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From: dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Mac to NeXT Conversion for Users
Message-ID: <1990Jun14.145531.13259@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 14 Jun 90 14:55:31 GMT
References: <148@asicasic.nsc.com>
Sender: usenet@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Reply-To: dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lines: 104

In article <148@asicasic.nsc.com> maul@asic.nsc.com (Robert Maul) writes:
>I would like to start a discussion on the problems associated with
>adding NeXT machines to an existing Mac network.

As I have had a NeXT and an mac cheek-by-jowl on my terminal table for a year
and a half, I have some opinions on this.

>Q1. Networking: What is the most cost effective way of networking
>the NeXT machines with our Macs?

Cost effective is whatever the cheapest gateway you can afford that does
KIP (FastPath, Gatorbox, Multigate?, ...?), + CAP.

Marginally easier to setup and more flexible, but a bit pricier, is a Gatorbox
with Gatorshare, + the printer bits of CAP.

Once Gatorprint comes out (probably the millenium, the way things are going),
you'll be able to get the whole deal from Cayman (file sharing, TCP/IP,
network printing).  I'd expect to pay $4-5K for this.  [Everytime somebody
buys out Kinetics (which happens every other week or so), they raise FastPath
prices, and Cayman follows suit on the Gatorbox.]

>Q2. Printer Sharing: Can we use the NeXT Laser Printer to print Mac
>files as easily as with the LaserWriter II?

Yes, once you do a small amount of work with CAP.

>Q3. File Sharing: Can we use the NeXT as a file-server for our Macs?

Yes, with CAP and aufs or with a Gatorbox & Gatorshare.

>Q4. Data Sharing: Can we run the Product software from our Macs
>and access the data that is stored on the NeXT? (i.e., how can the
>Software Company access the Sybase data on the NeXT machine from the
>Macs?)

You could certainly write software that did that, using MacTCP.

>
>Q5. File Translation: Can we use the NeXT for word processing as well
>as running the Product software? (i.e., can we translate MS WORD to
>WriteNow? When will MS Word be available for the NeXT?)

MS Word is absolutely horrid; it's a shame so many people use it.
WriteNow documents are ALMOST binary compatible between Mac and NeXT.  You
have to stay away from certain special characters, and the machines
don't grok each other's graphics formats, but it's fine for text.  (They don't
*damage* graphics; they just won't display except on their proper machine.)

Bill Gates views NeXTStep and UNIX as competition for his bloated and slow-
selling mutant child, OS/2.  He's said that Microsoft won't write software
for NeXT.  NeXT users should thank him for this.

>Q6. Security: Is it true that Unix is not secure?

It's a heck of a lot more secure than a Macintosh.  The biggest security
hole is undoubtedly going to be users, who usually choose passwords a 4
year-old child with a learning disability could guess.  Users then compound
the problem by writing their passwords in big bold letters on everything in
sight.

The security flaws in UNIX are unlikely to be an issue.

>Is CAP (Columbia Appletalk Package) a good package?

It's marvellous, and you can't beat the price.  It will cost you a FastPath
or Gatorbox, though (~$2K, I think).

>Is it better to have an ethernet card for every Mac SE and forget
>about appletalk? (cards are expensive at $500 per card)

You still need something that know how to do KIP (FastPath, Gatorbox, etc.);
unless NeXT adds EtherTalk support, you won't like what you get without
such a box.

>What software is used for printer sharing on an ethernet?

The lwsrv and papif portions of CAP.  You can print Appletalk->NeXT or
NeXT->Appletalk.

>How about an applications like Tops (too bad for our us that Sun
>bought them) that would network the macs over appletalk.

aufs, part of CAP.  Gatorshare, can be bought for a Gatorbox.

>Will Tops ever be running on a NeXT?

Let's hope not.  It doesn't really run on Suns, either.

>Instead of file access maybe a finer granularity is needed and
>how would an application be built to send packets of data to the
>Mac?

MacTCP.

>Example: It is a major pain getting all the pieces in place to
>use the NeXT laser printer as a Mac network print resource.

IMHO, it's only a minor pain :-).


--
Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office
Internet: s-dorner@uiuc.edu  UUCP: {convex,uunet}!uiucuxc!dorner