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brainloop · Mar 17, 2001, 04:46 PM

Hi,

I've got an Alcatel Speed Touch USB modem and would like to know if there is a way of using it with OS X.

My ADSL ISP here in England is BT Openworld and they really suck when it comes to delivering drivers.

would it be hard for someone to carbonize the current OS 9 drivers ?

Thanks a lot if you can think of a solution !

Nip-Nip

lgerbarg · Mar 17, 2001, 05:05 PM

Originally posted by brainloop:
Hi,

I've got an Alcatel Speed Touch USB modem and would like to know if there is a way of using it with OS X.

My ADSL ISP here in England is BT Openworld and they really suck when it comes to delivering drivers.

would it be hard for someone to carbonize the current OS 9 drivers ?

Thanks a lot if you can think of a solution !

Nip-Nip

You can't carbonize drivers.

Louis Gerbarg
Darwin Developer

brainloop · Mar 17, 2001, 05:27 PM

So will I have to wait until November before being able to get connected ?

Oh well, it's time I get out of this dump they call a country anyway...

Mar 17, 2001, 05:31 PM

Check Alcatel drivers page, and mail them again and again till we get thoses drivers (yeah I will need them too

boo
"proud to be a developper too"
not on darwin though.. makin apps is way cooler I think

(and simple

Matsu · Mar 17, 2001, 05:36 PM

My first post at MacNN, mostly because AI sucks progressively harder as the days go by.

Yeah ISP's in Europe can be a bitch, at least around the Mediterranean! Dunno about he UK though.

[This message has been edited by Matsu (edited 03-17-2001).]

brainloop · Mar 17, 2001, 05:56 PM

Hi, is there a way of getting connected using Classic and then use that connection for such applications as mail.app and IE ?

cheers.

lgerbarg · Mar 18, 2001, 04:55 AM

Originally posted by brainloop:
Hi, is there a way of getting connected using Classic and then use that connection for such applications as mail.app and IE ?

cheers.

Okay. As I understand it OS X Classic *might* have a passthrough USB layer that allows Classic to directly access USB devices that OS X can't deal with. *IF* it can do that Classic will be able to login to your ISP. You then need to use some sort of route/nat software under classic, and point OS X at it. In order to that you may need to modify SharedIP (I think it is available in the open source CVS), which is the piece of code that allows classic to share an IP with native environments.

This is all speculation based on stuff I have heard in passing. I work mainly on the crypto and filesystem code, and even on those topics I have no idea what Apple's future plans are, just what I am currently working on and if I am intersecting with any of their active development.

Louis Gerbarg
Darwin Developer

IEEE1394 · Mar 18, 2001, 05:37 AM

My experience with USB and OS X:

I connected my Palm m100 to my iMac with the USB adaptor, then started classic (X build 4K78).

I press the HotSync Button, and WTF, it worked first time!

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[img]http://homepage.mac.com/haxar/i3xelogo.gif

Group51 · Apr 14, 2001, 08:55 PM

Originally posted by IEEE1394:
My experience with USB and OS X:

I connected my Palm m100 to my iMac with the USB adaptor, then started classic (X build 4K78).

I press the HotSync Button, and WTF, it worked first time!

The ADSL Modem is treated as a modem, in the modem control panel, which is inaccessible from Classic. Then you would have to connect through Remote Access...which is not accessible from Classic. Sigh.

vasu · Apr 14, 2001, 09:16 PM

I would try 2 things.

1) Look for a USB --> RJ45 Ethernet Adapter. So you plug in the usb cable into the adapter, and then an ethernet cable into your mac.

2) Call up your ISP/DSL provider and tell them you got a new computer and it doesn't have USB on it and you need a modem with an RJ45 jack on it.

Lord Kronos · Apr 14, 2001, 09:20 PM

Call your ISP and ask them for the Ethernet version of your modem, ADSL with Alcatel modems and PPPoE works like a charm.

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"Ein kleiner Mensch stirbt - nur zum Schein"

Group51 · Apr 15, 2001, 07:55 AM

Originally posted by Lord Kronos:
Call your ISP and ask them for the Ethernet version of your modem, ADSL with Alcatel modems and PPPoE works like a charm.

No, no no. I am from the UK. The ISP in question is British Telecom. They already offer an ethernet modem with Router for �99 per month ($140). The only other option is the USB modem (�40/month). It is illegal to use non-approved telecoms equipment in the UK, and AFAIKS these Alcatel devices are the only show in town (at an affordable price).

I am seriously considering going through the hassle of switching to a cable modem and using AirPort to connect to my Lombard, but I hear that PC Cards aren't supported on OS X yet. Sigh.

I will have a look for this USB-RJ-45 connector, but I am skeptical about its existence.

Lord Kronos · Apr 15, 2001, 08:01 AM

Wow, the Ethernet modem is pretty expensive...

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"Ein kleiner Mensch stirbt - nur zum Schein"

Riddler · Apr 15, 2001, 10:19 AM

I am in the same boat as BrainLoop. You may want to check out the forums at ADSLguide.org.uk

You can get an Alcatel SpeedTouch Ethernet modem and use it with your ADSL, sure your not officially allowed to but hey how often do BT visit your house to check up on you :-)

Personally I got around it by using the USB modem on a 9.1 Mac that routes the Net access to all my other mac's using the wonderful IPNetRouter.

I recon Alcatel will have the OSX USB drivers out quicker than there saying, I recon they want to surprise us!

Todd Madson · Apr 15, 2001, 10:37 AM

Wow. Here in Minnesota in the U.S. we've got Qwest xDSL which gives you a Cisco 675 router - none of this PPP over ethernet garbage - you just hook it up to pull a DHCP address and it works.
It's about $40/month for the DSL service and $19 for the ISP part.
Kind of pricey but very nice to have it.

Sorry to hear you've got such a limited system. I'd just keep asking
the folks at your ISP for drivers.

booboo · Apr 15, 2001, 11:02 AM

Originally posted by Riddler:

I recon Alcatel will have the OSX USB drivers out quicker than there saying, I recon they want to surprise us![/B]

What makes you think that the surprise will be due to the drivers being early? Alcatel/BT have never failed to surprise on previous occasions with the lateness of their Mac support (The OS 8/9 drivers were 6 months behind schedule...) They' told me October for OS-X support. The Linux drivers are already out and a few hacker/programmers on the Linux boards convinced me it would take a dedicated hacker/programmer a week or two to port these to OS-X, and that includes a degree of reverse engineering. Basically, Alcatel don't give a **** about Mac users....

And Apple don't make things any easier by only allowing you to get the OS-X update via OS-X... I'm sticking a USB card in an old 4400 to use as a router... happy days.

HoofHearted · Apr 16, 2001, 09:31 AM

Originally posted by booboo:
Alcatel...snip...told me October for OS-X support

Good to hear that other mac users are asking Alcatel about OSX drivers, they told me november, so if more users ask them, maybe they'll move the priority further and further up!

In the mean time, i might look at getting a cheap PC or mac with a USB and use it as router. hmmm, got a 6100 but can't get a USB card for it, did 4400's have a PCI slot? ahhh sod it, I needed to learn some ASP anyway...

I figure the most important requirement of a router machine is quietness, especially as my ADSL socket uis in the bedroom!

booboo · Apr 16, 2001, 07:06 PM

Originally posted by HoofHearted:
Good to hear that other mac users are asking Alcatel about OSX drivers, they told me november, so if more users ask them, maybe they'll move the priority further and further up!

In the mean time, i might look at getting a cheap PC or mac with a USB and use it as router. hmmm, got a 6100 but can't get a USB card for it, did 4400's have a PCI slot? !

Sad to say they told me October a couple of months ago, so they're probably not giving it priority, they're letting it slip, just like OS 8/9... expect the worst and you'll generally be bang on target, and only very occasionally surprised...

The 4400 had 2 or 3 ethernet slots, depenting on whether you got one with a dodgy ethernet card pre-installed.... Best bet is probably to get a 7500, on which some people have even managed to install OS-X ... But you can have my 4400 cheap if you want...;-)

HoofHearted · Apr 16, 2001, 09:17 PM

Originally posted by booboo:
The 4400 had 2 or 3 ethernet slots...;-)

ah well, october it is then. Actually, I've just given my old 7500 to a friend (it used to run OSX Server 1.2 great), so I was thinking about a replacement PCI mac to act as router (and the cheaper and less useful for other tasks the better). but I've checked the apple spec database and the 4400 does have 3 PCI slots so one for my spare 10/100 card and one for a USB card to hook the alcatel modem to should do the trick. It'll run OS9 (err, OSX won't be much help - no drivers, hence the thread!) and just sit under the desk 24/7 routing the adsl to my OSX box (and anything else). It should work out quite a bit cheaper than an Alcatel ADSL ethernet modem!

That's the plan anyway. Thanks for the offer, I'm sure my old company had a couple of 4400's still kicking around so I'll ask some questions first!!

Apr 17, 2001, 09:07 AM

I was wondering does anybody know if this approch
http://www.daemonnews.org/200104/ope...dsl-howto.html

It is essential a guide to getting Alcatel DSL modems working with open BSD for an Ozzy ISP.

Could it be made it work with OSX and BT adsl with a little effort? Unfortunately I'm a bit ignorant about the ins and outs of using the bsd side of OS X to get stuff done. Anybody know?