Subject: REVIEW: Ariadne II Ethernet card
From: [email-masked] (Matthew Sawyer)
Date: 30 Dec 1998 17:02:54 -0500
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

    Ariadne II

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

    Ethernet card with 10Base2 and 10BaseT connectors

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

    Name:       Village Tronic
    Address:    Muhlenstrase 2
                31157 Sarstedt
                Germany

    Telephone:  +49 (0) 5066 / 7013-10
    Fax:        +49 (0) 5066 / 7013-49
    WWW:        www.villagetronic.com
    FTP:        ftp.villagetronic.com

LIST PRICE

    $159.00 (US)

DEMO VERSION

    None.

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

    HARDWARE

        An unused expansion slot in an A2000, A3000(T) or A4000(T).

        The board does not come with any cables.  I had to purchase a
        peer-to-peer twisted pair cable (Cost: $6.99) to connect my
        Amiga to my PC.

    SOFTWARE
    
        TCP/IP software is required to use the card.  It comes with
        a registerable version of Genesis (formerly known as AmiTCP).

        I am using Miami and only needed to get the updated device
        driver off the Nordic Global web site (www.nordicglobal.com)

COPY PROTECTION

    None.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

    Amiga 4000 (Desktop), 2 MB Chip RAM, 146 MB Fast RAM
    1 internal 1.76 MB floppy
    1 4.3 GB Seagate SCSI hard drive
    1 internal Toshiba 32x SCSI-2 CD-ROM drive
    1 internal Iomega 1.0 GB SCSI-2 Jaz drive
    phase5 CyberstormPPC accelerator w/200 MHz 604e and 50 MHz 68060
    phase5 CyberVision64/3D graphics card
    Petsoff Delfina Lite sound card
    Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 17TX Monitor

    AmigaOS 3.1 (Kickstart 40.68 and Workbench 40.42)
    Miami v3.2b/Miami Deluxe v0.9a (beta)

INSTALLATION

    Installation was easy.  The card is not quite full length and
    easily fits into any of the expansion slots.

    It comes with two setup disks that include the necessary
    device drivers and TCP/IP software.  However, the version of
    the software that came with my card was v1.0 and did not come
    with the diagnostic tools listed in the user manual.  An e-mail
    to Village Tronic quickly revealed an updated set of install
    disks (v1.2) on their ftp site.

    Running the installer on the first disk installs all the
    necessary drivers and diagnostic tools.

REVIEW

    This is my first ethernet card for an Amiga.  As such, I can't
    compare it to other cards that are available.  However, I can
    tell you that I am extremely pleased with the card.

    The card comes with two types of connectors 10Base2 (chepernet)
    and 10BaseT (twisted pair).  I am using twisted pair (reversed)
    from the Ariadne II directly to the ethernet card in my PC.

    It does not come with any ethernet cables, however they do supply
    an ethernet "T" connector and a terminating resistor for 10Base2
    users.

    One thing that was interesting about the card is that it has
    several expansion connectors on it.  However, Village Tronic
    has not announced any expansion options for this board so I
    don't know if they will ever be used for anything.

    I have not tried using the card with the supplied Genesis TCP/IP
    software.  I have been using Miami for my PPP connection to my
    ISP.  In order to use PPP and ethernet at the same time, I had
    to upgrade to Miami Deluxe which is currently in beta test but
    is available.

    Being the networking novice I am and the lack of documentation
    with the beta version of Miami Deluxe, it took me a while to
    get my Amiga configured so that I could use both PPP (internet)
    and ethernet (intranet/LAN) at the same time.  With a little
    patience and persistance, I got it working just perfectly.  So
    now my setup looks something like this:

    PC::Ethernet<--->Ethernet::Amiga::Modem<---->Modem::ISP

    I can easily pass files back and forth between my Amiga and my
    PC.  Plus, my Amiga acts as an internet gateway so that I can
    access the internet from either computer seamlessly.

    There is no noticable slow down when accessing the internet
    from the PC.  File transfers between the Amiga and the PC are
    fast and error free.  Using ftp between the two, I've been
    getting around 470 kb/s.

DOCUMENTATION

    The board comes with a 34 page user manual.  My only comment about
    it would be that there is only 2 paragraphs about the software
    installation.  This would be fine if the only software provided
    was just the device driver.  There is nothing mentioned about the
    included Genesis TCP/IP software at all. In fact, I didn't even
    know it came with Genesis until I ran the installation.

    However, I should point out that Genesis comes with it's own
    documentation in HTML format.

LIKES

    The card appears to be well made, was easy to install and has
    performed above my initial expectations.  Plus it wasn't so
    hard on the wallet.  It was much less expensive than any of the
    other ethernet cards on the market.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

    It would have been nice if they would have mentioned something
    about Genesis in the user manual.  Also, when I e-mailed Village
    Tronic about the card when it was first announced they told me it
    came with a 2 year warranty.  However, there is no warranty
    information in the user manual.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

    I haven't used any other Amiga ethernet cards, so I can't
    really compare performance.  However, price wise it is much
    less expensive.

BUGS

    None.

VENDOR SUPPORT

    Excellent.  When I inquired about the board via e-mail when it was
    first announced, they answered all my questions quickly and with
    courtesy.  Same for when I contacted them about the updated
    installation disks.

WARRANTY

    The user manual doesn't say anything, but I was told via e-mail it
    is 2 years.

CONCLUSIONS

    I am very pleased with the board and would recommend it highly.  I
    give it 5 out of 5 stars

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

    Copyright 1998 Matthew Sawyer

    This review may be Freely Distributed as long as it is only
    distributed in it's entirety.

    You may contact the author at:

    Matt Sawyer
    [email-masked]   

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