Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!peregrine!elroy!ames!ucsd!rutgers!gatech!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!madd
From: madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Turbo C and network
Message-ID: <24169@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 30 Jul 88 23:43:42 GMT
References: <212@sdcc19.ucsd.EDU>
Reply-To: madd@bu-it.bu.edu (Jim Frost)
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Distribution: na
Organization: Boston University Distributed Systems Group
Lines: 30

In article <212@sdcc19.ucsd.EDU> zz1he@sdcc19.ucsd.EDU (Heather Ebey) writes:
|This is a continuation of the problem, with more details.
|I have Sperry PC/IT's running MS-DOS 3.1 and 3.2 with PC-NFS 3.0.
|connected to a NFS server on a Celerity.

[problems with tc and PC-NFS]

I don't have tc 1.5 to try on NFS, but I can outline some experiences
about what kinds of software will and will not run with NFS and other
LANs.

Most networking systems support MS-DOS commands but not low-level disk
accesses.  NFS is one such system.  Theoretically any program that
does not attempt to use the low-level commands (eg int $13) will
operate over NFS and most other networks.  Programs such as Norton
Utilities or the various disk optimizers will not work, and will
probably give symptoms very much like what you describe, since the
BIOS will not recognize the NFS disk and wouldn't know what to do with
it if it did.  Some LANs actually allow low-level disk access across a
network.  I don't think that this is a good idea.

I would suggest two things.  First, call Borland and ask them if they
do direct disk reads or writes anywhere.  They don't usually do silly
things like that but that does improve speed so I can't be certain.
If they do, you might suggest that they remove this; it's a big
problem with LAN's.  Second, try talking to Sun.  They may know what
is going on and may have a fix.

jim frost
madd@bu-it.bu.edu