Re: Linux as server for IIGS?

[hirsch@ibm.net (Steven N. Hirsch)]

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?S=F6nke_Behrens?= (sbehrens@bigfoot.com) wrote:
: themaples@worldnet.att.net (Bruce Maples) wrote:

: >I'd like to set up a Linux box and use it as a server for both my PC
: >and my GS.  Obviously, I'd run TCP/IP to hook the PC to it.  I started
: >out thinking that it might be possible to dial into it from the GS and
: >use VT100 emulation in a comm program.  But, even if I did that, what
: >good would it do me?  I am mainly wanting to move files around, and
: >there is no FTP for the GS that I'm aware of.

: What you can do right now is use the GS as a terminal, correct. You
: can off course move files via ZModem (sz/rz), which is slow (over the
: 57k6 or so you can probably run), but works.

: In the hopefully-not-to-distant future (or rather: when it's ready :),
: you can use GNO/ME 2.0.6 which will have TCP/IP and therefore, ftp.
: Not much faster, still only PPP (there are no readily available
: Ethernet devices for the GS), but it's a start.

Actually, I currently have netatalk hacked up to support ProDOS
clients.  Netatalk is a free Appletalk file and printer server package
that runs on almost any contemporary Unix system.  At present you
would need to find a LocalTalk PC card for the server, but someone is
working on driver support for the COPS and Farallon cards.

At the moment, I can log on to the server from a IIe using a
Workstation card (ProDOS-8 obviously).  File sharing works great, and
the speed is not too shabby for a 232k/bps serial link.

The big stumbling block is that the gs absolutely cannot communicate
with the Linux box.  It talks to a Mac SE/30 just fine, and the Mac
can talk to the server.  For the moment, I'm having to two-step files
through the Mac.  It is possible that this is a timing issue on the
LocalTalk PC card, but I have not been able to locate any information
on the programming interface or hardware.  Brad Johnson, who wrote the
Linux driver, figured out the basic operation by trial and error.

Perhaps the COPS or Farallon cards would work correctly with the gs,
but I don't have either of these at my disposal.

When I have the netatalk patches at a suitable point, I plan to submit
them to the maintainers.

Steve