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From: jay@nova.laic.uucp (Jay Weber)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: simple networking of PCs
Keywords: grapevine, networks
Message-ID: <736@laic.UUCP>
Date: 2 Nov 89 17:30:02 GMT
Sender: news@laic.UUCP
Lines: 21


Some advice, please:  how should I connect 2-4 IBM-compatible 8088s and
80286s running DOS 4.0, so that they can share files and devices in a
reasonably transparent way?  I heard of a product called "Grapevine",
a low-cost solution that connects the machines over their serial ports,
but I have the following questions:

1) how fast is remote access, relative to local access?
2) what is the remote access convention, and how transparent is it?
3) any file/device locking, or how are read/write write/write conflicts
   resolved?
4) can a host be responding to a remote access and run an application at
   the same time (timeslicing?)
5) what other options exist, and what are their costs/benefits?

any information would be appreciated -- thanks

Jay Weber
jay@icsi.berkeley.edu
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