Hi Everyone, I finally have the 486 Box working!
All of the hardware problems I have been having were NIC related, particularly with the DEC 204 NIC. I continued working on the same computer mentioned in my last message (the one that was giving me a slow, but successful connection with my ISP). Since the DEC 204 was not accepting an MTU value of 1500 from GNAT Box (a peculiar error, and one which I believe resulted in the extremely slow data throughput) I decided to swap it with the NE2000 NIC (FYI: this paired the NE2000 NIC with a previously installed D-Link 530TX PCI model). BINGO!!!! It worked! After a quick run down to a local computer store to purchase another NE2000 NIC, I configured and installed both of them into the 486 box. Wouldn't you know it, all of my problems went away instantly! My next task was to check the throughput of the GNAT Box. I downloaded a couple of large test files from WWW sites I am very familiar with. Below are a couple of brief listings of download rates achieved. (Note: this was using an unregistered version of GNAT Box limited to 2 computers). All times and download rates were calculated using "DUMeter". Here is the hardware used for reference: PII 433 with NDC 10/100 PCI Ethernet Adapter (ISP supplied NIC) P233MMX with D-Link DFE-530TX 10/100 PCI Ethernet Adapter D-Link DSH-5 10/100 Hub CAT 5 cable all around Windows 95 OSR2 Single Computer Download Speeds (in kBytes/sec) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CPU Utilization during download (derived from GNAT Box Current Statistics Menu): User 0.0% System 0.8% Interrupt ~39% idle ~60% 1) PII 433 File Size: 17853 kB Average time to download (avg. of 3 d/ls): 54.6 seconds Average transfer rate over 3 d/ls: 326.9kB/s Peak transfer rate: 657.7kB/s Time during second download: Jan 23, 2000 09:47EST 2) P233MMX - Average over 3 d/s: File Size: 17853 kB Average time to download (avg. of 3 d/ls): 79.2 seconds Average transfer rate over 3 d/ls: 225.4kB/s Peak transfer rate: 708.8kB/s Time during second download: Jan 23, 2000 09:52EST Two Computer Download Speeds (in kBytes/sec) -------------------------------------------------------------------- CPU Utilization during download (derived from GNAT Box Current Statistics Menu): User 0.0% System 1.6% Interrupt ~45% idle ~53% (17853 kB test file d/led at the same time) 1) PII 433 Average time to download (avg. of 3 d/ls): 118.6 seconds Average transfer rate over 3 d/ls: 150.5 kB/s Peak transfer rate: 544kB/s Time during second download: Jan23, 2000 10:12EST 2) P233MMX Average time to download (avg. of 3 d/ls): 82.5 seconds Average transfer rate over 3 d/ls:216.3 kB/s Peak transfer rate: 583kB/s Time during second download: Jan23, 2000 10:12EST ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm a little puzzled that the slower computer (with the slower hard drive) always achieved the higher download speeds. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Overall I'm very impressed with the performance of GNAT Box using a lowly 486 computer. Kudos to GTA for providing such a useful piece of software. On the other hand, based on my experience trying to install a DEC 204 NIC (which I know works because I used it for many years in different machines and verified its operation in another PC after I pulled it from the 486) I would have to say that it is not "fully" compatible with GNAT Box (even though it is specifically listed as compatible in the literature). Finally, I would just like to thank everyone who spend their time helping me solve my installation problem. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I appreciate it immensely! Regards, Mark St.George
