NetUSBee

The NetUSBee is a network card with two USB ports for the Atari ST’s ROM port. I believe I purchased the first version of this card back in 2006. Since then, it has been available in small batches from various sources. It has now been re-produced in larger quantities by the Polish specialist Lotharek. The circuit board was developed by Candle’O’Sin. This means I can also fit my Atari 1040 STE with one of these small modules and ‘retire’ the good old Ethernet module.

The latest version of Lotharek comes in a sturdy grey metal case that matches the colour of Atari computers well. As you can clearly see from my photos, the new circuit board is larger than the old one and the position of the connectors has been changed. Following a tip from an Atari forum, I realised that whilst the casing provides excellent protection for the circuit board, the extra weight pulls the board downwards, which presumably puts quite a strain on the ROM port. This can be remedied with ‘feet’ – I got myself some self-adhesive transparent ‘furniture pads’ for this purpose – 8 mm high.

Available from: Netusbee – cased – full USB + LAN

Technical specifications

• The network is based on the RTL8019AS, as used by EtherNEC, and is backwards compatible with drivers
• USB based on the ISP1160, as used in EtherNAT; drivers available at http://www.janthomas.org.uk
• 47 mm x 65 mm PCB dimensions
• Compatible with ST(e), Mega ST(e), Falcon, TT
• Optional IRQ (interrupt) line to speed up data transfers and free up more CPU time for applications
• LED indicators for power supply, network connection and network transmission
• Anschluss Cartridge-Port/Rom-Anschluss

The card is quickly connected – now all you need is the right software to be able to use it.

Here is a simple guide on how to configure the software for the NetUSBee.

STING
To use this option, you will need the TCP/IP stack Sting, the network card drivers (enec.stx, enec3.stx) from the Ethernet package, and the editor qed or any other editor capable of setting true tabs. You should also have unpackers for ZIP and LZH archives on your computer. If you wish to use TOS without multitasking, the system extension wdialog.prg must also be installed. Finally, Xcontrol should also be installed.

Plug the network card into the ROM port of the switched-off (!) Atari. Then start the computer. The folders ‘auto’ and ‘gemsys’ should be created on the boot drive. I suggest creating a further folder ‘data’ for the compressed files. It is also advisable to place the user programmes in a separate folder, e.g. ‘apps’. Unpack the Sting package and move the files from the unpacked Auto folder to c:\auto\. The folders ‘sting’ and ‘cpx’ are placed in c:\gemsys\. From the Ethernet package, extract only the file enec.stx (for 68000 Ataris) or enec3.stx (for 68030 Ataris) and place it in c:\gemsys\sting\.
This ensures that the necessary files for using TCP/IP are in place.

Next, launch the editor qed (or whichever one you prefer) to edit a few files:
1. In the file c:\auto\sting.inf, enter the path c:\gemsys\sting\

2. Add the following line to the file c:\gemsys\sting\route.tab:

0.0.0.0[TAB]0.0.0.0[TAB]EtherNet[TAB][Router IP address]

The tabs must be proper tabs, otherwise you’ll be surprised later if it doesn’t work. Other lines, such as comments, are disabled by adding a ‘#’.

3. In the file c:\gemsys\sting\default.cfg, adjust the entry:

NAMESERVER = [IP address of the nameserver]

Now open the Sting Port Setup module in the control panel and select the ‘Ethernet’ connection. Enter an IP address within the IP range managed by the router. Set the subnet mask to ‘255.255.255.0’. The ‘active’ box should be ticked. Under ‘General’, select the hardware ‘NE2000’. Save the changes, which will create the file ‘sting.prt’ in c:\.

After restarting, the network connection should be available.

The required software can be found in my article on the Ethernet module, as the software is the same.

USB ports
Unfortunately, the software has not been further developed, so there is currently only a driver for the USB mouse. Unfortunately, not all mice work with it – here is a handy list of compatible devices: Compatibility list for USB mice for NetUSBee

Perhaps this will give driver development a fresh boost, making it possible to use keyboards or USB sticks (fingers crossed). 🙂 A short article on this can be found here: USB mouse on the Atari ST (the driver for the mouse is also available there).