note.


Posted by: cheesestraws on 2023-12-06 02:32:45
I just got Apple Internet Router (nothing to do with "the" internet really) AND the Apple IP Gateway AND AppleShare 3 all working on an SE/30. I now have zones "Ethernet" and "LocalTalk" (very imaginative I know), an AppleShare file server and System 7 machines on LocalTalk connecting to the "real" internet.

Posted by: CTB on 2023-12-14 00:47:49
Apple Internet Router is very stable and, as I recall, runs on any 68020/30/40 with LocalTalk and Ethernet. Don’t know how stably it would run on a 6100, though, because I think you’d want to be running it on the back of System 7.1.

Just because I had nice examples that I wanted a use for, I ran it for some years on an LC475, and then on a PowerBook 520 from a RAM disk — something possible on the LC too, I suppose — to avoid stressing the hard drive. Never once crashed, running 24/7. It was a good use of the passive matrix screen on the PowerBook, too, since you don’t get burnin, along with the no turnin. Ho, ho.

I used to be able to mount a 500GB drive that I had in an 8600 ASIP server via LocalTalk on the likes of a PowerBook 160 and a Classic II, which impressed me at the time. Those were in the days when a 500GB spinner (IDE) was a high end thing.

These days, having moved house, almost all my gear is in storage so I have no use for a router. But one day I will get a shed!


Posted by: beachycove on 2023-12-14 05:04:04
Don’t know how stably it would run on a 6100, though, because I think you’d want to be running it on the back of System 7.1.
A 6100 will run 7.1.2 though?


Posted by: Phipli on 2023-12-14 05:09:39
To be honest, if you're using it for LT <-> Ethernet, running it on a PowerPC would be a waste of a PPC unless it's the only machine you have for it. A much slower machine will do fine.

Posted by: cheesestraws on 2023-12-14 05:13:49
The SE/30 seems to handle it well. Things slow down a lot when you are also running AppleShare 3 and copying to or from it over the network.

Posted by: CTB on 2023-12-17 22:14:44
The PSU in my Cayman Gator box has just failed.
Were you able to fix it?


Posted by: dramirez on 2025-07-13 02:03:44
Unless there's a version I've never seen, I don't see how a PPC could run AppleTalk Internet Router since AppleTalk Internet Router doesn't run with OpenTransport as it requires the Classic Mac Networking. Am I wrong assuming PPC Macs require OpenTransport? I Use a Performa 400 with Mac OS 7.5.3 and I've tried it with OpenTransport and had no luck at all. So I made a Mac OS 7.5.3 Mac OS install without OpenTransport.
The AppleTalk Internet Router Manual refers to the "Network Control Panel" and the "MacTCP Control Panel".
If you upgrade your Mac OS 7.5.3 install to 7.5.5 you will not be able to use Network Software Selector anymore.


Posted by: mikes-macs on 2025-09-14 22:59:14
I don't know the answers to the rest of your questions, but the 6100 shipped with System 7.1.2 initially.

Posted by: gcp on 2025-09-15 04:52:53
NuBus PowerMacs possibly can run AIR. Just PCI PowerMacs are OpenTransport only IIRC (?)

Posted by: robin-fo on 2025-09-15 05:14:25
NuBus PowerMacs possibly can run AIR. Just PCI PowerMacs are OpenTransport only IIRC (?)
I see, that makes sense.


Posted by: mikes-macs on 2025-09-15 08:42:52