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From: jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: LocalTalk PC for MicroChannel?
Message-ID: <561@crash.cts.com>
Date: 20 Oct 89 02:36:28 GMT
Sender: root@crash.cts.com
Organization: People-Net [pnet01], El Cajon CA
Lines: 38

scb1@tank.uchicago.edu (Sam Blackman) writes:
>In article <6803@hubcap.clemson.edu> mmccann@hubcap.clemson.edu (Mike McCann) writes:
>>I know that Apple's LocalTalk PC cards work in IBM compatibles with xt
>>and AT buses but has anyone heard of a LocalTalk Card (made by anyone)
>>that will work with the Micro Channel?
>
>>Mike McCann       (803) 656-3714   Internet = mmccann@hubcap.clemson.edu 
>>Clemson University                   Bitnet = mmccann@clemson.bitnet
>
>Well ... unfortunately, Apple brand LocalTalk PC cards will not work in
>MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) - and up until very recently, this meant
>that the PS/2 family (Model 50 on up) was excluded from LocalTalk.  How-
>ever, TOPS (Sun Microsystems) is releasing a version of its FlashCard
>that is designed for MCA.  Their original FlashCard is the functional
>equivalent of Apple's LocalTalk PC card.
 
My TOPS sales representative informed me about a month ago that the only MCA
local/flashtalk card is by a company called DayStar, but he informed me that
the card itself is a piece of crap.  It hangs and has an assortment of
engineering problems.  After things are squared away in the bay area, I'm
going to call TOPS and find out if the MCA flashcard uses BusMaster.  If it
doesn't, it isn't going to be worth having.  You might as well have a PC with
a flashcard if the MCA card doesn't use BusMaster.  The only work around for
getting an MCA machine into a TOPS network is to put a 3-Com ethernet board
(the one that Sun recommends for PC-NFS) and put it into TOPS via ethernet.  I
don't know how soon the MCA flashcard will be here, but until then, ethernet
is the only alternative.

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