Re: Appletalk question

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

william strutts <wrstrutts1@nospam.home.com> wrote:

> Another question. Can you connect to Appletalk via ProDOS
> or is it only available in GS/OS?

On a IIgs, you have to boot via GS/OS if you want to access an
AppleShare server (or equivalent, such as the Mac's file sharing).  Once
you've logged on, you can access the server from both GS/OS and ProDOS-8
applications.

There are some restrictions:

- You must launch the ProDOS-8 applications from GS/OS.  If you reboot,
you will lose the server connection.

- The name of the server's hard drive or shared folder must comply with
ProDOS-8 file naming restrictions, or you won't be able to access it
from ProDOS-8.  This means that it must contain no more than 15
characters, is limited to letters, digits and the period, and must start
with a letter.  In particular: no spaces!

- The same rule applies recursively to all folders and files which are
to be accessed from ProDOS-8.

- You may be limited in the number of server volumes which can be
accessed at the same time from ProDOS-8, as the AppleShare client may
need to borrow unused unit numbers.  In theory, server volumes can be
accessed by pathname even if there are no unit numbers, but I don't
think I ever did enough experimenatation to clarify this.


Some footnotes:

With the right software (a special version of ATINIT which Apple only
distributed via third parties), it is possible to boot directly into
ProDOS-8 on a IIgs and access an AppleTalk printer (but not a file
server).

I've heard that you can use an Apple II Workstation Card in the IIgs; if
so, you would be able to boot directly into ProDOS-8 and access the
server (as long as your boot disk contains the ATINIT file from the
workstation card software, and you are able to run the LOGON program to
connect to the server).