Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!killer!elg
From: elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga networking puzzle
Message-ID: <8198@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Date: 26 May 89 04:00:03 GMT
References: <88G002rZ2c1g01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 44

> In article <808@helios.toronto.edu> dooley@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Kevin Dooley) writes:
>>The problem, then is how can we all live in peace and harmony sharing
>>a single (PostScript) laser printer?  I have heard that the answer
>>is TOPS, but my local Amiga dealer says that it doesn't exist for the
>>Amiga.

That's probably because most Amigans came from "real" computer systems
(i.e. not single-tasking PC's), where network print daemons are a way
of life. Ameristar's Ethernet hardware works just great if you have a
Unix computer somewhere around running the Internet suite and NFS.

Alas, as far as I know, nobody has given any thought to networking
Amigas to IBM PCs and Macs. Ameristar once was working on something of
the sort, a long long time ago, at least according to their early
announcements... but any such products never appeared.

C Ltd. has announced a SCSI laser printer that would let several
SCSI-equipped Amigas share a laser printer.... 

>>  What gives?  I find this hard to believe.  

Well, there's maybe 200,000 Amiga 2000's, and hardware is expensive to
develop. Yes, I do believe this is a good marketing niche, and that
SOMEONE should do the hardware.... but it won't be cheap. I might note
that software might be a problem. However, there may soon be
networking software available, needing only minor modifications to
talk to a DOS server for basic services like, e.g., print server.

>>help me out?  If the Amiga can't be easily tied into this network, 
>>then we simply won't be buying Amigas.  Please post or e-mail me 

Guess y'all won't be buying Amigas, then. Even if everybody started
frantically working this very minute, it takes at least six months to
move from initial design sketch to production, and even longer for
complex hardware/software intertwined projects. Maybe someone has been
working on a AmigaDOS-to-Mac/MSDOS network gateway for the last 6
months and is ready to introduce it tomorrow -- but, if so, they've
certainly kept mum about it.

--
    Eric Lee Green              P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509     
     ..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis}!killer!elg     (318)989-9849    
Bcase: "I have seen or heard "designer of the 68000" attached to so many
names that I can only guess that the 68000 was produced by Cecil B. DeMile."