uIP-tool

Easy-peasy transfers

As you may have read in my previous article, I've bought the NetUSBee. This is a gorgeous slab of hardware available from Lotharek. It's brilliant and has an ethernet socket to potentially connect to the outside world very easily.

It's possible to connect your ST to a Mac/PC thanks to Mariusz Buras who has developed a program called uIP Tool. This will transform your Atari ST into a file server without any configuration. Just load it up and it will automatically assign itself an IP - which you use in Google Chrome on your Mac/PC. Now you can access the Atari ST and begin transferring files.

NetUSBee with uIP-tool makes transferring files to/from your Atari ST a cinch...

In fact, you don't need to use a web browser at all. Load up uIP-Tool and then copy a file over to your Atari ST using the command line. It's geeky but it works very well so is lots of fun! Here is the example command to copy 'myfile.zip' over to the D-Drive on my Atari ST...

curl -0T myfile.zip 192.168.2.2/d/myfile.zip

uIP-Tool makes the entire process of getting files onto your Atari ST very easy. It's simple to use, with a great interface and gets the job done. Yep, NetUSBee is a fantastic piece of kit and uIP-Tool marries up very well. Excellent software!

Help for those using WiFi
If your router is in a different room to your Atari ST then you might think uIP-tool isn't compatible with your setup unless you have a mega-long ethernet cable? Not so. My router is located downstairs so I bought myself a very short ethernet cable to physically connect the Mac to my Atari STe.

To provide uIP-Tool with a working IP address - just enable the Mac's Internet Sharing. Sorry, I don't own Windows or Linux, but I expect a similar function exists? Just follow this:

 1) load up System Preference (via the Apple menu)
 2) click on Internet Sharing (view me)
 3) choose WiFi in the dropdown menu & tick the ethernet box (view me)
 4) lastly, tick the box left of "Internet Sharing" to activate this service.
 5) now quit System Preferences.
 6) load up uIP-Tool on the Atari ST and note the IP it displays for you.
 7) enter that IP into Google Chrome so you can now access your Atari ST. Job done!