Re: WTB: Ethernet card for the IIgs.

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

In article <1995Feb21.095559.37158@msuvx1.memphis.edu>,
 <fltai@cc.memphis.edu> wrote:
> In article <C022095192917.12@microbbs.ecore.fnet.org>,
> >microchip@microbbs.ecore.fnet.org writes: a
> > 
> > There once was an Ethernet card made for the APPLE IIGS but APPLE
> > dumped it when the dumped the II's.  I don't think it ever made it
> > out.  There are no 
> 
> 	Actually, Apple dumped it before it dumped the IIs.  It was
> supposed to come out along with System 6.0, the Golden Master.  That's
> why 6.0 was delayed for a number of months.

No, it was supposed to come out with 6.0.1.  6.0 included some
redesigned AppleTalk protocol code which paved the way for the
Ethernet card, but support for the card was not added until 6.0.1 (as
far as I know).

The main reason for delays in the release of 6.0 was a serious bug
found in the first golden master.  After that was fixed, a second
golden master was released (there might have been a third one as well).

The rumour is that 6.0.1 was held back so they could remove what
little Ethernet support was in there.  Probably more a case of removing
all mention of it from the documentation and Installer scripts.

> 	Seeing that there's so much interest in this card, one wonders
> if one of the remaining companies in the Apple II market would look
> into either getting the card design from Apple Comp, or doing their
> own...

Certainly an interesting idea.  I think you'd have a snowball's chance
in hell of getting any of the cards out of Apple, or any documentation
on how it was supposed to interface to the system.

A bit of work with a disassembler should be able to help there.

It should be a simple matter of finding out how to hook in underneath
DDP (the AppleTalk network layer protocol), replacing the LocalTalk
protocol.

If Apple have provided some way of doing this, it isn't documented in
the AppleShare Programmer's Guide for the Apple II Family (which
predates 6.0, so this might have been added as a new feature at that
point). 

Incidentally, locating this mechanism would also make it possible to
write AppleTalk Remote Access client software for the IIgs (assuming
the protocol has been documented).
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand