Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!mejac!orchard.la.locus.com!prodnet.la.locus.com!spear From: spear@locus.com (Brad Spear) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Info on new low-end Mac Message-ID: <13736@oolong.la.locus.com> Date: 26 Jul 90 20:33:38 GMT Distribution: usa Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles Lines: 58 In article (murfle) daveh@cbmvax (Dave Haynie) wrote: >In article <...> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes: > >>Appletalk is a very nice networking system. Note that the protocals >>can run at Ethernet speed(EtherTalk). > >But those software layers only hook Macs to Macs, don't they. And you'll >need a NuBus Ethernet card to run at Ethernet speeds. And TCP/IP + NFS >to talk to anything useful that's non-Mac. This stuff's all available for >the Amiga systems, from Commodore. AppleTalk is nice for printer sharing, >but doesn't cut it for filesharing or other high bandwidth applications. This doesn't really change the argument much, but I've seen a couple of letters now that say the same thing. AppleTalk is a set of software protocols (as Dave implies here -- another letter seemed to confuse it with LocalTalk, which is the standard *hardware* driver, that has been supplied with every Macintosh, since day 1). And there is an Ethernet card for the Mac-SE. I seem to recall that it isn't a NuBus -- but this is nit-picking. Maybe the SE can't keep up at standard Ethernet speeds for more than short bursts? Yes, you do need to run Ethernet software (it can be had in either Ethernet standard or EtherTalk forms) and TCP/IP software, but these are availble, in costware and/or freeware forms. I have used one version to talk from a Mac to several UNIX hosts here. The need for NFS is a personal choice, it isn't *necessary*. And AppleTalk does support file as well as printer sharing. Just how well is a matter of opinion. :-> I've only read the protocol, I've never actually used it. Is it really slower than, say, FTP over TCP/IP and Ethernet? Any 'direct' service like NFS will have problems between machine architectures. I've worked on two such products, for UNIX <-> MS-DOS. What a pain. And the real kicker that no one seems to know: At least one company, (I forget the name -- Interactive Presentation Technologies, or something like that) sells an AppleTalk protocol stack for a few UNIX machines. This provides direct AppleTalk on said host. This is of course, over the Ethernet or EtherTalk hardware protocols. However, they also sell hardware cards for a few machines (I'm sure that the EISA bus is included in this), that allows the UNIX host to talk on the LocalTalk hardware. The situation with this sort of stuff, is like the Amiga and DTP or music, a few years ago. No one knew about it. Maybe Commodore should think about adding an AppleTalk stack to its network offerings? ... Naaahhh! :-> But then, since so many people want AMAX or Mac-2-Dos ... Brad P.S. Isn't this enough about the Mac? How about talking about the AppleTalk stack in Amiga terms? At least then it will be correct for this newsgroup. (Joke, Mongo, ... Joke!) -- Brad Spear Locus Computing Corporation spear@locus.com Inglewood, CA, USA Disclaimer: I speak for no one but myself. This line intentionally left blank.