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Home Forums 68kMLA WiFi for compacts?? — #19
Post #19 by Gorgonops
Source Forum68kMLA
CategoryNetworking
Post DateFri, 16 Oct 2009 - 01:10
Original URLhttps://68kmla.org/bb/threads/wifi-for-compacts.18797/
Post
I suppose it might be possible (long shot) to set up the module to act as an Appletalk bridge by writing a custom firmware for it. / port something like NetaTalk / emulate an Localtalk node. Considering the CPU is probably going to be something like a Rabbit, PIC, or eZ80 with a few kilobytes of RAM and 32k-128k of Flash it's going to be really tight.)
WiFly:

* 32 bit CPU, 128kB RAM, 2MB ROM, 1MB (8Mb) Flash, firmware upload by FTP over WiFi or UART.

* ECOS OS, TCP/IP, WPA2, DHCP, UDP, DNS, ARP, ICMP

Further thoughts: if you leave aside Appletalk access, and wish to connect the client to the net via any random WiFi network, could you skip the Netatalk part and have the module emulate a standard modem, and the "dial-in" server? FTP could be used for Mac-to-Mac transfers. I don't understand all the TLAs included in the WiFly software stack, but is it any of it helpful?
Wow. The CPUs in the WiFi devices are a lot more powerful then the ones in the Ethernet ones I've seen...

With that much power/space it probably would be doable to run a PPP or SLIP daemon on the serial side and bridge/NAT out the network side. eCos' TCP/IP stack is apparently lifted straight out of FreeBSD and includes PPP. It the WiFly comes with sufficient source and documentation to spin your own firmware it'd be a reasonable possibility. It's still an order of magnitude more involved then using it as a "dumb modem" with a stock firmware, but not completely pie-in-the-sky.

mp.ls