Re: Apple IIGS Network HOWTO

[shirsch@adelphia.net (Steven N. Hirsch)]

In article <7lgcga$140$3@q.seanet.com>, Burnam wrote:
>> As a matter of fact......Windoh!s NT natively supports Appletalk and
>> Appletalk networks :-)  Get yourself an NT box.....and....appletalk
>> away.

AFAIK, appletalk server is supported only by NT Workstation ($$$$'s).

>> >On this subject I am interested to know if anyone has the protocol
>> >definitions for
>> >Appletalk.  It would be nice to use that information to create a way for
>> >another
>> >platform to communicate to the IIgs.  I was thinking Linix or DOS or
>> >Windows
>> >for a few platforms to start with.
>
>I read once that AppleTalk is one of the (if not the) most licensed
>networking technology around. I probably remember that wrong. Anyways,
>search the newsgroups for "appletalk" and you'll find that a Linux
>effort is already underway. DOS and Windows support exists.

The Appletalk protocol is well-documented.  You can download a pdf of
"Inside Appletalk" from the Apple developer web site.

Linux appletalk support is long past "underway".  Kernel-level support
has been there for several years, and Adrian Sun has embelished and
tuned the UMich netatalk package to yield a very stable,
high-performance appletalk server under most flavors of Unix.

Yours truly coded AFP support for ProDOS into netatalk about two years
ago, and Adrian was kind enough to include the patches in his
distribution.

I have a //gs and IIe w/ workstation card that use a linux machine for
a fileserver.  You can either run a LocalTalk adapter in the PC
(although the Apple LocalTalk PC board is not compatible with a
//gs!), grab a localtalk <--> ethernet bridge at a swap meet or
install the (now free) localtalk <--> ethertalk bridge software on a
cheapie mac.

Support for cold-boot from network is another story, however... The
Apple 2 network bootstrap protocol is not documented in enough detail
to code support into netatalk.  It's probably possible to run an
appletalk packet sniffer against a //gs booting from Appletalk Server
on a mac, but I haven't had the motivation to do this myself.

Is anyone left at Apple Computer, Inc. who might be able to supply the
protocol? 

Steve