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From: a_dent@vaxa.uwa.oz (Andy Dent, ph: 09 380 2620)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms,comp.sys.mac
Subject: AlisaTalk questions
Message-ID: <568200@vaxa.uwa.oz>
Date: 22 Mar 89 16:25:43 GMT
Organization: University of Western Australia
Lines: 39

Having just seen a demo of Alisatalk, combined with PC's running PCSA, I have a
few questions:

1)  Printing:
    - When a file is printed using a VMS print queue
      - Who is charged for it?  (The Alisatalk APC ?)
      - What control does a user in a Mac application have?  Are there any Desk
        Accessories that allow queue status, removal of jobs etc.?

2)  License management:
    - Are there any facilities under Alisa similar to the "floating license 
      count" of PCSA, whereby the system allows n simultaneous users of a given 
      package?

3)  Mail:
    - Can Quickmail be used over Alisa so the Mac has a transparent interface
      to VMS Mail?
    - Are any other Mail facilities available?

4)  Scripting:
    - Does Alisa offer any command language such that backups of local disks 
      could be automated (to Virtual Disks).
    - Is MacroMaker compatible with Alisa?  - It could be a reasonable 
      substitute for a proper scripting language.

5)  Performance:
    - I am a little concerned about the performance of the Alisashare disks 
      when large Macintosh volumes are being used.  We have had bad experiences
      with Pacershare suffering severe degradation of folder-opening.
    - Ok, so it's fast over Ethernet.  Anyone able to comment on Alisa vs Pacer 
      speed over Localtalk.

6)  Comms Hardware Compatibility:
    - In a Localtalk system, what gateways will run Alisa?  
    - Does PhoneNet cause problems with Alisa?

Many thanks for any help offered.  Once we have acquired some knowledge 
ourselves I'll be happy to answer these sort of questions - give us about 6 
months (I hope).