Strange NeptuneX LAN board clone on Yahoo JPN

[elmer]

I just saw this on Yahoo JPN and wondered if anyone had seen someone selling these before.

http://www.buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/u94339889

It looks like an old NeptuneX, but someone has contracted most of the logic chips into a few GALs.

Does anyone  have any clue if this would work (my Japanese is non-existent, and Google Translate is fairly unhelpful, as usual)?

BTW ... "yes", I'm looking to get some sort of LAN or other high speed connection from a PC to an X68000.

[eidis]

 Hi Elmer!

Please contact our forum member BlueBMW. Hi might be able to hook you up with a LAN card.

Keep the scene alive!
Eidis

[elmer]

Thanks! I've PM'd him.

[akdme]

As for network connectivity, has anyone tried a plipbox (arduino based) that hangs off of the serial port and connects to your network via ethernet?

I know there is a driver for networking over serial, so it should work and all of those existing x68000 Internet-over-serial howtos should still be applicable. They're easy to build, and I think people are selling them now (in case you didnt want to DIY). I use them on Amigas.

And that's my plan when I get my x68k in. As the ethernet options seem a bit clunky to me (All that Ive seen just have an ISA slot and then you pop in a ne2000 NIC...but then it protrudes out of the back quite a bit).

[neko68k]

As long as you can SLIP or PPP to one of those serial ethernet boxes that should work. The way the serial null modem setup works is you use a null modem cable to a machine that hosts the internet connection and a PPP server, old school The Nereid card from Nagai has proper ethernet, among other things, but they're hard to find and tend to be expensive. The Neptune style is pretty wonky looking but it should work just fine if it was well made. Nereid and Neptune actually share the same ethernet driver too and should work interchangeably in that regard.