amiga-news.de - Motorola68k emulation: First alpha version of WLAN driver for Emu68 (update)

14.Apr.2024 Motorola68k emulation: First alpha version of WLAN driver for Emu68 (update)
Michal Schulz continues to work intensively on a WLAN driver for his Motorola68K emulation Emu68 (amiga-news.de reported) and has now released the first public alpha version.

The driver consists of two parts - the firmware files for the WiFi module itself and the SANA-II device. In the archive attached to the linked Patreon post, these can be found in the Firmware and Networks folders. The firmware files must be copied to the DEVS:Firmware folder (or simply copy the folder to DEVS) and the wifipi.device must be copied to DEVS:Networks.

Additionally, a tool is required that tells the driver which wireless network it should use. The tool is called WirelessManager and can be found, for example, in the prism2 driver from Neil Cafferkey. The manager must be copied to the C: directory. It is either started manually if required or called up in the user startup as follows:

;BEGIN WirelessManager
C:RUN <>NIL: C:WirelessManager wifipi.device
;END WirelessManager

Before the Amiga is restarted, the wireless.prefs file must be created. Use a text editor to write down the following lines and save them in ENVARC:SYS/:

network={
ssid="Your Network name"
key_mgmt=NONE
scan_ssid=1
}

The line "scan_ssid=1" is only important if the network has a hidden SSID. If not, this line can be omitted. Currently, the network is still unencrypted. As soon as Wireless Manager has established a connection, the network stack can be started.

What works: open networks. Another function that is not yet correctly recognised by WirelessManager is 5GHz networks. These already work, but the WM reports the band and frequency incorrectly.

At the moment, the driver only supports unencrypted networks. Work on supporting WPA/WPA2/WPA3 is in full swing. Currently, a mix of approx. 42 MBit download and 40 MBit upload is achieved. This can still be improved.

The Wifi driver will be part of the next nightly build of the Emu68 tools.

Update (17.04.2024, 19:40):

In another Patreon post that has just been published, the developer points out once again that the driver currently only supports open networks and warns emphatically against opening networks without security precautions. In case of doubt, he recommends waiting until encrypted networks are also supported.

Apparently, there had already been some initial misuse by third parties during a test phase. (dr)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:57] [Comments: 1 - 17. Apr. 2024, 19:54]
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