Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:40999 comp.sys.mac.hardware:134
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!crash!pnet01!jca
From: jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: LocalTalk for MCA and PC
Message-ID: <591@crash.cts.com>
Date: 26 Oct 89 03:56:20 GMT
Sender: root@crash.cts.com
Organization: People-Net [pnet01], El Cajon CA
Lines: 52

matt@nanovx.UUCP (Matt Brandt) writes:
>Geez this burns me... Lets set the record straight guys. DayStar Digital
>makes the ONLY localtalk card for the MCA. We also have a card for the
 
I didn't say that there were others.  In fact, I am waiting for TOPS to
produce their MCA Apple/FlashTalk card.

>pc using about the same design (minus the MCA interface). The card DOES NOT
>have problems, IS NOT a piece of crap, and works very well. The software
>that comes with the card may, or may not, be to your liking but is very
>functional. AppleShare Workstation 2.0 (straight from Apple) works with
>the card if you like their software better. For the price you get a nice
>piece of hardware that uses NO DMA, NO INTERRUPTS, and only a few I/O
>addresses resulting in VERY few configuration problems. The software that
 
Prove it to me then.  I will send you my mailing address at work.  Since we
don't have an in-house MCA machine as of yet, I can't really test such a card
yet.  I do, however, have quite a few customers that have MCA machines
that do want to hook into a TOPS network.  I don't want to spend all of my
time at a customer site correcting an engineering problem with a piece of
hardware since it isn't something I can't fix.  I also don't want to deal with
RMA'ing a problem piece of hardware.  My job is to find solutions for my
customers, not to give myself an ulcer by latching to the first thing that
appears to work.  I have a very caveat emptor attitude about any new product
out there.  My TOPS sales rep told me what TOPS tech support has noted about
your product and it appears to be more than a little fiddling to get to work.
Note that if the card doesn't utilitize BusMaster technology on MCA, I'm just
going to recommend to my customers to get an ethernet card that does.  Not
supporting BusMaster defeats the entire purpose of buying an MCA machine.
Apple/FlashTalk is slow and I'm a firm believer that if MCA is utilitized
properly, the performance on the MCA machine's end will be improved.

Case and point, Quantum hard drives have given me a big ulcer.  As a result,
my supervisor and I have mutually agreed to put a freeze on all purchase
orders for the Quantum P40S and P80S.  We are trying to get the P105S, but we
have been having problems in finding a distributor that has them in stock.
The only exception we make is if the customer DEMANDS a product we have a
purchase order freeze on.  In which case I kindly inform the customer in a
"you'll be sorry" tone of voice of the problem and present documentation of
the problem in the form of printed articles from here that are kept in my file
labeled "ulcer prevention."

 /*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
  * Flames: /dev/null (on my Minix partition)
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
  * ARPA  : crash!pnet01!jca@nosc.mil
  * INET  : jca@pnet01.cts.com
  * UUCP  : {nosc ucsd hplabs!hd-sdd}!crash!pnet01!jca
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
  * Note  : My opinions are that...mine.  My boss doesn't pay me enough to
  *         speak in the best interests of the company (yet).
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/