I did a search here and can find nothing on FujiNet. It looks like an excellent resource for multiple retro, including Apple II, platforms, and seems to does it all, from Smartport and floppy EMU-type support, Internet access, printing emulation and printing support, CP/M emulation, etc, with ongoing development and a relative minimal investment. Anyone familiar with FujiNet?
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Information on FujiNet is widely available...
https://fujinet.online
I am aware. I was just curious as to why it has generated zero discussion here.
Last time I checked, it was expensive and inventory is usually out of stock. That was from the project leaders web site, and the first couple of links to other online sellers were either out of stock or had even larger markups. The product is around $100 and for many people that is still a lot of money. Save for the habit of abusing credit cards, it might be too expensive for most.
It gets mentioned around here some, but the other comments about it aren't wrong.
One off the things that I think keeps FujiNet from being more popular related to cost is it is nearly as expensive as a BMOW FloppyEmu and while it has some intresting features like WiFi, it doesn't emulate a floppu drive like the FloppyEmu.
And FWIW, it is more expensive than other options for slotted Apple II like the Dan ][ card, Booti, etc. The Dan ][ of course does wired Ethernet instead of WiFi. And FujiNet for slotted Apple II requires some kind of SmarPort card like a LiROM which is rate and expensive or something like the SmartDiskII (which I've never got to work) or a LIRONGP equipped Grappler+.
For the //c or IIgs FuJiNet makes a little more sense since they don't need another card to do SmartPort, but the //c is a small part of the Apple II installed base.
I'm personally bullish on VIBR's STM32 based floppy emulator project. It is much cheaper than FujiNet and once the firmware is 100% will be able to do both floppy and ProDOS block device emulation.
I have an older version of the FujiNet but I've never really gotten it to work.
Ahh. I soured on the Dan ][ because I could never master the peculiarties of getting files onto the card and the wired Ethernet seemed about 1/5th the speed of the ESP32 Softward Wifi. I tried the Microdrive Turbo but it apparently cannot live with a Z80 card, something not mentioned in any of the docs, and which I want to keep.
So I'm going to give Fujinet a try. I found a recommended Smartport card for $25 including shipping and I will be able to connect the Fujinet module to my 5.25 floppy chain. The firmware has been updated several times, so I'm hoping for a better experience than you've had. That being said, it may just be my latest disaster...
In just the last month, this is the third thread with FujiNet in the title...and there have been mentions in comments too. Recent threads include Looking for an Apple II FujiNet (last updated 6 June) and FujiNet - How you can help! (31 May)
FujiNet didn't show up in your searches because the word "FujiNet" seems to poison the site's search feature. (Even appending "OR FujiNet" onto a search causes all results to disappear.) I don't know why that's the case, but I stumbled across this behavior long ago -- there are various arbitrary keywords that seem to 'poison' the search feature. When I stumble across such a keyword, I use Google's "site:applefritter.com" feature to search instead.
Some examples from Google, via the "site:" keyword:
Perhaps a more relevant question is why the site's search tools seem to be blocking "FujiNet" in searches. Even this thread does not appear in search results.
It doesn’t look like word poisoning or blocking to me, but more like the site search not being indexed in years, so only very old content from the last decade appear in the search results.
I have also noticed that the site's search stinks, but I never attributed it to malice, only to the fact that sadly a lot of site search on forum software is awful. CVT's theory about someone needing to run indexing is a definite possibility though. Perhaps Tom will look into that if he notices this thread?
It looks like both.
Word poisoning was definitely happening, but experimentation suggests it was the "OR" keyword -- it's case sensitive. Uppercase "OR" works like a boolean OR operator, while lowercase "or" just kills the search. Example:
But even when the search does find things, all the hits are dated 2018 or earlier... so the search index is undoubtedly out-of-date too.
Using Google's site: keyword isn't a perfect solution because their site crawler finds keywords that appear in the sidebar. For example, Google is now generating a lot of false-positives for "FujiNet" in lots of threads that don't discuss FujiNet, simply because this thread's title currently appears in the Recent Content sidebar for those pages.
BONUS!
Testing other keywords like intitle: and intext: caused the AI summary to append a "Note" that refers specifically to this discussion and your own comment:
Google AI note.png
Discord is the best place for FujiNet discussions from what I can tell.
I have an original Fujinet from Materies that I got a little over two years ago. Had some problems with it after first getting it but talking with both him and Thomas Cherryhome I was able to get things working correctly. Haven't used the online capability very much, since I have a very large library of Apple II software that I downloaded over the years from various sites on the Intermet.
Have it plugged into my Apple //c+ and am enjoying not having to put a 3.5 disk into the computer. Have recently explored a couple sites online with it but there isn't anything there that I don't already have. Recently decided to buy a newer one from Joe's Computer Museum. The only complaint I have is that after ordering, and receiving, the base unit I discovered that I needed to order the adapter to plug it into my ROM 3 GS.
I have the FujiNet device that I purchased from mozzwald's website: https://mozzwald.com/product/fujinet-for-apple-ii-iii/
You're correct in your assessment that it is out of stock, but I think this particular flavour of the FujiNet is the best form factor. It comes with the 19 pin adapter and thumbscrews to secure it to the back of a IIc or IIGS and is 20-pin compatible with slotted IIs with the use of a SoftSP and a regular garden variety Disk II controller card. I've tested it with this one: https://en.infinityproducts.co.jp/product-page/grappler-minus-fully-assembled-card-or-bare-pcb.
It also works with a Liron card. Rare, yes, but the Liron Reborn is pretty inexpensive.
You can get a Liron Reborn card from Apple II Heaven: https://www.a2heaven.com/webshop/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=186 It too says out of stock, but usually an email to the site owner, Plamen Vasilyov will spur him to build five or six and sell one to you.
Anyway, the FujiNet, in my opinion is a pretty clever little card. It's wifi feature is pretty cool and the developers have created some neat software (like the space station tracker and the weather software) to take advantage of it. There's even a rudimentary terminal program if you want to call BBS systems via telnet.
I especially like the feature whereby you can dispense with an SD card completely and download your disk images from a tnfs server somewhere on your home LAN (an old laptop or obsolete dektop computer is perfect for this sort of thing).
I have a "Masteries" version of FujiNet, it's compact and works flawlessly. My only pet peeves are that the interface is not very intuitive, and the programs available are few. On the positive side it's like having a modem, SD Floppy emulator and printer at the same time, it also supports CP/M but i honestly haven't tried it. Is my go-to hardware to log in to BBS' as it emulates modems flawlessly.Overall it's a great product, just focused more on programming than multi faceted hardware. You can buy one right away from JCM-1.com:https://jcm-1.com/product/fujinet-for-apple-ii/
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Ordered and received the adapter to be able to use the new FujiNet. Put a MicroSD card into it, plugged it into the //c+, turned it on and got the message "unable to find a disk to boot". Have tried it with two different size MicroSD cards that have software on them, still nothing. Even decided to try a formatted, but empty, MicroSD card, still nothing.
Have a new to me original Apple IIe, meaning it never had the new 65C02 and rom chips added, though surprisingly enough it has an 80 column card with 1MB of memory. It has a 3.5 disk controller card, so decided to try the FujiNet in it. Neither the new FujiNet nor my Masteries version will boot. I get a message saying "unable to boot". Does anyone have any clue what's going on. I did notice that neither of the led light in the FujiNet blink after turning on the power.
Any help will be appreciated.
I believe you have to be able to boot it from the smartport. So an early ROM255 IIc might not work properly.
Have you tried issuing a "PR#5" command from the Applesoft Prompt? That should get the FujiNet to the startup menu.If that doesn't work you may have to upgrade your ROM to a ROM4X (easy).
The ROM4X has a routine in it to force-boot the smartport. I can't comment further on stock ROMs becasue bothj my IIcs have the ROM4X, so I can just force-boot the smartport.
I did try booting the FujiNet form the Smartport on my //c+. I also turned the computer off and back, went to the Rom5x menu and had it boot the Smartport. I typed PR5 from the Applesoft prompt on my IIe that has a 3.5 disk drive control card. Nothiing has worked.
I think I'm going to unplug the FEMU from my Rom 3 GS, plug the FujiNet in there and see if it will work on there. I have one of Masteries FujiNet builds that he sold several years ago, it works fine on the //c+
Recently I had the opportunity to check out the FujiNet on my Apple IIe. I already know the respective device on the Atari 8 bit. As on the Atari, the FujiNet is a remarkable device. I have focused on the main functions and I am quite happy with the online file browser function and the possibility to configure it with the web app. However, I have two points of criticism:
I have also tried to use the CP/M functionality but failed miserably. I found the documentation a bit sparse. I have set up the disk structure as described in the Wiki but could not find a way to start the CP/M mode. If anybody has a hint for me I would me very grateful.
Thank you.
I could have wriiten your post myself...great potential, poor or no documentation, annoying aspects.
In order to use the Fujinet as two separate virtual 5.25" drives you would need to use the DB-19 connector with a suitable drive controller and smartport adapter in a slotted II, or have an adapter that connects to both connectors (you only need one pin) on a 20 pin disk II control card. The firmware would need to be updated to allow mounting of two disk images at a time.
I have found that support for .do and .dsk 5.25" disk images spotty with the Fujinet and the setup screen a bit fiddly.
Where it really shines is as a 3.5" source or HD image source (basically a block device handler).
The ability to import disk images from a local (or remote) file server is terrific, and should be the primary selling feature of this device.
Z80 emulation pretty much sucks, and I don't ever use it because getting disk images in and out of it is finicky, and, well, CP/M on an Apple II pretty much sucks anyway, even with traditional hardware.
Personally I like the FujiNet, but it's uses are still limited until folks develop software for it.
For instance I wish that someone would write a better terminal program, one that supports PTSE emulation, for it to use as a virtual modem.
There was a LOT of talk about using the FujiNet to help interface with netowrked printers like LaserJets and such, but that never came about.
There is so much potential in this little doodad, but not a lot of interest in programming for it.
There are so many choices for ProDOS block devices and even Smartport on the Apple II that FujiNet just hasn't gained traction I think. The ability to import disk images over the network is an interesting feature but in practice most of the devices that use a USB stick like Booti and CFFA 3000 or SD card like the FloppyEmu, VIBR's floppy device, Dan ][, etc., are really convenient enough that it maybe just isn't enough to be compelling. As you say, software may be the thing holding it back.
To be honest, CP/M kind of sucks on any platform. The biggest issue with it on the Apple II was largely the Disk ][ capacity limitations and compatibility with most of the more popular MFM floppy formats. An Apple II (or clone) with one of the better Z80 cards like the PCPI and either a hard drive or some other larger capacity floppy was really as capable as just about any competitive mainstream CP/M machine. Ironically by number of units sold, theoretically the Apple II was the biggest volume CP/M platform, however I know a LOT of people who had a Softcard or other CP/M card and rately used it. Some never did part initially trying it out. But being able to check off CP/M compatibility allowed a lot of people in business back in the day to buy an Apple II instead of a more "business" machine. Many I knew only used CP/M for one specific business app, often something built around dBase II or something like that. Of course by 1983 or 1984 that started to not matter as CP/M quickly disappeared in favor of IBM PC clones and MS-DOS.
I've got at least one or two of most of the mass storage options available, FujiNet being perhaps the most notable exception other than SCSI based products. I'm interested but I don't have a burning need for anything more than I have now so the curiosity factor hasn't gotten me yet.
It's been a while since anyone has posted about FujiNet here, so I figure I'll share my 2¢....
I was traded a FujiNet adapter for my Apple IIc+. It is, however, what they call a "Masteries" unit. It sits horizontally rather than vertically against the SmartPort on the back of the computer and I have to remove any casing for it to sit together with my A2CDVI adapter. And forget about having access to the composite video output.
For reasons still unknown, this "masteries" unit can only support firmware up to 0.55B. I don't know what I'm missing getting to the latest firmware for the "official" hardware, but this is what I am aware of:
1) For some reason, on my IIc+, I can't connect to any of the ports for the few online gaming apps that are available (5 Card Draw, Battleship and Fuji-tzee). However, when I plug the unit into my IIc, it works fine. Note that for my Apple IIc, I need to have a boot switcher that I got from Big Mess o' Wires. This switches S6D1 from internal to external.
2) Back to my IIc+. I have RamExpressII installed. Whenever I have the Fujinet installed, there will inevitably be a time that I boot to the Fujinet that it will wipe away my RamExpress and I'll have to reinstall anything that was resident on it. However, for as long as it's working, I can mount four images on the Fujinet that Apple ][ Desktop will see and I can launch any of them from there without having to reboot. That's the coolest thing I've found so far!
3) The "Print to PDF" feature just doesn't work.
4) You can't save to anything that's mounted on it. I have Wizard Replay installed on an SD Card. I can play Ultima or Wizardry off of the SD card via Fujinet, however, I can't save my game. That just is unacceptable.
5) I haven't been able to get it to work with my Laser 128 yet. I haven't tried putting the disk swapper back on it because it's a pain in the rear because the internal drive is literally soldered into the MB. Boo.
Anyway, if anyone can help me with any of these issues, that'd be swell. But for those reasons, I'm not a huge fan, but I do enjoy it. If it didn't wipe out my RamExpressII, it'd be more prominent in my line up.
Oh, and it would be cool if I could daisy chain it after my external 3.5 and 5.25" floppies...
I can do some tests next time I have set up my Apple IIe. However, this will take some time.
With regards to not being able to write to a mounted image, have you mounted the image with write access (with the 'W' command) ? Please note that the default is read-only and that TNFS servers may have write access disabled (only relevant if you mount from a TNFS server, not relevant for mounting images from SD card).