Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!intercon!news
From: kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: MacNFS vs AppleShare
Message-ID: <273EDDB5.40D1@intercon.com>
Date: 12 Nov 90 17:36:53 GMT
References: <4665@husc6.harvard.edu> <1990Nov10.100943.1166@urz.unibas.ch>
Sender: usenet@intercon.com (USENET The Magnificent)
Reply-To: kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Herndon, VA
Lines: 41

In article <1990Nov10.100943.1166@urz.unibas.ch>, doelz@urz.unibas.ch writes:
> This would be CAP, PACER, ALISA, LANWORKS, HELIOS, etc. 
> The drawback is that the host is bothered quite a bit. Further, the 
> mac-like storage of resource and data forks makes it necessary to 
> either split the files or to convert them somehow on the fly. Both
> is computationally expensive. 
> 
> HOST      ----converter----    Mac 
>                               NFS, or (cryptic) DECnet 
> 

First off, the host is not bothered as much as you might think.  And it is
usually only "bothered" once in a while.  Our software allows the use of 
either AppleSingle or AppleDouble formats on the remote disk, this allows you 
to edit files with your favorite Mac word processor without screwing the 
remote file up, yes it does create a seperate file containing the formating 
information, but it only does that for those files that you actually go and 
edit.  There is only one file, a desktop file, created at the outset of your 
connection. This file contains the information that the Mac finder needs in 
order to display the information you have come to expect on the Mac.

As far as computationaly expensive for the Mac, what do you mean?  Our software
only handles file information upon initial startup and then whenever you
actually do something to the file.  This is not that great of a task.

> The poor Mac has lots of things to do and will be not really useful any longer.
> 
> HOST      ----smart converter---- Mac 
> NFS             Gator Box            AppleShare

This isn't even that true.  The Mac is doing no more work in this case that
it would if there were an AppleShare sever out there.  The GatorBox is doing
all of the work for you.  Sure it might be slow at times, but that isn't
the Mac being slow.  It's the Mac waiting for the GatorBox to catchup.

If the above were true, no one would ever use AppleShare for anything.

--
Kurt Baumann                       InterCon Systems Corporation
703.709.9890                      Creators of fine TCP/IP products
703.709.9896 FAX               for the Macintosh.