Re: SLIP/PPP question (NOT the usual)

[sbehrens@arrowweb.com (Sönke Behrens)]

dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff) wrote:

>Recently, I was looking at the description of exactly what SLIP is.  =
SLIP
>is nothing at all, but a means for packaging data.
>
>So what is the problem?  Do we not have proper Internet tools for the =
A][,
>simply because (well, with the exception of Seven Hills' SIS) everyone =
is
>thinking in the same box, trying to emulate the structure employed on
>other platforms--where a SLIP dialer program runs as a background task =
and
>passes data to independent modules which handle the various protocols?

That's not the sole reason, no. When you look at any protocol
whatsoever, you will see that it is no more than "a means for
packaging data". That's the very definition of "protocol", actually.
That does not imply that it would be easy to implement, though.
SLIP (and PPP) sit atop something called a "TCP/IP stack". While
writing SLIP is indeed very simple, writing a working TCP/IP stack is
not.

>have multitasking on the A][, couldn't the basic Internet connectivity
>options be bundled into the same program, so that a single program =
handles
>the basic connection, FTP, Telnet, POP, and so on?

Yes, that would be possible. It would also mean you have to write that
program, including the telnet, ftp, IMAP4, POP, SNMP, NNTP, http &c
clients from scratch. Probably more work than anyone in the II
community would want to put in.

What you see as a drawback (the modularity of TCP/IP, SLIP/PPP and
various clients) is actually a great boon: It allows existing
applications to be ported rather than reinventing them; it allows
several people to create small packages instead of one guy having to
do it all.

I believe that Derek's approach (use GNO/ME and create a BSD socket
API) is the right way to go. There could be other ways of handling
TCP/IP (through a GS/OS device driver, for example), but they would
all mean you could not port existing TCP/IP applications. Given the
large size of the II market these days, enthusiasm for reinventing the
wheel is understandably low.

>It's just a thought; and in fact it sounds like that is what the =
Spectrum
>Internet Suite does.  I don't have the programming skills to even think

No, SIS doesn't use SLIP or PPP. Since SIS can't transfer binary data,
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they do it all through telnet.

Yours
Soenke
--=20
ORCA/C buglist and other stuff at: http://www.arrowweb.com/sbehrens/