Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!amdcad!cae780!leadsv!laic!taurus!darin
From: darin@taurus.laic.uucp (Darin Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: X DECnet connection
Message-ID: <307@laic.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jul 88 00:46:06 GMT
References: <8807252042.AA00785@drls21.sun.com>
Sender: news@laic.UUCP
Lines: 33

In article <8807252042.AA00785@drls21.sun.com>, cacroft@drls21.mit.EDU (C. A. Croft[Cheryl]) writes:
> We currently have an environment consisting of 1) Suns which support
> TCP/IP and DECnet (Sunlink DNI) and 2) VAXes, some of which only support
> DECnet.  I naively thought that by including the DDNETCONN flag in 
> util/imake.includes/Sun.macros, I could enable the VAX clients to communicate
> with the Sun servers and vice versa.  Unfortunately, I seem to be missing a
> critical piece in the form of _dnet_conn.  Can anyone tell me what this is and
> where I can find it?

Unfortunately, the DECnet supported with the X11 releases assumes a different
DECnet than the Suns support.  The X11 release seems to support a version
of DECnet that is integrated into the BSD "socket" paradigm.  Suns version
uses a different method for programming (although read()/write() work the
same once a connection is made).

Since my company is very heavily VAX/VMS, all UNIXoid machines have to
have DECnet if they want to talk to a VAX, rather than putting TCP on
the VAX (this is because departments buy the DECnet software for the
UNIX machines.  For a multiple-department VAX, no-one wants to foot the
bill for TCP).  Since we are also planning on getting DECwindows on
most of the VAXen, many people will want to have X on Suns, etc. talk to
the VAXen.  So some sort of Sun DECnet interface in X11 would go over
very well (any volunteers?).

(I may be paranoid, but from my experience with DEC, I have a brooding
feeling that they will add just enough extensions to X that the DECwindow
interface will not work on non-DEC machines.  Since DEC cares little
about communicating with machines other than DEC, IBM, or Apple, they may
not really care if Suns, etc. can be servers for X11.)


Darin Johnson (...pyramid.arpa!leadsv!laic!darin)
              (...ucbvax!sun!sunncal!leadsv!laic!darin)
	"All aboard the DOOMED express!"