Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ladcgw.ladc.bull.com!hermes!fmayhar
From: fmayhar@hermes.ladc.bull.com (Frank Mayhar)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: How efficient/fast is uucp?
Message-ID: <1990Aug23.131401@hermes.ladc.bull.com>
Date: 23 Aug 90 17:14:01 GMT
References: <8464@pitt.UUCP> <1556.26d282ea@dcs.simpact.com>
Sender: news@ladc.bull.com (Usenet News)
Reply-To: fmayhar@hermes.ladc.bull.com
Organization: Bull HN Information Systems Inc. Los Angeles Development Center
Lines: 39

In article <1556.26d282ea@dcs.simpact.com>, jeh@dcs.simpact.com writes:
|> In article <8464@pitt.UUCP>, jonathan@cs.pitt.edu (Jonathan Eunice) writes:
|> > How efficient is/are the protocol(s) used by uucp?  How do they compare
|> > with zmodem?  For some reason (not based on anything resembling
|> > knowledge), I have the impression that uucp uses crufty, old, slow
|> > protocol(s).  Am I in left field?  
|>  [...]
|> There are at least three sides to the "how difficult" question.  
|> [...]
|> Legally:  I think there are some copyright/licensing issues around the Zmodem
|> protocol.  

Not true, actually.  Chuck Forsberg developed the Zmodem protocol as part
of a contract with Telenet, for use over packet-switched networks.  The
protocol was then contributed to the public domain.  At least, that's my
understanding.  I'm sure Chuck will correct me if I'm wrong.

|> Practically:  There are tens of thousands (at least) of uucp sites out there.  
|> The chances of getting a significant number of them to use a new uucico just
|> because it supports zmodem are slim to none.

That depends.  If you managed to get the support of some vendors, and they
started bundling your uucp with their Unix systems (and others, for that
matter), it could eventually catch on.  It _would_ be a slow process, though.
The other side of the coin, of course, is that those of us that _want_ to use
Zmodem protocol on our uucp transfers could do so.  I mean, who really
cares about those tens of thousands of sites, if _your_ site, and the sites
you have uucp connections with, have the capabilities you need.

As far as Trailblazers supporting the g protocol, Zmodem would probably
not be an improvement, as it's my understanding that the Trailblazer fakes
the g protocol to the local host, and the real transfer takes place using PEP.
Of course, there are still _lots_ of 2400 baud modems out there, doing a lot
of these uucp transfers, and they would benefit immensely from Zmodem,
IMHO.
--
Frank Mayhar  fmayhar@hermes.ladc.bull.com (..!{uunet,hacgate}!ladcgw!fmayhar)
              Bull HN Information Systems Inc.  Los Angeles Development Center
              5250 W. Century Blvd., LA, CA  90045    Phone:  (213) 216-6241